Its hard to believe its the end of the term and my final free inquiry blog post! I’ve definitely learned a lot these past few weeks, and my interest in the topic has only gotten stronger. I also feel that I have a much deeper appreciation for the rich and complex history behind tattoos. I’ve mentioned this in some of my previous blog posts, but this is a huge topic that I’ve barely scratched the surface of.
Here is a little Tik tok looking into early tattoo culture as it developed in the United States which I didn’t get a chance to cover in my inquiry. This would have been my next blog post if I had more time.
It was interesting because at the beginning of my inquiry process I was very focused on only looking at academic resources, but as the weeks went on I got more comfortable using other resources. I especially had a great time looking through TikToks and YouTube videos to find information. It was great to step out of my comfort zone for sources of information, since my degree was in History doing academic research is what I was most comfortable doing so this was a nice change of pace.
I really enjoyed exploring the history of tattoos in other cultures and countries. I felt like I learned so much from my research and I am still wanting to learn more. It was also a good opportunity to reflect on my interactions with tattoo culture as a settler. Learning about all the different techniques for tattooing was also very interesting and something I would have liked to look into more if I had the time.
I also found the WordPress format really easy to use. I actually enjoyed having a weekly topic to research and reflect upon and found WordPress great to facilitate that. I can definitely see myself using this in my future teaching practice. I’m thinking of hopefully teaching middle school levels, and I think this would be great to use for an inquiry project or a summative project for a unit. I think it is easy to use and has a lot of potential for creating an interesting and interactive blog. I wish that I had more time to focus making my bog more personalized and creative, but I had a hard time balancing this with other coursework. However, if I used this with a middle school class over as a longer project I can see how creative and interesting they could make their blogs. I could possibly see using mine as an example blog for an older middle school class, but at the same time I could also see some parents not approving if they are not fans of tattoos.
Overall I learned so much about tattoos and the history behind them and I am really glad I choose this as my topic. I initially had some doubts, but once I got into it I had no regrets. I really enjoyed this project and I can’t wait to use all that I have learned in this class in my career as a teacher.
