Putting it All Together

 

At the beginning of the Social Studies methods course, I had little knowledge about the three instructional teaching approaches, assessment in teaching, the importance of cooperative learning, and integrating technology into the classroom for young students. Now, I have learned about all of those aspects of teaching and I have succeeded in learning various technological tools to use in the classroom. I want to learn more about technology tools such as Smart Board Notebook and interactive activities. I learned how to blog, insert videos, photos, and images and I now recognize the tremendous resources there are for integrating technology into the school curriculum. Through the BizWorld project, I learned about economics with second graders as I planned and implemented lessons, activities, and celebrations of learning. I believe the collaboration with my peers and the cooperative learning with the students was the best learning experience I had received from the course. Taken what I have learned and experienced form the course, I will create a social studies classroom that promotes an engaging learning environment. Students will learn social studies through meaningful experiences by connecting with their world and expanding it. I plan to create my social studies community of  exceptional learners through challenging, value-based, and purposeful learning activities and lessons with a hands-on approach. The more students do, the more they will know. 

Teacher Job Interview

Our class conducted a teacher job interview this week. My classmate, Michelle and I were the interviewers. We posed as a principal and an administrator for the interview and the rest of the class posed as teacher candidates. I interviewed two groups and asked them questions regarding direct instruction methods and assessment. The questions served as part of an overall review for the course and helped us think about questions that may be asked of us in an authentic job interview. I also read classroom scenarios to my groups regarding classroom management and instructional approaches. I thought the scenarios were the best part of the interview because we thought hard to figure out what we would do in each given situation. I like the collaboration of this activity because of its authenticity; in real life we may be faced with a classroom situation that we will have to collaborate with others to rectify. I thought the mock interview was a good activity for all to see the different ways of viewing and thinking about the instructional approaches and assessment in teaching. After the interview, we advised the interviewees about a real interview according to what Michelle and I learned at the principal panel meeting for KDP; dress professionally, speak confidently and enthusiastically, make eye contact, shake hands with all panel members, and be yourself are the most important things you should do in an interview. Through this role-play activity, we taught each other by contributing to conversation regarding the questions and received an experience which mimics what our teacher interview will be like; personally, I believe it was a great way to conclude the course and bring all we have learned together.

Celebrating Library Week

To celebrate library week, the students from the second grade at Bishop Dunn Memorial and our class gathered together to speak about our BizWorld project experiences. I believe that the best aspect of the BizWorld project was learning by teaching along with the students and the considerable amount of cooperation and socials skills opportunities the project provided. The students spoke about their experiences and contributions to the project, which include their strengths and challenges and what they enjoyed the most. The students spoke about how much they had enjoyed our teaching and experiencing the project along with them. It truly was a wonderful educational and meaningful learning experience for all.

Students' Reflective Speeches

BizWorld Students and Teachers

21st Century Classrooms



                              I have created a voki classroom character. 

Voki allows teachers and students to create speaking avatars in engaging, stimulating, and meaningful ways. Voki motivates students to participate in classroom discusions and activities, and improves message comprehension. Voki is a student friendly way to introduce technology and an effective language and instructional tool. Now that I have learned how to use Voki, I will be sure to use it in my lesson plans. I could use Voki to act out a speech of a historical character, assign homework, or give a presentation. Students can use Voki to present their findings after research, create a historical figure they have been studying about, or create different Voki characters from various cultural backgrounds to apply what they have learned from cultural studies.

 

 

Artifact Bag Activity



Create a Motivated Historical Unit



Make Connections



Generate Questions



Create Multigenre Artifact Research Projects

                                                                                                                             




Stimulate Curiosity

                These are just a few ways to use the artifact bag in your classroom.

Using the artifact bag activity in the classroom will stimulate students curiosity for newly introduced topics and provide a meaningful way to learn history. Students will learn that artifacts are important to historians; artifacts provide imperative and conclusive evidence for a historical inquiry. There are many ways in which to use an artifact bag activity. For my artifact bag, I wanted to connect the BizWorld project with history. Since President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had such a tremendous impact on America's workforce, I chose to focus on the New Deal program, which he proposed in his second term of his presidency. My artifact bag reflects the evolution of America's business ethics which President Roosevelt set forth in his Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. Linking historyto the BizWorld project through an artifact bag activity will provide students with a historical perspective of how Americans worked long ago, how business ethics evolved overtime, and how important business ethics are for the health, safety, and fairness of employees in the business world.

        









Geography: An Integral Part of Life

Hug the World

Love Geography

It is not possible to think of our daily existence without thinking of geography as an integral part. To be aware of our surroundings means to be aware of geography, what is occurring in the world, why it is occurring, and how it effects ourselves as well as others throughout the world. The Native American people were the first people to experience America's geography and its influence on their lives. In class, we studied Native American tribes which spread from coast to coast; we particularly studied the Tlingit, Muscogee, and Dine Native American tribes. Each tribe had a special relationship with the particular region and environment in which they lived. The Native American people's lives were influenced by geography and the tribes were limited by their natural resources. The Tlingit tribe lived in northwest geographical region; their lives were influenced by the colder climate and rich resources of vegetation. The Muscogee tribe in the southeast geographical region; their lives were influenced by the many rivers and creeks which surrounded them.The Dine tribe lived in the southwest geographical region; their lives were influenced by the the warm and dry conditions of their environment. Learning about geography through the concept of location and the relationship people have with their environment is an important awareness for good citizenship. I believe teaching and studying about geography and its relationship with people enlightens the dynamics of what is occurring around the world; we are greatly influenced by our personal geographic location.

Team Building through Cooperative Learning

Powerful learning and deep understanding derive from team building through cooperative methods. There are five characteristics of cooperative learning; the acronym PIGS, demonstrates these characteristics:

PIGS FACE

              One cooperative learning method that can be implemented is Jigsaw. In a           class project, we all had the opportunity to learn and participate in the Jigsaw cooperative learning method. After viewing the video on the jigsaw method,

 Cooperative Learning in Elementary School: Jigsaw Method

we divided our class into expert groups to learn a specific topic, researched the topic with our partners, created presentations about our topic, and resumed to our home groups to teach what we had learned. The topics consisted of the five characteristics of cooperative learning: positive interdependence, individual accountability, group processing, social skills, and face-to-face promotive interaction. In my expert group, my partner and I researched group processing and social skills, after which I create a presentation to teach my home group.

Cooperative Learning

Learning about cooperative learning and cooperative learning methods was a learn through doing experience for me. As a teacher, I believe cooperative learning is an essential part of social studies teaching and instruction. Cooperative learning is formulated to encourage cooperation while learning, improve students' self-esteem, increase academic achievement, foster civic behavior, as well as support and celebrate diversity among the classroom community.