Month: March 2019

Children’s literature integrated in the social studies curriculum is a great strategy to deepen the understanding of the social studies content in an engaging and meaningful way.

• I have always known there were biases in books, but I was shocked to learn that the Who Was series was included in the list of books that were not appropriate. On the surface, many of these books seem like they would teach children the facts of our history. However, this just proved to me why I need to read each book I am considering for my class. I also need to preview the illustrations. I am shocked there was a picture of a person hanging in a children’s book. The wording and illustrations in some of these books would not be beneficial to the students in my classroom and would perpetuate the biases among these students.

I learned a valuable lesson this week: DON’T judge a book by it’s cover… Or maybe you can. But having a critical eye when looking at the books I will consider for my class will ensure they have the highest quality of books to learn from.

 

I really enjoyed this week’s presentation of Blood on the River. My daughter read this book after her teacher used it as a read-aloud in her 4th grade class, but I wasn’t quite sure how this book fit into the elementary social studies curriculum.

After hearing the presentation, I will definitely be using this book in my classroom if I am teaching this level. I would love to use this in a reading group or literature circle, depending on the level of my students. If necessary, I will use it as a read-aloud but i think students would gain more from the content in a group discussion.

I don’t know that I would pair the nonfiction text but would rather have that book as a resource in the classroom, as Lane said. I wonder if I did pair the two texts, if students would become bored with the content (especially considering that the two books were so similar, according to Lane and Molly).

Overall, their presentation introduced me to another book to add to my classroom library.

The presentation tonight on using DBQ’s in the classroom was interesting, but also a little intimidating. I enjoyed seeing how the kindergartners used the gallery walk and the books to learn more about Native American’s and Pilgrims. I also thought their question was a great question: Would you rather be a Native American or a Pilgrim? Why? I see the numerous benefits of using DBQ’s, such as deeper understanding and higher engagement from the students.

My concern is… when I’m just getting a grasp of teaching, how do I incorporate this into my classroom? I will likely be teaching third-fifth grade high-level learners or identified gifted students and I know they will greatly benefit from the differentiation I can provide them through an activity such as this. But how do I fit this into my day? What if the school I teach at doesn’t use DBQ’s in their curriculum and it is my job to implement this teaching tool from scratch?

I am excited about using this method in my classroom because I think it will be engaging for my students and they will likely learn much more from an activity such as this than from me simply providing the information for them.