Farewell Social Studies Methods

Not that long ago I entered my Social Studies course classroom excited yet nervous for all that was in store for me, though I was more nervous than excited or anxious. As I sat down at a computer and listened to all that Dr. Smirnova said I was begin to feel a bit overwhelmed. She mentioned a great deal of technology, three lesson plans that I have never heard of, and how we were a paperless classroom. eclass was now going to be our best friend. Have I mentioned I never used eclass prior to this Social Studies methods course. So this is where I began to stress and freak out a little bit. Dr. Smirnova then had us read letters that the previous class had wrote about their experience and all that they have been through. This letter did not make me feel any better. The student had mentioned all the stress and work load they have been through. To reassure me they mentioned to lean on my classmates for help and to stay on top of my work. Well now it is the end of the semester. The last day of the course is actually approaching, and well I've MADE IT! 

I completed this last methods course! I was able to get all of my work in and complete all of the given assignments when due! I was able to learn those three amazing lesson plans (direct, inquiry, and cooperative). Not only was I able to learn them but I was able to utilize them and teaching them within a second grade classroom setting! I learned to lean on my classmates. My classmates became some of my best friends. They became the people who would answer my phone calls, text messages, or face time calls, in the early morning or late night hours. My professor, Dr. Smirnova, was always there to help me when my classmates were not! I knew I could contact her at any time and soon enough she would get back to me with a helping hand. I can not believe all that I have accomplished and learned in this course. The amount of technology i learned is amazing and I truly can not wait to share it with others. Better yet, I can not wait to use it within my own classroom in the future. I am proud that all of us, as a class and a family, MADE IT together! With great support, feedback, open minds, and helping hands, we all helped each other through some of the toughest times. Heres the beginning to an amazing year and a bright future. Congratulations everyone! 

Dr. Smirnova, I couldn't thank you enough! Have a wonderful summer :)

My Teaching Philosophy

My passion for teaching grew even stronger when I had taken Dr.Smirnova’s social studies methods course. I learned a great deal of techniques, websites, and strategies, in order t engage students within the classroom. Dr. Smirnova provided us with a vast amount of tools and technology to use and teach social studies in an engaging and unique way. Teaching with these strategies brought social studies alive. Learning was fun! My personal philosophy about teaching is that it is the teacher’s role to educate all students in a supportive and respectful manor. Educators should have the ability to differentiate instruction techniques to meet the needs of each and every student is something that I value in education. Every child learns differently, so as a teacher I would use a wide range of techniques to help my students’ prosper and grow. I would approach an activity in numerous ways to help every child. I believe that every child learns differently; therefore it is crucial for a teacher to use different techniques and learning tools. I want to change the world, and I know education is where I could have the greatest impact. Future teachers, such as myself, can truly make a difference. To be an effective teacher, my students must have the opportunity to take responsibility for becoming life-long learners, while having fun. I want my students to become empowered by their own learning. I want to teach my students to love learning.

            An effective teacher is one who knows how to engage his or her students and properly meets the needs of each and every student. An effective teacher is one who creates a learning experience that is meaningful, integrative, value-based, challenging, and active, can build student leaning in all areas. To do so, teachers can apply numerous strategies and techniques in their lessons. I learned three excellent strategies this semester that I would be sure to use in the future! The three learning strategies included: direct instruction, inquiry, and cooperative learning. Direct instruction is when the lesson is teacher based, and the teacher directly teaches the lesson to the students. Inquiry lesson is when the students research information, make observations, collect data, and eventually devise their own way to report their findings to their classmates. Cooperative learning is when students work together in small groups to complete an activity or task. Students are working together in these lessons to achieve a common goal. I had the chance to apply my skills and use these methods during fieldwork. I was truly able to see the great impact these strategies alone had on the students.

My philosophy is based on the five characteristics of powerful social studies are: Meaningful, Integrative, Value-Based, Challenging, and Active. Social studies learning should be meaningful learning experience to truly grab the student’s attention and interest. When students are capable of making connections between new content and prior knowledge, students will learn and remember the content that is being taught. It is crucial to help students make text-to-text, text-to-world, and text-to-text connections. Helping children make these connections allow them to relate it to their own experiences and further their understanding. Engagement and hands-on activities help connect text to real life situations. I learned when students make these connections it would help them prosper and grow into well-educated individuals. As a teacher, I believe that the learning process should be integrative. It is crucial to incorporate a vast amount of topic and skills. It is important to keep students in touch with the world around them. One way to do so is inform students on the current events within their society. This will allow students to become more aware, involved, and engaged, within their society. This will help promote personal development and further students understanding allowing them to make generalizations, build their cognitive development, and promote personal development. Helping students do just this will allow them to make better connections in all areas and learn how to apply their skills and new knowledge in all content areas. Teaching should be value-based because it is meaningful to students and allows students to relate to the content. Learning should be challenging allowing students to build off their prior knowledge and educate themselves. Students should be active participants in their learning and build off of one another’s ideas and knowledge. In the future, I will be sure to include incorporate these five powerful strategies into my lessons and units.  

It is time...Mock Interview Time!

Instead of having a final my social studies professor decided to hold a mock interview in order to demonstrate our knowledge of the course content. Three students volunteered to me administrators. The administrators were to interview their colleagues. This had all take places in class on Wednesday. Each administrator wrote a personal story, which they shared with us, and created interview questions on various topics such as: direct instruction, inquiry learning, cooperative learning, major concepts, generalizations, blooms taxonomy, and elements of social studies. 

Each administrator interviewed their colleagues and asked the questions they generated. Administration was then assigned to hire their colleagues based on their answers, personality, and overall performance during the interview. I feel as though the questions asked were all different yet based on the content we learned throughout the year. It was amazing how each and every one of us knew all of the answers, yet answered them in our own unique way. I was impressed with some of the questions that were asked. The administrators put a lot of hard work and dedication into writing their stories and creating such unique questions as well! I was truly impressed. Overall the experience was amazing and I am truly appreciative to have experience such a thing. It allowed us all to review the course material while getting real life practice for our future interviews. We all prepared ourselves and practiced as if we were in a professional situation. Each and every one of us dressed up as well. We all looked great! J Having this hand on experience in a setting that we were all comfortable in truly helped make this a positive learning experience! I am excited to see all the images and pictures taken of this day!

Below are some great helpful videos you might enjoy! 

Teaching Interview Questions

How to interview for a teaching job

TES interview tips for teachers, by teachers