Conrad Johnson
Dr. Diaz
Education 491 – Student Teaching I
Cooperating Teacher: Ms. Pyle-Clarke
Observation Date: November 21, 2012
Time: 11:00 am – 12:00 pm Room: 206
Conceptualizing Essay for Social Studies Lesson
Social Studies, is an important subject for students to learn. In his text, Parker stated, “the purpose of social studies education is to help students develop social understanding and civic efficacy” (2012, p.g, 3). In most schools today, teachers are not teaching social studies like it used to be. When I was growing up in elementary school, I remember learning social studies as a fun and interesting lesson to learn. You learned what happened in the past. However, social studies today, is not taught as heavily as Math and Reading. In some schools, social studies is not taught or it is taught once or twice a week depending on the school. In my clinical practice site, P.S. 91, social studies is taught twice a week. I feel students are missing out on their past. As I collaborated with my cooperating teacher about my social studies lesson, I informed her that I want my lesson to be engaging and tie into the students’ prior knowledge. As my cooperating teacher and I conversed she told me make a lesson on Native Americans; when I learned about the topic I should make my lesson around I did not have a clue on what to do. This lesson had me do some self-evaluation because I was unsure of what I wanted to teach my students about Native Americans. I was struggling at first on what kind of lesson I wanted to do.
In one of my core education courses, Education 314, I took last semester; our final project was to produce a unit plan consisting of five - seven lessons. These lessons could have included lesson ranging from but not limited to a literature lesson, audio/visual aids, map study, art, action plan/service learning, role play, and/or a field trip. Since this is my clinical practice, planning a field trip lesson could not work. So this left me with six lessons to choose from; I decided to have a lesson where my students can see an audio video and have maps on hand to locate precisely where the Iroquois Indians once lived in the Upstate New York. As I carefully plan my lesson, I kept in mind the things I want my students to walk away with. I encourage think-pair-share; I learned this model from my other Education courses 311/312. This is a great idea for my students to turn to a partner and discuss the video they will review after they have gathered their own viewpoints. “A well-balanced program in the social studies needs to provide for systematic instruction to ensure the development of these skills” (Parker, 2012, p.g, 339). Social studies help students sharpen their reading skills, inquiry skills, discussion skills, ability to read maps and globes, build on work-study skills, and the ability to use reference skills. Language Arts is an interdisciplinary subject area for social studies because the both interlock with one another.
As I thought more about my lesson, I wanted my lesson to be an interdisciplinary lesson. For the month of October, the students will be working on a realistic fiction for Language Arts. Then it stood out to me, why not have my students write a realistic fiction short story. They will have two different topics to choose from; make up a short story as an Iroquois child living during the 1600s or make up a short story as a modern-day child of Iroquoian descent. Another group will write a poem on the lifestyle of the Iroquois Indians.
“The integrated approach to curriculum allows students to develop skills and concepts in a way that shows their importance to the children learning those skills and concepts and so allows them to learn in a meaningful manner. (Wolfinger, 1997, p.g, xv)”
I feel having an integrated curriculum shows you your students’ weaknesses and strengths. They will take their own learning to different elements, some may even show a more like for a certain area. I feel the shyest student you may have in your class will no longer be shy. They will become active change agents in their own learning environment; working in groups will adequately help them to voice their opinion without fighting. This will make them a stronger student and be able to take constructive criticism and improve on the areas that need to be fixed.
Piaget focused on the everyday actions of infants and children, in which he drew inferences about the way they think and reasoning that seemed to underlie their behavior. In McDevitt & Ormrod text, it states one of Piaget’s theory, “that children organize what they learn from their experiences” (2010, p.g, 195). I fine this to be relatively true, if a child is unsure of something, they can tie it into their daily lives to get a better understanding. So when I was thinking of my lesson, I wanted to keep in mind a topic that my students will be able to relate to. When teaching students social studies, I feel it is best to have them relate the issue to them-selves because history is a topic that is often repeated. “In Piaget’s view, children increasingly organize their thoughts as schemes and, later as operations that they can apply to a wide variety of circumstances” (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2010, p.g, 224). Students will be able to disagree with one another and see each other’s viewpoints on various differences. This proves that not all students learn the same, so as a teacher we should know our students in order to modify the lesson is necessary.
“Personal narratives and cultural stories are vital teaching content and methodology” (Gay, 2010, p.g, 22). When teaching social studies it is imperative that as a teacher we provide our students will different stories so they can relate to the information that is being presented before them. I will tell my students about the different locations that the Iroquois Indians resided in Upstate New York and what is there now. My students will be able to tell me what Native Americans have worn during their era that we still wear to present day. “The teacher teaches with the children rather than to the children” (Wolfinger, 1997, p.g, 85). I feel this is true because, when I am teaching I want it to a learning experience for the both of us. I want my students to be able to feed off the information I am presenting them with as well as the knowledge they are learning. This will show who really understands the topic and they will be able to present it to me in an approach I did not think off that will work effectively.
While my cooperating teacher and I continued to formulate ideas for my lesson she told me bear in mind your lesson should make the students inquiry and enjoy what they are learning. Gay states in her text that she “think living and learning should be filled with significance, enjoyment, inquiry, and action” (2010, p.g, 218). Today is an age where the students know about technology than anybody else. This is why I wanted to include a video into my lesson so the students will be more engaged into my lesson. I will use a rubric to assess students in a general education class.
Reference
Gay, G. (2010). Cuturally responsive teaching: Theory, research and practice (2nd ed.) New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
McDevitt, T. M., & Ormrod, J. E. (2010).Child development and education (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Merrill.
Parker, W. (2012). Social studies in elementary education (14th ed.). Boston: Pearson.
Wolfinger, D.M. & James W. Stockard, Jr. (1997). Elementary Methods: An Integrated Curriculum (NY: Longman).