91 Postcolonial Lesson Plan
Joshua Gammel
I always viewed postcolonialism as hard to learn, but once you understand the basics then learning the more complex parts is easier. This lesson is very student-oriented, meaning there is little input from the teacher and the students learn from each other the most. This lesson plan has two critical set-ups before you can teach it. The students must have some basic idea of what postcolonialism is, and have read “The Angel of Progress” (pp. 1185-1196 in the Rivkin/Ryan anthology) before teaching the lesson. After the students have completed the first two steps, then they are in prime position to understand and learn from this lesson.
The way this lesson works is by having three components; the opening prompt, the main chart, and closing prompt. The opening is very simple, the students must answer one of the two questions; “What defines a country as postcolonial?” or “Why is learning about postcolonialism important?” Now obviously you can pick different questions, but the main reason to ask a simple question like this is to get people’s brain thinking about postcolonialism with a simple question, while making some easy material for people to talk about. Having such vague questions will also let students that may not remember the material to get a quick refresher before diving into the main part of the lesson: the chart.
The chart is the meat and potatoes of the lesson because it will take the most time to complete, you have to dive deep into the reading, and will have students go over the more complex parts of postcolonialism. The chart aims to explain concepts like parallel history, masculine militarism, Imperialism, binary opposition, and more by having three different groups of students find quotes from reading and having them explain it in their own words while the teachers walk around to help any group that may be struggling. Now you don’t have to set up your chart like this, but our group’s chart ended up looking like this:
| Term
Group 1 |
Parallel History
Pg 1185-1186 |
Masculine Militarism
Pg 1191-92, 1195 |
European Time
Top pg 1187 |
| Find a quote from the reading involving the term. |
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| How does Anne McClintock use the term in her essay? |
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| Define the term in your own words. |
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| Do you agree with this idea/ definition. Why or why not? |
| Term
Group 2 |
Progress
Pg 1186, 1192, mid 1194 |
Imperialism
Pg 1186-87 |
Post
Btm pg 1192 |
| Find a quote from the reading involving the term |
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| How does Anne McClintock use the term in her essay? |
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| Define the term in your own words |
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| Do you agree with this idea/ definition. Why or why not? |
| Term
Group 3 |
Binary Opposition
Btm 1186 |
Colonialism
Pg 1188-89 |
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| Find a quote from the reading involving the term |
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| How does Anne McClintock use the term in her essay? |
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| Define the term in your own words |
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| Do you agree with this idea/ definition. Why or why not? |
This chart is very effective a