Sandra Nascimento has always been interested in her family history. While she’s currently an English and science co-teacher at Nimitz Middle School, the transition to online teaching presented her with the opportunity to teach her dream class, genealogy. Nascimento hopes this inspires her students to dive into their own history.
“Kids have a hard time with history and listening to adults talk about way back when,” said Nascimento. “Finding stories about their relatives helps them to relate to different times in history.”
Nascimento is teaching genealogy twice a week over Zoom, which allows her to connect with the students over their findings. They’re challenged to piece their family tree together by scouring the internet and interviewing relatives.
“Since they are glued to home, they can call grandparents, have conversations with parents, aunts, uncles and connect with people beyond the cellphone,” said Nascimento. “It also takes quite a bit of sleuthing on the internet to find the right people who are really related to us.”
While this class isn’t typically offered in a classroom setting, teachers have been encouraged to find creative ways to connect with students through distance learning. For Nascimento, that means combining two of her favorite things – teaching and genealogy.
If your student is interested in learning more about their family tree, email snasci@neisd.net for more information.
