Social Studies Manifesto

Before this semester, I felt like most people do about Social Studies.  It was the lowest on my list and I did not want to have to really teach it, because I did not really know that much about the content and what I did know about it  I did not like! However, after a semester in Dr. Meier's Social Studies methods course, I have seen how important, vital, and all around us Social Studies is.  I have learned how truly simple it is to integrate Social Studies into any subject and how important it is to give our students a good experience with Social Studies.  Up until this semester I have never had an active learning experience with Social Studies.  I had never got to relive plays, be apart of a living history museum, geocach, or do anything "fun" in a Social Studies class EVER.  I had the apprenticeship of observation theory going on in my head.  I was going to teach Social Studies just how I had been taught all through grade school and high school.  I now know that I do not have do that.  I know that Social Studies is an active subject and one of the most interesting ones if we make it.  It is full of stories about all sorts of wonderful, interesting, exciting, and thrilling experiences that have helped to shape our country into what it is today.  I know that the National Council of Social Studies has a set of standards that are always helpful to go by when planning a lesson, as well as looking at state standards too.  During this semester, I have learned that I am more learner centered and that Social Studies can easily be planned to make the students take control of their learning.  Students need to be taught to think not just crammed full of facts.  Social Studies is the perfect subject to do that in.  There are so many things that kids are told and taught that are completely false and they need to be taught to question ideas and stories to figure out the truths from the myths.  As a teacher, I must know and understand my personal invisible knapsack so that I can understand my students.  We all come from different backgrounds, but we can all learn together if we understand each others influences, beliefs, culture, and backgrounds.  Social Studies is who we are.  It is not an unimportant subject.  It is not one to be left only when a substitute needs extra busy work.  As a teacher, I plan to make sure Social Studies is not pushed off to the side.  I plan to make sure that I have a democratic classroom, so that my students feel important and feel that they have a voice inside our class.  I plan to have active learning and doing rather than absorbing.  I hope to not forget how much fun and excited Social Studies can be.  And I hope to give my students a memorable Social Studies experience so that they do not become a twenty-something year old adult not knowing the things that I have now learned only because I finally was allowed a real ,true, fun, and exciting Social Studies experience.

Putting the Social Back In Social Studiea

This article was an eye opener into how much money is spent on the social studies material industry, but how the students are not learning or understanding social studies.  Some schools have done away with social studies! I do not understand how that is even possible! Some disturbing statistics are that "one in four 8th graders didn't know why the Civil War was fought, and one in five high school seniors thought that Germany was a U.S. ally during WWII!"  That is horrifying to imagine that the students do not know the basics of HUGE events in our countries history.  Some teachers who have never had a fond social studies experience are doing the same thing to their students now by just assigning worksheets and drudging through the material to get meet the standards.  I am so thankful to have had Dr. Meier this semester, because up until this point I have been one of those closet history-haters! And I honestly think I would have been one of those teachers who through social studies to the back-burner and trying to just get it over with.  Now I know that social studies is who we are as people.  I cant wait to be allowed to teach it by using fun activities like we have learned all semester!

Living History Museum

This past week in social studies we all took a trip back in time to visit the living history museum.  This activity was such a wonderful one and I definitely plan to use it inside of my classroom.  Every student picks someone  famous in history and makes a visual for that person and then becomes their own museum exhibit.  I chose Annie Oakley.  There were some wonderful exhibits by my classmates.  I loved Jackie Oand all the others.  Everyone did such a wonderful job and it was educational too! Gotta love activities like that.

Thanksgiving

Yesterday, we all sat down and celebrated Thanksgiving with our families.  Until this semester I have had that picturesque idea of the Native Americans and the Pilgrims sitting down and celebrating Thanksgiving like all my past teachers have told me.  This semester, however, I was challenged to question those things the textbook teach and those lessons taught over and over that might be wrong.  I feel that this social studies class has helped me so much to be able to truly research and understand what I being taught.  Like Dr. Meier said on Monday, "History is his or her story."

Book Talk

This past Wednesday was our classes book talk.  I enjoyed listening to everyone's book talk.  It seems like everyone had a book that related to social studies and most made me really interested to read their book.  My book was called "Ben and Me."  It is a book about Benjamin Franklin through the eyes of his good friend, companion, and mouse Amos.  It was a very fun book to read.  While it is a fiction book, it is a very useful book to teach students about the life of a famous historical figure.  I enjoyed reading it and look forward to being able to use it and maybe some of the others' books inside a classroom.

Story Path

This coming Wednesday we are going to have a story path activity that goes along with Mount Everest and what we talked about today.  I did not know all the facts we learned today about how many have climbed successfully, how many have died, the cost, and other facts we discussed today.  I am very excited for Wednesday to take part in the story path and learn exactly what they are and how to use them inside the classroom!!

Placement Lesson

Today I finally taught a lesson to students and saw it carried out from beginning to end! It was wonderful. Of course that are many things I would have done differently if I knew yesterday what I now know. My lesson was a Social Studies lesson about the three branches of government at the national level. The students were partnered up and read from the textbook for the first 15 to 20 minutes. Then we watched a School House Rock video, Three Ring Circle. It went perfect with the lesson. Next we had a class discussion on what was read and the video. Then we did a word sort within each pair, places roles and people under the right branch. The students listened a lot better then I would have thought they would which definitely helped! I am thankful that it is over now and I know that getting in front of the students is not horrible and I can do it! I am also glad that I got to do a hands on Social Studies lesson cause the class does not get to see Social Studies being as hands on as Science or Math is in the classroom.