Elem Social Studies 03 (Chandley)

The greatest take away from this weeks’ lesson was the use of primary resources. We used this to piece together the life of Mr. Stohr, but this technique can be used in a variety of ways.

After reviewing the skills progression sheet we were handed, I was left wondering how I would implement this in a class as young as first grade? Clearly there would be differentiation and a more basic lesson, but how would I use primary sources with a group of 6-7-year-old students? Would it look more like a presentation of artifacts and a gallery walk in which students are allowed to move from station to station while observing and potentially handling the primary source? Then the students would move back to their seats for the remainder of the lesson?

I fully believe children learn with more depth and complexity when they are allowed to view, handle, and manipulate resources and this would be a fantastic way to extend a lesson on basic concepts.

This past class was very informative for me. Many of my classmates had a hard time with the “It says….”, “I say…”, and “And so…” graphic organizer. All we were being asked to do was infer, but I wonder if the trouble was because background knowledge was lacking.

The exercise during this past class was a great lesson to me on how to extend a lesson for clarity and meaning before moving on. I believe the new resource was more effective than the resource from the book because it asked us to say what we read in our own words first, then find the evidence, then infer. I also liked how we were given numerous primary sources to draw one large conclusion at the end. As students, we were forced to think about the topic at hand, work through the material, and form individual responses. I can see using these steps with my students to teach them how to make conclusions based off several pieces of information.

Class was really interesting this week! It was great to be able to have hands-on experiences with some of the ideas we read about in our book. My favorite activity we did, one I could really envision using in my classroom, was when we did a gallery walk through the classroom to decide if the pictures were a revolution, reaction, or both. This activity forced me to think deeply about what each picture was. I had to draw out details and contemplate which category the pictures on the poster fit best with.

The added challenge to this activity was coming up with a question. What was something I saw in the picture that made me wonder? For many of them, I was wondering what the people were thinking. For example, the picture of Ruby Bridges had me wondering how she felt walking out of the school with three tall white men by her side and the crowd looking on. Were her parents scared for her that day? Was Ruby scared? Did she find some nice friends in class that day? How was her experience going back to school the next day? As a parent, I wonder how her parents came to the conclusion that their daughter would be the one to initiate desegregation in the schools. I know I would not be as brave as Ruby or her parents in that situation.

I really enjoy the activities that force me to ask questions. I think it is easy for teachers and students to get caught up in learning and memorizing the facts, particularly in social studies. However, when students are forced to think and wonder a deeper understanding of the content occurs.

This first class was so much fun! All first classes are usually made up of the same 2 things: meeting each other and going over the syllabus. However, with this class I was immediately engaged when the picture of the first Thanksgiving was shown. When looking at it, I kept being drawn to the man holding the gun in the background. I had so many questions about this man and the native Americans. Why did he think he needed to hold the gun? Was he trying to prove he was in charge? How did the natives feel that he was holding that gun? Was he a nice man or was he quite intimidating? Would he be responsible with that gun? The part the struck me most, though, was what my tablemates picked up in the picture. Everyone saw something different and had different questions. This is an exercise I will definitely be doing with my students, extending it to a Reader’s Theater or to include math and science.

This semester I hope to learn engaging ways to teach social studies to higher elementary grade levels. I think it can be easy for teachers to get into a rut of teaching the facts about social studies, but to help children make connections and develop an extended understanding of the material it needs to be presented a way that piques interest. We, as students, experienced this during our first class and I cannot wait to see what else is in store for us!