The Beauty of Teaching

     Last week was the final week of our spring semester and it was bittersweet. Social Studies methods seemed so very hard and I thought it was going to be impossible to make it through, but I did. I learned a lot of valuable teaching lessons and I feel that I grew as a person as well. 

     The course outcomes were, in a summarization, to be able to teach different aspects of Social Studies through different types of teaching skills. I feel that these skills, inquiry and cooperative learning, were definitely developed and mastered throughout the course of the semester. Also, I enjoyed learning about the different aspects of Social Studies. Before this class I was not very confident in teaching Social Studies, now I feel I could just teach Social Studies. I also feel that Social Studies is such a fun topic now. I really loved all of the topics that we covered in class and the different aspects of Social Studies. Another course outcome that I am extremely excited about is the edTPA course outcome. I felt that this was unnecessary originally; however, I am excited to have had an advantage among other students who not done this practice edTPA. Overall, I feel I learning a lot from this course.

     My unit plan was very tedious but, again, I feel this was very helpful in teaching me more about education itself. My unit plan design starts with my three main lessons on the three Native American tribes: The Pueblo, Sioux, and Powhatan. These tribes then moved into my last lesson, the artifact bag. I completed my artifact bag on the Pueblo tribe. The fourth lesson plan was a little different, and focused on strong women. Also referred to as “Women in History.” This can tie into the rest of my unit plan because it has to do with history, and in our lessons we touched on an important woman from those three Native American tribes. I enjoyed putting together this lesson plan because all of my topics were interesting. I loved the “Women in History”  lesson the most. 

     Fieldwork was a huge part of this Social Studies methods class. I feel that I grew from working with a whole class versus small groups. I actually preferred to work with the whole class because I feel it is more realistic to what teaching is going to be. Also, by working with students on so many different academic and social levels I was able to gain experience with all of them. I also enjoyed our cooperating teacher, Ms. Pozzulo. She was helpful in showing us what we should use. I really enjoyed fieldwork this semester and I am excited to see where the students go. 

      Overall, I den say that I am coming out of this class more informed. I am also better prepared to teach students of the future. I would like to say thank you to Dr. Smirnova because without her, I wouldn’t have made it through this semester. She was always understanding and was very helpful when I asked questions. I wish the best to everyone from Social Studies Methods Spring 2016.

I GOT THE JOB

     Mock interview day was today, and wow. I think that these mock interview with administrators were extremely beneficial. They gave the interviewees an insight into the world of getting a job in a school. I really loved this experience, because all of the administrators had great questions that would definitely show up in a real interview.

     All of the administrators, Erin, Mallory, Emily, and Melissa, came to the groups with their a-game. I thoroughly enjoyed talking to them. To start off, I was interviewed in a group by Melissa. She was the administrator for direct instruction school. My favorite question from Melissa was about the house. There are three levels, the foundation, walls, and the roof, and she asked our group to choose which goes on top and which goes elsewhere. I said that the foundation was standards because standards are the base of all our lessons. Next, I said that I would put assessment and lessons were the walls because they are the base of all teaching which is: learning. I answered that learning would be the roof because it is within learning that all of these others aspects come. The second administrator, Emily, came to my group next. Emily was very insightful and her focus was cooperative learning. She asked a question about what color do we think we would choose to represent cooperative learning. I felt this was a great question because everyone has their own opinions and they gave great, descriptive answers. The third administrator for our mock trial day was Mallory. Mallory was focused on using inquiry skills within her school. There was not a question that she asked that I felt was an outstanding question. She was very polite. The final interviewer that we had was Erin. Erin focused on the cooperative learning process. I do not remember the exact question she asked, but it had something to do with a type of learning. I felt that her handshake in the beginning was also very formal and realistic. I really enjoyed her interview. 

     Overall, I ended up getting the job out of my group members. This was exciting, although not a real interview. I enjoyed this experience and the things we worked on. 

The Pueblo Stopped By!

   During the week of learning to teach History, we completed an artifact bad project. This project was based a topic of our choice that relates to the topics of our Unit Plan. I completed my artifact bag on the Pueblo tribe! I choose to do my Artifact Bag on the Pueblo tribe because I completed three other less plans on their tribe and I find them very interesting. 
     Overall, history concepts and skills are being developed through this process because the students are working on different inquiry skills. Inquiry skills that are being worked on are questioning, investigation, and deeper/critical thinking skills. Before this project I felt that I was generally knowledgable in history; however, after this project I feel that I have been able to gain a deeper understanding of pedagogical knowledge. Content knowledge, specifically, has developed through this project because the students are able to learn about different parts of history through the different articles. This project also allowed us to develop pedagogical knowledge because by practicing this in the class as the students, we as teacher candidates, can better serve the students because we know the inquiry process in and out.

     For grade one I will adapt this project by splitting the students into one or two groups to show them a teacher made artifact bag. I would make this adaptation because the students are still completing the steps of the inquiry process without getting distracted by the bags, tissue paper, and items. For third grade, I would adapt this project by having the teacher make the artifact bags, but the students will be split into small groups of four or five. Also, roles will be assigned to each students and there will be a checklist to keep all of the students on track. I would make these adaptations because the students are reaching the maturity of being able to work on projects with groups. I would do the same for fourth grade. For fifth and sixth grade students I would allow them to choose from a list of events in history to do an artifact bag on. I would still use roles and checklists to keep the students on track. State standards that this project will be meeting are: develop questions about the world in which we live that can be answered by gathering, interpreting and using evidence and identify arguments or opinions of others with support.

     Generalizations will be a breeze to teach students because we are going to connect the geographical concepts to the types of historic events. Students are going to be using the inquiry process as well which is making hypotheses. This relates to different readings from the course because it is showing teachers how to help students make generalizations. This article: American Indians and american Environments is helpful to teachers and students. These projects are helpful in teaching history because it is engaging for the students. Students are getting excited to learn about the different historical concepts when they are doing projects.

     Overall, this project was helpful in teaching me about history. I enjoyed finding artifacts for this project and creating a visual representation of the tribe I used. I learned a lot about being able to teach history, and I am excited to use this process in my class. 
   

Geographers or Students?

    Both!!! Last week working in class, we touched on the topic geography. We had many activities such as: Our NAT project, our "Hug the Earth" activity, and the beginning of our Artifact Bag project. This week we focused on lab time for our LiveBinders, as well as, learning to be economists. These past two weeks have been extremely eventful.

     To start off, last week we studied different ways to teach geography through our own practice. On Tuesday we focused on working with our expert groups for the Native American Tribe project. My expert group focused on the Mohawk Tribe. This was an awesome experience because I was able to learn many in-depth details about the Native American's own Mohawk tribe. My group worked very well together and we enjoyed doing this project together. On Thursday, we presented to our base groups. I enjoyed learning about the other tribes, as well as, teaching my group about mine. Next, we completed the Scavenger Hunt in class. This game was fun; however, it was a little unfair because our group only learned about three of the tribes versus all five tribes. We were at a bit of a disadvantage, but I think that we still learned a lot from this activity. In my own class I would love to use this activity, I think it would extremely fun for the students. This may have to be done with iPads or using poster paper, especially because younger students may not be computer savvy and/or the resources may be scarce. Otherwise, this is a valuable and interactive experience for all students. Our hug the earth activity was also another activity that I would to use because it is showing the students the importance of taking care of the earth. When we did this activity we talked about how we would promote taking care of the earth, and I thought that all of my peers had valuable activities/projects for the students to do in order to show the students the importance. I really enjoyed our week as a geographer. 

     This week we focused on being economists. This topic was okay to learn about, I found it to be boring. I feel like when the students are that young they do not necessarily grasp the concept of money. I do believe that it is valuable to introduce them to the concept of the economy, but for grades one, two, three, and maybe even four they are not going to understand money well. However, I do believe that it is valuable to start teaching them about money by the end of fourth grade and up. Our Economy project was interesting and I learned a few things about teaching economics. The rest of the week we worked on our LiveBinders, otherwise know as our e-folios. This was not interesting, but it is nice to be getting some class time to finish them because they are very intensive. I feel that a lot of students complained about them being a lot of work; however, I feel like they do not understand how valuable this e-folio will be to employers. In fact, they will love this e-folio!

     Overall, this week was very calm on the school front. Last week was valuable in learning about different ways to teach geography and history. I am enjoying this enriching in-class experiences. I am looking forward to the end of the semester.

Historians in the Making

This past week we worked on teaching history for elementary students. 

Teaching history is extremely important in an elementary setting because 

most of the time history is one of the only things that primary and some 

secondary classes focus on. I feel that my knowledge on teaching history 

and geography has deepened thanks to the enriching activities from class. 

On Tuesday, we enjoyed our first Current Events Project, from Group 1. 

Group one consisted of Erin, Christina, and Lauren. unfortunately Lauren 

had gotten sick so she was not there to present, but he group did a great

job! The presentation was tastefully done and it made sense. I also 

enjoyed the group's project.Group one used the JIGSAW method for 

their method and it was tastefully done. I feel that I learned something 

new about working with my groups. The tool that they used was Linote 

and I really enjoyed using a new tool because it is widening the amount 

of tools I feel comfortable using for my one classroom. On Tuesday we 

also started and of rhte most part finished out Native American Tribe 

projects. The Native American Tribe project was a lot of fun for me as 

a student, as well as, a teacher. I thought that learning about the 

Mohawk tribe was one of my favorite projects. My group also worked 

extremely well together. 

Our homework, for Thursday, was to familiarize ourselves with the 
different contents and resources for teaching history. Even though we 
began history a little bit on Tuesday, for the most part we did not really 
start it. For homework I familiarized myself with some of the tools listed 
above. Two tools that I would like to use in my own classroom would be 
the QR Code treasure hunts and the bringing history to life tool. I 
choose to use the QR Code treasure hunt because I feel that this is 
extremely fun for students and it gets them enthusiastic about learning! 
The second tool that I decided I would use is the Bring History to Life 
tool because I feel that bringing students real-life or life-like tools from 
history will help the students be more engaged. Also, in preparation for 
Thursday we were asked to read an article on Social Studies strategies. 
A few strategies that I had not heard of are: the Bransford and Stein 
IDEAL model, teaching concepts, and community based instruction. 
The Bransford and Stein IDEAL model is a problem-solving method. 
I enjoy this model because it has an easy acronym for students to 
remember. Also, a poster could easily be made with this acronym. The 
next strategy that I like is the teaching concepts strategy because I 
feel like this is a difficult thing to teach to some of the younger 
elementary students. It was helpful for me to read about how to use
them in the classroom. The last strategy that I enjoyed learning about is 
the Community Based Instruction. I have seen this strategy in use, but I 
never knew what it was called. This strategy to me is very interesting 
because it is getting the students involved in the community, while they 
are learning a valuable lesson. One last article that I would like to 
mention is the reading like a historian article. This article to me was an 
extremely interesting and beneficial article. I really enjoyed reading this 
article and I will definitely be putting it to use when I am an elementary 
teacher.
Reading Like a HISTORIAN:

Establish relevant background info

Pose essential question

Students read

Answer guiding questions (graphic organizer)

Whole class discussion

On Thursday, we had another Current Events presentation from 

group two. Group two consisted of Samantha, Jenna, and Paola. 

Group two had us do a different activity than what the first group 

had, they did a debate versus the JIGSAW method. I enjoyed

group two's debate, I thought it was fun and the teachers were

great at time management. After group two presented, we broke

into our base groups for the NAT Project. This was okay, I thought

it was poorly constructed. My base group only had three people 

the day of presentations so the QR Code Treasure Hunt at the 

end of the presentations was a little hard. I feel that this was 

extremely unfair to the groups who had less than five people. 

Otherwise, I enjoyed learning all about the different Native 

American tribes.

Overall, I think that this week was great in the area of 

knowledge that I can use in the future. I am just excited for

classes coming to an end because there is a lot of work in 

this class particular. It is extremely stressful and I cannot wait

until the end!

Why I love Being a Teacher

Fieldwork is an experience that all future teachers must endeavor. For fieldwork in Social Studies Methods we completed fieldwork at Bishop Dunn Memorial School. I had the joys of working with Ms. Pozzulo's second grade class. The unit that we focused on in second grade is "Our Country Long Ago."

Overall, fieldwork contributed to the master skills of teaching because we are focusing on writing different types of lessons, and implementing the lesson designs into the classroom. Our master skills, as a class, are being developed through the creations of different lesson plans. I feel that developing these different lesson plans we are widening our abilities as a teacher. It is important to keep an open mind when teaching, and these lessons plans allow that. By creating a direct, inquiry, and cooperative learning lesson we are opening a gateway to creativity. By implementing these lessons into the classroom we are opening a window for all children to learn differently. We are making it easier for students, who do not learn just one way, to learn the same material that their peers are learning. Also, we are making the material easier for the teachers to know how to teach to all students. We are also widening the horizon in which we teach. My observations of the lessons created has also allowed my, not only the teacher, but also the student to think outside the box. So many of my peers have thought of so many different, creative ideas that I personally was not able to think of. Personally, I think this shows the power of teamwork and teams versus individually. However, I think watching my peers implement the lessons was another roller coaster. It was interesting to see a lesson on paper and then to see them execute it. I feel that seeing my peers execute their lessons just made us, the class, realize that it is imperative to executing a lesson plan properly to stay on time.

Overall, fieldwork as a whole was extremely rewarding. I loved working with the second grade class at Bishop Dunn. I feel that it was a great learning experience as well. I hope that all of the teacher candidates made as much as an impact on the students as they did for us.

Teaching Geography: Without Geography we would be Nowhere.

     Then there was six weeks. As the semester comes to a close, we are back in the classroom to learn about different aspects of Social Studies. This week we are focusing on Geography. Geography is probably the first thing that most Social Studies teachers focus on at the beginning of the year. I personally am excited to learn about Geography!

     On Tuesday, we finished our JIGSAW activity and presented n our expert groups the 5 PIGS. Tuesday was a good class, I felt that I learned a lot from the other groups in the class. I feel that the Individual Accountability group was very loud and kept their lesson to the point. Christina, Paola, Payge, and Sarah seemed very knowledgeable on their topic. The third group, group processing, included Elizabeth, Kelly, Lauren, and Keilani. This group was also knowledgeable and loud. I enjoyed the video that they included to teach us and show us real life examples of group processing. Overall, today was a great practice for the upcoming mini-lessons.

     In preparation for Thursday's class, we were asked to review the 103 Creatively Simple Ways to Teach Geography. When I looked at this PowerPoint on teaching Geography, I mostly felt confused. I felt that personally I did not understand the PowerPoint. Three that I would like to comment on are: the Mystery Box, the Landscape in a Box, and Sending and Receiving Postcards. The first aspect that I choose to comment on are the mystery boxes because I have seen this in action and I absolutely love the idea of this. I believe that it is a reward for students and it would encourage proper behavior to receive the mystery box on a Friday to go with their Geography lesson. The second aspect/element that I choose to comment on from this PowerPoint is the landscape in a box activity. This activity seems to be a very cool activity/element to implement during the geography unit because it is an activity you can implement during a cooperative learning lesson. This lesson also lets the students to see an in-depth view at the different layers of the land. The final element of the PowerPoint that I choose to comment on is sending and recovering postcards. I feel that this activity is special because the students are working on literacy and at the same time learning about geography. Different resources that I could use to teach geography are Google Earth, creating the landscape box, and using other projects made out of recycled materials. 

      On Thursday, the rest of the groups presented on the 5-PIGS. The group on social skills and face-to-face interaction and direct instruction versus cooperative learning. The last two groups presented well, they were knowledgeable and taught everything they were supposed to. Below is a picture of a graphic organizer we did for the last group. After the groups finished presenting we choose our Native American tribes for another lesson that we will be doing in class. After we picked our tribes we did an engaging activity with a small ball that looked similar to earth. I enjoyed "hugging" the earth and saying one thing we learned, and one way we plan to implement science into our classroom. This activity was very engaging and had all of the students participate. I thought it was a great activity, and one that I would like to implement in my own class one. day

Click here for larger version
  Overall, this week went very well. I feel that I know everything that is going on in class and I like doing the hands-on activities with my peers. The class is turning into a great learning experience for my own classroom and ideas for other education classes. Hope next week goes as well as this week!