Reflection – Class 1

Every social studies class I had, that I can recall, basically all consisted of the teacher lecturing, readings from text books, and discussing time periods throughout history. None of which ever kept my attention, made me want to learn, nor stuck with me. Our first class meeting opened my eyes to see that there is a lot more to social studies than the picture drawn from my previous experiences. Not only can social studies be taught in a way to keep students attention, it can be taught in a way that can be fun and entertaining. I learned that social studies (and all subjects) can be best taught through integration. It is important that, we as teachers, try to find as many ways to mix subject matter together in a way that will enhance the learning process for our students.

I thought the way the class started was a great demonstration as to how we can open our classes when we begin teaching. We will be spending a whole school year with the same students and while it is very important for us as teachers to learn about our students and connect with our students, its just as important for our students to connect with each other. The getting to know you exercise, meet and great, and the subject exercise allowed all of us to get to know each other a little better than we did before. Using activities like this at the beginning of the year will allow the classroom to form unity and connections with one another. Likewise, the closing activity was also powerful. Using the snowball exercise in my class will get my students excited about sharing one takeaway from class which will not only reinforce that takeaway for them but also reinforce the other students takeaways for closure.

I hope to continue to learn many more ways in how to make social studies fun and exciting for my students, best practices and strategies in teaching social studies, and how I can better my knowledge of social studies to pass on to my students.