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.