Social studies has never been a favorite subject of mine. I always found it boring. In my high school classes, we’d read the chapter without any real connection to our lives, answer study questions, and then take a test or write a paper. A fresh approach with interactive activities and an association with modern times, might have changed my perspective. Now, I realize that the information that I missed or have forgotten from my classes is the foundation for understanding current events. Sometimes I feel ignorant when discussing news stories because I don’t know the basics. The only expectations that I have for instruction are that assignments be explained in detail during class and that reminders be given for due dates.
In this class, I want to learn how to make social studies engaging and how to weave it with other subjects. I want to gather ideas for activities and resources for creating my own lessons. Additionally, I am very interested to see how social studies can come alive in the classroom. I honestly can’t visualize what that would look like. I would also like to get a better grasp of the content and learn what social studies consist of besides history and current events.
The one thing that stood out for me during class was the idea of valuing the knowledge that students bring with them. That was not the way I was taught. Whatever background knowledge a student had was dismissed because everyone was to start and finish at the same spot. This doesn’t give students any reason to draw on background knowledge or to make connections. Learning what the students know would give the teacher the option to skip to new, more interesting materials.