Previous experiences I had in other schools I have always tried to come up with something new that I never tried, that was innovative and unique, that at the same time got the content to the students. I always wanted to make sure they were understanding the work and realized you need to change the lessons to make them more involved for them to succeed. In my previous field experiences I never attempted a jigsaw activity, but when the time came when I had to teach the English colonies (New England, Middle and Southern) I figured it was the best time to try it out. The students were engaged in the activity because they were in groups for a period of time but also had them problem solve collaboratively. They had to figure out 1) how to find information in the textbook and 2) what to do if the information was not in the textbook, where to refer too for the answer. This lesson went very well, and for my first time issuing this lesson the students behaved great and really were having fun and most importantly getting the information in a different way.

When thinking up an activity for my students to get them to understand the Muslim and African exchange of gold for salt in the 1500s I didn't find much information. No internet source, colleague or student at my University really had any ideas how to show and get their students to understand this complicated process. So I had to come up with something from scratch. I would divide the class up into groups of 4s, two of the students would be Muslim traders, the other two were African salt miners, it was the students job to get the "best deal possible" without talking. Reason for not talking is because of the language barrier between these two groups, they had to figure out what was more valuable at the time (salt) and tried to get s much of it as possible. Once the students finished one "trip" they rotated to another group where they tried doing the same thing. I thought it was a unique lesson because i'm not familiar of any other activity pertaining to this topic or done in this way. The students enjoyed the activity, albeit they were a little confused at first about the point of the activity but when I wrapped it up they began understanding much better. This was a unique and innovative way to get the content to them while challenging them to think from a different persons perspective and put themselves in that particular time period.