An Education Student in the Anthropology Lab (Guest post by Kaitlyn Gilfillian)

Today's post is by graduating History/Classics/Education student Kaitlyn Gilfillian. I've had the pleasure of teaching Kaitlyn in several classes and working closely with her on Lux stuff. She is a true model of what University of Winnipeg students can accomplish and how they contribute to their communities (she's also a busy volunteer in addition to her studies). She will be an excellent teacher and we all can't wait to see what she'll accomplish at the head of her own classroom! Congratulations on your graduation, Kaitlyn!

I started volunteering for the Lux Project from the beginning because I was excited to see our collection in the anthropology lab. From the very beginning Dr. Funke talked about the possibility of creating curriculum and worksheets for the project to make it more accessible for school-aged children and to make our research more accessible to the public. At this time, I was in my fourth year of five in the education program at the university. This seemed like the perfect opportunity for me to use my classics and history BA and combine it with my education degree.

Kaitlyn (3rd from left) hard at work in the lab

As a little kid I had dreamed of being an archaeologist/professor like Indiana Jones. As I got older my passion for history grew and after taking my first classics course in my first year of university, so did my love of classics. Being in the lab was an opportunity to make this dream come true, and to apply my knowledge in practical ways. I have always felt honoured to just be able to hold the objects and be a part of something innovative.

As an educator, I am always looking for ways to make history come alive to my students. I had amazing history teachers in high school, but I know many people had different experiences. I have never wanted my students to think history was boring, or that history did not include them. At the beginning of all my units I ask my students what they want to know over the course of the unit and any questions they might have about the unit. This provided me valuable feedback and gives me a chance to provide lessons where possible that my students will be interested in/relate to.

Making these worksheets for the lamps and shabtis seemed the perfect way to make history more interactive and to share the resources we are lucky to have at the university. The first thing that I did was research. I looked back on the notes I had regarding the lamps and shabtis and then did some additional research to make sure the activities I was coming up with for students was accurate. Dr. Funke and I had spent a lot of time this year discussing some main themes and going over the Manitoba curriculum for grade three and grade eight social studies to find connections. Symbols were something that stood out to us both. We often do not realize how many symbols surround us in our daily life, and it was no different for people in the ancient world. Many of the lamps had symbols carved into them that related to that person’s daily life or religion, or the region they lived in.

I wanted to create worksheets for different age groups, so more students are included, especially during this period of staying at home and homeschooling. For older students we came up with the idea of a research project, and using the shabtis as a guide, focused on the ancient Egyptian afterlife. Egypt is a very memorable unit for most students, and being able to use the shabtis I believe brought this to another level.

My hope as an educator is through the Lux Project to promote an interest in classics and history and to bring these objects to life. It helps us to understand the past when we can relate to it. Using an object, like a lamp, allows us to seem how similar we can be to people from another time and place.

If you're interested in the worksheets that Kaitlyn has created, you can find them at https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/classics/the-lux-project.html.