Today has been a good day. It isn't my usual Thursday though - which makes me a little sad. But it was still a good day. Usually my Thursdays are packed with 6 one-on-ones, U101 class, and some student judicial hearings. Today I only had 3 one-on-ones and my U101 class. But I still enjoyed every minute of it, especially class!
For U101, we went to the South Carolina State House for a tour. We met up in our classroom, walked down the street on this beautiful day, and had a 30 minute tour. I thought this was really great and a wonderful experience for my class. The first-years in this class are split - half are out-of-state and the other half are in-state. But those that are in-state are not really from around Columbia. Many were in awe of the beauty of the State House and they learned some interesting facts! I really loved that the tour guide asked around of what states they were from and then was able to connect some of them to the history of the State House or its surroundings.
After class, I spoke with my College Teaching professor. We have bi-weekly phone chats that last about 10 minutes on the ups and downs of teaching a college course (specifically U101). During my discussion I boasted about our class today and the opportunity we gave them. She then asked me a great question - how does that tie into your learning outcomes? I thought it was great that she asked this because it got me thinking of why this had been such a great idea. I tied it into our diversity aspect since the student are all from different places. I said that they were learning about the history of SC, Columbia, and USC, and I said that this was important to get to know information about the place they will now start to call home! This history is probably different than the history of their home-state and the history explained from a SC stand point is different than that they may hear if they are from a different part of the country.
I wanted to share this experience so that anyone could create this experience for their U101 class too!
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