-.Final Reflection.-

The learning that took place within my Integrated Teaching to Social Studies Class this semester was one of the most fulfilled learning experiences I have had at ETSU.  We, the Elementary Education majors here at ETSU, take what is known as ‘Block’. In our Block, we take 15 hours worth of classes on ‘how to teach’ and ‘how to do’.  It is in my opinion that this social studies course was the one course above all the others where I actually learned something about ‘how to teach’ the subject, as opposed to simply learning the subject myself .. if that makes sense.  I’d like to spend a little time to share with you just a few of the many things I’ve learned throughout the semester is this extraordinary class.

First off, I learned of one organization that I believe all educators need to have at least a basic knowledge of: The NCSS.  The NCSS is the National Council of Social Studies.  This organization, which you can find by Google and access their website, has a vast number of resources for a teacher of the social studies content.  Also on their website, you can find curriculum standards, publications, or even conferences and meetings that are going on all over the United States.  Also, by joining the NCSS and becoming a member, you have the right to vote on issues the organization covers and you receive the newest publications by mail.  What a useful tool this organization would be for social studies instructors or elementary teachers who will be incorporating social studies into their daily routines.

Speaking of incorporation, I also learned throughout this semester just how easy it is to incorporate other subjects into lessons you are working on.  For example, say we just got hired for our very first teaching position.  Of course, as first time teachers, we aren’t going to want to step on any toes, but the Principal of our new place of employment does not have social studies taught in the school.  How do we teach social studies without the Principal thinking we’re directly going against what he told us not to do?  Simple.  You don’t have to have an entire social studies lesson to teach your students about social studies.  Incorporate it into other lessons.  When doing reading, read about the first Thanksgiving or the Boston Tea party.  When doing mathematics, pretend your classroom is its own ‘city’ and have students work with their own money (fake .. of course) which they earn from their own jobs.  All that is needed is to simply scribble in the few social studies standards you are meeting in with the other standards for the lesson.  Everyone is happy.

Resources make the duty of a teacher a bit easier.  Having a topic in mind and knowing where you could go look for ideas to accompany that topic will save us loads of time in the long run.  Resources are one very useful tool I will leave this class with this semester.  We have the resources we acquired during class, the many activity ideas we got from Dr. Meier throughout our meetings, and also our blog resources, which should be a very large number of resources seeing as how each student had to have 30 resources.

We also spent a while this semester discussing diversity.  Diversity is one topic I try my hardest to embrace.  I come from a small town where the predominant culture is Caucasian and Christian Baptist.  I did not have any experiences with diversity until entering college at 18 years of age.  Through the experiences I have had at ETSU, the large amount of diversity I have come into contact with, and the information I acquired on the topic through this class, I feel much more at ease with the idea of teaching it to children.  I eventually want to teach in my hometown.  I want to take my experiences and knowledge of other cultures back to my small town and teach my students about the diversity they will encounter one day.  I want to teach my students to be accepting and non-judgmental of others simply because they are different from them.  I want to teach the students in my hometown what I was never taught.

Another topic we focused on was geography.  This is, by far, my weakest topic in school.  Knowing that I struggle so terribly with this topic, I was very worried about how I was supposed to teach it to my students when I didn’t know it myself.  Through this course, I learned that it is okay to accept our weaknesses as teachers.  We aren’t perfect.  It is okay to be honest with students and tell them this will be a learning experience for both them and you.  I also learned how big of an asset teaching geography is.  Through the lack of education I received on the topic of geography throughout elementary school, and through the many different uses of it we studied throughout this class, I now know why it is important students learn it.  Do I think it should be drilled into their heads?  No.  But I do feel it is necessary to incorporate geography whenever it is possible.  Make learning geography fun for students, but also teach it in a way so that students will actually retain the information.  I do not want my students to one day think back on their educational career and wonder how they got by when they know nothing on a topic.  With geography, I know how that feels.  And it is not a good feeling.

My favorite idea that I will leave this class with is an idea we learned about and discussed at the very beginning of the semester: having a democratic classroom.  I had never experienced this as a student myself.  I entered class on the first day, was given the rules and consequences by the teacher, and we were set for the school year.  I love the idea of allowing students to participate in creating the guidelines for the class for the school year.  And I love the idea of allowing students the chance to discuss how they feel consequences should work.  Allowing students to take part in creating this system I believe will help them to follow it with much more ease.  When students believe they made the rules, they are going to abide by them.  When students believe they decided upon the consequences, they will remember what to expect if their rules are broken.

I appreciate Dr. Meier and all she had to share with us throughout the semester.  I left her class with more information on teaching social studies then I would have ever imagined.  Although there are many, many things I could reflect upon from my Integrated Teaching to Social Studies course, let me close with this: Social Studies is a subject I feel is necessary in students’ development and progress.  It is through social studies that children learn of their past, their history, the government, and so many other topics relevant to students’ entry into society one day.  If we do not teach the material covered through social studies, the material necessary to create good citizens within our students, the material needed to understand how our government and our economy work, then how do we expect our students to survive in the world on their own?

Living History Museum

I must say ... this was my favorite activity this semester.  Not only did I enjoy participating in it, I enjoyed learning about so many different people as well as seeing how it could take place in a classroom.

When I first heard this was an assignment, I had an image in my head much different than how it actually played out.  That was a relief.  I seemed to have made it much more difficult in the version in my head.

I truly believe students of all ages would enjoy this activity, however I would LOVE to do this activity with upper level students .. lets say in the 6th grade.

I believe students of that age would really get in to this activity.  I think they would enjoy participating in it as much as they would enjoy seeing others do it.

I think it would be so much fun to do this activity in a school and have other classes come "meet and greet" with your museum attendants.  It's a way to not only involve you class in the learning, both other classes and students as well.

A book to consider

During Dr. Perry's class that I took last semester, we had to participate in book shares.  One of the books I shared with the class I would like to share with you.  It relates to Social Studies and Diversity and Acceptance in the classroom by teacher and students alike.  This is a childlren's book I happened to come across by chance in the public library one day, and haven't forgottten about it.  I don't remember it word for word or anything, it has been a while since i've read it, but the story line is still in my head.

The reason I bring this up out of the blue is because of an experience I had during one of my placement days at Happy Valley.

Anywaysssss ....

The book is called Looking After Louis.  It is told from the perspective of a student in a classroom, and she (I think it was a girl) is talking about a boy, Louis, in the classroom who gets treated differently from the other students.  Throughout the book she talks about the different ways Louis gets treated and how she sometimes thinks it is unfair.  It is not until the end of the book you learn that Louis has autism, which is why he gets treated differently sometimes, and it has a short explanation of autism that you could read to the students to help them understand what is happening.

It is a great book, and I am not giving it the praise it needs in my brief description.  I just wanted to let you guys know about it.  In the case you might happen to be in the library one day and feel like looking it up :)  I really enjoyed this book.  It is one of my favorites.  I hope you enjoy it as well!

Lilly

The video we watched in class a few days ago was absolutely unbelievable!!  How a child, almost 2 was it?, can retain that information is incredible!  I can guarntee I couldn't locate even half of the places she was locating on a map!  There are children her age who have never set eyes on a map before, and this little girl has not only seen one but can point the places out to you!

I wonder ... could she still do it if it was just some random person, such as someone from our class, asking her to point these places out, or is it different coming from her parents?

GeoCaching

I won't lie ... when we first started talking about this geocaching business, I wasn't impressed.  Frankly, I was a little confused.  The idea of random things hidden all over the world was a little, well, strange to me.  However, once I figured it out .. i loved it!  Things are always different when you actually participate and DO something as opposed to hearing about it.  Once we went outside and discovered the geocache near warf-pickel, I knew I was going to have to tell my mom about this! (She's a big hiker)

I also really enjoyed the idea of the little airplanes and such that classrooms were sending around for people to transport from one location to another.  What a fun activity to incorporate this type of real life geography into you classroom!

Geography

Ohhhhhh Geography .... where do I begin?

I clearly remember one thing about geography: It was required.  I had to take a strictly geography class when I was in 7th grade, and it was one of the most dreaded classes of my day.  Was it the subject matter? No.  I was actually interested in geography.  I would have loved to have learned more than I did out of that class.  Well then, why was it dreaded you may ask.  Because it was sooooo boring.  That class dragged on for days it felt like. *Sure .. I was only 12 .. everything dragged on .. but not like this*  That class was strictly book.  Nothing interesting or fun about it what-so-ever.  All material came straight from the book, was shown on the board via overhead projector, or "terms" were written on the dry erase board for us to copy.  All we did in this class was read, take notes, quiz, take notes, test, and begin again.

I now realize the potential this subject has and all the fun activities I missed out on when I took the class.  There are so many interesting things you could do with your students to help them not only UNDERSTAND geography, but WANT to learn more about it, and actually CARE what it is they are learning about.

From my previous experience in the subject, I honestly didn't believe there was anything you could do to make the material for this class interesting, much less fun.  I now realize different.

:)

*Critical Voice*

I don't know about anyone else, but after reading about critical voice I feel that I never really understood what a "critical voice" was.  Heck, I'm not totally sure I do now.  Not yet.  What I do know, however, is that every teacher needs one.  And that every teacher's critical voice will be different.  How I feel about a topic may be very different from how you feel about it.  How I teach my class my be very different from how you teach your class.  In Reading 24, the one about developing critical voice, the "Yes, but ..." questions are what really caught my attention and pulled me in.  They did this because, even on the first page where a few of the questions are listed, I thought, "Man ... I've wondered that same thing".  How do you know if you should do what you're told to do or do what you feel is right?  What if that means possibly losing your job when you have bills to pay, families to care for?  How do you know when you should speak up about the teaching strategies your school system wants you to use if you don't agree with them?  I really feel like these are questions we are never really prepared for during our degree programs, undergradute or higher.  It is where that critical voice comes in I suppose.  That is why it is so different from person to person.  As it develops, you develop the answers to these questions on your own: within yourself.

Theatre and Social Studies :)

I must say that I loveddd class on Monday!  I though those two "skits" were the cutest things ever, and definitely something I would LOVE to use in a classroom of my own one day!  Not only were they fun to do, they were actually quite informational!  When I went through school, my elementary teachers taught strictly "by the book".  No joke .. I can barely remember ever getting to do any type of fun activity when it came to the subject of social studies. It was all text. memorization, dates and times and names, and then test after test.  Middle School I never really had "social studies" per say, it was more of a Geography class.  I didn't enter into another History class until I hit High School, and it was taught by the football coach who tended to favor athletes  (I played volleyball) soooo ....... not much went on in the learning department.  Needless to say, i'm not all that knowledgeable when it comes to the social studies topics: history, geography, etc.  When, as a college student, I can participate in and watch those plays and actually learn something, I have full faith that my elementary students will as well!!

Just a random post that doesn't have much to do with anything except ranting

  A random thing happened to me today, and oddly enough made me reflect upon my "teaching career" so I thought, hey, since I have this blog thing and all, why not write about it.  It frustrated me, and perhaps writing about it will make it less frustrating.  --I think i'm starting to understand why people actually enjoy blogging--  Anyways ... so, as several know i'm in a sorority, however I am what you would call "inactive" this year.  Basically, what this means is i'm obviously still a member and I still pay my national fees, I just don't participate in the meetings and activities anymore.  Several factors played into this inactive status such as my job this semester, block, student teaching in the spring, my dad had surgery and is out of work, and other odds and ends, but either way i'm not really "participating" for my last year. I give you the background of my involvement in the sorority because that's kind of where my reflection comes from.  I may be inactive from my chapter, but I am still a member. I still love my chapter and love my sisters.  We recently went through recruitment and during this time you chalk the sidewalks around campus. Well, apparently one of our girls, while chalking, misspelled a word.  I know .. it seems like such a small error right?  Oh wow .. a word was misspelled .. big deal.  Well you would be surprised at how much criticism i'm hearing about it.  The word misspelled was "their" .. and it was spelled "thier".  I had a conversation with an old friend from highschool about it today who didn't realize I was a member, and did apoligize for the rude comments about it once he found out, but some of his obnoxious friends were being very mean about it .. saying that person is dumb and our chapter is dumb .. etc ..
  That's where my reflection came in ... oddly enough. There are chalkings all across campus.  Beautiful ones ... from all chapters and all other organization .. however no one ever stops to praise the good work.  They are up and ready to jump on the mistakes, though.  Thinking as a teacher .. in a classroom point of view, you see that happen a lot.  Often times, the good and great work gets looked over.  Never intentionally acknowledged.  Never praised. But when a mistake is made, it is the first thing to be brought up.  The first thing to be pointed out.  Thinking in that point of view, I don't want to be that kind of person, and I don't want to be that kind of teacher.  I don't want to be the one who seeks out the mistakes and only points them out.  I want to be the one who praises the good work, while weaving in how an "accident" could be corrected.
  I know ... it was a rant .. but it was good to get it off my mind :)  It was just an accident that could have been corrected.  Nobody's perfect, adults or children, and those things happen.  And I think we'll see that often.  We just have to go about it in a kind and understanding way.
  *Sorrrrrrry for the rant :)*

Social Studies ..

Have you ever had one of those classes that seem to ease the day?  A class that is full of information yet the information is given to you in such a way that it is actually FUN to learn it?  A class where you walk away with all of this new knowledge and these amazing new ideas, yet you still feel refreshed ... like this super ton of pressure that is on you from other classes isn't added to?  Well, Dr. Meier's social studies class is that kind of class for me this semester.  In the few meetings we've had so far ... I have learned soooo many new ideas!  The taxation "game" we played last week was a new experience for me.  Heck, all these games we're doing in class are new for me.  I come from a small town out in the country, with a small school.  We didn't do any type of activities like this ... ever.  Social studies and History are the two main subjects that, when I graduated High School, I felt the least prepared for coming to college because they were so looked over in my school system.  It was all book, note, and lecture.  My favorite idea i've had come out of the class so far, though, is the classroom "pledge" activity we saw earlier in the semester.  The one where they agreed upon the rules, the teacher wrote it up, the students signed it, then they hung it in the hall.  I LOVED that!!  I'm also pretty excited that we have been/are discussing diversity in the classroom this week because, as mentioned when we had to bring the baggies of stuff the represent us that one day, I really like the Think. Live. Respect. campaign on campus.  As a Preview/Orientation Leader, we support the program to the fullest and wear their T-Shirt as one of our work shirts.  If you have never heard of it, you should look it up.  It is an amazing program that focuses on becoming a more understanding, accepting, respectful campus, creating an enclusive environment where everyone is valued.  I hope to carry that with me into my classroom :)

AMAZING!

Well I just got home about 10 minutes ago from my first full day at my placement site.  I am in a 4th Grade classroom at Happy Valley Elementary, and I LOVED it!!

As noted in my previous blog, I was nervous going into this placement, but I am very pleased with where I have been assigned.

I already love the students in my classroom.  They already know me as Ms.Rachel, already started asking me questions, and seemed to automatically warm up to me being in their classroom.  Students can act up, or act differently, when guests are in the classroom but I believe the preparation my mentor teacher did with them prior to today really eased that tension.  I believe that in itself can be a learning experience.  Explaining and talking with students about things that will be going on in the classroom or others that will be present ahead of time, and reminding them of it as it draws nearer.

I also really like my mentor.  I feel like I will be able to learn a lot from her classroom, whether it be things I like or dislike.  She was very welcoming to me, answered any question I had, and gradually throughout the day explained their processes to me, such as how they do things and reasons why they do it that way.  She was also very helpful in the fact that periodically throughout the day she would throw little pieces of information my way that she learned from her mentor when she student taught or lessons she's learned throughout her first few years as a teacher.  And all of this was just in day 1!!  I am sooooo excited to see what is in store for me and all the new things I will see and learn every Tuesday from here on out!!

Best of luck to all of you on your first days at your placement!! Can't wait to hear (or read) all about it!

And we're off .... to field placement, that is ...

So ... the time is finally here.  I begin my 60 hours with my teacher tomorrow.  I don't know about anyone else, but I find myself feeling anxious about this placement.  It's not like I haven't been in a classroom before (obviously we've all had field experience to make it this far) it just seems a tad bit more stressful this time.  Who knows, it may just be this work load that seems to be slowly piling on.  Not to mention that we will be spending a lot more time with the teacher and the students in this placement then we have in any other placement before.  I'm sure once I get in there, meet my mentor teacher and the students, and get into a groove of the classroom structure all will be fine, however for now the anxiety will be building until 7:50 tomorrow morning.  I guess all I can say at this point is "bring it on" :)

In the Beginning ....

Hello Friends!!

  So ... here I am, typing my very first blog entry in my life (i'm not counting the one on D2L I once used, seeing as how it isn't exactly a "blog").  But anyways .. I can honestly say that I never -ever- intended on creating a blog, but now that I have it isn't a terrible experience.  It is a quite enjoyable one, in fact.  I've had an interesting time browsing the site and learning all the new and different things that can be done with a blog.  Who knew!?

I would like to say that I will only be using this blog for school and class purposes, but I'm pretty sure that would be a lie. (Hey, I took the time to make it .. might as well get the full experience, right?)  So sure, school and class stuff will be my main purpose, however you're more than likely going to get some random posts, pictures, and information about  my life in general throughout this process.  Hope you don't mind!

Well I suppose it's time to close out the very first blog of my life. I work tomorrow *I waitress at a local cafe at home on the weekends* and should probably have a tad bit rest. 

--I promise, next time I will actually include something relating to the most exciting things happening in all of our lives right now (that we all have in common that is) .... block, student teaching, graduating ... finding a job! .. and having a classroom of our own--

But for Now,
Thanks for reading!  Join me again soon, yes?  :)