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First Class
My original definition of social studies was, "the study of people and communities across different time periods their behaviors and actions and how it effected their environment". After having been in class all semester, I've learned that yes, that is what it entails but there is so much more to social studies. The progression through my lessons shows my deepening understanding and gained comfortability with teaching social studies in the near future. -
Kindergarten Lesson Plan: Civics
My first lesson was on civics and I thought this was an important lesson because in kindergarten teachers are teaching their students to be good members of their community and at that age, their community is their school. Being that this was my first lesson it was difficult to work in such a short time span and was extremely nervous about every decision I made. Although I finished on time, I was not very confident with my final product but did end up with an alright grade. -
First Grade Lesson: Geography
For my 1st grade lesson I got to relive my childhood and create a lesson on geography. Each student had a country they had to research and then identify their country on the classroom map. Although I loved the idea, my biggest mistake was that my lesson was more of a project. The lesson was intended to be a full week social studies lesson but by doing so, I missed that mark where I was supposed to be creating a lesson for one day. -
Second Grade Lesson: Economics
My second grade lesson is where my confidence began to boost. The lesson was about teaching students the way to make good decisions through teaching what wants and needs are. This lesson flowed seamlessly because again I thought this was a lesson that is vital to the age group. My biggest struggle with this lesson was finding a proper primary source. I ended up using Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs chart with the help of Professor Pavlak. -
Third Grade Lesson: Civics
This was my most creative lesson because there was an art component incorporated and I enjoy being able to incorporate an artistic aspect in my lessons because I think it reaches a wider range of learning styles. My favorite part of this lesson was that students would get to learn about their state and its representatives. Civics is all about creating positive contributing members into society and apart of that is knowing about what goes on in the state you reside in. -
Fourth Grade Lesson: Geography
This was our modified lesson day therefore the lessons were centered around technology. I enjoyed this lesson because I like to learn about new technologies in classrooms because I think the older we get the more tech savvy the students will be, therefore we have to keep up with them. I learned so much about different ways to incorporate technology and it not just necessarily being the SmartBoard. The Virtual Field Trips will forever be my favorite and I will more definitely use them. -
Fifth Grade Lessons: History
I struggled deciding on a lesson for 5th grade because I have still not become fully comfortable with teaching students history. I want to tell them what actually happened but history is sometimes too gory for students. My lesson was bland and focused only on the colonies. I do however think that learning about how our country was formed is very important for children because it widens their understanding and appreciation of the country they live in. -
Sixth Grade Lesson: Economics
For this lesson I definitely upped my complexity and planned a lesson all on supply and demand. I enjoyed planning a lesson for a higher grade level and even though it makes me more nervous because I am more comfortable with the younger grades, I think my lesson came out great and would work well in an actual 6th grade classroom. -
Reflection 1
This entire semester I have been immersed in a subject that I absolutely love learning about and now that I have gained insights on how to teach something that interests me to my future students I think my passion for history has become deeper. One of my biggest fears and concerns is staying as true to history as I can without getting into the gory details. As for the other aspects of social studies, I am beyond excited to put what I have learned into practice. -
Reflection 2
My favorite subject has always been civics and I think the idea that we as teachers are molding these little humans into contributing members of society is very important and this class has taught me how to properly teach students and show them what goes into a society and how it works. Another aspect of class I will take into my future classroom is the use of primary sources. I think student exposure to primary sources allows them to use the see, think, question concept we've been doing.
