One final thought...

As the semester comes to a close it's time for me to reflection back on these past fifteen weeks. Overall I think that this course was a great learning experience. Throughout this course there has been ups and downs for me. I feel that I successfully completed all the required assignments and discussion forums to my best ability. I believe this class helped shape me into the kind of teacher I plan to become. One way I feel that I've grown with this course since the beginning is that I feel more confident with my teachings. As a result of me being able to teach an entire fourth grade class, I feel that this gave me more experience than I have had prior to this course. As a whole class I am proud of my peers and myself with teaching the fourth graders. I feel that we successfully taught the class. We were innovative with our lessons and knew how to keep the attention of the students.

I also feel that another difference I have gained since the beginning of this course is my ability to manage my time and work has positively strengthened. I have learned how to proportion my time so I am able to finish everything that I need to get done on time.

Another gain from this course is that I was able to lean about the differences across three types of lesson plans. I have learned about direct instruction, inquiry, and cooperative learning instruction lesson plans. I have learned that direct instruction focuses on the teacher using a script or lecture to instruct the students on one specific goal. The second type of lesson that I learned about is inquiry. Here I learned that inquiry focuses on two goals for the students. The first goal focuses on the content of what the students will explore and then the second goal is about the student's thinking and reasoning. Lastly the third type I learned about is cooperative learning. This lesson focuses on the students social skills. It is important with this lesson to focus on what the students are learning and their responsibilities within their group. I learned that these lessons all vary and that one type of lesson may work better then another depending on the content that is being taught.

With becoming a future elementary teacher I can't wait to make a difference for these young growing minds. I want to create a fun and supportive learning environment for my students. I want to have a classroom that has instructional posters around the room. I plan on using technology to support my students  learning. I feel that it is important to do this to give the students variety in the classroom. No student likes to just sit and be lectured everyday so I plan on giving students many opportunities to work together and complete hands-on activities. This class has left me feeling excited and a little anxious to student teach. I cant wait to have the opportunity to put all my dedication to work with teaching in my own classroom some day soon!

My Personal Social Studies Philosophy Statement of Education

Instructing social studies to today's youth is a topic that is very important. Learning about the world around us is vital for students so they are able to make connections. I believe that students learn and retain information the best when they are able to make these connections. As a result I believe that students should use the constructivist view of learning, thus allowing them to construct their own meanings rather than the teacher doing all the work. Students will be able to do this through social studies learning by relating their own backgrounds to others around them all over the world. I also feel that through social studies students are able to engage in learning through historical and economical aspects. Students are able to learn about how cultures and societies evolve.

As the students learn about social studies, they are in fact leaning about their place in the world. I believe that all students learn in different ways. When teaching social studies I will make sure to include a variety of ways for my students to learn including, visually, verbally, and artistically. I also believe that education should emphasize personal growth through solving problems that are real to students. Teaching social studies should allow students to gain a deep understanding about the past, present, and future. Students should be provided the opportunity to learn about the rich history the world around them has. By doing this students will be given the opportunities to learn and grow! 

Time to Dig Up Some Research- Artifact Bag Fun!

One of Dr. Smirnova's Artifact Bags

This past week we as a class participated in a hands-on activity of working with artifact bags. Earlier in the week we discussed the importance of teaching students about cultures and history. It is important that students not only learn about their past but also be able to make connections to their present-day life. Students should have opportunities in the classroom to research their past. On Wednesday, we split up into groups and worked together as researchers. Dr. Smirnova provided each group with their own artifact bag. All the bags had different objects in them and as a group we had to work together researching and identifying the meanings behind the items. We were also told to see how all the items in each bag were connected in some way. We created a chart using who, what, when, where, and why to identify our artifacts. I liked researching a culture different from my own. I learned new facts about Dr. Smirnova with this activity.

My group's artifacts

On Friday, it was our turn to create some artifact bags. My artifact bag related to my unit plan and Bizmovie.  My partners from fieldwork worked in a group with me and we all guessed what movies we had chosen based on our artifacts. I chose Casper the Friendly Ghost movie as the theme to my artifact bag. This movie was released in May of 1995. The artifacts I placed in my bag were a movie poster, an old movie ticket from the showing of the film and a personal photograph of me dressed up as Casper. Melodie chose Disney's Alice in Wonderland, Caitlin chose the Mighty Ducks, and Megan chose Bambi and Mr. Ed. I enjoyed learning new things about these movies with this fun project.

Investigating Native Americans

Tlingit Native American

In class last week we got to utilize a new method of learning. This project was useful and fun. We used the jigsaw method for implementing this lesson. This meaning that we split into groups and each got a Native American tribe to research. Then we split these groups into experts groups. I enjoyed working with my partners. I think its helpful to use cooperative learning in the classroom. By using methods like jigsaw I feel that it involves all the students and at the same time allows them to improve their social skills. With this project we got the opportunity to learn about many different tribes. We researched and learned about the history, geography, culture, food, and habitat of our individual tribes. By using this method of learning we were able to learn about more tribes in a short amount of time then we would have been able to do if we researched the tribes on our own. My tribe for this activity was the Tlingit tribe. I enjoyed looking into a different culture. It's amazing to see how their are many other cultures that are so different from my own. I feel like this would be a great activity to do with elementary students, that way everyone in the classroom has their own responsibilities and a chance to get involved.

Importance of Teaching Geography

The Geography Game Cards

Geography is an important topic to instruct to our students. It is knowing where places are and understanding that their characteristics are important. Geography is the study of places on Earth and their relationships with each other. It is important to start off this study of geography by relating it to the students personal lives, such as, their home, school and community. As a result of geography dealing with where and how people live, it is rich in material that relates to international understanding, environmental education and multi-cultural concerns. This topic is extremely important to instruct to students. Today in class we played a card game/activity with our peers. The class split into four groups and answered specific questions concerning geography. By playing this game I learned more about specific mountains, continents and oceans. This was a great way to engage all of the students and reflect on our previous knowledge.

...And That's a Wrap!!!

Friday, March 15th was our final session at Bishop Dunn with the fourth graders and my last day to teach. We had the students discuss and reflect on their Biz Movie experience. The students had to think about questions such as, what did they like the most, what would you change, what challenges did you come across, and suggestions for the future. After the students reflected as companies and a class, it was time for the Biz Movie Awards. Our group hosted an award ceremony for the students congratulating them on a job well done. We made certificates for the companies and handed out trophies. The students got to view the movies and be proud of all they accomplished. This Biz Movie process was definitely a lot of work but overall it was a great experience. Both the students and us teacher candidates learned a lot from this process.  I truly enjoyed teaching and working with the students.

Movie Making Time

On Wednesday March 13th, my group taught our second lesson. This lesson started with the students making some predictions about their companies and movies. The companies needed to predict how much their total profit would be, what movie would be most profitable with the 2nd graders, and which movie would they go see outside of their own. The students were actively involved, thinking about their predictions. After this we started working on our movies. I thought is was smart and effective to continue on working on the movies for most of the lesson to allow the students to get a lot done. My group worked well together and were focused throughout the "filming" process. My fellow teacher candidates and I worked with the students recording their voices while they read the scripts and taking their pictures. Overall, the students worked well to complete the movie in order to gain a successful profit.