New World Disconnect

This week I came face to face with a huge generation gap while teaching the Columbian Exchange. 

The plan:

Have the students draw a picture of their favorite meal.

Label a map with Old World and New World foods.

Decide whether or not this favorite meal could have been enjoyed in 1491, before the Europeans arrived in the New World with their cows and pigs and wheat and tea and what have you.

What actually happened:

I taught what I thought was a very clear lesson and. . . .

they didn't get it. I mean really.

I stood them in different parts of the classroom.

"You have no connection to each other!" I said.

"No phones!"

"No transportation!"

"No internets!"

"No Facebook!"

"For Pete's Sake, no snail mail."

Finally they showed some indication they could describe this odd world--one composed of places existing in complete, utter isolation from each other--but the looks on their faces were. . .doubtful. Surely their teacher spoke of a fictional world rather than one which actually existed. No phones? Really? Really? They finally got tired of me and wrote the "correct" description of the Columbian Exchange on their exit ticket assessment. 90% correct demonstration of "learning." Lesson taught. Objective met. Material "covered." Onto colonization. Whatever you say, Mrs. Van.  

Four thoughts:

Thought #1: Why is this not good enough for me?

Thought #2: Because I have just been humored. They don't really believe me--I am INeffective.

Thought #3: These people have not been read to.

Thought #4: I am old as New World dirt.

Re-teaching alternatives:

Maybe I could create an awesome WebQuest version.
I could make a Powerpoint with a lot of animated visual aids.

Or a completely experiential lesson where we prepare actual meals and pass around a vial of small pox.

Clearly I need to step up my game and meet them where they are, I thought.

A Lamentation:  

I went home and lamented my conflicted relationship with technological progress. This included the removal of my own children from their electronics. Then I thought of a decidedly "Old World" teaching tool. The tool I rely on when all else fails--and was a fool not to use in the first place. In other words, I came to the same conclusion most lamenting brings me to:

Yep, this calls for a story.

As the students might say, "Well, duh."

To be continued. . . .