MAKING CONNECTIONS

I decided in September to devote time to making connections in every lesson this year. I am seeing the pay off now that we have passed the halfway point in the school year. It has become second nature to my students. After using explicit instruction and guided feedback again and again, my students finally achieved independence! Now they are posing questions to me and to each other as they discuss new material. For example, today we introduced the Frankish rulers and their alliance with the Pope. One of my students posed a question to class. He asked, "How does the Chinese concept of mandate of heaven compare to the Pope symbolically giving power to the Frankish ruler?" After some table discussions, another student asked, "How are our rulers blessed by others in positions of authority?" After a bit of discussion, another student remarked, "If the Franks had lost the Battle of Tours, everyone might be a Muslim and we might not have religious wars in the Middle East today." It is so refreshing to see the payoff from the hardwork and what seemed like a lot of redundancy.