Friday, July 9, 2010
2nd class - July 9
Talking about democracy gave me a really good idea for a lesson for anybody teaching civics, history, or English. It would be really cool to look at the history of democracy/the language that we use to talk about democracy. A lot of our language for government comes from French/Latin and was introduced after the battle of Hastings by William the Conqueror's government. However, the Saxons had/were practicing a lot of the ideals that we associate with democracy today. I'd be surprised if some of the electronic sources we talked about didn't have info. on this stuff. - Just thought I'd throw the idea out there for anyone who's interested.
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That's a really interesting plan and a really cool way to learn about the intersection of history and language (how each influences our perception of the other). This also reminds me of Eric Foner's book "The Story of American Freedom." He looks at what that word has meant over different periods of American history. It's amazing that we all know the word but, even within one given time period, use it in a completely different sense.
ReplyDeleteI would also be interested in learning how much of our language that we use in government and in the law originate from the Greek and Roman systems that we fancy ourselves off of. I can think of a few phrases (Habeus Corpus) off the top of my head that I know we use that come from Latin. Perhaps we can ask either Monte of Julia about that, keep their Latin wits sharp.
ReplyDeleteComparing, contrasting, and classifying would all help students go beyond factual recall and into deeper understanding. Go for it!
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