What I have gained throughout the semester

What have I learned throughout the semester? Well, I have honestly learned a lot. Before taking this course, I thought social studies was just history but I have learned that it is so much more. I learned that social studies includes geography, economics, English, art, and religion. I have learned how to effectively teach all of these using direct, inquiry, and cooperative lesson plans. I have also gained a great deal about technology. My favorite application to use is just plain Google Docs. This is my favorite application because it allows for multiple people to look at and edit it at the same time. This comes in handy when completing a cooperative lesson or group project. I believe that learning to use different technologies is very beneficial as a teacher. This gives the teacher the opportunity to teach the students in the class about these different technologies because we are now living in an age where the use of technology is predominant. This course has made me a better social studies teacher.

Mock Interview Reflection

Today in class, we were part of a mock interview. This interview was to prepare us for what an interview may be like for student teaching or to get a full time teaching job. Before going to this interview, I was nervous because it felt different being judged in a way by my peers. I was not entirely sure on what to expect during the interview. I thought the interview itself was easy but I found the questions to be difficult. Kelli asked a very difficult question about creating an objective regarding the American Revolution. This question may have been easier if we were given the grade level and a bit more information. Christine and Lindsay both asked very interesting questions. The question that they both asked was in regards to if they came into my classroom, what would they see me teaching. I thought this led to a very thoughtful answer that allowed me to show what I understand about the different types of lessons. Overall, I found this experience to be beneficial because it allowed me to reflect on my learning and experience in the classroom.

Current Events and Newsela

Recently I completed a current events project with Kelli. I found it difficult to find recent articles that were interesting but could also relate to the unit plan I created for the 4th grade students at BDMS. After hearing Lindsay and Nicole speak about women today and how it relates to women from the American Revolution, I got the idea to do my project on children and education. Once I got this idea in my head, I went to the Newsela website and started searching for articles that talked about children or education. I find this website to be very useful to explore and read about current events. One of the Five Principles of Teaching include relating matter to real-life events. By doing the current events project, the students are able to relate what is happening today in the world, either in the United States or other countries.

In my future classroom, I would adapt this project to any grade level. I would look on Newsela and find articles that relate to the topic we are doing whether it is geography, economics, or some other social studies lesson. Newsela has a wide variety of articles to chose from that can be easily related. The best feature about Newsela is how you can change the lexile levels so make it grade appropriate. This is also beneficial because you can change the lexile level if you have a reader who is at a lower level or a reader who is at a higher level. Another great feature of Newsela is there is a built in quiz and short answer response that you can have the students complete as a quick assessment.

My current events project was based on children and education. Each article was about how people are being educated or how they are not being educated. I related this to the American Revolution by posing the question about how the students feel children during the American Revolution were taught or if they weren't taught at all. This sparks an interesting discussion and also brings up the question of whether or not everyone is entitled to an education and if each country requires children to be educated.

Global Education and Humanities

Global Education and Humanities are important aspects of social studies to include in your classroom. Global Education is defined as the significance of the interdependence of human civilization. Humanities is defined as the study of human culture.

Before beginning this project with Nicole, I was very unsure of what either topic really was. I thought that humanities had to do with the study of humans but I did not know what it included. 

Let me begin by stating that global education is about education around the world in different countries. 

Global education has five perspectives. These five perspectives are interdependence and globalization which is the understanding of complex social, economic, and political links between people, identity and cultural diversity which is an understanding of self and one's own culture, and being open to others culture, social justice and human rights which is an understanding of the impact of inequality and discrimination, the importance of standing up for our own rights and our responsibility to respect our rights, peace building and conflict resolution which is an understanding of the importance of building and maintaining positive and trusting relationships and ways conflicts can be prevented, and finally sustainable futures which is an understanding of the ways in which we can meet our current needs without diminishing the quality of the environment. All of these topics help create better citizens who understand personal and universal needs.

When dealing with humanities, there are only specific subjects in which humanities is included in. Humanities can be brought up in art and music, literature, religious studies, history, and philosophy. 

To incorporate both these topics into the classroom, you could use Skype. There is a specific Skype designed for students to use in the classroom that enables them to communicate with students in other classrooms around the world. Another way to incorporate these topics into other topics is to use geography and literature.

Teaching Geography

What is geography? Geography is an area of science that studies land forms, features, the inhabitants of a region, and Earth. Geography is very important for students to understand and be taught. It is important because students need to understand what is going on in different countries in the world as well as where these countries are located. By teaching geography, the students will become better citizens who better understand the events occurring in the world and the significant impact it has on the earth.

 Geography can be incorporated into several different subject areas. When teaching literature, it is very easy to have students locate where this book is taking place on a map. Throughout the year, you can also assign a book to each student to complete a research project on. The students will read the book, find the location on a map,and then complete research about the author and the location. The students may present this to the class as a final project.

Artifact Bag 2

  

 As a lesson to add to my unit plan, I created an Artifact Bag that goes along with my lessons on the American Revolution. This is a picture of the outside of my artifact bag. During the American Revolution, the British arrived in harbors around Boston to attack the colonists. This is a representation of those times. Remember, this project and the three artifacts in the bag will lead to an important person during the American Revolution.

The first artifact in the bag is a copy of the Declaration of Independence. This was very important to colonists because it declared their independence from Britain. This document was also signed by a variety of men.

This is a map of Boston during the time of the American Revolution. Boston was a main location for many battles and important meetings during the war. This is also the birth place of a very important founding father.

During the American Revolution, many important figures used pocket watches to keep track of time.

All of these clues take a little bit of thinking and a few more clues and a large amount of research to figure out who they are about. In the end, students do enough research to figure out that the person is Benjamin Franklin.

Teaching Economics

Before learning about economics, I believed that economics was just about how much net worth a region had. However, I have learned that it is so much more.

Based on this definition, as an educator, I need to tell my students about all resources from our region and other regions that are not unlimited. During a lesson on economics, I will teach the students about how the world is broken up into different regions just like New York State is broken up. As an educator, I will also have to teach the students about money, net worth, water supply, food supplies, and natural resources such as oil. It is important for students to understand what each one of these things is and how it is used in different parts of the world. Part of economics also has to do with the population in a region versus the amount of natural resources in that region.

Economics can also be brought into science, history, career education, ELA, and many other subject areas.

Within these subjects, it is easy to include the topic of scarcity. Scarcity is when there is not enough resources for everyone in that area to use. For example, you can use bread. Tell your class that there is only a limited number of loafs of bread being delivered on that given day and ask them to discuss what will happen if there are only a certain number of loafs of bread. Discussing major issues within our society and other societies is very important to the growth and understanding of the students.

When talking about scarcity, it is important to include that scarcity is essentially supply and demand. Supply is how many resources there are and demand is how many resources the people need. To teach this, the teacher could tell the students that there is only one pencil in the class and that whoever bids the highest, gets to have that object. After one student has bought the object, tell the class that there are several more but at a lower price. This will demonstrate what supply and demand is.

Here is the link to my two slide!