As we come to the start of winter break, we are nearly finished with the Mongols. Our trip to the Franklin Institute was very helpful to that study in several ways. The collection of artifacts made what our students had learned through their research more vivid. The captions on the exhibits confirmed and added to the things they had found in books and at websites.  We were able to add a very good book (about the exhibition) to our rather meager collection of resources, and students used it heavily to complete their teams’ presentations. There is a gallery of photos from the trip that Mark has put up on our class website, and I’ll try to add some others to this blog soon.

The research presentations were both informative and hilarious. Each team had to do some part of their sharing by means of a skit. Death and battle scenes were very dramatic. Having little in the way of props and costumes, our actors had to use their imaginations. At one point, we learned the fate of Genghis Khan’s sons as they were represented by 4 pencils on the floor. The illustration of men’s and women’s roles was a frozen scene of battle and housekeeping. The rest of the research was presented in several different ways. Two teams made posters, one group did a quiz, and two made crossword puzzles. By the end, all of us knew more about the Mongols.

We’ll complete this study during the week when we return. We’ll do some cooking. see a video of the Mongolian environment, and look at the way the Mongols are presented in a very old history textbook that we have. Has our view of the Mongols changed over 40 years or so? We’ll use that text for a similar comparison when we turn next to the foundations of Islam.

I hope everyone has a relaxing break and begins the new year with a feeling of joy and hope for the future.