Walking the Brooklyn Bridge
Patricia Hickey
CityTech CUNY
English 1101 and English 1112
Activity Description: Provide a brief description of the activity
The class as a groups walked across the Brooklyn Bridge. The class did some preliminary research about the Brooklyn Bridge’s history. The students paired up. One partner made voice comments while the other took photos. The pairs chose either people, scenery or bridge structure.
Learning Goals: What do you aim to achieve with this activity?
The goals are:
1. Everyone should experience walking over the iconic Brooklyn Bridge!
2. Students learn how to hone their power of observation.
3. Students put their experience into a solid coherent paragraph.
4. Students share their experiences with their classmates.
5. Everyone sees each other in a different light. This will help establish comradery.
Timing: At what point in the lesson or semester do you use this activity? How much classroom time do you devote to it? How much out-of-class time is expected?
In the Spring semester I did this mid semester for two reasons. Firstly, the warmer weather makes the walk easier. Secondly, a change of pace is good for the mid semester slump.
The entire lesson takes about a full class and a half time. We walked during the class time .I
Logistics: What preparation is needed for this activity? What instructions do you give students? Is the activity low-stakes, high-stakes, or something else?
There was no preparation for this activity, although I was concerned if someone felt they were not capable of walking the distance. All felt fine. Before walking we did some preliminary research about the Bridge.
This was a low stakes writing lesson.
Assessment: How do you assess this activity? What assessment measures do you use? Do you use a VALUE rubric? If not, how did you develop your rubric? Is your course part of the college-wide general education assessment initiative?
The only assessment was participation
Reflection: How well did this activity work in your classroom? Would you repeat it? Why or why not? What challenges did you encounter, and how did you address them? What, if anything, would you change? What did students seem to enjoy about the activity?
This experience was wonderful and I most certainly will repeat this. Everyone loved the activity and I had virtually no complaints. The students loved walking and chatting with their classmates and with me. They loved the views and the feeling that it was “their Bridge” and they were not tourists.
Additional Information: Please share any additional comments and further documentation of the activity – e.g. assignment instructions, rubrics, examples of student work, etc. These can be links to pages or posts on the OpenLab.
Please share a helpful link to a pages or post on the OpenLab