Reflection #3

During my elementary school and secondary education I experienced the contribution approach and additive approach of teaching.

I attended a Catholic elementary and secondary school and we celebrated and studied ethnic heroes of Black history month and Hispanic history month. We wrote essays on the different Black heroes and we also experience their culture, food and music. I had to write an essay on Martin Luther King and I learned about his struggle and dream for equality. During our Hispanic history month we did essays on the different explorers and heroes, we performed dances, and even had a beauty contest and I was Miss Venezuela. We also experienced the different foods of the Hispanics; all the students had to bring in a dish from a Latin country.

Since it was a Catholic school we learned, celebrated and experienced our holy days and all the holidays of the Catholic faith with the additive approach of teaching. We held masses and had special performances for Thanksgiving, Christmas and Good Friday.

My history teacher used the additive approach teaching method. We had several weeks of different historical events and countries. The most memorable ones were the Holocaust, French week, Italian week Pearl Harbor week. During the Holocaust week we saw movies, had an actual holocaust survivor come and speak to our class, we visited the Holocaust memorial in Miami Beach. During French and Italian week we experienced their food, music and culture. We had to perform plays and we recreated a French Café scene.

If I had to go back to Elementary and secondary school I would not change the two approaches that my teachers used. They really worked for me and my style of learning.