Marley's Social Studies Journey

Performance Objectives When constructing lesson plans in any subject, you need a good objective. The objective is almost like the goal that you want you students to achieve: it is what you want your students to do during that time. There are four parts to a good performance objective: the audience, the behavior, the condition, and the degree. All of these aspects are detailed and specific enough so that the student should be doing exactly what is said in the lesson plan. When thinking of the audience, you are thinking who this lesson is being made for. What does your class know already or need to learn in this new lesson? What is their tone like as a whole? Why are they learning this new information and how is it going to be done? Next thing to keep in mind is the behavior of the lesson. During this lesson you are trying to have your students meet a goal; what do you want them to do behavior wise that will help them to learn this topic? How are you going to chang...

Fieldwork Experience- Observing! Being able to watch all of the groups, made up by my peers, teach the second grade class economics in many different ways is interesting. Each group is able to teach their own version of economics in a variety of ways. Each group has a slightly different topic based off of economics and it is fun to watch each peer have their own way of teaching. Observing is a very important, and I think essential, way to learn how to teach. Being able to watch experienced and even new teachers, can give you real life examples and situations of things that can actually happen in the classroom. Observing also gives you the chance to not worry about actually relaying information to students in an efficient way, but to just focus on how you can better your own teaching skills. Creating an appropriate and engaging lesson plan is hard enough, so to be able to watch students in a classroom before having to yet...

Connecting to Economics In chapter ten of our class textbook,  National Social Science Press,  I was able to read up on the different ways we can make connections to economics. In the current moment, elementary students don't think that economics can effect them in anyway, but that is far from the truth. Economics effects just about everyone and everything, whether you have money yourself or not. A growing society can certainly effect the economy just as much as it effects class sizes. The bigger the class, the more needs for services such as teachers, janitors, cafeteria workers, etc. On the other hand, the opposite happens when class sizes go down- there is less of a need for these services. With class sizes growing in rural and poverty stricken areas, there are less services being provided to students who need it most. Important one-on-one attention is being overlooked and neglected because there is simply not en...

Goods and Services Inside the topic of economics is the commonly taught goods and services attribute. Goods and services is an important but simple way for younger students to understand the gist of economics. Goods is something you can buy, where a service is something done for you or someone else. You can twist goods and services in many, many different ways to fit your students understandings and needs. You can also do many fun things with this topic. For example, inside the 2nd grade classroom we are doing fieldwork in, goods and services is taught in a discreet and amusing way. Before my college class arrived, the 2nd grade lesson wasn't even focusing on economics, but they had a system in place that is entirely what goods and services is. The teacher has a coin system where a student will earn a penny, nickel, dime, quarter, or rarely a bill, for doing a good job inside the classroom. Then, at the end of the week the student...

Utilizing Debates in the Classroom When you hear the word debate, one would usually think of politics or an argument. But, if done correctly, a debate can be a great method to use when teaching Social Studies in your classroom. As long as you and your student have an understanding that it stays positive and polite, a debate can be a great way for students of any age to learn and see different point of views. It is also a realistic strategy used in many different real world situations. Debates give students a chance to speak up and fight for what they think is right in an appropriate and knowledge filled way. When myself and a few peers presented a current event to the rest of our class, we had them do a debate. We split the class into two groups, one promoting what was being taught and one that was against it. We picked the groups, but in some cases, you can allow your students to pick what side they want to be on: students like having a ...

Collaborative Lesson Plans and Economics To collaborate means to work together, share ides, and communicate. Economics means production, trade, wealth, and services. Tying these two together in an interesting and engaging way is already difficult, but when also adding 2nd graders into the mix, it becomes even more complicated. Collaborative lesson plans are not only important, but also my favorite type of lesson. They are unique and always fun- if done the right way. There should never be a boring moment during a collaborative lesson plan which makes it perfect to use with boring topics like economics, especially in 2nd grade. Most elementary schoolers don't care to learn about economics because it is not something they have to deal with or worry about in their real world. But, by creating interactive and exciting lessons for students to really indulge themselves and their ideas into, it allows them to mak...

Current Events Social Studies is not only history but it is also todays current news. What was and is going on in your neighborhood and around the world is all relevant and important news to share. When someone thinks of a current event, they imagine the assignment you get in school where you have to find your local newspaper and pick a article to explain and present to the class. But, it is more than that; current events are around us all day everyday, especially in todays technology filled society. For this college course on teaching social studies, of course we had to do the typical assignment. Me and two other students worked together to find a relevant article and present it to the class with a few activities. Our article was on New York state banning the sale of large sugary drinks and how it will affect the economy in New York. Before this assignment, I had never even heard of this new law attempting to be pa...

Assessments in Social Studies As in every subject taught in school, assessments are essential tools that should be used to determine what your students now know or don't know. Implementing an assessment into every lesson is vital because if you as the teacher don't have an opportunity to see what your students learned, how will you appropriately move on to the next lesson? When one thinks of an assessment, they usually think of some form of test. Commonly, at the end of a chapter or lesson, the teacher will give a test: multiple choice, true/false, short answer, etc. If you are an insightful teacher, you may think that this is the only form of assessment that is effective; but this is in fact not true. Using a routine test as your form of assessment is actually the furthest thing from the most accurate form of assessing your students knowledge. Giving a test can cause many problems: test anxiety being a big one. Soci...

Social Studies When I Was In School Vs Now My earliest memories of school remind me of my favorites teachers, doing arts and crafts, science experiments, spelling tests, and recess. But, when I think of my time in elementary school, I never really think of the time I spent on the topic of social studies. I don't have any memories, in any class, of doing any sort of engaging activities in social studies. I do fairly remember field trips to local museums but I do not remember any content learned, just the thrill of getting to leave the school grounds for a few hours. I do however, remember taking out big, heavy, old textbooks and using them to find and define vocabulary words. I remember memorizing flashcards for tests on The Civil War and important eras. But, if you ask me to recite any of that information today, I couldn't tell you one thing. Social studies has such a bad reputation in my mind from my experience with it in elementary school, yet it is one of the most imp...

First Experience in Fieldwork  Our first day as teachers in a 2nd grade social studies class was exciting and interesting to say the least! We spent the first day introducing our selves and doing activates to get to know each other as teachers and students. We met every student in the class and asked them questions, academic and non academic, to get to know their interests and dislikes. Our teaching group method for getting to know our students was a "Ski-tell" game. In this game we had a jar of colorful skittles. Each student was to reach their hand in, generously, and pick out one skittle. Depending on the color of the skittle, the student was to answer a question. For example, if a student reached in the jar and picked out a blue skittle, the question to be answered was "Tell us something that you recently tried for the first time." The questions asked were used to specifically get to know likes, dislikes, and interests of students so that we could use the...

The Importance of Economics in Social Studies  Economics is a huge part of social studies and although this may be obvious to us, for elementary school students, it isn't. Most students can guess that economics has something to do with money, but many don't know all the different aspects of it. The subject of economics has many new vocabulary words that students may not have seen before, such as supply and demand, scarcity, producers, consumers, needs, wants, etc. All of these words have an explanation relating to money and how products are made or wanted. When explaining these to elementary students, it can be tricky because they are complex and difficult concepts. Keeping definitions and examples simple and relatable is the best way to go. For example, asking the students about something that they want really bad and then having them connect it to the world of economics.  This subject can also be boring for elementary students because they don't necessarily hav...

Implementing Social Interactive Model in The Classroom Cooperative teaching and learning is all about group work and social skills. Implementing a teaching model that is focused on the interaction between peers is important because it helps students gain skills that are used in everyday life- not just the classroom. Social relationships in your classroom helps your students to learnt the information you are presenting in a different and more engaging way because they are given the chance to discuss and interact with the ideas and thoughts of other students. Every student and/or person has different views and ideas on everything, therefore students can benefit from one another, no matter what it is. Facilitating group work in your classroom encourages your students to expand on their thoughts and feel willing to share their ideas because they are given the tools needed to share them successfully.  During cooperative teaching, students are able to help one another...

Blooms Taxonomy in Social Studies  "Bloom's taxonomy  is a set of three hierarchical models used to classify educational learning objectives into levels of complexity and specificity. The three lists cover the learning objectives in cognitive, affective and sensory domains" (Wikipedia). The first tier of Blooms Taxonomy is  remember: being able to recall facts and basic concepts; recognizing and recalling information. Helping students to remember and recall on prior knowledge is important in learning because when you can connect new information to prior information, it is easier to comprehend and understand the new information. The next tier in the triangle is understand: to explain ideas and/or concepts. Interpreting, explaining, summarizing, and inferring are all important steps to understanding information. Next is apply the knowledge: to use information in new situations: execute, implement, solve, and demo...

Models, Strategies, and Methods When it comes to teaching any subject, teachers have different approaches and methods to teaching. You can model the information you are teaching in many different ways in order to gain the attention and interest of every student. By allowing yourself to incorporate many different models, strategies, and methods in your teaching, you are allowing your students to learn better. Some different models of teaching are behavioral, information processing, social-interactive and personal. In all of these models you are giving your students a chance to engage in the information and think for themselves. You want your students' to share their intelligence and experiences to be able to gain confidence in their skills and share with their peers what they know. Strategies are a set of steps that you have to follow in order to complete a particular model. Some strategi...

What is Social Studies? The study of Social Studies is more than just learning about history; it is the study of economics, civics, citizenship, geography, and even social behaviors from past and even the present. Social Studies has powerful elements when it is  meaningful (when it makes connections with the students and real-world situations, giving them the skills to be engaging with the past), integrative (draws on more than one discipline, subject or skill set), value-based  (strengthens students' sense of democracy values and social responsibility), challenging (incorporates different perspectives and draws on students' critical-thinking skills), and active (participatory, makes use on manipulative or physical environment). Students' won't remember the multiple choice test you gave on the Social Studies topic you were teaching in the moment, they will remember how you connected the material with them and today...

We did this interactive activity on the first day to see things from other peers point of views and discuss the best ways to teach social studies. Asking four questions relating to what makes a good teacher and what social studies actually is, we were able to compare and contrast our own experiences with the subject. We compared everyone's social studies experiences to create the best ideas on how to teach the second grade students. We reflected on our past experiences, such as you do in social studies, to come up with a better future for up-coming students. We compared memorable teachers to figure out a way to make social studies more fun and encouraging for our students. We thought about our answers individually, then grouped up and shared our thoughts, helping each other to expand more on what we wanted to say. We also did this activity to get to know one another . A big part of this class is working together: cooperative teaching. Getting to know your fellow teachers hel...