Think, Pair, Square

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 helps you to better organize your lesson plans and understand where one another is coming from. Knowing your fellow teachers personally allows you to connect one another level than just teaching together; this allows you to know how each other prefers teaching and learning. This first day activity of think, pair, square allowed us as a class to open our minds to one another and learn what social studies in elementary classrooms is really about.

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