Ed Cafe Wrap Up

The Edcafe was certainly an interesting experience and the first time I have ever done an activity like it at school. It was a different way to learn the material that was taught, giving more emphasis on student interaction which kept the lectures more interesting even if the topics themselves were not. Also, the level of interactivity was raised which allowed students to have an input on how they were receiving the material, which allowed students to acquire the essential components of each lesson without having to deal with any excess information that may not be useful. My first lecture that i attended dealt with the relationship slaves had with their masters. I was able to take away from the lecture that each slave owners relationship with their slave was depending on the slave owners personal morals and how he wanted himself to be viewed by both the slaves and the other people around him. Some used fear and harsh punishment to drive their slaves and keep them from acting up, lest they wish to endure the pain and agony of whatever punishment the master would want to use. Others kept good relationships with their slaves, treating them with more respect which kept them from running away as they felt that they had no need to. The second lecture I attended was centered around the emotional toll that wanes on slaves and their families when they are forced into slavery. It was especially hard on some families as they could easily be separated and sold to different masters, tearing mothers from children and wives from husbands. This made some slaves more resentful to their masters for not trying to keep the family together, increasing the chance that they run and try to reconnect with their lost family. The pain of losing a family also gave slaves new drive, making it so they never stop trying to pursue freedom, even if they had to risk their own lives just so they could see their family again and be together with them. The lecture that i ran with my partner was also on slave relations with their masters and went reasonably well. The only inconvenience was that we only had one other student to lecture with, making it harder to pool more information together. It was somewhat beneficial, however, because it allowed all three of us to remain active in the discussing and kept us on topic, which was somewhat harder in the larger groups. To summarize, the edcafe seemed like a success to most students and introduced a more interesting and innovative way to teach students and kept students more involved in the subject matter.