Ms. Brackett's Reflection
On April 17, 2013 I took a trip to the American Civil War Center at Tredegar Iron Works. When I first arrived I thought that the two buildings were the under the same management and included the same information, but learned that one was the Civil War Center and the other one was the iron works. While they are not the same thing, the two buildings do share school activities and will tour together as well as put on programs together for students. Since I have not had a lot of experience with upper grade levels until this semester I chose to do the Civil War Center because it covers the fourth grade SOL requirements. While I was at the center I talked with their education tour guide and gathered some information from him about the school programs that the museum offers. After my conversation with him I took a tour of the museum myself.
The museum definitely fulfilled the educational purposes that a fourth grade class would need to go on this field trip. The museum tour started with the year 1861 and continued into the reconstruction period. The museum was hands on by allowing children to lift up information tabs, watch short videos, and participate in activities. The museum is two stories, and covers a lot of information about the different armies fighting the war. My favorite part of the trip was the short video that the museum played. In the video room there were about fifteen televisions and seats that showed a short video narrated by a man in character. I think that the students would enjoy watching this video because it shows actual pictures and tells information in a creative manner.
One thing that I would make sure to do while planning this field trip would be to put the students in small groups before going to the museum. I would do this because I noticed that the museum was very quite and neat and I would want to make sure that my groups were a balanced mixture of students. I would also make sure to show my students the website of the museum so that they were familiar with the place and knew what to expect. I do not think that I would allow my students to eat lunch at the museum because the tours do not take a super long amount of time. There was such a large amount of information that the students could learn from this museum, I definitely would want to take a class on a field trip!
The museum definitely fulfilled the educational purposes that a fourth grade class would need to go on this field trip. The museum tour started with the year 1861 and continued into the reconstruction period. The museum was hands on by allowing children to lift up information tabs, watch short videos, and participate in activities. The museum is two stories, and covers a lot of information about the different armies fighting the war. My favorite part of the trip was the short video that the museum played. In the video room there were about fifteen televisions and seats that showed a short video narrated by a man in character. I think that the students would enjoy watching this video because it shows actual pictures and tells information in a creative manner.
One thing that I would make sure to do while planning this field trip would be to put the students in small groups before going to the museum. I would do this because I noticed that the museum was very quite and neat and I would want to make sure that my groups were a balanced mixture of students. I would also make sure to show my students the website of the museum so that they were familiar with the place and knew what to expect. I do not think that I would allow my students to eat lunch at the museum because the tours do not take a super long amount of time. There was such a large amount of information that the students could learn from this museum, I definitely would want to take a class on a field trip!