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.