Reflective Paper

World Civilization II
Veronica Kuehler

The concept that was used in the class was based on Unit 15s video Silver
Connects the World. This video was selected because of the unique perspective it
gave on the reason the world was expanding and exploring during the 14th & 15th
centuries. Typically in the classroom, students are taught that Europeans were trying to
find a route to Asia so they could trade spices with India. The Europeans desire were
the driving force behind finding and exploring the new world. However, this video states
that global markets were trying to meet Chinas desire for Silver. This global
perspective of supply and demand completes the picture of why Europeans were
exploring and looking for natural resources. They needed Americas natural resources
to meet the demands of the global market. By meeting the demands they were able to
meet their own desires for gold and unique goods.
Part I of the activity began with a Think, Pair, Share. The students were given
the following prompt to discuss in their assigned groups: Who decided to explore and
look for new lands in the 14th century? And What were the motivations? After meeting
as a group they were asked to create a visual representative to be used as they shared
with the rest of the class the answer to the prompt. The students then shared their
visuals and the group had a discussion about the student's answer to the prompt. In
some cases the group agreed with the students interpretation but in other cases the
group became lively as they disagreed and tried to defend their opinions.
Part II of the activity was having the students watch the video Silver Connects
the World and then write a paragraph reflection on what they learned. They were
instructed to think about the question: How the silver trade connected the world and
influenced exploration? The student then watched the video stopping between the
segments to take notes and talk with each other about what they were learning. These
class discussions were student directed and included students clarifying with each other
what the hostess was talking about and how it related. At the end of the video, they
then meet back together in pairs and talked about how their prior knowledge had or had
not changed. They then wrote their reflection paragraphs.
This video is essential to understanding the global perspective of exploration.
Based on the classroom activity, I would repeat the video but perhaps change the
activity. The activity required a lot of student direction in discussion. Based on the
grouping of the students, the success of the lesson alternated between groups. Some
groups were excited and thought the video was amazing. Others struggled because the
hostesss accent made it difficult for them to understand. Next time it is essential to put
closed captions on the video so those in the very back who struggled with the accent
could also read it. The other change would be instead of having them just write a
paragraph, I would have them create a second visual representative. This way my
students with IEPs would be able to engage the topic and not stress out about the
grammar of their paragraphs. The paragraphs of those students did not truly represent
what they learned or felt. When talking with them they were able to express in more
detail their opinion on the topic. After making a few alterations, this lesson could be
more successful in my classroom.