Final Reflection...Bittersweet.

First of all, thank you Dr. Meier for a wonderful semester.   I will say I never had put too much thought about how I would teach Social Studies before this class, but now, you have given us so many tools and insights about how to make Social Studies exciting and get it back into the classroom more prominently.  Thank you!

                In my classroom, I want Social Studies to be a learning-centered and active learning environment.  Just like our class with Dr. Meier.  I want to enrich my classroom with Social Studies activities such as skits, hands on projects, comparisons of the real story and the “sugar coated” story of historical events, and have the students be up and participating, be “active” in their learning.  The academic discipline of Social Studies is so important for several reasons.  It is important for students to know where they have come from studying their own cultural knapsack, how to navigate themselves through geography, survive in the world of economics, how to understand the power of government, how to view time, continuity, and change through History, and how to become a responsible citizen through learning about civic ideals and practice.  How can Social Studies not be apart of mandatory curriculum?  It can’t!  Social Studies is so much more than just History, or just geography, we need to teach students “how to think” rather than “filling them up with facts.”  In quoting Amy Byington from class,  “Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day; teach a man to fish and he’ll eat for life.”  Social Studies is a inquiry course, in which, yes there are “concrete” facts, but there are ways to bring out History, that even a Historian might not have ever done.  Taking on historical figures in character, taking a Historical event and studying the “what ifs” and discovering of what could have happened, or taking a part of History and making it come alive to study an event even further.  It is OK to give the non-“sugar coated” events in History—it shows, quoting Randi DeLaune from class, that we have the dark times to have the good—we grow from our mistakes in History.  In my opinion, I would rather know the truth or even part of the truth—if events are too graphic for early learners—than to be deprived of the real History.  Even now at 22 years old, I am finding out, mainly through this course of Social Studies methods, that my teachers have essentially...lied!   I do not want my students 15 years later after I have had them, finding out these myths vs. facts stories and say, “You lied to me.”  It is never too early to teach Social Studies.  It can begin as simply as creating classroom procedures together; by the students taking ownership of their procedures rather than the classroom being a dictatorship. 

               

                As I have said in my classes before, we have to think about our students.  Even now.  If we teach for 30 years and we have, let’s say, 20 students a year…that is 600 students that we will have an influence on, and if we aren’t willing to stand up for each and every one of our students now, then what is the point?  My ultimate goal is to be that influence on each of my students, have them study their cultures to find out who they are and bring them out, have them study other cultures to be able to relate to one another, and have them create a community within the classroom, where we become a family...because with some students...this is the only family they will have.

                Thanks to my block family, this is has been one of the hardest, but the best semester of my college career.  This wouldn’t have been the family we have even if just one person wasn’t in our class.  Keep in touch and I wish every one well for student teaching and your future teaching careers!

History Comes to Life

I just loved Loved LOVED the living history museum that we did.  Yes, I was very nervous and wasn't sure about my performance and people come around to see me, but I learned so much.  I enjoyed even taking on the role as "Louisa May Alcott" and visiting others and their characters.  There were so many historical figures that I had never heard of and if I had, I totally did not know even half of the importance about them, or I totally had their story wrong.  Coming from a system where Social Studies was made up of reading for 15 minutes and answering questions for 15 minutes and that was Social Studies for the day/week, I sure learned a whole lot.  This will definitely be something I will implement in my classroom, not only for the students to learn about their own historical character, but to learn about their classmates' historical personalities as well.  And, I can guarantee, I will learn something too!

Extra! Extra! Read all about how the Pilgrims DIDN'T eat turkey on Thanksgiving!

Lies! Lies! Lies! All lies! I just cannot believe that here we have the truth in our hands...that I don't know, have been around for at least 400 years, and yet Social Studies textbooks are still publishing a "pretty picture."  What do these textbook authors think they are doing? "Let's just see how many people we can get to believe us."  Yes, I do know that there are some graphic things in history that maybe young students are not emotionally ready to here or read; however, COMPLETELY changing the story is, let's see..what's the word...LYING!  I knew some things about the "First Thanksgiving" that were not true in textbooks from an AP US History course I took in high school; however, I did not know about a lot of the story.  OK fine..I know that stories get around and one person says one thing and then 50 people repeat the same thing and add a little embellishment; however, what bothers me is that people KNOW that those story are not true, and yet, nothing is done about it?  I do feel mislead, but I am glad that we went over some of these "misconceptions", to put it lightly, so that my future students can know the truth and not just the "pretty picture" version.   

Post It!

Post it! Not post it online, but post it notes! I think what we did in class on Monday, November 15th, was a great way to get students questions answered and for them to make connections with their texts.  I can remember several instances, especially in a text that was enriched with history, where I would read a word or an event, and I would have no clue what the text was talking about.  Or, as I would read a book, I would wonder why isn't the character doing this, why IS he doing this?, how could that happen?, when did this happen?  With using the post it notes as students read, they can ask these questions, and not forget them after they complete the book or a section of the book.  I was never verbally taught to "think outloud", without literally thinking outloud.  I think teachers assume that students are always thinking or should be thinking.  Well yes, they are thinking, but probably not always about the task on hand.  This way, students can "think outloud" by using the post it notes and this is a way that will not distract others. 

Making connections is one of the most important thing a student can do.  Whether it be in math, English, social studies, science, etc.  Making connections to themselves, the world, to other texts, media, etc. students will be able to comprehend the book or text better!  Sharing these connections with one another is also a great way for students to expand their knowledge and even make connections with other students in relation to the text. 

So, post it!

Story Path...a journey within a classroom becoming an adventure!

I  must say that Story Paths will be used in my classroom.  I loved the way that Ms. Meier built our background knowledge of Mt. Everest.  I had seen the movie Vertical Limit before and knew what a dangerous task it is to climb mountains, but it is so much more than the movie.  She made it real and gave us a perspective of how it would be if we were to attempt to climb Mt. Everest.  Making it real and putting situations and parts of history in perspective is important and it makes it more personal to students when they do a story path.  They can get into characters and find solutions to real situations that were/are dealt with.  There are so many subjects that Story Paths can be done with, civil war situations, underground railroad, the depression, WWII, etc.  Or even the Mayflower Compact (Daphanie..).  This was a wonderful activity to view as a future teacher and to experience as a student; and this will definitely be implemented in my classroom.  

Geocaching and other adventures

So, I just want to say, it feels good not to be a muggle.  Geocaching can be a hobby, a family event, a classroom fieldtrip, and even in some ways a goal and a career.  As far as the classroom goes, what a perfect way to teach geography with latitude and longitude.  As mentioned in previous blogs, my memories of geography are watching movies about nonrelated issues, and if there were some connections to geography in the movies we watched, they were never discussed.  But, this is something interactive to do with children in your classroom.  Geography is much more than researching a part of the country or world and making a project to present.  Yes, research and projects have their place, but actually having a mission and being "in control" of learning is how a lot of students learn best.  This is something that I will definitely introduce in my future classroom and even do with my family!

The Original Video of Lilly: The World Map Master

Just wanted to post this on here! Love her!!

Schooling, Schooling, and more Schooling

School.  Oh how I wish that was all I had to do.  But alas, I have to have a job and I wouldn't change having a family for anything in the world!  But life is hectic right now with a bunch of emotions, issues, and well there is school to throw on top of that.  The one thing that makes me relax is Thursdays.  The day I do my observations at Kingsley Elementary School.  I love my 2nd graders and learning my from my mentor teacher.  I am just so blessed to have him as a mentor.  He wants me to be as involved as I can, he quotes the infamous Harry Wong, and tells me what and why he is doing as far as teaching strategies.  One thing he always tries to do is incorporate Social Studies into the school day.  Whether it is a full blown lesson or 5 minute talk about community or what is going on in the world.  Math and Reading is taken up by most of the day, along with a little bit of grammar and more Math and Reading.  I want to provide my future students with as much Social Studies as I can, even if it can only be a 5 minute discussion on "Today in History" or gas prices or community.  I feel like I was ripped off as far as being taught anything to do with Social Studies.  Yes, I remember the 3rd grade field trip to downtown to the police station and historical places, and the 8th grade trip to Washington D.C., and the endless study guides, in which I never remembered anything that was on them.  I really feel like this semester has given me more insight of how I can make Social Stuides more fun and interesting. 


An end to the ranting...just some thoughts that I've had and needed to vent a little, but everything eventually comes to an end..and all we have left to do is move forward!  Keep moving forward--a line from my favorite movie Meet the Robinsons--Walt Disney!

Geography...where are we?

When I was in high school, I took a geography course that consisted of memorizing the countries and their capitals.  We did about 10-20 countries a week.  Then, after we had completed that with a quiz everyday, adding 3-4 countries a day, we watched movies such as Remember the Titans about 3 times, Vertical Limit, and Shang Hi Noon (sp?).  Great movies for geography...however, all we did was watch them.  No discussion, no assignment, no activity...nothing.  This class was a complete example of how I will not be as a teacher. 

Geography isn't the most exciting of topics in Social Studies..but it can be exciting!  It is all in how you, as the teacher, make it!  Like we are doing class, the box city.  That is perfect for younger students to realize some of the components in geography that they can relate to.  So much more can be incorporated into studying geography such as different area's cultures, what the area looks like, feels like, and even smells like.  There are so many places in this world, and yes, knowing where they are located is important, but knowing more about the place and the components that make up that place, how to classify the place, what to look for and what to feel for is more important.  

In my class in high school, we went by continents when we studied the countries and their capitals, never their location in relation to the rest of the world.  I really couldn't tell you after that class where the Middle East was located or where exactly the countries were in relationship to the United States.  I do NOT want and will NOT let my students leave my classroom with the misconceptions or the importance about geography.

Videos!

To Be or Not to Be...Is that the question?

In our class on Monday, 10/04/2010, I enjoyed the plays we put on! Now, I am not good when it comes to getting up in front of classes...in front of children, not a problem...in front of peers, STAGE FRIGHT! I think there are few that can testify to this that were my storytelling class..mmhmm.  However, I think this is a great way for students to make History come to life and they will learn so much more than from reading the same story in a History book.  They will think, "Ok, Kathryn played Lord Greneville in the play..what did she do again?..Oh yeah! That was the character that..." That will help them on testing and other projects they would do.  I've got some videos of the other group doing the play on my phone that I will try to get up so we can have little snippets to remember. 

As Mrs. Meier and others said in class, definitely classes that we will be teaching will need more time to prepare for their performances.  Also, definitely give students that might not read as well or maybe shy (not that I know of anybody who is shy...) some parts with several reading lines so that they can practice and get more comfortable at being in front of their peers.

Woo! Great week in Social Studies..(That is what we want all OUR students to say, too!)

Speaking in a Critical Voice

When I think about Social Studies in my elementary school, middle school, and even in my AP U.S. History in high school, all I remember was worksheets.  I could count on every Monday in AP U.S. History we would have a study guide for a chapter, then Tuesday, he would go over the answers, Wednesday we had another study guide for the next chapter, then Thursday he would go over the answers, and then Friday would be a test.  Then, the pattern kept going. 

This article describes teachers with a lack of understanding, development, and/or use of critical voice.  "They did what they were told, what they had been taught, or what they themselves had experienced in their schooling."  I'm not saying worksheets and note taking aren't effective strategies, and is typically what has been done in the past, but not everyone learns that way.  In this article, none of the teachers spoke up to administrators, state officials, or school boards.  They wanted to play it safe and not cause a stir with new methods of teaching, thinking critically, or thinking outside the box. 

What better way of teaching Social Studies...interactive learning, analyzing different perspectives, or doing something fun, yet entertaining.  "Every teacher has to have a solid grasp of his assumptions about how people learn and how that translates into the kind of environment the teacher will provide."  "...if he [a teacher] doesn't know what his own beliefs are about teaching and learning, he shouldn't be teaching at all." 

Critical voice- taking the time to analyze directives, mandates, and messages from whatever the sources and then use that analysis to speak up about issues willingly and strongly to the power sources.  Don't have a critical voice? Learn to get one.

Community and a bite of cereal

So, I had this deep thought in Social Studies today as we were talking about how History repeats itself.  When I was snacking on Kim's cereal, I reflected more about the book we read today in class.  We said History repeats itself, why don't we learn from the past?  Some people view the events in the past such as World War II and the Jews, the concentration camps for Japanese Americans, and what we read about today, Native Americans being forced into "our" civilization; and these people "repeat" these type of events, because they believe that maybe this time it will give them power and that this worked in the past at another way of getting rid of or dewindling down another race or religious group.  This brings up the point of how community is so important.  I never thought about how important community is until this class.  I was always taught never to judge anyone no matter the color of their skin, their religion, their family background, etc.  But, I think some people think, "well I don't judge them, but that doesn't mean that I have to be friends with them."  To be honest, this is what I thought in some ways myself, not as harsh as it sounds, and I even had these thoughts toward people in my own community that I shared the same beliefs with and had similar background with.  Just because they were like me, did not mean I had to get to know them or even try to be friends with them.  But, just tolerating someone just because its what we think we have to do, doesn't make an effective community.  Understanding where people come from, who they are as people, what they believe, experiencing their culture, communicating, etc. makes a community function more successfully and the outcome is far greater.  This is a subject area that students need to be engaged in and everyone involved. 

Last semester, I really got into learning more about the Holocaust and Hitler.  I had read and learned about this time period in school, but did not really get a grasp of what happened until I read the book Upon the Head of the Goat.  I started thinking, Why didn't anyone stop it?  Why would someone do this?  What was their point?  Who did Hitler and his soliders think they were? I still do not know a lot about this time period, but just because Germany needed someone to blame their problems on, Hitler picked on the Jews and the gypsies and others.  Where was community in all this?  There was none, except very riged and separate communities, Jews and Anti-Jews.  Again, I still don't know why and what all truly happened during this time, but I feel like if people of different cultures, religious practices, race, etc. would enrich themselves with each other's way of life and experience what each experiences, then outcomes these history events might have been differently.

Community--being in one and acting like one, are two different things.  As teachers, teaching it and experiencing it, are two different things.  It can make a difference.

Black Ants and Buddhists

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the "Black Ants and Buddhists" article.  The teacher handled this situation amazingly.  If she had not let the students begin to work out the situation on their own, and had told Som Jet that it was okay in America to kill ants, or gotten angry, because of the situation, then the students and herself would have missed an incredible learning experience and meeting people from around the world.  After the incident had happened with Ben stomping on the ants and Sadie jumping up and down from a "black ant" bite, the teacher reminded them about their class rules (or we should say procedures) and asked them where would this apply.  This just reinforces how important it is to have these class procedures that the students and the teacher in collaboration come up with, so that they can easily refer back to these procedures and how to handle a situation.    

Look at all they learned.  They learned about diversity, not only about different views across the world, but the views of their fellow classmates that were present right their in their classroom.  The teacher did all she could to discover more about different views of Buddism, Hinduism, Isam, and others about what had happened in the classroom.  I loved the teachers thought mentioned in the article, "You could live your whole life, hanging with White Christian Americans, crushing ants and swatting mosiquitoes, thinking you were acting like everyone else on the planet, and you'd be wrong."

The students learned to take responsibility for themsevles by helping keep the classoom clean and remembering to take lunch boxes with food in them home.  Some of the students even took what they had learned from the classroom home, and started being more responsible there.

There are several more lessons that were learned; from diversity, personal responsibility, principle of guerrilla warfare, learning about power and government, and several other learning experiences, and this all happened from spilled juice and ants....

Just Because I Really Like This Song

Just wanted to post this music video below, because it is one of my favorites.  

We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day, so let's start giving

There's a choice we're making
We're saving our own lives
It's true, we can make a better day, just you and me 

We Are The World - Michael Jackson, Tina Turner, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ro...

First Day Jitters!

I actually found out about this book from Ms. Kasee Jones, but wanted to share with all of you if you have not read or seen this book.  The children's book, First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg illustrated by Judy Love, is an excellent book to read not only to children, but for ourselves!  I won't give away the ending, but this book follows the morning of someone's first day of school, in which, we all have or will experience as we enter the beginning of our teaching careers!

The Beginning

As future teachers, it is our jobs to be lifelong learners not only for ourselves, but for our future students and the lives of others we will encounter.  Life's a journey, we will be learning and teaching, no matter where we go or what we do or who we will meet.  My desire for this blog is to learn more of how to better myself as a learner and a teacher from other blogs, and hopefully, have a hand in teaching others with my own.  This is a journey we will be following together, maybe in different directions, but with the same goal and aspirations.  I look forward to reading everyone's posts and enjoying our experiences we will have through block and future teaching experiences together!