My View on Teaching Social Studies

Social Studies…my thoughts, ideas, and philosophy on the subject.

I had never really enjoyed the subject. All through school I dreaded the class. It was usually the most boring class I had. We would memorize dates, battles, and presidents. We would memorize the capitals of each state. We would try to remember where certain countries were located. But, relating this information to anything in my world was just not done. For whatever reason, it seems that once I got to middle school, my teachers were coaches. They didn’t much care for the subject, so they never made it interesting. They never related it to my life or to my community.

As a professional teacher, I plan to make social studies just as important and as fun as any other subject I will be teaching. I’ve learned sooo much this semester about how to do just that. From putting on skits, having booktalks, and a living history museum to constructing a box city and learning about diverse cultures. I want to do it all. But, will I step on toes? Will I keep up with the NCSS and State standards? I don’t know if I will step on toes…I hope I won’t. But, I know that I can stick with the standards. I just don’t have to “do it the way it’s always been done!” I plan to make learning fun. Something the students will enjoy and therefore care about. Speaking of stepping on toes…as a professional educator and someone my students will look up to and trust, is the question of truth. Do I always tell the truth? What about when telling the “real” story can cause a lot of controversy? Well, I think I will have to wait until I am in the classroom and I see what the ages of my students are before I can say conclusively that I will always tell “the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.” Not that I plan to intentionally lie to my students, but I hope to find a middle ground when telling the “real” story of Christopher Columbus; or, whether or not to reveal all the truths about an historical figure who has always been idealized and thought of as a “saint”. I know that parents as well as school officials may take a dim view of my revealing too many true, controversial facts, but I think students should be armed with accurate information and allowed to draw their own conclusions. These “truths” will be carefully meted out based upon the age and maturity of the students.

I know that school systems want to emphasize reading and math, but social studies can and will be integrated into other subject areas in my classroom. It is of paramount importance that my students learn about where they have come from so they can avoid some of the pitfalls of the past. They also need to hear about how important it is to become a productive, active citizen. There are so many resources available now that weren’t a few years ago. The internet is a fabulous resource for gathering information. As a teacher, I will make sure my students have every opportunity to explore the world wide web – but with some guidance from me. After all, there are many unscrupulous sites out there. I feel compelled to offer safe sites to my students and plan to do so.

Each of us has our own cultural knapsack - a bag full of “us” – where we come from, to offer. Even if we “seem” the same, we’re not! Maybe we have lived a good portion of our lives in a different part of the country. Maybe we worship with a group of folks who are not in the mainstream. Maybe we come from a divorced home. Maybe we have foster brothers or sisters. All of this and more makes us who and what we are. We bring this to the classroom and to our students. When I teach, I want to embrace all the differences in my classroom and “introduce” more!

All of this sounds good on paper. But, as a new teacher…can I really do it? Will I have a critical voice? Will I have the guts to stand up? Will I do the right things? I don’t honestly know. I know that I want to do the right things. I know that I am committed to being an advocate for my kids. But, as much as I think I can do something, reality can be a ……. I do hope I have the courage and conviction to do what I know to be right. And, to present it in such a way that my students are engaged in active learning through various different teaching styles.

Living History

What a fun time we had in class this past week! I got to meet: Amelia Earhardt, Jackie Kennedy Onassis, Calamity Jane, and so many others from the past.

By researching an historical person of importance, I learned so much I did not know about my character: Mahalia Jackson. I always knew she was an incredible singer, but I did not know the full extent of her struggles to become world known. I also did not know of her diverse skills: beautician, florist, and so on.

It was really great to hear about so many different people. However, I think when I try this in my classroom, I will do it a little more like my daughter's third grade class did. Each child presented their "person", one-at-a-time. That way, everyone got to hear about each person. I enjoyed the fact that "visitors" could pick and choose whom they visited, but in a classroom setting, I would want the opportunity to see and hear each and every person. The style we used did not allow for that. The day we were a "character", made it difficult to visit any other "characters". So, I think I would do it a bit differently.

All-in-all.......a fun experience though!

Thanksgiving

As I sit down with my family this Thursday to give thanks for all that I have (and I do have a lot to be thankful for), I will be thinking of those no longer with us and of those who are less fortunate than I. This list will include not only my family members who have gone on, but our ancestors whom we think of as having started this holiday. This week, in our class, I learned some very interesting, and disturbing, facts about the first Thanksgiving.

First of all, when we think of Thanksgiving, we think of the pilgrims and native Americans sitting down together eating a nice meal. Well, they may have enjoyed each other's company, but the first official Thanksgiving was not celebrated until President Lincoln made it a holiday. Secondly, there are soooo many misconceptions about the lives of the original colonists and how they got along with native Americans. As usual, the WASPs (colonists) had a air of superiority about them. They did not treat Indians fairly or even humanely. Planning to "take over" the lands, the white man depended upon the demise of the Indians. And die, they did. Plagues hit big time and wiped out a large portion of the native American population. Even though the Indians' assistance was a large part of the reason colonialists survived, they sure didn't thank their "friends" in a very nice way -- turning some of them into slaves; taking their lands away; killing many of them; and so on.

So, why do we still teach about Thanksgiving the way we do? Should we teach the "real" story? These are just a couple of the questions I will have to ponder when I teach this subject.

Regardless of how you, or I, feel about the "real story" of Thanksgiving, it is a special day and I plan to give thanks for all the blessings I have.

Booktalk

Yet ANOTHER great tool in my arsenal of Social Studies tricks!

Really enjoyed hearing all the information about so many good books.

Great job guys!

Teaching Social Studies

They say you learn something new every day. Well, today was no different. We talked about incorporating Social Studies with Language Arts. The possibilities are ENDLESS! Even if you think you might not have time to teach Social Studies, you will; you can!

We learned about some great strategies to help our students not just read about Social Studies, but how to comprehend it! How to understand and learn.

I have learned sooo much in this class -- so many ways to make learning interesting, interactive, and downright fun!

I'm looking forward to teaching this subject now. Thank you Dr. Meier!

Wanna Climb??

Climb what, you might ask. Well, Mount Everest.
Let's see.....it costs at least $40,000...requires months of becoming acclimated to the thin air...you walk across ice "canyons" on narrow ladders which have been taped together...the temps are waaaay below zero...you will probably wind up with frostbite...supplemental oxygen is required...once you do reach the top (IF you do reach the top) you can only stay a VERY short time or you will die...only to make the dangerous trip back down.

Hmmmmmm........my answer???? "No, thank you!"

Why would anyone WANT to do this? To say, "hey, I climbed Mt. Everest"??? Um....I'd rather tell folks, "hey, I went to Hawaii".

Social Studies Thoughts

Today's class was REALLY interesting. It was fun seeing everyone's visual depiction of what they feel Social Studies is or should be.

There were some VERY creative powerpoint presentations!

I can't believe how much my opinion about social studies has changed since the first day of this semester. I NEVER like social studies. But now!!! Wow, I think I could actually teach the suject. I think I could actually make it fun!

Here's to teaching Social Studies in my own classroom!

Cheers!!!

Stress!!!

Stress...what stress? Why would anyone in Block stress??? Yeah, right. We only have several (yes, SEVERAL) papers to write in the next few days; a midterm in one class; two articles to read and write about; placement/field experience hours...and that doesn't even count having a husband, children, home, laundry, cooking, etc. Shew!

It's getting close to the end of the semester and I can feel the pressure.

HOWEVER, I must say that Dr. Meier is more than generous giving us some extra time to get caught up or to "go ahead" with our studies and paperwork.

THANK YOU DR. MEIER!!!!!

GPS

So.....today we tracked a hidden "something" via GPS. Even the rain couldn't/wouldn't dampen (pardon the pun) our spirits! We found what we were looking for thanks to Dr. Meiers and her reliable GPS device. I spend the entire time trying to find an app I could download onto my phone so I could do some navigating. But, noooooo.....wouldn't do it. I did have a little deja vu. It was a day much like today -- rainy and muddy on a downhill slope -- that caused me to destroy my ankle. That made me quite nervous.

Still, it was loads of fun. And, I'm no longer a MUGGLE!!!! Woooo hoooo. I can't wait til I start searching for more hidden "treasures". My daughter has a phone that should be capable of GPS latitude and longitude coordinates. Think I may bring her into the fold.

Thanks to Dr. Meier for all the WONDERFUL ideas of how to make Social Studies (and all it's parts) fun!!!!

Blockborough Box City Lessons

This week's class was held online. Felt kinda funny not having Dr. Meier in the classroom to get us up and moving and doing something fun, but it was also a nice change to finish classes a little earlier than usual to get home to prepare dinner and eat before 7 p.m.!

The question posted by Dr. Meier was a good one. What to do with a Box City in our own classrooms. I think the possibilities are nearly limitless. We would only be limited by our own imaginations. (And of course the level of our students.)

But, there were some GREAT ideas posted by my fellow classmates. I really look forward to using this idea in my own classroom! It will be soooo much fun to use this model for teaching about community, history, mapping, and all manner of things. Math can be incorporated. Language Arts can be incorporated. Science can be incorporated. Gosh....like I said, limitless!!!!

The Big City

Building our make-believe city was so much fun. What a wonderful way to get the kids excited about maps!

The names of our streets are so creative. And the buildings are really neat. It's gonna be so much fun adding to and changing our little "Blockborough".

What a bunch of great people I'm in class with!

Lights! Camera! Action!

Today's class was quite interesting. It was really a lot of fun. I love doing a bit of "acting" (reading from a pretyped script). It was great fun doing it with such an awesome group of people too.

What a way to remember boring history! I mean, if my high school teachers (or any other grades) had made learning that interactive and that much fun...why I'd have all manner of random information floating around in my head!

I now know Samuel Adams was more than just a beer maker! lol

Speaking of history; did you know that on today's date in:

1957: "Leave It To Beaver" debuted on CBS. (Does anybody besides me remember this show?)
1970: Janis Joplin died of a heroin overdose.

Critical Voice

The article, "Speaking in a Critical Voice" was a very thought-provoking one. I did try to make sense of some of the scenarios, but I really couldn't. I mean...why would you be so cocky as to tell a group of people that the teachers in your state "would do exactly what they were told to because they didn't have a union and therefore wouldn't do anything they weren't supposed to do for fear of losing their jobs." This is the first statement that angered me.

Then, there's the teacher, John, serving as a mentor to pre-service teacher, Jenni. Jenni is energetic and engages her students in hands-on learning -- something John doesn't agree with or like. Even after the students have proven proficiency in the subject matter, John dismisses Jenni from the classroom so that he can "teach" the students the subject matter so they will pass the test! How insulting!!! This is the second scenario which angers me.

I'm not so naive to believe that my teaching style will be totally accepted or appreciated by my fellow colleagues. But, I really want to engage my students in learning in a FUN way. I want them to learn all they can and I believe by making learning hands-on, challenging, and fun I can do just that. I don't want to be told that I have to do some cut-and-dry lesson plans or else!

Soooo.....let my critical voice be strong!

Grrrrrrr

Okay. So I drive to ETSU on the one day I usually have reserved for housework, laundry, yada, yada so that I can scan all my documents into pdf files for another class. I do this so that I'm not one of thousands crowding around a few scanners at the last moment next week. Brilliant, huh???? Well......I wind up scanning my documents (all 27 pages) about four times!!!! Why??? Because the first scan I do in black & white and I can't read half of what I hand wrote -- in pencil. I begin to rewrite all my pages with a pen and say to myself, "self...this is gonna take forEVER to do...gotta be an easier way." So I decide to rescan one page using grayscale settings. Eureka!!! It'll work just fine. So I then put all my pages back into the scanner for rescanning, wait several minutes and I realize that I forgot to tell it to use grayscale! You see, it automatically chooses black & white. I have to tell it EVERY TIME if I want to make a change. Grrrrr......so I rescan yet again ALL 27 PAGES!!! This time I am successful. You can read everything! Yay me.

I then send the documents to my professor via email. Aren't I smart? I decide to go ahead and send my powerpoint as well. Only one portion left to send later. Gosh, I'm brilliant...I'm cookin' now. I then decide to check out a large article sent to me by another professor. After I take a gander at that, I decide I need to check my ETSU email one last time. Oh CRAP...my pdf files have been returned to me. The file is too large. Okay...where is Tami Baker? She's teaching a class, of course. So I ask the guy in the lab for assistance. We study, we work, we look for a solution to the problem so that I don't have to scan ALL 27 PAGES yet again. FINALLY this brilliant young man finds how we can reduce the size of my file! Yay. We reduce the file. I resend via email. I'm done. I'm great. I'm thrilled!

I wake up early this morning (after a late night) and realize...I wasn't supposed to send my pdf files nor my powerpoint to my professor via email. I was supposed to send them via the D2L dropbox!!! Good Lord...deliver me.

I get up, go find my flash drive (thank you Lord for giving me the good sense to save all these changes on my flash drive). I start up the ole laptop. Go to my ETSU email only to find some emails from said professor that basically tell me I've screwed up. Take a look at the syllabus. Why am I sending her things via email? OMG....I'm such a doofus. So I reply to her lovely emails that I had a brain fart yesterday after my scanning and sending difficulties and just realized what I had done and had planned to resend via the D2L dropbox.

Okay......so what do I have on tap for today? FINISH the math remediation plan...FINISH the assessment write up...get together all materials for Mondays first class...finish an article (a long, yet very interesting one) for my first class...review my knapsack paper...read, read, read............

So why am I typing on my blog instead of getting my rear in gear? Well, ya know...when I get frustrated, I HAVE to vent. Since I didn't have anything or anyone to hit, I decided to smack the keyboard around a bit and vent on here.

Well, off to the papers!

Most Excellent Day!

I had the best day today. I spent the my first day in my third grade classroom at Blountville Elementary School. I LOVE my mentor teacher. She is awesome.

I was so blown away.....from the first thing this morning til the end of the day. Some children walked into the room early and just started passing out notebooks and folders. As others came in, they put their lunch boxes, bags, etc. in their proper spots, sat at their desk and began morning work. Without being told!

Even when the class was engaged in discussion or other lessons, the room was always under control. This teacher has the class well trained. They were so great. She only had to call down a student or two a few times during the day. Nothing serious. But, she said something once to the offender and that was it!

She is totally engaged with those kids. And you can tell how much they love her. It was an awesome experience and I can't wait to go back.

I got to help quite a bit too!!! Yay.....

Hope everyone else has a good placement.

Papers, papers, papers

Okay...so this week is devoted to writing papers. A remediation plan for Math, an assessment and evaluation for READ, my cultural knapsack for Social Studies. (Those are listed in order from most challenging to least challenging for me.) Because this blog is set up due to a social studies requirement, I'd like to address the cultural knapsack at this time......

I LOVE diversity (maybe that's the real reason I wanna blog about my cultural knapsack!) Diversity....what does that mean? What does that mean to me? What experiences do I have with diversity? Well, first of all, I'm older than all my classmates, so I've certainly got lots more experience, right? Hmmmmm.

Growing up in the North then moving to the South whilst a teenager is certainly gonna give me a variety of exposures to cultural diversity, right? Yes! Actually it has. Growing up in the 60's and 70's is gonna give me some pretty good stuff to write about, right? Yep! You see, I was around when President Kennedy was assassinated. When Martin Luther King was assassinated. When Medgar Evers was assassinated. When it wasn't okay for a black boy and a white girl to date. When a person with mental and physical disabilities went to a different school. I grew up in a time when segregation of all types was the norm -- especially in the South. I never saw so much emphasis on boy's sports until I moved down here. There were actually STADIUMS for high school boys to play in!!! I had never known that before.

Okay, so what seems to be the problem with writing this cultural knapsack paper? Well, actually, there isn't a problem, except to limit it to just a few pages!!! Because I have history, I have opinions, I have exposure. So, now what? I guess I just need to reread what I've written and see if it provides a flavor of what my cultural knapsack holds.

If you've read this entire post, I thank you for putting up with my rambling.

What a week!

What a crazy, busy week.

Read, read, read. It seems we have more reading to do than we have time to get it done in. Then, there are papers, assessments, projects, observations and teaching. Shew. Can you say "OVERWHELMING"?

But, we will pull each other up and through all of this. We will succeed. We can do this.

I have to say that I am thoroughly enjoying the classes. They are fun and full of great information. It's the after-class-is-over work that overwhelms me at the moment.

Soooo......come on classmates, friends.....let's get some positive vibes going. Let's roll up our sleeves and get this!

Overwhelming!

Okay....so we are all getting pretty overwhelmed. Today we found out that there are several major projects/papers due very soon. Are we EVER gonna find the time to get them done? Are we EVER gonna get instructions for completing one of the major papers?

I don't really have the answer to my own question. I can only guess and pray. I think our professors are quite approachable, so I say we start working on our paper and take it to him for his perusal. If he dismisses us, then we've still learned a lesson...don't be that kind of teacher!

We can do this guys! We WILL get through Block. We are gonna support each other and DO this!!!!

Okay...now that I've tried to convince you, I'm gonna try to convince myself! :^}

Blogging for Block

Social Studies. Hmmm......what do I think about this subject? My initial thoughts...bleh!

Social Studies had always been my least favorite subject all through school. I don't remember ever liking it. Memorizing dates, locating continents, countries, cities, etc. was never on my top ten list of favorites. Remembering the order of dead presidents...who really cares? What's that got to do with anything?

Then....just a few years ago, I had the most wonderful History teacher at ETSU. I can't remember her name, but she was a grad student from the UK. She LOVED American History and was working on her masters. She made the second section of American History so interesting and fun that I really enjoyed it and learned a lot. We didn't memorize dates, but we did get a "feel" for the order of historical events. (MUCH better than memorizing the dates of the Civil War or some inoquous event.)

Although Social Studies is still not my favorite subject, I do have an appreciation of what NOT to do if I should have to teach it. I pray I will be able to make the subject matter fun and exciting and get my students involved in a meaningful way.

So....here's to this semester's block and my progression through it!