On Tuesday afternoon, I made the walk around Fairmount Circle and up to Hathaway Brown to observe Mr. Hoffman's US History class. While I only spent one hour at the school, what I observed in his class was well worth the walk.
To begin the typical history class one would expect perhaps a review of topics previously discussed, or the context in which the next section of the course takes place; not in Mr. Hoffman's class! Rather the girls started by marching around the table to the tune of a popular jazz song; an all but alien practice to Mr. Hoffman's students. This ultimately livened up the atmosphere, and got the girls excited for class.
The discussion that followed centered mainly around current events of the last week. Any student that was so inclined was asked to share a current event so that the rest of the class could have a meaningful discussion about the topic. A range of current events from Donald Trump to police brutality were shared, and the conversations pertaining to each one left me absolutely shocked. These juniors in high school were able to make connections to other news stories, to historical happenings, and to the political scope of the event. What aided significantly in the coherent flow of the conversation was the extent of Mr. Hoffman's knowledge on the events being discussed. He was able to inject certain facts or opinions into the conversation in order to stimulate responses from the girls.
Later in class the focus shifted from current events to a discussion of working in the United States, to a PowerPoint on American Nationalism. Mr. Hoffman progressed through the slides in a typical fashion, but always made sure to stop and ask/answer questions pertinent to the information. He also made sure to stop at appropriate times to elaborate and develop ideas that may have been somewhat difficult for students to understand. The craft displayed by Mr. Hoffman is certainly one that I wish to integrate into my own future style.
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