Ready to Embark on the Next Challenge

The sixteen weeks of social studies methods has now come to an end, but I will carry all of my experiences with me when I go into student teaching and in my future endeavors in my own classroom. Right at the start of this course, I quickly noticed how fast paced it would be. This was very difficult for me and I struggled to keep up through the entire semester. As far as a life-long skill, I have learned how important it is to time manage my time. I am a slow worker, however I have always managed to get my work done on time. For this class, it was a constant struggle and I should have made a schedule for myself as to what needed to get completed each day in order to not feel like I was in such a rush towards the end of the semester.

Based on the learning outcomes for this course, I feel that I have come close to achieving most. The third learning outcome on the syllabus is one I really feel I have mastered through my experience in this class. This includes planning lessons and getting materials ready to engage students in inquiry learning. When I first came into this course, I did not have any idea what inquiry learning was. In fact, a few days before I had to teach an inquiry lesson in front of an entire class I met with Dr. Smirnova a few times. I was so nervous she even gave me a hug. She explained what this method was to me and helped me find an engaging tool to use with the students. By the end of teaching my own lesson and watching my peers teach inquiry lessons, I had a concrete understanding of what it consists of, how it is implemented, and different ways to do so. With technology, Dr. Smirnova introduced me to QR codes and I thank her for doing so. This lesson helped me realize how important it is to use technology in the classroom at this day and age. The students enjoyed taking turns scanning the codes with the cell phone and working together to solve the problem.

Learning outcome number five of understanding the role of technology in social studies today does not end there. Throughout the course, Dr. Smirnova introduced us to a new form of technology basically every single week. My favorite use of technology with students is kahoot. I think its a great way to pre-assess or post-assess students on material in a way that its not so much a test. The students get to interact with one another, communicate, and review the information they just learned. Even though Kelli and I had difficulties, I think move note is also a great website. Students love to watch videos, so I would be very interested to see how playing a voice recording and having the students watch it would be like in the classroom. Several other tools were very useful such as symbaloo, socrative, wordle, and even Skype.
Thinking about my teaching experience, I had successes and failures. I know one improvement I need to still continue to work on is speaking up. My partner was very good at controlling the classroom when the students were not listening because she would project her voice. I will be working on being more firm with the students in order for them to pay attention and understand what is to be done and what is not tolerated. Also, I learned how important it is to really study and practice teaching the information to the students before teaching a direct instruction lesson. I kept reading off of my PowerPoint presentation and I wish I had not done so. The teachers need you to explain information and not just read one sentence about it off of the slides. I was very nervous, since it was my first time, but will need to improve with that as time goes on. Lastly, academic language is a must! Dr. Smirnova would inform me when I would say "guys" or "gonna." The more aware I am of saying it, the quicker I will be able to get rid of the habit.
As far as successes, Nicole and I planned lessons that the students enjoyed! Our "Who Am I?" guided practice activity was interactive, which the students loved! The difference in enthusiasm between that activity and the timeline activity on the Smart Board was very big. The students would look at all of their pictures and then on the count of three lift the correct picture up and shout the person's name. Knowing that the fifth graders enjoyed this and were practicing the leaders of the American Revolution will encourage me to use this again in my student teaching placement with fifth graders. As mentioned above, the inquiry lesson was much more exciting than I had expected. I did not know how much the students would like the iPhones. The students were engaged in solving the mysteries as well. After a clue was answered, the students would all be talking to one another at a fast pace. They were so enthusiastic if the clue helped confirm someone or led them directly to another person. I loved the use of a real-life situation for the cooperative learning lesson. Students love to play games and I felt they would understand how to create a game board through their own experience of seeing so many and using them at home. There were a few groups that had difficulty getting everyone to agree on ideas and everyone carrying out only their role. For the most part, I saw positive social interaction and the boards were so creative it was rewarding to see how into the creation the students were. Having the students excited to play them during recess made it even a better feeling.

Comparing myself to the beginning of the course, I feel prepared to go into student teaching in the fall and at the beginning I felt very unprepared. I now know what direct, inquiry, and cooperative learning lesson plans each entitle. I thought there was only one type of lesson plan before this class. Through my successes and failures, I have learned some aspects of what makes a good teacher and what does not. For example, the twenty-first century is having a huge advance with technology. If I still used an overhead projector I would be boring the students and they would not be learning the material. I also grasped a good idea of what the Ed TPA questions look and are worded like and what specific parts they are asking about. Having practiced doing Ed TPA will help me when I create my lessons, record my videos, and go to actually answer the questions.

In the future, I will definitely be incorporating social studies through other subjects. The blog on the 103 ways to teach geography showed me how you can use geography with so many different aspects. Even just reading the students an informational text on an economics concept is an excellent way to integrate two subjects and have the students learn some social studies content and vocabulary. When teaching lessons, I am going to incorporate the artifact bag lesson. I feel it is so engaging to involve the students in the learning and fun when the students have to use clues to form a conclusion. When the students are not participating in a cooperative learning lesson or a inquiry lesson, there will be interaction with the Smart Board or with the students to keep them awake and paying attention. My social studies classroom will include the five elements of cooperative learning when appropriate and the five elements of teaching social studies during lessons.

~ Christine Brown