The video was created in 2005, and is still relevant today. Students are becoming inundated with technology and, as a teacher, I need to support that. There are interesting, exciting ways to use this new technology. Imagine a classroom where students are ENCOURAGED to use an iPad. That is the beauty of a developing technology culture.
In class we also created name tags where we needed to reflect on what social studies means to us as teachers. Part of the exercise asked us to think about a previous Social Studies teacher that we had as a student. The first one I thought of was my eighth grade teacher, Mrs. L. She was terrible - mean and unapproachable. As we began sharing our reflections with each other, my classmate's positive experiences made me start to remember some of the teachers I had who were not so terrible.
I think what made this exercise stand out to me was how fast I was able to remember the teacher who wasn't that great, and how badly that shadowed my positive experiences in Social Studies. I want to make sure when I become a teacher that I do not become the Mrs. L's of the world, and instead make Social Studies an exciting topic for my students so when they look back on their education, they have at least one positive experience to draw on.
