Egypt + Humanities

Written by Guest Blogger & Saklan Project Curriculum Instructional Coach and 6th grade Humanities Teacher, Linda Lathrop

If you read the blog post from Saklan Science Specialist, Vickie Obenchain, on September 13th, or followed along with our adventures via Instagram, you know a bit about our 2 weeks exploring Egypt with the help of an excellent Egyptologist. The goal of our trip was to soak in as much information as possible and bring our experiences back to enrich classroom curriculum. 

Back at Saklan it was a pleasure watching the 8th graders apply knowledge from our hot air balloon trip over Luxor to their hot air balloon experiments in science. I know Vickie is looking forward to sharing all about camel adaptations with the 2nd graders during their animal adaptations PBL unit, and I even recently shared with 7th grade a presentation on the Library of Alexandria as part of their Community Spaces PBL unit too!

However, I can’t help but be most excited about how our trip informs the 6th grade humanities PBL unit: Artifact or Art Opinion. 

In this unit we explore the driving question, “Who does art really belong to?” To kick off our unit we imagine ourselves at the Met Gala of 2018. Believe it or not, a viral photo from that event helped uncover that the Met paid nearly $4 million dollars for a looted Egyptian artifact- the golden coffin of a high priest named Nedjemankh. 

In sixth grade over the next 7 weeks we will dive into researching specific Egyptian artifacts held outside of Egypt, explore the arguments for and against repatriation of artifacts, and learn directly from archaeologists and museum experts. In the end students will have developed arguments for how they believe the driving question is best answered- stay tuned! 

Thanks to our incredible summer experience in Egypt, this year students will get to expand upon the resources I have used in previous iterations of this PBL unit. I’ll be able to share my photos of ancient temples and tombs that speak directly to their classroom research, as well as video clips with mini lectures from our Egyptologist, to enrich the PBL experience. 

One additional highlight of the trip was visiting an after school program called the Funtasia Project in Luxor. A handful of these programs exist around the world and are designed to engage students in project work after school. This particular site in Luxor also collaborates with local schools and teachers to extend project learning into the academic day. We met with the leaders of the organization, as well as some students who took us on a bike tour through the neighborhood and later shared about the impact the program has had on their lives and educational experience. It was fascinating to learn that across an ocean and thousands of miles, there are students working to build their collaboration, communication, and complex thinking skills through project work, just like we are doing here at Saklan. 

It is hard to put into words all the ways witnessing these incredible historic sites has impacted what we can bring back to Saklan students. I remain humbled by the opportunity to attend this professional development trip and look forward to continued opportunities to weave our learning into Saklan units. 

Saklan Projects!

To learn more about project work at Saklan please join us for Saklan Projects! on Tuesday, October 22 at 6:00 p.m. This virtual presentation is for current and prospective families! During the event you will hear more about how teachers design projects to address learning goals and maintain academic rigor while providing immersive, joyful learning experiences for your children. RSVP today to receive the event link!

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