My Social Studies Manifesto

Wow! It’s hard to believe that the semester is coming to an end and I will be student teaching in the spring and graduating in May! I know that my views on Social Studies have been completely transformed this semester. My own experiences as a student had left me less than thrilled about Social Studies, until this semester. Although I have read about and seen with my own eyes how Social Studies has been left out of most classrooms, I am determined to have Social Studies as a pillar in my curriculum. I think that elementary students need to learn about Social Studies to learn how to be good, responsible citizens. I also think that introducing basic geographical skills to young students is very important. They need to learn about cultures, traveling, directions, and connections to literature. I feel that this can be introduced at a very early age with concepts like near and far. I want my students to feel responsible for their own learning and behavior, so I plan to have a democratic, student-centered environment in my classroom. I want my students to create the procedures for the classroom and sign them, which I feel is a great way to introduce our country’s history and the Constitution into the classroom. I want to have a culturally responsive classroom, so I plan on having my students do the Invisible Knapsack assignment. I will also need to remember what my own Invisible Knapsack contains, and realize that everyone comes from different backgrounds with different views and experiences. I also want to avoid the tourist model in my classroom and avoid stereotypes. I will need to be an advocate for my students, but I will also have to pick my battles wisely. When I need to, I will use my critical voice to advocate for my students. My critical voice has developed and become stronger through experience and the feeling of wanting what is best for my future students. I also realize that in many circumstances, actions speak louder than words, and I can use my critical voice without saying a word. If I teach at a school were Social Studies is sidelined, I will incorporate it into my curriculum. I feel that Social Studies can easily be integrated with other subjects like Science, Math, and Language Arts. Integrating Social Studies can be as easy as using a Social Studies text to teach grammar. I know that I will use every resource at my disposable such as websites, colleagues, conferences, libraries, and field trips to teach Social Studies. I feel that active learning is very important in the classroom for all subjects. This semester in CUAI 4220, doing and learning how to implement different activities such as Box City, Geocaching, and the Living History Museum, I have realized how important an active, hands-on approach to teaching Social Studies (and all subjects) is to engage students and enhance their learning experiences. I want my students to be as eager to learn and as excited about Social Studies as I have been this semester.

Historical Myths

We talked about how to address Historical Myths, such as the First Thanksgiving, in our classroom.  I think depending on what grade you are teaching, the myths need to be dispelled. The most important thing for a teacher in the lower elementary grades to do is not to reinforce the myths. The older the student, the more the teacher can explain about these myths. No matter what grade I teach, I will be sure not to reinforce historical myths.

Social Studies Standards

Some may wonder if there are curriculum standards for Social Studies. There are 2 sets that can both be viewed on the web. The NCSS (National Council on Social Studies) has a broad set of standards. Each state, including Tennessee have their own, more specific set of standards. The Tennessee State Standards for Social Studies can be viewed by grade on the Tennessee State website.

Living History Museum Assignment

Our Social Studies teacher gave us the assignment of picking, researching, and then portraying someone who impacted history. I decided to do my assignment on Ann Harnett, who was the first woman signed to the All American Professional Girls Baseball League in 1943. The experience was very educational.  I not only learned a lot about Ann Harnett, but I learned about every historical person that was portrayed in my class. While I would modify the assignment for my own classroom by giving more specific instructions, the Living History Museum will definitely be a part of my curriculum. I think it was fun and wonderful learning experience.

Using Alternative Assessments

In my Social Studies class this semester, my teacher has never and does not plan to give us a typical multiple choice test. Instead, she has used alternative assessments. For our mid-term, we created a concept map of what we had learned so far in the semester. I feel that this use of alternative assessment is very useful. I plan to also use alternative assessments in my own classroom. I feel that alternative assessments can be very useful. The students don't have to feel the stress that formal assessments can cause, while the teacher can still find out what they have learned.

Book Talks

This week  everyone in my Social Studies class did a Book Talk. A Book Talk is a 3-4 minute explanation about some of a book, however you never want to give away the end. The point of a Book Talk is to give enough information that the people listening to the Book Talk will want to read the book. Our class all picked chapter books that were relevant to Social Studies. We also each made a PowerPoint slide with the book's title, author, and at least one Social Studies Standard the book addresses. I think this is a great lesson. Students can read a good book, tell their class about it, and then the whole class would have an entire list of great, entertaining Social Studies books (not just textbooks).

Geocaching

We learned about Geo-caching in my Social Studies class. Anyone can Geochache, however teachers can use it as a great tool for teaching longitude and latitude, geography, and even history. When Geocaching, you use a hand-held GPS and look for hidden "treasures" by going to geocaching.com to get the coordinates of their location. One suggestion our teacher gave us was to use geographical markers as places to hide caches because they incorporate history and geography. I hope to use geocaching in my classroom, and to do it on my own time. It is a lot of fun!

Storypath

This week in my Social Studies class we learned about Storypaths, a hands-on structure to give memorable learning experiences to our students. We were taught about Mount Everest and made charterers for our story, then given a critical incident, that our characters had to react to. I think that using Storypath lets children question, investigate, and research on their own by engaging them in problem solving and helping them learn.

Voting

Last Tuesday I voted. I think it is very important for Social Studies teachers to teach their students how important it is to vote. Voting is our responsibility as citizens. A lot of people know about their rights, but don't feel they have any responsibilities as citizens of our great country.  I want my students to take both their rights and responsibilities very seriously.

Box City

In our Social Studies class, we did a very hands-on activity called box city. The materials were easy to find and minimal. We each brought some kind of box such as: cereal, shoe, Poptart, and other boxes. Mrs. Meier made the road for our city with a tarp and tape. We divided into two groups. The first group decided the name of our city and the names of the streets.  We called our box city "Divercity" and named the streets after the continents. There were eight streets, so we named the last one "World Avenue." We were also the zoning committee. The other group made a list of what businesses we would need in our city. Then, each person picked a business to create. I chose to make the DMV. We used construction paper to decorate our boxes. The whole class was very creative and enjoyed making their box buildings. After all the businesses were complete, the zoning committee decided where each of the box businesses should go in our city. For example, we placed the restaurant near the place of worship, so our citizens could go out to eat straight from worship in a nearby location. We had a shopping center, where the businesses like Wal-Mart, The Pet Store, and The Book Store were all located. I think that this activity has countless uses in the classroom. It is appropriate for all elementary grades and even higher grades. There are so many concepts that box city can be used to teach. For example, you could use it to teach spatial and cardinal directions, why cities are arranged a specific way, how cities evolve and grow, etc. The possibilities are endless. I can't wait to build a box city in my own classroom with my own students.

My Critical Voice

I feel that having a Critical Voice is necessary for a teacher. A teacher must be able to stand up for their students in an effective, intelligent way. I feel that I have always been one to speak my mind, however, I have not always done it with a critical voice. The time I have spent in the classroom, especially this semester, has helped me to develop my critical voice. I have learned that when I need to speak on my future students' behalf, that I will be able to do it calmly, intelligently, and effectively. This evolution of my critical voice, should greatly benefit my students and me.

A Fun and Educational Social Studies Activity!

Last week I was lucky to participate in a wonderful activity in my Integrating Teaching in Social Studies class. I will explain how you can do this activity in your own classroom. Materials: cups, big glass bowl, 9 index cards labeled with items your class will probably have with them, playing cards, and M&M's or Skittles. You have your class make a circle and give each student a card. The cards should contain 1 King, 1 Queen, 1 Ten, and all other cards should be a 1-9. Tell your class they are being transported back to Colonial Times. The student who gets the King is the King of England, the Queen is in Parliament, and the ten is the tax collector. Everyone else are colonists. Now, pass out cups with 20 M&M's or Skittles in them. The candy is their money. The King has decided to start levying taxes because of the cost of the French and Indian War. The King also has the power to double taxes on two of the items listed on the index cards, that should be turned faced down. The King will turn over a card with what will be taxed first, for example, Paper=3. The tax collector and Parliament member will collect 3 pieces of candy from each colonist who has paper with them. Then they will dump the "taxes" into the clear bowl. The King will turn over card after card, taxes (candy) will be collected, until all cards have been overturned. Most colonists will be out or only have a few pieces of candy left. You will then have the colonists discuss how they feel, what they want to do, and how taxes could be more fair. The King, Parliament member, and tax collector will count the candy and divide them this way: 50% for King, 40% for Parliament, and 10% for the tax collector. Have the colonists explain their discussion. Finish by putting the candy that was used away to avoid germs, and give each student an individual pack of candy. This is a great activity and sparks some great discussion, while making learning fun!

My New Blog!

Hi! Welcome to my blog. I will be sharing my personal experiences, as well as, links and resources related to K-6 education. I hope you find my blog to be informative and helpful. I look forward to learning from my fellow students' and teacher's blogs!