LEARNING TO LOVE SOCIAL STUDIES

Throughout this semester I learned a lot probably the most I have ever learned in one class. Before taken this class, I despised social studies because I always found it boring. Now i have a whole different perspective on social studies. Dr. Smirnova has taught me to use technology during teaching. I learned how to use google docs for the first time and its been one of the most useful technology yet. I learned about many different games and useful websites that can be beneficial when I teach in the future. I also learned how to implement three different instructions into my classroom: direct, inquiry and cooperative. I learned how to write a lesson plan for direct, inquiry and cooperative in the correct format. I couldn't believe how much i learned in this one class during the semester. I am now knowledgeable of many new techniques, strategies, technology and activities that I can incorporate into my classroom when I teach. 

Mock Interview

We got the experience in class, to pretend to be on job interview. Dr. Smirnova assigned three students to be the interviewees and other three students to get interviewed. I was one of the students that got interviewed. We had to show up on time to class as if it was a real job interview. We dressed appropriately and had a resume printed out. The interviewees got the chance to meet with everyone and asked them specific questions. I think this was a great experience because they were reasonable questions and we got feedback on how our interview went from our peers. This experience made me reflect on my experience and prepare me for other interviews in the future. 

Searching for Evidence: Who Am I?
Today we taught an inquiry lesson, which is the second lesson of this unit. The students were asked to investigate material on important leaders of the American Revolution and see how evidence leads to the answer. The students were given tools and used their prior knowledge to complete the inquiry process. I started off by showing the students pictures of the battles that took place during the American Revolution to activate their prior knowledge. 

Next, I questioned the students if they know the steps of the scientific method. I showed the steps one bye one in order for different students to respond and see if their responds before the next one is given. Then, I briefly review and explain what each step for this process means. I provided examples throughout the presentation, so the students get an idea of each inquiry steps. 

The students will be set into groups. My fellow classmates and I will hand out five brown paper bags along with the folders to each group including the detective report forms for each individual student. I explained the report for to the students after each student had a copy. The students were given three minutes to look at the picture and objective on the front of their folders and create a hypothesis. The students scanned QR code that was in each bag. One teacher candidates helped out each group because they needed to borrow there Iphone. The students scanned the QR code and a question appeared. The students had to collectively agree and communicate to agree on an answer. When the time is up, the students will come up with a conclusion of who they think they have. The students at the end, presented their findings to their classmates.

I found this activity to be very succesful, I was impressed to see how engaged the students were doing this activity. This was one of my best activities I did at Bishop Dunn. It was a great feeling watching the students learning and having fun all at the same time. My goal as a teacher is to make the students want to come to class and learn because they enjoy it. I was delighted to get this experience and present this lesson to these students. 

Law-Related Education (LRE)

          Law-Related Education teaches individuals how to act as a citizen and how the law affects them. It is used to develop an understanding of how to respond to the law and legal issues in society. Law-Related Education falls under social studies in many ways. For example, take a look under government as shown in the diagram below, it gives a list of all the topics that relate to LRE. 

Law-Related Education fits into the curriculum for three specific reasons:  use of special events about the law, the special unit or course, and the infusion of LRE into various standard courses. Special events about law consist of assemblies, guest speakers, and field trips. Depending on the topic you’re learning, teacher’s can even create an event on a day to get the student’s excited to come to class and make social studies learning fun for the students. Having courses on law related education is more than likely to be included in high school curriculums.

Personally, I remember in my high school there were many law classes that were always available to take. However, I never got the chance to take one, but I know many of friends participated in some of those classes and talked very highly about them. My friends said they actually had the experience of what it feels like to sit in a courtroom and debate over a case study. I find this very interesting because not many schools offer these classes and it shows how important it is to incorporate Law-Related Education into the curriculum.  

Given this assignment, I didn't think I would've of learned this much. I didn't think how important it was for student to understand law related education. I learned many different ways to incorporate this into the classroom in a fun, and engaging way. As a teacher I want to include LRE into my class and go outside with my students to make a difference in society. Students need to be knowledgeable of law related education; they have the entitlement to know their rights and responsibilities as a citizen. I hope to make a difference in social studies for my students and engage them to go outside into their community to take social action in their society. 

CURRENT EVENTS

This lesson I got the opportunity to teach was taught through a cooperative instruction. The students will be learning how effective the five w's are while reading and writing based on a current event article given. The students will be able to keep up with today's new and problems or achievements across the globe. Students will be switching charts with other groups to use the five w's to come up ith an opening paragraph. Students will be working with their partner cooperatively to complete this assignment. This lesson began asking the students if they know what the five w's are to review their prior knowledge. I provided a song that will help the students to understand what the five w's mean and help them remember each one.

I presented the PowerPoint: Exploring The World. This presentation  provided examples and pictures of the five w's, explaining each one. After the presentation was completed, I displayed an article on the board to show the students an example. I had the students help me identify the five w's in the article and labeled them. The students will be identifying the five w's together with their partner on the homework article that received. Next, the students will be switching charts and will create an opening paragraph for the current event article using only the five w's. The students will switch back and compare what their classmates have written. To close this activity each set of partners will prepare a presentation and reflection of what they found comparing the original article and opening paragraph. 

I found this lesson interesting because we were using current events to distinguish the five w's and most of the articles that were given out to the students were very interesting. I enjoyed this activity because  I felt the need to enforce how important the five w's are while reading and writing. 

THE FIVE POWERFUL ELEMENTS OF SOCIAL STUDIES

The five powerful elements of social studies are: meaningful, integrative, value-based, challenging, and active. Meaningful means engaging and connecting students with real world situations. Integrative refers to draws on more than one discipline, subject, or skill set. Value – based strengthen the students sense of democratic values and social responsibility. Challenging means incorporating different perspectives and draws on students’ critical thinking skills. Active refers to the use of manipulative or physical environment. It is important as a teacher to incorporate the five powerful elements of social studies into your lessons. Incorporating the five powerful elements into your lesson while teaching will be beneficial to the students as well because it will be a fun, engaging lesson for the students to enjoy. I learned how to implement these elements into my classroom. 

ECONOMICS

"Economics as a body of knowledge includes the concepts, generalizations, and theories developed by people to try to extend their scarce natural, human, and captial resources so that they can fulfill their basic needs and as many of their wants as possible. An important key to the accomplishment of this goal is a systematic way of thinking and making economic decisions" (Sunal, 2011). There are many trends and concepts of teaching economics such as: the difference between microeconomics and macroeconomics, the study of economics and of economic decision making, why scarcity and descision making are considered the key to economic understanding, how to teach the economic decision making model to the students, how economics influences the lives of all people, communities, and nations, and how interdependence impacts all nations bringing them benefits from economic cooperation. 

I got to research the difference between microeconomics and macroeconomics. The difference between microeconomics and macroeconomics are microeconomics focuses on how decisions are made by individuals and the consequences of those decisions, meanwhile macroeconomics examines the aggregate behavior of the whole economy. 

I would implement this in my classroom, by introducing them to the students. I will then give the students examples and as a class we would identify whether its mircoeconomics or macroeconomics explaining why. This will involve the class to communicate with one another and work together as a team. 
PowerPoint Presentation

Video: Microeconomics Vs. Macroeconomics 

ARTIFACT BAG

An artifact bag is an activity used in the classroom for many specific reasons. An artifact bag consists of about three to four items in a bag, that all lead to a particular event, person or place due on a specific topic. An artifact is an object made by a human being or an item with historical meaning to the particular object. The purpose of this activity is for the students to learn about the American Revolution by examining the artifacts given that are from the American Revolution.

The students will be completing this activity in inquiry-based instruction. This is a method of teaching that combines the scientific method process and the development of critical thinking while learning. I will refresh the students’ knowledge about the scientific method and how it is used in this activity. I will question the students to see if they remember any of the steps of the scientific method. I will follow up with reviewing each step with details and pictures, so the students get the knowledge of each step in the inquiry method.

I will explain to the students that they will be placed in groups. Students will be given ten minutes to determine what each artifact means in each bag that will lead them to their conclusion of a significant person or event that happened in the American Revolution. The student’s will be filling out the chart provided to them. The chart consists of the students’ hypotheses, who, what, when, where, how, why and the conclusion made from each artifact.

I will close the lesson by having each group present their artifacts to their classmates. Each group will come up showing their artifacts and chart that they discovered during their research. I will conclude with a video about Paul Revere. This video will help the students learn more about what a significant person he was in the American Revolution. After presenting their artifact bag, the students will complete a reflection on today’s activity in their journals. The journal entry page will be given to the students. I will provide a rubric to put on the board to make sure each individual meets the criteria in their writings. 

The artifacts that were chosen to describe Paul Revere were a horse, USA sticker, and a light bulb. A horse was given as an artifact because it symbolizes the time in the American Revolution when Paul Revere was on his horse and yelled, “The British are coming!” A USA sticker to symbolize that Paul Revere was on the American side and that this had to do with the American Revolution. The third artifact was a light bulb. The light bulb relates to the lantern, which meant if he hung one lantern the British were coming by sea, two lanterns meant coming by land. This refers to the quote, “One if by land, and two if by Sea”. These three artifacts were used to conclude that my artifact bag was Paul Revere.

Artifact bag projects are very useful in teaching. I never created or heard of an artifact bag until I got the opportunity to participate in the activity in Dr. Smirnova’s class. In class, we got paired up and got an artifact bag. My partner and I made a hypothesis on the artifact bag before seeing the artifacts inside the bag. After making a predication we were eager to see what was inside. Determining the artifacts one by one and figuring it out was challenging. Some of the artifacts we knew but others we used the Internet to research more in depth. At the end, we had to make a conclusion on all the artifacts and our thoughts.Personally, I found this project very intriguing it was different than other projects. The artifact bag gave us different ways to use the inquiry method and critical thinking. 

GEOGRAPHY

Geography is the study of physical features of Earth and the atmosphere. Geography is important for the students to understand. Students should know how to locate places on a map and understand different countries as well as their cultures. Teaching geography will increase the students knowledge on social studies and the world as a whole. The students need the knowledge of geography. 

This video provides knowledge about geography and course concepts.

Geography can be implemented into many different subjects very easily. In my experience, going down to the armory to read books to children,. The program is called "All Around The World". This program consist of MSMC students coming in to read to children and do an activity. During this activity, as a group we all go up to the map on the poster board and find where the book takes place and pin it. In this example, geography is getting taught through literature in the simplest way. 

In my elementary school, I remember learning the seven continents through a song. My teacher would have us sing the song everyday before class began. The just shows how many ways geography can be implemented into other subjects and how important is it to teach students choreography in a fun and engaging way.