Looking into a Mirror: Self-Reflections

This semester is coming to a close. It went by so fast. I remember the first day of Social Studies. I was so overwhelmed at first, but as the semester went on I became more comfortable with the technology and the course requirements. I learned so much from this semester. Everyday we look in the mirror at our reflection. This blog has served as a deep reflection of my educational experiences and of myself. 

Overall, I have learned so much from my fieldwork teaching experience and unit plan designing. I conducted my fieldwork at Bishop Dunn Memorial School on campus with several students from grades 5-7. It was an interesting bunch of students ranging in ability levels. I decided to do my unit plan on the American Revolution. I had the pleasure of working with two of my best friends, Joe and Chris, on this unit! All three of us work extremely well together. When we work together, we are models of what cooperative learning should look like. All three of us equally contribute in all aspects of creating the unit and teaching. Working with both boys has made my teaching experience very valuable.

Video-taping my teaching was a worthwhile lesson. I was able to watch myself and reflect on the mistakes and make changes for next time. After teaching, as a class we met and discussed each other's teaching and unit. I really appreciated this because I was able to self-reflect on myself, my group and hear my peers views of our teaching. I feel that reflection is a necessary process as growing individuals. I will strive to have my students reflect on their own learning via blogging, journals or weekly reflection sheets. 

From the start of this course I have changed greatly. I used to hate technology and now I have a growing passion for it. I recognize the greatness and value of using technology in the classroom. Unlike some of my peers, I had a great experience with Social Studies as a K-12 student. My teachers made my learning experience memorable and fun. A lot of my learning was hands-on. I can clearly recall making wax candles and churning butter in my fourth grade class when learning about the colonial times. My seventh grade teacher created a Revolutionary War re-enactment that was amazing and I will never forget it. Throughout this semester we have conducted several activities that have had a lasting impression. The "About Me" projects was one of the first assignments that made me realize that this class would be different from my other grad classes. We immediately established a caring and interesting environment by getting to know our peers. We were able to utilize new technology and explore. I also enjoyed the Native American Jigsaw project and artifact bags. Prior to this class I have rarely used nor heard of the jigsaw method. Jigsaw and Cooperative Learning have become two of my favorite methods to use within the classroom, all supplemented by sufficient direct instruction. In the beginning I failed to have confidence in myself to know I could handle the work load and technology required for this course. I have always been a hard worker, but the first class seemed overwhelming and daunting. Adding all the technology to the first class, put me over the edge. But now, I look back and laugh at myself. I try to think how my students might feel similar on their first day of school and how I will try to make them feel more at ease. 

One very important thing I must mention is that Dr. Smirnova has tried to make our class a enjoyable, inviting and comfortable atmosphere. She has tried to create a "family" within our classroom. We look to each other for guidance and support. I have noticed that Dr. Smirnova was constantly taking pictures throughout the semester. Sometimes I felt like I was some celebrity with paparazzi following me through my educational journey. But when I saw the class album she made, it was really nice to look back at everyone's journey through the class. As an educator, I will too try to make either a online album or paper albums that are laminated to give to my students and their families at the end of the school year. The album, in my opinion, was very thoughtful and special. I even showed my parents. Yes, I am 23 and my parents are still interested in my learning. They thought it was really nice to see what I do on a daily basis. By creating an album I can not only connect my students to the class, but I can invite their families to sneak a peak into our world. 

I  have learned so much from this course. The textbook was extremely helpful in identifying powerful Social Studies, the important elements and example lessons and ideas to use in the classroom. My plans as to how I will teach SS int the classroom is to make it a memorable, hands-on and enjoyable experience. Too often, teachers get caught up in teaching to the test and following standards, that they forget to make learning fun and memorable. If students can remember the experience they had when learning, they are more likely to remember the information for a test or assessment. 

I will use all that I have learned from this class to make Social Studies learning better for all students. I have truly grown from this class and I now have a greater love for Social Studies teaching. The methods, techniques and ideas I have gained from this class will help me be a better teacher overall. I hope everyone has had the same memorable experience as me and I hope everyone has enjoyed my blog all semester!

xox, 

Christie

Current Events: A Collaborative Effort

Recently, I conducted the current events project. It was a collaborative project. I got the pleasure of working with an outstanding student and one of my best friends, Chris. Current events projects are extremely valuable within the classroom. There are endless possibilities when using current events. I will definitely use current events in my future Social Studies class. 

 Sometimes we are all not that lucky to work collaboratively with a hardworking person, such as Chris. As teachers we need to be aware of group work. Like Dr. Smirnova does, we can create individual group feed back forms for each student in the group to fill out. I remember from the K-12 school days dreading group work because I was usually the person in the group who did all the work. And then I never wanted to be the person who told the teacher that nobody in the group did anything, so I would do everything and get everyone else a good grade, which is not fair. By creating individual feedback forms, it discretely allows students to explain how the project truly went.  We teachers need to prevent this feeling among our students. Properly explaining the group goals, assignment and the requirements, and reviewing collaborative work, students will be more excited to work in groups. As always, both me and Chris strive for the A and were on the same page for the entire project. We both clearly understood the goal and equally suggested ideas and created the project. Overall, I felt we did a great job!

For our project we chose to do an article on the sale of cigarettes in pharmacies. Some pharmacies have decided to stop selling cigarettes.We found the article from the Newsela website. We explored a variety of articles and both agreed on the article. Next, we had to come up with ideas for our presentation. We both agreed on using PowerPoint to introduce our idea of debates. We reviewed what a debate is, how debates are used within the classroom and how to conduct a debate. We also wanted to review the article prior to hosting a class debate on whether pharmacies should stop selling cigarettes. We chose to use Kahoot!, which we were introduced to in class by Dr. Smirnova. Both me and Chris really enjoyed the kahoot quiz on the Native American project. So, quickly we established the overall goal of the project. We created a quiz and presentation and the class had a slightly heated debate on the sale of cigarettes. Overall, I really enjoyed this project. 


Keeping up with what is going on currently in the world is valuable to any citizen. Conducting current events in the classroom is extremely valuable to student learning and citizenship. We as teachers should prepare our students for the real-world and that includes globally connecting them. By assigning current events in the classroom, the students are broadening their horizons and are learning about the current world. Too often in Social Studies, educators focus solely on the "history" of the world rather than present day. I remember sitting in high school thinking, "well I am glad I learned the same American history several times in my life, got up to the 1970's and never any further." It was only in my college years I started to watch the news and be more updated in current events on the global scale. Not only does the project have the students keep up on current news, but it foster cooperative group work and it makes Social Studies more meaningful. By opening the classroom to global issues, the students will gain more independence, responsibility and understanding of the world. Current events appropriately fits in with Sunal's text about teachers facilitating student's development, "curious students want to know about, to experience, to explore, and to investigate the things around them" (Sunal, p.296). Current events absolutely allows students to explore and investigate the world around them which is vital to success. 

I will use current events in my classroom to prepare my students for global understanding. Current events can be used several ways in the classroom. Because events function among various categories such as: science advancements, health, and politics the assignment could be transferred among subjects within the classroom. I could have the students conduct a science current event. With a focus on Social Studies, I would either bi-weekly or monthly have the students conduct a current events project by choosing a article and following a guide for a presentation. The presentations could range from PowerPoint's, essay to videos, skits and plays. For the younger grades (1st-3rd) I would maybe use the TIME magazine to have students stay globally updated. I could also use articles that are age appropriate and pre-chosen. Then I would have the students do a mini-presentation, project, illustration, paragraph, cartoon map etc... on the article. We would discuss the article as a class. I would also introduce my students to news sites and assign "watching the news with parents" as a assignment. Under parent guidance, the students would watch the news and report on one local news story and one global news story. For the upper grades (4th-6th) I would also conduct the watching the news assignment. The articles could be pre-chosen but I would give the student a variety of articles and let them choose one for their project. The projects would be similar as the younger grades, but the students would have more responsibility and more detail in the assignments. For example, write a one page essay following a given rubric, and give a presentation. The standard that could be used for current events is:

Standard 3: Geography, Key Idea 1

Key Idea 1: Geography can be divided into six essential elements which can be used to analyze important historic, geographic, economic, and environmental questions and issues. These six elements include: the world in spatial terms, places and regions, physical settings (including natural resources), human systems, environment and society, and the use of geography. (Adapted from The National Geography Standards, 1994: Geography for Life) http://www.p12.nysed.gov/ciai/socst/socstand/home.html

As teachers, it is important to connect the standards to our lessons. Though I was focusing more on global, the standards for elementary do not s

pecify global. This standards fits because students need to understand issues and focus on the six elements. Current events easily fits into the six elements. 

Overall, current events is a fun and valuable assignment for students. It is our jobs as teachers to keep our students updated and create globally ready individuals. 

Links for current events: 

http://newsela.com/

http://www.cnn.com/

http://www.timeforkids.com/

http://www.pbs.org/now/classroom/lessonplan-03.html: this has a great report on the importance of using current events in the classroom. A must read!

http://blog.biguniverse.com/2010/04/27/10-ways-to-use-current-events-in-the-classroom/: This is a blog with ideas on how to use current events in the classroom. 

Bullying: No Laughing Matter

Bullying is a serious issue. Schools have increasingly adapted "no bullying/anti-bullying" policies to ensure that students are not bullying, but the policies do not contain the bullying that occurs online. It is easy for bullying to spread like wildfire. One internet post leads to continuous likes, sharing and commenting. There is often no way for a person to escape being bullied online. Bullying can ruin a person's life, as it has done in the past with children killing themselves as a means of escape. So, what to do about online bullying? One way the article suggests is to monitor cyber behavior of the students by not only the school but by the parents of the students. Having active conversations at home and in school are also ways to work on bullying. 

There are a lot of videos and movies on bullying. Here is just one example of bullying. 

I remember when I was in high school and a student continued to get bullied by a group of students. Then one day another student stood up for the kid being bullied. Everyone clapped their hands. Watching this made me feel happy and influenced me to stand up for others when I see things being wrongly done. 

Bullying: It is no laughing matter!

I Get Money: Ch. 13 Economics

I have not learned about economics since 12th grade in high school. We learned how to write checks and balance check books, played the stock market game, learned various economic terms and made an economics video. I had a fantastic teacher, Mr. Zupan who made learning about economics fun. But, since I have been out of high school for almost six years, anything dealing with economics has slipped my mind...except the thought of money. Most of my world revolves around money. Gas money. Toll money. Money for my life-saving coffee. Money for my car loan. Money for my college loan. Money for bills. Money for food shopping. Money to buy things with. MONEY, MONEY, MONEY! Sometimes I wish we still used the barter system. Going into chapter 13 was like re-learning the entire economics topic all over again, but better. Because it directly related to how I would teach my students about economics. 

Most of the rap songs I used to listen to talk about money and wow money is everywhere. Chapter 13 opened my eyes to teaching economics. Prior to reading i understood that there was this bell thing that gets rung at wall street that has to do with the stock market and traders. I sorta understood that you can buy a stock and if it grows you make money, but if it crashes, you lose money-like the Great Depression. I also understood that money is different all over the world. The american dollar is not worth a dollar every where and that different countries have different values and styles of money. Chris showed me a Canadian bill the other night in class. It was impossible to rip and it was blue with a clear plastic like see through spot on the bill. It was awesome! I also understood that if you do not pay your bills you can lose a lot of you stuff or file for bankruptcy. Otherwise, I do not know much more in depth about economics.

From the chapter I learned a lot. First off, economics is based on resources that people want. "Scarcity is the term economists use to indicate the imbalance of wants and resources" (Sunal, p. 413). When there is something in high demand, the amount of availability affects the price of the demand.  This reminded me of the gas shortage. When there was a high need for gas, but many places were out of gas due to the hurricane, a lot of gas places raised their prices to make money. I think this is called gouging. The text book also mentioned national Social Studies standards related to economics, voluntary national standards in economics, and national standards in personal finance. Until reading this chapter, I never knew there were direct standards on economics that could be used. 

When I was creating my unit plan, I looked at the efolio's on economics units. I really enjoyed reading the blogs and seeing how students applied economics to various grades. I would definitely recommend checking out the economics units!

There are two main concepts of economics: microeconomics and macroeconomics. "Microeconomics is the study of individual households, companies and markets and of how resources and prices combine to distribute wealth and products" (Sunal, p. 421). "Macroeconomics is the study of the big picture, of the economy as a whole" (Sunal, p. 421).The examples for each provided in the text were very helpful to understand these concepts. After reading, I prefer to learn and teach microeconomic concepts. There is also international economic concepts. Nations have increasingly become more intertwined economically than ever before. There needs to be balance of selling and buying from other nations. Economics in a different nation could affect the other nations around the world. 

The text book cites that students can understand economics by creating and organizing graphs, tables and charts and using percentages and averages (Sunal, p. 428). As an educator, it could be easy to relate math topics of graphs, tables, percentages and averages to a economics project or economics topic.  Economic decision-making skills could be taught to students via the decision-making chart presented in the text book, or through various activities. I would consider using a money system in my classroom. Students would get "Raich" money for working hard and doing the right thing in class. Then the students could "buy" things such as: food, candy, pencils, homework pass, extra credit etc... As a school-wide economics program, the students could have a bake sale, or each classroom could represent a different type of store. The students would get money from different teachers and could go to the different stores to buy stuff. The students could also be introduced to the game of monopoly to learn about buying and selling. This site offers some valuable links for teachers and kids to look at for economic ideas.

There are eight important goals in the economy that could be taught to students: economic freedom, economic equity, economic efficiency, economic security, full employment, price stability, and economic growth. Students should be taught without having the teacher's personal values infringing. Students will be able to make their own economic values based on reasoning. 

Students of all ages and abilities are capable of learning economics. Because economics is everywhere it can be related and should be taught to all students. Some resources for teaching economics includes: field trips to businesses and the bank, having business people come in to talk to the students, visiting governmental agencies and videos. Making learning economics fun and exciting is beneficial for the students. 
Resources: This site is the foundation for teaching economics: provides teacher resources, program ideas for students, similar to Bizworld. 
This site provides links that explain various ways to teach economics and how to teach in various settings using a variety of strategies. 
Another site with helpful teaching methods
Classroom ideas: economy classroom: this is a fun experimental way of teaching students about economics. It is a program that can be adapted into any classroom. 
Ideas K-12: I really liked this site because it is original ideas listed by a teacher who uses the ideas in her own classroom. Some of the ideas include: "life on minimum wage" and "Captains of Industry". She explains how she used the various ideas so any teacher could easily try them in their classroom. 
Each of these sites are valuable teacher and student tools that can be used in the classroom. 


Economics is everywhere. It is highly valuable, valuable like a million bucks, to teach students about economics. I really enjoyed reading chapter 13, learning about economics and how to teach it.

What's Inside? Artifact Bags

This week in class we conducted our artifact bags project, played "Kahoot", and discussed Geography. 

We also played a few games on the website "Kahoot". The site allowed for teacher-made questions (like a mini-quiz) to be created and all the students log on at the same time using a pin. Then the quiz begins and you have to try to answer correctly as fast as possible. I had so much playing this game. It was a great review on the Native American tribes we just conducted the week before. The competitive aspect of it was also engaging because it made me challenge myself to beat my peers. Chris and I plan to use "Kahoot" for our current events project and I will definitely be using the site again when teaching.

The artifact bags project was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed creating the sources, the bags and presenting my bags to my peers. Artifact bags are very hands-on and educational for students. I really enjoyed becoming a detective/historian and investigating Dr. Smirnova's artifact bags. We were able to learn a lot about her in a short amount of time. Though I would usually think of an artifact bag in relation to Social Studies, I now see that it could be used across all subjects and as a "get to know me" activity! Artifact bags allow for students to connect to the content. I will definitely use artifact bags in my future classroom.

We also read and discussed Geography. Geography is often quickly passed over in teaching, but it is extremely important to learn. As an educator, I will try to help my students have a better understanding of geography and its importance.

As discussed in class, I will utilize Google Earth to teach my students about geography by visually seeing and discussing various regions. We also did a quick but interesting activity. We each had a turn "hugging" a stuffed globe. We then had explain how the class has influenced our thoughts about Social Studies, specifically Geography, how we plan to teach based on what we have learned so far in the class and how we will help change the environment. I really liked hearing everyone's points of views. Personally, I used to hate technology but taking this class has opened my eyes to a whole new technology perspective. I realize that technology is everywhere, especially for our students. They live in a technology based world. I will try to incorporate technology in my lessons, maintain the students engagement, make learning hands-on, memorable and connective to the students lives. I felt this quick activity really made me think about how this class has changed me!

I really enjoyed this weeks class. I learned a lot and was able to review some thoughts I had kept in the cobwebs of my brain about teaching and technology. I am very excited to utilize technology, artifact bags and "Kahoot" in my classroom.