As we go on, we remember...

Finally, the culmination of my time in Social Studies methods. The class has been a whirlwind and I feel like I am still spinning, even with 90% of my work turned in. At our last meeting in class, we had our celebration of learning. The title for this night seems so appropriate. It was nice to spend time with my classmates and professor, and have time to reflect, laugh, and talk about something other than assignments. Colleen's amazing cupcakes are pictured left!

As a learner, I was never excited about social studies. I did okay in my classes, but the information wasn't exciting or relatable. I think one of the most important things I learned in this class, is that that doesn't have to be the case. Social Studies can be exciting! One of the activities we did that opened my eyes was the artifact bag. Not only did I enjoy putting it together, I really liked seeing what other people did for their's. Colleen's bag was creative and fun for me to open up and discover. I can see how this would translate to an elementary school classroom, and how much students would enjoy this kind of lesson.

I also realized while working on our unit plan, that creativity can be used in new and exciting ways. The technology available to us now leaves no excuse for students to be able to take what they learning and make something with it. For our cooperative learning lesson, students used research that they did in the previous lesson to create a Glog. I will sing the praises of Glog and how easy and fun it is to use for years to come. I look forward to using software like this in my classroom to give students a chance to learn while expressing themselves!

This course also offered a very important chance to collaborate on projects. This is something a lot of future educators don't realize will be so important. Working in a classroom now with one teacher and another paraprofessional, I can see how important it is to be able to work together. With so many different personalities filling a school, being able to work together and put differences aside to do what is best for the children is key.

On a personal level, this class really made me hunker down and become more organized. Taking this class, along with two others, meant I needed to plan and manage my time to make sure projects were getting completed in order. The constant need to blog made sure I was giving this class attention every week, even if I didn't have an assignment due. I will fully admit, I am still a terrible procrastinator, and probably will be for the rest of my life, but at least my planner is in better shape than it used to be.

Taking a class with Dr. Smirnova is always a wild ride. But the most important thing to remember is that the way the class is run is truly preparing you for the future. The demands of being a teacher go far beyond what people conceive it be. Learning to balance your time, make lessons exciting, and constantly grow and adapt are important skills every teacher needs. So thank you for putting em through the ringer!

Interviewee Trauma

Today we did mock interviews in class for two pretend schools. Colleen (or Dr. Corrigan) was the principal for Imagination School, a cooperative learning and constructivist based elementary school. Mike (or Dr. Harvard, as we so affectionately named him) was the principal for Maple City School, a direct instruction based school looking for a third grade teacher.

I interviewed on a panel with Becky (Miss Foreman), we started with Colleen. I was much more comfortable answering her questions, as I feel I am more comfortable with cooperative or inquiry instruction methods. I believe in the idea that students should build their own learning, and work together to accomplish this when possible. Colleen's questions were about how we would organize and run the classroom to make it student centered. These ideas were already ones I had in my head for my future classroom, so it was easy to draw answers.

Mike's questions were difficult for me, as I am less confident in the direct instruction method. I know that I will need to embrace it at times in my classroom to impart information about a new topic, but I don't want it to be an overused method. I know my answers were weaker to his questions, specifically about how I would design classroom to suit a direct instruction classroom. It was hard to tailor answers to his needs in a teacher candidate.

By the time I got to Mike, I was however, more confident in questions I had devised for him as an administrator. Being interested in special education, I am always ready to ask questions about the special ed population of a school or how they integrated and mainstreamed with regular ed students. I feel like a school like Mike's would not be a good for me, as direct instruction is not a great fit for special education.

Ironically, Mike hired me for his school! His biggest compliment was that my answers were knowledgeable. He also said that my confidence in my answers made it seem like I was prepared about the subject matter.

One thing I need to work on before I begin full interviews is how much I "talk with my hands." I think I gesture a lot and need o become more comfortable leaving my hands in my lap when speaking and letting my words speak for themselves. I also need to embrace the silence more while I am searching for the right word or formulating an answer, instead of using "um's."

I think this is a great experience as most teacher candidates are walking blindly into an interview with no real idea of what to expect. As we learned today, it is important to know the school you are applying for and to be ready with answers that will specifically suit their needs.

Micro, Macro, Economics!

To start, I will confess that economics is one of my least favorite parts about social studies. I never really understood it, it didn't interest me, and therefore, I never really grasped it. Doing research for this project, now as an adult, definitely helped shed some light on the topic for me. I focused my research on the difference between macroeconomics and microeconomics.


Economics is a science that looks at the process by which goods and services are produced, sold, and bought. Economics looks at every angle of this process, from the company that makes something, the stores that stock it, and the people who buy it. It considers why a consumer is buying a certain product and what a producer can do to make their product more appealing. Within economics lies microeconomics and macroeconomics.





Microeconomics is the study of the economic decisions and actions of individual people or companies. So every time you go to the store to buy a new video game, or a new stuffed animal, you are contributing to microeconomics. This branch focuses on how people, as consumers, and companies, the producers, interact and effect each other on a smaller scale.






Macroeconomics is the study of the large economic systems of a country or region. This is the big picture of a whole country. So if we were looking at how the United States trades with China or Mexico, we would be talking about macroeconomics.





Here is a video "crash course" for kids beginning the study of economics.

 

Artifact Bags: When good ideas go bad

For class this week we designed artifact bags based on the civilization we created our unit plans on. This was my first experience with an artifact bag. Basically, it is a bag filled with tangible objects from the unit you are presenting. Students then follow an inquiry lesson to learn more about the artifacts, and therefore, learn more about the unit.

I made an artifact bag with aged and damaged pictures from Ancient Greece. I used a picture about Greek religion, Olympics, and a picture of men voting at assembly. I opened the mini-lesson on my artifact bag by telling the students that the bag include "something Godlike, top secret government photos, and ceremonial artwork." I thought using this phrasing would really grab the students' attention. These phrases described the following pictures:

  

Also, if I was using this in the classroom, I would have included a book the students could use as well to relate to the subject. An example would be:

Students would be arranged in groups to inspect each object and make a prediction on what it is based on what they already know about Ancient Greece. The bag I gave them the artifacts in also included three resources where they could go to find more information. The research they did would then either support or refute the predictions they made when they first saw the artifact. The students would collect all of this data and put it into an organizer. I would then have each group present information about one different artifact.

While distressing the pictures for my artifact bag, I learned a very important lesson.... Burning the edges of a picture with a lot of black ink it is a little more dangerous than I expected. Apparently, the black ink is very flammable, meaning a small little flame makes a whole big fire. Luckily, I thought ahead and did the project in the kitchen with a mug of water next to me. I ended up ruining three images I wanted to use for the bag. I did also learn that using tea bags to discolor the pictures is perfectly safe and encouraged.

We're going on a treasure hunt!

In class this week we went on a treasure hunt to answer questions about the American Indian tribes we researched. Colleen and I worked together. Many of the answers we knew from the American Indian jigsaw we did the week before. The rest of the answers we had to search for to find the answers. This is what we came up with....

Rachel & Colleen's answers:

1. Archeology

2. They were nomadic.

3. Buffalo

4. Tlingit

5. Iroquois

6. Language

7. Women

8. Navajo

9. Proclamation on 1763, King George III

10. Geography impacted nearly every aspect of Native Americans' life. Based on their location, native animals and vegetation, Native Americans built their diet on what was available. As they hunted, they used all parts of the animal, which provided them with clothing and, in some cases, materials to build homes. Tribes that were nomadic would use portable homes, such as tipis, that were light weight and easy to carry. These tribes were nomadic because they followed their main animal resource. Settling tribes used lumber from indigenous trees.

The most interesting part of the activity for me was how searching for a fragment of the question could return incorrect results. For question 9, we used broad language that didn't narrow the search results enough and it yielded a wrong answer. This shows that in the classroom, when we are assigning an activity like this, we need to specific about to where to look for answers. A good way to do this would be to provide students with sites to use that hold the correct information, so they know to only use those sources when researching. All of the correct answers can be found here.

 In all, I think it was a really fun activity. If I enjoyed it this much, I could see how younger students would really enjoy it. Especially if it was adapted to allow them movement around the room while they are participating in it.

Currently in Greece...

Today Becky and I did our current event presentation. We decided to do the project on Greece so it could tie in with our unit plan. When we were assigned the presentation, we knew we wanted to include Greece's current economic state, so that is where we started. While looking through Dr. Smirnova's resources for current event lessons, we landed NY Times suggestions. We both really liked #19, Mix and Match Headlines.For this lesson, the headlines and pictures would be removed from the articles and mixed up. Students would then have to piece them back together by finding the key information from the text.

To find appropriate articles we focused on NewsELA. For the in class presentation, we picked 6 articles to use that covered different aspects of modern Greece. Because of the nature of the assignment, we didn't want to post links to the articles before hand, because it would give away the answers. Instead, we included close reading and inference skills in the lesson plan. By only being able to skim the articles, our peers were going to have to find key words that would help make connections to the articles.

While watching everyone complete the activity, I enjoyed watching how the two groups solved the problem. The first group went through and matched each headline to an article. Then went through again and matched all of the pictures. The second group was matching all three components as they went along. Group one was able to make all of the matches in their first try, but took longer because they had to go through each article twice. Group two had to make changes as they went along, but finished in the same amount of time. In the end, both groups had all of the articles pieced together correctly.

If I used this method in my future classroom, I would make a few adjustments. I would give take the time to edit the pictures and headlines out of the text myself so students could have the articles beforehand. This could also translate into another lesson on finding the main idea of an article. By giving them the article before, students would have an easier time matching up the headlines and pictures. One suggestion Dr. Smirnova made was to use the phrase "Hands on, minds on" instead of just calling it a hands on activity. This reminds students that not only will they be working with their hairs and using movement, but they will also be exercising their minds.

One of the other activities we participated in during class, was Mike's debate. The debate was centered around an article about having police officers in schools as security officers. Our class split into groups as pros and cons. Colleen and I were on the con side. I have to admit, I got really invested in the activity. I thought it was exciting! I think when adapting it to a classroom, the topic was on point to get students engaged. The one change I would make would be to provide a few more articles for students to draw information from.