Teaching Methods and Practice: Teaching Social Studies

Based on my reading of: Revitalizing Civic Learning in Our Schools and The SS Interview

I thought/ I remember….

When reading these articles I remembered when I was in school and how much we did not serve or learn to contribute to our community. I do however remember my gym teacher being very active in our school community and our outside community. Because she was so involved, and fairly old fashioned, we learned some pretty cool trades and showed both those communities regularly.

In the field…

In the field we are working very hard to help our student create a body and voice in the community. We are working as a whole school community to make a difference. This is our attempt at helping children to get socially involved in their town. I think a lot of the time this idea is overlooked because we are too busy teaching the behavioral expectation for a good society, but not actually what to do for your community.

I believe…

“As Thomas Jefferson, Horace Mann, John Dewey and other great educators understood, public schools do not serve a public so much as create a public.1 The goal of schooling, therefore, is not merely preparation for citizenship, but citizenship itself; to equip a citizenry with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions needed for active and engaged civic life.” (NCSS article)

I believe this article is getting at the fact that schools do not teach kids to be their community, they just teach them how to be within it. To be a good part of your community you need to not only be in it, but an active part, and that is often left out of schooling.

A connection I can make is…

“Students tend to see Social Studies in general, and History in particular, as the subject matter that has the least relevancy to their current lives and their future needs.” (Interview article) The connection I make here is the dreadful one that when you were a child and Social Studies just seemed to mean history. It’s obviously much more than this, and it’s the job of the educator to help students see the difference and not the misconception. 

 

Personalization

"a truly personalized school would be able to recognize such budding genius. Indeed, it would be able to diagnose and support the whole range of human talents. A personalized school is one in which each individual person whether student or teacher, matters a great deal and has a program that is good for him or her." (p. 217)

I think the general idea in every school is we want to give every child the same playing field and opportunity. However, giving every child the same playing field doesn't necessarily mean they are getting the same opportunity. The idea with personalization is that even though kids might have or be given a different field, they are given the tools for their personal needs to reach the overall educational goal.

What personalization do you already see happening in your school?

AS for a school setting, teachers, and staff members have a student population to read and ponder. the pond of fish that nature hands you determines everything from behavior management, to activities, to the execution of instruction. The flow will change and fluctuate differently based on the student body. I see a lot of classrooms split up based on level of ability and how the students in that grade may learn best. I have also seen a lot of similar behaviors put in the same classroom and teachers who were placed with these students based on the teachers strengths and connections with those kids and their personalities. 

Which areas do you think could be further personalized? 

I think the open mindedness and flexibility in some older staff members could definitely expand. In this same respect, I think that some members in my school community could take biger risks with their approach to understand the students "way".

Technology: What's your Mindset?

Loving the "Challenge Accepted" or sweating miserably through failure?

I think when I am assessing myself, I am definitely a combination of both a fixed and growing mindset. I like to think of it as a package deal! I like to think there are things that I am just naturally the bomb at, and I always will be and I express those just as so. I am comfortable, and natural when expressing these things, and everything is all good. However, I also have basic qualities that that I have cultivated through my efforts and learning experiences. I think that these two things go hand in hand. Maybe your interest is your fixed mindset- "I know I am athletic. I show this." The growth pieces comes in when you expand this thought to different aspects of athletics that become new to you that you learn to the bump and grind- "Man I am good at this, so I'm going to fail through this a little and get okay at it. Starting with the basics baby...."

I think there is definitely some gray here in the middle and some crossing over!

I love in the beginning of the Mindset reading where it's talking about the huge surprise of the kiddos loving the challenge and lip smacking and rubbing their hands together! This is what rue interest looks like! Challenge is their interest subject. 

Maybe it's not what's challenging, but the challenge itself!

Form me I think that I am always able to:

• Find the humor- laugh at my silly mistakes.
• Create Approach and Innovate- I am willing to try different approaches when I am learning something new, imagine new possibilities, and use what I am learning to understand things happening around me. 
• and, Respond with Wonderment and Awe- I am okay being curious and seeing beauty and simplicity around me, including me learning! I enjoy the "AH! Yes!" moment.

Transcendence:I think this speaks a lot to the previous question. I see myself as light hearted and simple in the sense that I enjoy the little things; simple beauty, humor, silliness. And, I think optimism is one of the best tools we can have in our tool box and be aware of. 

BOOM

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