Final Curtain Call......

My learning experience in this course was great, naturally. I was successful with learning new ways to engage and empower my future students when teaching social studies and I had fun doing it. 

I learned that if I push myself, I am capable of anything.  In the beginning of this class I did not want anything to do with social studies and I was intimidated to teach it. Now, after all we have been through, I am feeling confident that I would make a pretty good social studies teacher. 

You learn through teaching what you don’t already know. The students learn from us teachers and we learn from our students. It is like having the best of both worlds. I get to see everything in this world through not only my eyes but through the eyes of my students, and that makes it all worth it in the end. Losing my father this semester has been horrific, and all of my co students and professor of this course have been so wonderful and supportive. I do not think I would have made it through this semester without my peers. Even if it was just a hug, a card, food was made for me, mass cards, and not to mention some of you even came to my father’s funeral. You have no idea how much that meant to me. People just don’t do these things. I am humbled and greatly appreciative of all of my friends I have made in this class. I love all of you. 

With that being said, I have learned more about social studies and now feel more prepared than ever to enter a classroom. I plan on having all kinds of social studies lessons direct and indirect alilke. I plan on doing treasure hunts and scavenger hunts and artifact bags. I plan on doing jigsaws and SMART board activities. We all have done some amazing things in our unit plans and I fully intend on ‘borrowing’ all of your ideas!!!!!!

 Even though I am relieved this semester is coming to an end, I am going to miss my peers the most. Thank you all for EVERYTHING you have done, no good deed goes unnoticed. 

God Bless all of you, and I wish you all well on journeys to becoming the most amazing group of teachers I have ever met!!!!!! And That’s all folks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am a principal!!!

Today in class we had the chance to do mock interviews and I happened to be playing the part of a principal! I loved it!!!

 I really enjoyed myself and I also learned so much. I learned that keeping it short and sweet is important. I learned that your philosophy should be brief and to the point. I learned that I need to be confident and quick with my answers. Uncertainty in your voice is a complete turn off. I learned that I need more practice so that my answers become more natural. I loved it, at first I was thinking what is this for?? 

Then I realized this was sooooooo important! I really liked the answers I got when I asked What color comes to mind when you think of an inquiry lesson? I also enjoyed listening to everyone's philosophic views on teaching and how different they all were. Simply amazing! I would love to do it again! 
I would love to be a principal!!!!! :) So much fun!!!

 

Teaching Social Studies -- My Philosophy

Teaching Social Studies- My Educational Philosophy statement.

             I believe students actively construct their own understandings of reality through constructing and reflecting on experiences in real life.  Teachers facilitate environmental conditions and mediate experiences to support student learning. I believe in asking more questions, acting as the student's consultant, to guide them through their own exploration to obtaining answers. I believe in providing the environment and conditions students need to explore using inquiry. I want my students to learn to never settle for an answer, to never be satisfied and to always look further. I believe reflection is crucial for the student's success as well as the teacher's. I believe in differentiation in instruction and assessments. All students can learn, you just need to find the way to engage them. I believe the best way to learn is by doing.

               Allowing students to construct their own understanding promotes a higher level of thinking and learning. When students construct their own understanding of reality they are better able to apply the experience in new situations they may face in society. My professor never 'answered' our questions, rather guided us instead through reasoning and questioning. We arrived at our own understanding through metacognition.

              Providing an environment where collaboration is integrated in the classroom is very important. This gives an opportunity to allow students to share ideas with others, and teach their peers while learning from them. I believe all students should be part of a group. This promotes social skills and learning. Sometimes learning from your peers can be the best lesson taught! In one of my assignments in my Teaching Social Studies Methods course, we worked in groups utilizing the Jigsaw strategy. Each of us had to explore a specific topic, create a worksheet about it, then teach our peers about it. It was very successful and fun!

                I was taught to always ask questions and never settle for an answer. I will teach my students when they come across some findings, look further for more evidence, ask why, and ask themselves can it be proven? I will teach them not to believe everything they hear or read, to explore the topic themselves and make their own conclusions. My students will be expected to be able to explain "why" for every answer given.

 

                  Reflecting is a way to sit back and really think about your work. I will teach my students to always ask themselves: How did it go? What went wrong? What went right? How can I make it better? Should I change anything? Do I need to investigate or explore further?. Students and teachers alike need to reflect on their work to ensure they are on the right path and reaching their goals. Students can see if they achieved the assignment's goals. Teachers can see if the students are reaching the objectives of the lesson, if not, the teacher needs to make some changes. If a teacher does not take part in reflecting, then they are not fulfilling their duty to themselves and their students to be a good teacher. Keeping this blog was a great tool for me. It really helped bring everything into perspective for me, which helped my grow as a student and a future teacher.

                      Every student is different, with different interests and different needs. It is up to me, their teacher to get to know my students and accommodate to their needs. It is also my responsibility to provide all types of instruction in my curriculum to reach every kind of learner in my class, and to keep it interesting for my students. It is my responsibility to assess my students regularly. Engaging my students is half the battle. I believe in constructivism, providing a classroom where my curriculum will be based on inquiry. I want to make a positive impact on every child that walks into my classroom. I take pride in improving other's lives, and changing the way we think.

Current Events in the Classroom!!!!!

Using current events in the classroom is an amazing opportunity to teach a number of differentiated curriculum in the classroom. No matter what the age, current events can be brought into the classroom. The three sites that Dr. Smirnova had provided for us are amazing tools with fascinating ideas on how to incorporate current events in the classroom. Especially when it comes to social studies, you can almost always relate something in a newspaper today to something that has happened in the past. 

It teaches students to pay attention to their current world more. I teaches them to formulate ideas and opinions about what happens in our world today and in the past. It is educational. It can be fun. It makes social studies much more meaningful, powerful, integrative, active, value based, and challenging. There is a plethora of activities a teacher could create using current events! I am so happy I now have these as resources to refer to when planning for current events in my classroom. I will probably also have a current events corner somewhere in my room like on site suggests. 

Here are the links so you can see how many awesome ways you can incorporate current events in your day! I will try most of these whenever I feel I can fit them in!!!!
SS Scott Foresman textbook
the current events news in the elementary classroom
Free Technology For Teachers

The Digital Promise

Live as if you were to die tomorrow.
Learn as if you were to live forever.
- Mohandas K. Gandhi

“In September of this year, the White House launched the 'Digital Promise' initiative, a national center dedicated to improving the implementation of technology in schools all across the US. Though technology has advanced tremendously in the last 20 years, education has not kept pace with these innovations. The Digital Promise seeks to remedy this discrepancy, transforming the way we teach and learn in the process.”

America underinvests in their schools towards education and technology. This is where we should be focusing everything on and almost nothing is being done about it to keep up with the times. And the times are changing!!! 

It is up to us to keep up with them or we will be doing a HUGE disservice to our children and their futures This article really shocks me not because I didn’t already know it, but because still, there is nothing being done! Here is the article:DIGITAL PROMISE really amazing to read this!