I believe deep play to be an actual state of mind that one is in that allows him/her a certain level of freedom to create something new.
Whenever the Holocaust is introduced the focus is on WHAT the horrors were, the murders, the evil. But for students to truly understand HOW those horrors, murders & evil occurred they have to understand WHY Adolf Hitler was even in a position to commit these acts in the first place. This introduction is playful because it focuses on something different, it focuses on the HOW, the WHY rather than the WHAT. I was able to take something standard, a simple introduction to an involved topic and change the game.
In this introduction I purposely play on my students emotions, pushing them to empathize with an experience. Understanding emotions is how you can begin to understand a population of Germans believing in and conforming to Adolf Hitler’s ideas. This is one of the most engaging pieces I’ve created throughout the course, as it should be. An introduction is meant to capture students attention and I think this will do just that.
There is also a lot of TRUTH in what I say and show in this video and that makes it a very meaningful activity. Something I haven’t talked a lot about is the potential for students to think this conversation regarding the nazi buy-in isn’t as important as what actually happened. They might see it as a fluff, as ridiculous to think we should feel any sort of sympathy or empathy for the German people. If I can get my students to understand the reality of the situation in Germany then I think they can walk away from this unit learning more than they or I could have even imagined. If this introductory video serves as a part of that, then how could it not be meaningful.
In a way I am surprised that “play” came last in our modules and in Sparks of Genius. I say this because I feel as though “play” applies to everything we have been doing in this course this semester. We have put ourselves in this state of mind that allows us to have “breakthrough discoveries and insights”. I’ve found ways to portray ideas in ways that I never would have thought possible, I’m in a playful state of mind every time I sit down to work on an assignment. I always feel a sense of freedom even when there are certain rules & requirements to the assignment.
I wanted to create something that captured the essence of what I have been doing throughout the course of the semester. At the end of the day the conversation about the Nazi buy-in, is a conversation about emotions. So how do I get my students into a state of mind where they can empathize with those emotions while at the same time questioning the road we are about to take. There is no doubt that students will be curious about the idea of Germans seeing hope in Adolf Hitler and that is right where I want them to be as we begin the unit.
This introductory activity isn’t necessarily an “activity” however I think it still does its job in not only easing students into the topic at hand but getting students to think. And I can easily break the video down into sections and create a reflection along the way so it doesn’t JUST become something students view, but rather something students experience.
Whenever the Holocaust is introduced the focus is on WHAT the horrors were, the murders, the evil. But for students to truly understand HOW those horrors, murders & evil occurred they have to understand WHY Adolf Hitler was even in a position to commit these acts in the first place. This introduction is playful because it focuses on something different, it focuses on the HOW, the WHY rather than the WHAT. I was able to take something standard, a simple introduction to an involved topic and change the game.
In this introduction I purposely play on my students emotions, pushing them to empathize with an experience. Understanding emotions is how you can begin to understand a population of Germans believing in and conforming to Adolf Hitler’s ideas. This is one of the most engaging pieces I’ve created throughout the course, as it should be. An introduction is meant to capture students attention and I think this will do just that.
There is also a lot of TRUTH in what I say and show in this video and that makes it a very meaningful activity. Something I haven’t talked a lot about is the potential for students to think this conversation regarding the nazi buy-in isn’t as important as what actually happened. They might see it as a fluff, as ridiculous to think we should feel any sort of sympathy or empathy for the German people. If I can get my students to understand the reality of the situation in Germany then I think they can walk away from this unit learning more than they or I could have even imagined. If this introductory video serves as a part of that, then how could it not be meaningful.
In a way I am surprised that “play” came last in our modules and in Sparks of Genius. I say this because I feel as though “play” applies to everything we have been doing in this course this semester. We have put ourselves in this state of mind that allows us to have “breakthrough discoveries and insights”. I’ve found ways to portray ideas in ways that I never would have thought possible, I’m in a playful state of mind every time I sit down to work on an assignment. I always feel a sense of freedom even when there are certain rules & requirements to the assignment.
I wanted to create something that captured the essence of what I have been doing throughout the course of the semester. At the end of the day the conversation about the Nazi buy-in, is a conversation about emotions. So how do I get my students into a state of mind where they can empathize with those emotions while at the same time questioning the road we are about to take. There is no doubt that students will be curious about the idea of Germans seeing hope in Adolf Hitler and that is right where I want them to be as we begin the unit.
This introductory activity isn’t necessarily an “activity” however I think it still does its job in not only easing students into the topic at hand but getting students to think. And I can easily break the video down into sections and create a reflection along the way so it doesn’t JUST become something students view, but rather something students experience.