I am incredibly grateful for the invaluable skills I learned throughout the semester. As I said last night, I dreaded this class and the content. Social studies has never been an area of strength for me and I was afraid my personal feelings may be detected by my future students. Kiddos can sense insecurities and I was afraid I would be ripped apart…not so much anymore!
Now equipped with DBQ, question formulation, I say, you say, and so, I wonder, and so many other amazing strategies for teaching the SS content, I am no longer weary. While I may not be amazing in my execution of all of these techniques during my first few years of teaching, I know that through practice I will get better.
I also appreciate the opportunity to reflect in so many different ways as we did on the giant sticky notes. My only “issue” is that I never feel like I know what to say/how to respond to such prompts in the moment. It is only once I have had an opportunity to truly sit with a thought that I am able to come up with some type of response. However, being able to see what my classmates wrote was super helpful as I remembered things I would not have otherwise reflected upon. (not sure that makes sense, but hopefully you understand). I’m also grateful for these blog posts as an opportunity to just word vomit what I’m thinking and feeling. I haven’t looked at these as a formal paper, rather an opportunity to get whatever I’m trying to process out in some kind of written form and just be real. So, thank you. Thank you both for everything!