Elem Social Studies 06 (Jennifer)

The biggest take away I got from this class was how much information can accurately be deduced from a collection of primary resources.  It was awesome to retell key portions of Mr. Stohr’s life with the few sources that we had access to.  I was left wondering if someone could do that with what I’ve collected throughout my life.  Or, if I could find similar artifacts of my grandparent’s or great-grandparent’s that could help me understand their histories better.  What portions of our lives will be important enough to make it onto a site like ancestery.com to help our decedents learn who we are?

On that note, what will historians do in the future?  The world is going digital and that is going to completely alter how the past is researched and explored.  Online, everyone has their own opinion about everything.  How do you determine which opinions/recounts are worth further study or comparison?  What will be a be considered a primary source if electric documents can be altered or rewritten without indication?  What features of an electronic document would be analyzed?  It can’t be examined like the nuisances of a written letter or the material used to create.  Will future historian give up on searching though the ancient materials in favor of the easy access of what can be found on the internet?

I have so many questions.

I did enjoy this weeks video pertaining to show and tell.  It never occurred to me that this simple activity could become a competition between the haves and have-nots.  I think it’s a great idea to have theme-oriented show and tell.  It caps the options and it gives students, who do not know what to bring, a starting point.  It’s also a good activity to help students learn to present in front of a group of people.  The outline that the student’s used gave helped them to present the important information without the stories lasting forever.  I remember one show and tell in particular.  I believe it was 4th grade and I had just come home (Michigan) from a vacation to see me grandparents in Richmond.  While in Richmond, I saw this “gianormous” bee the size of my thumb.  A girl in my class disputed my claim that it was a bee, because there was no such thing as bees that size. Therefore, I was lying about all of it.   Many years later, I realize we were both right.  It was not a massively large bee.  But, I did see something.  It was a hornet and the size of my thumb, if not bigger at the time.

 

While I was reading the material for this class, I kept wondering how substituting a textbook with other reading materials could make socials studies come alive.  Reading a handout is just as lackluster as reading the textbook.  The class really helped me to understand the point of these particular handouts.  The activity about the Montgomery Bus Boycott was something I have never done before.  It was interesting how my group was able to describe the event by understanding the terms, without really remembering what the event was.  The handouts were not what I had expected.  Reading handouts of the primary sources were so much more intriguing.  The step-by-step pace of the activity was helpful.  Had I been given all there resources at once, I probably would have been overwhelmed.  Analyzing them one at a time assisted me with focusing on the main point of each article.  I know what the Boycott is now.  This method is something that I definitely need to remember when I am teaching.

When Dr. Storh discussed the information on Rosa Parks that we might have learned from our textbooks versus the reals accounts of the event, my mind was blown.  I was left wondering what else I have read in my history books that was not factual.  I have also often wondered how the WW II perspective in a US History textbook would differ from that in a German History textbook.  At this point, I can only assume they have conflicting accounts.

I am really enjoying the literature circle.  I can’t help but think that I am missing the facts by not memorizing a list of details.  It was interesting to see what others in my group noticed that I didn’t.  We need more time to discuss. 🙂

Literature circles will be an important part of my social studies teaching in the future.  I would also like to try the photography activity where the students compare their photos to pictures of children their age in the time period being studied.  I think that can make the differences of that time more impactful.  The battle plan is an excellent idea.  What a way to bring a battle to life!  It involves strategical thinking that would be hard to incorporate in other areas.

Being someone that has always struggled with comprehension and inferences, I understand the value of knowing the terminology.  There are certain words that you need to know to make sense out of what is being read.  I do wonder, though, why vocabulary is such a focus in social studies.  The math and science classes discussed the importance of reviewing math and science terms with students, but it was not overly emphasized.  Is this because math and science terms are more concrete with a greater ability to be conceptualized with hands-on activities and visuals, whereas social studies terms are more representative of ideas?  The picture activity that we did in class was intriguing.  A few times my partner and I had differing opinions on whether the picture represented revolution or reaction.  These pictures ended up being both, but we initially interpreted the pictures differently.

Another thing that I wonder, is at what point do you begin teaching the core content?  With there being so much focus on vocabulary and a distinctly shorter amount of time devoted to social studies than other subjects, how does it all come together?  It doesn’t seem like there would be enough time in a lesson to teach both vocabulary and content well.

There are a couple of strategies that I would like to include in my future classroom.  For younger students, I like the idea of sketchnoting.  While these students may not have the words to be able to explain what they understand, they could show their understanding of key concepts with drawings. Out of the graphic organizers, I particularly like the Frayer model.  It can be easily differentiated for the needs of individual students and it can fit on a note card for later review.  I also thought that the Alphaboxes were very useful.  In order to be able to come up with several relevant words for each letter, the topic needs to be well understood.  So not only would this organizer assist with vocabulary knowledge, but it would also demonstrate understanding.  Most of the graphic organizers that were in the book, I have not seen before.  One thing that I don’t understand is why would an H-diagram or Y-diagram be more effective than a Venn Diagram.  I’m partial to the Venn Diagram.

 

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.