Interview with Life Long Resident of Bay Ridge, J. Fitzgerald
One of the main goals in the world of education today is to enhance the skill of metacognition, or be aware of one's thinking process. This is a skill that teachers are to help students to grasp, as it can be very helpful in self-awareness in the learning process as well as general classroom setting. When students practice metacognition, it can help them understand content material in a better way (I know this is the answer because ... or I got this question wrong because I did this instead of that). By practicing metacognition, students are more aware of their strengths and weaknesses, and can better help themselves to improve on their academic work and understandings.
A great activity to explore metacognition would be to have students interview others. This can be through almost any discipline area, especially the history discipline. By having students interview actual participants and witnesses to historical events, it can help broaden their understanding of the event, as well as humanizing the experience by actually talking to the person. The act of an interview is also very helpful as students have to prepare for the interview, as stated in the Edtopia article,
"Interviewing requires students to listen, focus, think on their feet, and react appropriately to what the other person says. When students plan for an interview, they need to assess what they don’t know—a metacognitive skill—and learn a lot about the interview subject "
When students have to focus on what they don't know, it allows for self reflection and the student is able to think and plan out the best way to find their answer. This skill set is crucial for students as it will prepare them for the real world, where they will have to think on their feet, and self reflect on how to improve their situation from a college and career standpoint.
In looking at local history, there is often a lack of physical evidence or resources to examine. A great way to combat that issue is to talk to actual members of the community and gather their stories. The information they share are not things that will be noted in textbooks, and often times will end with the individual. Humans are one of the most significant resources when looking at local history, and it is vital that they are utilized! In doing this project, I was able to interview my grandfather, who was born and raised in Bay Ridge. From growing up in the same house, it was so great to compare the experiences of the past to the present, and hear what it was like to grow up in Bay Ridge.
In looking at local history, there is often a lack of physical evidence or resources to examine. A great way to combat that issue is to talk to actual members of the community and gather their stories. The information they share are not things that will be noted in textbooks, and often times will end with the individual. Humans are one of the most significant resources when looking at local history, and it is vital that they are utilized! In doing this project, I was able to interview my grandfather, who was born and raised in Bay Ridge. From growing up in the same house, it was so great to compare the experiences of the past to the present, and hear what it was like to grow up in Bay Ridge. In doing this project, I recognized the value of speaking to those who actually experienced the historical event or time period.Please access the Interview with J. Fitzgerald here.
In this conversation, live-long resident of Bay Ridge Joe Fitzgerald talks about growing up in the neighborhood. Fitzgerald also talks about his family and life experiences that tie into the neighborhood. The interviewers, Maeve and Michael currently live in the house that Joe Fitzgerald grew up in. This conversation helps tie the past to the present, while also touching on some interesting points of history throughout the 20th century.
The image above is the house that both my grandfather and I grew up in. When shown the image, there was a lot of emotion for my grandfather, as this is what his house was like when he lived there (there have been quite a few changes and additions to the front of the house). What he describes in the interview after seeing the image above was how the ring around the tree in the front of the house was actually a tar/glue ring to help stop the massive amount of caterpillars from coming down the trees and infesting the houses. That is something you would not be able to read in a text book!
It was a very heartwarming conversation, and truly a unique and rare resource.
Sources from this post are
Comments
Post a Comment