Reflecting on the Last Day of Class & My Philosophy of Teaching

Today during our last day of class, we conducted a job interview. Four students were picked to be administrators, and the rest of the class were teacher candidates. We were placed into our fieldwork groups and each administrator rotated and spoke to each group, so we got the opportunity to hear from everyone! 

Direct Instruction, Inquiry, Cooperative Learning, and Technology:

were the topics that the administrators spoke about. These are four methods of teaching we learned a lot about during the semester and in a way, all became "experts" on them! We had to answer questions on the spot and share our beliefs of teaching when a question was asked. I really enjoyed hearing the technology questions because my group members and I thought back to the technology we used during our unit plan and incorporated that into our responses. We also provided our own ways of bringing technology into the classroom. Some of the questions took me a little while to think about, but overall I felt confident in my responses because of the material I learned during the semester. We dressed accordingly, and acted as though this was a real job interview. After speaking to each administrator, they walked up to the front of the room and each shared which candidate they picked for the job. Only four students got the "job," and I was one of them!! It was so rewarding to see that in a mock job interview, I got the job because of the way I spoke and presented myself. I tried to make my answers as authentic as possible and tried to outdo my colleagues, in a way. I thought that this was a great way to end the class because it prepared us for the real world. We gained a lot of interesting experience from this course I will never forget!

Another interesting aspect from this course was developing my philosophy of teaching. This philosophy shows what I believe in, as a future educator. Having a philosophy of teaching will guide instruction and the way a teacher develops their classroom. Because of the teachers I've had in the past and currently, I am grateful for the education I have received. I have had good and bad experiences with teachers, but every instance has been a learning experience for me. I have teachers to this day that I still look up to that have made my years of school so great. Even though professors have taught me more academic and fundamental skills, I still admire the elementary school teachers that taught me "2+2!" The teachers I have had throughout my life have taught me to confident, hardworking, and stand up for what I believe in at all times. For this reason, my philosophy falls under Humanism. 

The teaching philosophy of Humanism can be defined, 

"Humanist educators consider learning from the perspective of the human potential for growth, becoming the best one can be. The shift is to the study of affective as well as cognitive dimensions of learning. Beliefs include: human beings can control their own destiny; people are inherently good and will strive for a better world; people are free to act but must be responsible; behavior is the consequence of human choice; and people possess unlimited potential for growth and development. There is a natural tendency for people to learn, which will flourish if nourishing, encouraging environments are provided."

I believe that students are capable of becoming who they want to be through education. Even though they may learn the basic academic skills, that is not all students learn in school. Teachers are able to teach children how to function in a society, the apparent rights/wrongs, and other life skills students might find helpful, whether they agree or not. Having a classroom be a safe environment for children is incredibly important. Students want to feel as though they can discuss whatever they need to, as long as it's appropriate. Students should be themselves and know that the classroom is always a safe environment for them. Also, one way of teaching does not benefit every student. As a teacher, you must differentiate instruction in order to have each student succeed. You can't expect everyone to learn in the same exact ways. If you don't offer different forms of help, a certain student may not succeed. At the same time, students in a way, need to teach themselves. They need to figure out what they're strong in, and what they struggle with. Students need to learn how to problem solve on their own, not just run to the teacher for help right away if they need help. Of course as the teacher you need to help your students, but give them a chance to be their own person and figure out who they are, as a learner. Like our social studies methods course fieldwork, students had to construct their own knowledge during the inquiry-based lesson. They needed to create a hypothesis, collect data, and come up with a conclusion based on what they believe in. Students need to be able to work affectively alone, but also with others peers. Doing this will only benefit their lives in the future, especially when it comes time to getting a career. As a future teacher, no matter what age of students I have, I will make sure to teach these skills and life lessons as early as I can. It's never too late to get ahead of the game! An encouraging environment is what I will provide for my students at all times. No one will feel left out or behind. My goal is to make students feel accomplished at the end of the day, not only with their school work, but how they are progressing as a person.

Because of this course I learned a lot of new skills. I became more comfortable presenting in front of a class and much more confident when leaching a lesson plan. This was my first time developing a unit plan and it was such a great experience. Sometimes very stressful, but overall I thought I did a fantastic job with it. This made me realize how much work teachers put into the material they are teaching. It took a lot of time and effort but it turned out very well. Not only did the class teach me how to create and implement a unit plan, it taught me how to be myself. I used my own ideas, yet collaborated with my group members. Without them, this unit plan wouldn't have been as great as it was. This course was definitely challenging, but a learning experience for me. I can't believe how fast it flew by!

Native American Tribes

Tlingit Tribe discovered by: Me, Amanda & Kristen

History:

• Tlingit means "People of the Tides"
• Their origins are speculated to be dated around 11,000 years ago
• Some believe that these people migrated from Polynesia by island-hopping
• They settled along Southeast Alaska thousands of years ago

Geography (5 themes):

• Location: the Tlingit tribe lives in southeastern Alaska and in British Columbia and the Yukon in Canada
• Movement: People believe that Tlingit people may have migrated from Polynesia by island-hopping.
• Region: Southeastern Alaska and in British Columbia
• Human Interaction/Environmental Interaction: The Tlingit people shared relations with the neighboring Haida and Tsimshian tribes, as they do in the modern era
• Place: The greatest territory historically occupied by the Tlingit extended from the Portland Canal along the present border between Alaska and British Columbia, north to the coast just southeast of the Copper River delta in Alaska.

Culture:

• To the Tlingit people, the world is filled with spirits, or yéiks, who could manifest their powers through anything. 
• They were taught to respect everything that existed around them; the punishment for disrespect was loss of food. 
• Each person also had a guardian spirit, known as a tu-na-jek.
• Tlingit women gathered plants & herbs and did most of the child care and cooking. 
• Men were fishermen & hunters and sometimes went to war to protect their families. 
• Both genders took part in storytelling, artwork, music, & traditional medicine. 
• Tlingit language is spoken by the Tlingit people of Southeast Alaska and Western Canada
• Language is well known for its complex grammar, sound system, and use of certain phonemes unheard in almost any other language. 
• Most forms are defined by features such as eyes, joints, fins, and feathers being fragmented with bold black lines, and filled in with red and blue hues.
• Totem poles are the most notable art form. 

Clothes:

• Clothes were made through a weaving technique
• Men wore moccasin shoes to hunt during the winter
• Tlingits wore basketry hats made of finely woven spruce root and bear grass
• Designs and patterns of these hats displayed a person’s status and family connections

Food:

• The Tlingit Indians were fishing people!
• Fish, wapato (Indian Potato) greens, seeds and berries
• Oil would be extracted from candlefish to be used as a dip for food!
• Tlingit men caught fish and sea mammals from their canoes.
• Hunted deer, mountain goats, and birds
• Tlingit women gathered shellfish, seaweed, berries, and roots.

Homes/Habitats:

• The Tlingits lived in rectangular cedar-plank houses with bark roofs.
• Today, people live in modern houses and apartment buildings, just like you.
• These houses were large (up to 100 feet long) and each one housed several families from the same clan (as many as 50 people.) 

Famous People:

• Nathan Jackson is one of the most famous living Tlingit artists. His totem poles have been placed in the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington DC.

Check out this video of traditional Tlingit art/songs/dances

Generalizations:

• Without this geographical influence, the Native Americans would have no place for resources for their unique culture, food, clothing, or homes!
• Geography influences the Native Americans heavily! Without geography, there would be no unique tribe such as the Tlingits!

Learning about the Tlingit tribe was very interesting and we got the opportunity to teach a lesson about it in an engaging way! It is important to incorporate Geography into the lesson in order for students to be more aware of what life was like back then and how Geography influenced many people's decisions and lifestyles, like the Tlingit tribe. There are 5 Themes of Geography: Movement, Region, Human/Environmental Interaction, Location & Place. "The themes of location and place provide opportunities for students to observe, describe, and learn factual information about places and the characteristics that distinguish places from each other. The themes of interaction, movement, and regions offer opportunities for student problem solving and critical thinking" (Lyman et.al). 

A handful of ways that allows teachers to creatively and effectively teach Geography can be found at this link. 

A few examples that I took note of include: 

Landscape in a Box
Adopt a Webcam
Science Songs
5 W's
Send and Receive Postcards

Model your Place on a Paper Plate

Throw a Globe

To sum it all up, "Understanding geography is an essential part of students’ preparation to become citizens and consumers in an interconnected world. As students learn about geography, they build their knowledge of the way human and physical systems interact and how humans impact the world in which they live." (Lyman et.al). 

Muscogee Tribe discovered by: Aimee, Cierra & Angelina

Information I learned:

• Forced from homes into reservations
• Were forced to move to Oklahoma in the 1800's
• Many passed away due to diseases brought from Europeans
• Made finger woven sashes, belts and cloth
• Protestant Religion
• Men wore breech cloths and women wore knee length skirts made from deer skin
• Clothes were influenced by the Europeans
• Natural resources: fruits, seeds, pumpkins and nuts
• Habitat/Homes: Mound Grass House, Wattle & Daub House, and American-style log cabins
• Famous People: Ernest Childers, Acee Blue Eagle, Suzan Shown Harjo, etc.

Three Pluses
1. All of the images on your power points were great! They really made the slides come alive!
2. I loved the videos you incorporated, they were very interesting and informative to watch.
3. I loved how knowledgeable you were about the information you were presenting.
One Wish
1. I wish you incorporated an interactive activity for the class to do.

Navajo Tribe, discovered by: Ganny, Marie, Lexi, & Michaela

Information I learned:

• One of the largest tribes in the US
• Nation's second largest Native American Tribe
• Also known the "Dine Tribe"
• Earth Mother-Sacred Gods
• Believed in Gods that they called the holy people
• They worship the sun, winds and watercourses
• Very cautious about death and choose not to talk about it
• Located throughout northeast Arizona, New Mexico and Utah--compared to the size of west Virginia
• Navajo region is in the southwest region of the U.S.
• Movement: Known to have inhabited the U.S. since before Columbus
• Culture: geared towards family life and events that follow their lifestyle
• Language: Athabaskan 
• Religion: Believed in many Gods, good and evil, and that everything had a purpose
• Customs: Celebrate more than 50 different ceremonies
• Traditions: Running in the morning, bury umbilical cord, medicine man, etc.
• Clothes: men wore breech cloths and women wore skirts, wore high boots like mocassins
• Food: Goat and corn
• Famous people: Manuelito

Three Pluses:

1. I loved your power point! Very detailed and the pictures were engaging and bright!

2. You all seemed very knowledgeable about the information you were teaching us, which is very important and shows that you dedicated a lot of time and effort to your lesson.

3. I loved how you incorporated a food bag into the lesson--very cute idea!

One Wish

1. I wish for the food bag, you had us, the students, pick out the food like we did for the artifact bags.

Working on these projects has really enhanced my knowledge on cooperative learning. This project alone made me realize how important it is to collaborate with peers. Without my group members input, our presentation probably wouldn't have went as well as it did. We all brought ideas to the table, yet incorporated our own strategies and methods that we thought of on our own. If we had more time we definitely could have made the presentation a little lengthier and engaging but with the time given, I thought we did pretty well. Cooperative learning is such an important teaching method and as a group, we did very well portraying the information we researched into a presentation and lesson as a whole!

Artifact Bag Presentations

In class, we were assigned to create an artifact bag based off of an explorer from our own unit plans. Since me and my group taught about Christopher Columbus, I had to find artifacts that pertained to him. Along with a literal artifact bag, we were required to used technology, which is how I came up with my Presentation for the lesson. Thinking about which three artifacts I can put in my bag was difficult. Also, since I don't have a car on campus it was difficult to arrange time to buy any tangible items I can put into the bag. I came up with including a birth certificate, a map of Columbus' voyages, and sugar to represent goods that were exchanged. This hands-on activity/lesson is a great way to engage students and gets me excited to come up with great ideas like this for my own future class!

Birth Certificate

The first item I chose to incorporate in my artifact bag was a birth certificate. I created this on my own and put the words in Italian. For the lesson, I would have the students decode the words from italian to english and have them share their findings. For some, they may know right away what this document was, but certain students may not have a clue about the italian language. I thought that this was an important artifact to include because it proves when and where Christopher Columbus was born. It shows his own culture but also gives an opportunity for the students to use technology as a resource to look up translations. I tried to give the birth certificate an older, burnt out looking background in order for it to seem more authentic. 

Map of Four Voyages

The second item I included in my artifact bag was a map of Columbus' four voyages. This map showed exactly where he departed from, where he landed, and the specific routes he took. It also showed the accurate start and end dates for all four voyages. Some students don't know that he took four different voyages, so looking at this map can really help the students grasp that idea. This map was a very good clue to guess who the explorer was because it showed a picture of a boat with the year 1492, which is a very important date for students to remember.

Sugar

The last item I included in my artifact bag was sugar. The sugar was meant to represent all of the goods that were exchanged during Columbus' infamous Columbian Exchange. Sugar is one, but it represents everything that was brought to and from Europe and the Americas. Food, animals, diseases, and plants were also brought back and forth, this creating the Columbian Exchange. This was the only tangible item I could find on such short notice but I thought that this was something important to incorporate because the Columbian Exchange was so important and is still widely known. 

In addition to my artifacts, I included two other sources of information for my students. The first one was a website. This website has information all about Christopher Columbus, quizzes, games, timelines, photos and much more for the students to explore as an extra resource. This websites encourages the students to explore facts about Columbus and become an "expert!" My second resource was a book a chose called Columbus Day by Dennis Brindell Fradin. This book discusses how the achievements of the man credited with discovering America led to the present-day celebration of his landing in the New World. This book shares a lot of important information about how Columbus first discovered America, how he got his funding for his voyages, and much more. It also explains how Columbus Day is important in our country now, which is something a lot of students may not be aware of. 

Creating an artifact bag was really fun! I think that this is such a great way to engage students. If I were to do this lesson incorporated into my unit plan, I would have done it as an introduction to get students to guess who the explorer is! A lot of my classmates also did an incredible job with their own bags/presentations and you can check them out here: 

Kristen's Presentation Alexis' Presentation Rachel's Presentation Michaela's Presentation

Cassandra's Presentation Aimee's Presentation Cierra's Presentation Ganny's Presentation

Amanda's Presentation Marie's Presentation

Teaching Strategies to Make History Alive

One important teaching strategy for teaching history is using hands-on activities.

"Using hands-on activities can add interest and meaning to lessons because students are engaged in visually and kinesthetically with hands on materials (like artifact bags). Hands-on activities make a lesson more concrete and meaningful, especially for learners who are less skilled with abstract ideas. They can promote critical thinking skills as the students observe, speculate, and interpret. Using artifacts as part of a hands-on activity can add experiences with another kind of primary source to the student's study of history" (Chapter 12, Section 10). Incorporating artifacts into the lesson is a great tactic when using this hands-on activities teaching strategy.

Here is a link that shows 15 ways to make elementary social studies lessons more exciting: https://thecornerstoneforteachers.com/social-studies/

Other strategies include:

Body Sculpting

Role playing

EPIC Strategy

Local History

What Am I

Mysteries in History

Learning about all of these teaching strategies really puts a positive aspect to teaching social studies. Even though not every student enjoys social studies, they can become more engaged through strategies like these. If strategies like these are constantly used, students will learn to enjoy learning social studies material. To make students engaged, you have to relate the strategies to them. Putting their own opinions into certain activities makes a lesson all the better!
During fieldwork, you could tell that some of the students didn't necessarily enjoy learning about social studies. The only way to keep them engaged was to provide activities that every student will enjoy and become interested in. Standing in front of the classroom is not the proper strategy to use. Having students work together and build off of each other's knowledge was the proper way for us to enhance the students knowledge. Me and the rest of the teachers all used hands-on activities which really engaged all of the students. We also incorporated role playing a little bit into our cooperative learning lessons. You read about all of these strategies and keep them in the back of your mind when creating a lesson. Once you come up with good ideas, incorporating these strategies to make history come alive is a great way to engage all students and really get them interested in learning more!!

Engaging Students in Learning History

Historians interpret the evidence, deciding on the degree of its importance and accuracy and examine written records to understand the past.

Students should be able to:
-Think chronologically
-Understand historical events

In order to practice being a history detective, our task is to find out who the person is based on the artifacts we find in the artifact bags. We will study the artifacts, think and make predictions, who are in the pictures, when/where did this event happen?


The artifact bag we were given contained three items. The first item (pictured to the right) is a Matryoshka. It is a Russian nesting doll that is a set of wooden dolls of decreasing size placed inside one another. The first model of this doll was made in 1890. These dolls are typically used for decoration and entertainment and it was in the artifact bag because it is a very popular item in Russian culture.




The second item that was in the artifact bag was a Russian diploma. After decoding the Russian language, we figured out that this is Dr. Smirnova's diploma! It is from November 29th, 2005 and was used as a certificate to commemorate her training in the academy of science. This item represents the Russian language and it was fun to decode the words and figure out exactly what we were reading. At first we were very intimidated but after we found out what this item was, we were intrigued.

The third and last item in our artifact bag was Gzhel Pottery. It is from the 19th century and Ghzel is actually a city located in Southeast Moscow, Russia. This type of pottery is used for decoration, vases, figurines, boxes, candlesticks, clocks, tea, coffee, dinner sets and much more. It was in the artifact bag because it is an important aspect of Russian art and culture.









We concluded that everything in our artifact bag came from our professor and her culture, which was very interesting to be a part of. If we were confused about a certain Russian word, she would tell us its meaning and give us a little background information. I thought that this hands-on activity was a great way to learn all new information. We got to use the internet as a resource which was extremely helpful but also cooperating with one another was even better. At first we looked at the diploma and was very confused as to what it could be. Then one of my group members realized it said our professors named so we put our heads together and figured out that it was a diploma. I really love the idea of an artifact bag because of how engaging you can make it. I enjoyed researching details about the items in the bag and learning more in such a short amount of time. Using a hands-on teaching strategy is incredibly important and one of the best ways to learn a new topic!

Celebration of Learning

The day has finally come..it was my last day of integrated fieldwork! Instead of teaching a lesson, me and the rest of my classmates had a 'Celebration of Learning' for the 5th grade class we taught. We took this time to celebrate them and all that they have achieved within the 18 hours of us teaching them. To prepare, us teachers worked together to create a post-test for the students to take. This was to test their knowledge and have us be able to assess what they do or do not know. We aren't grading this test, but it was for them to independently work on it and think back to the previous lessons that were taught. Each group added in four questions from our lesson plans and they could be multiple choice or short answer. For example, my group added questions like, "What year did Christopher Columbus go on his first voyage? Was Columbus of Spanish decent?" After creating the post-test, we decided as a class that the students would enjoy a Kahoot! game since they get so excited whenever we incorporate those into the lesson. We came up with all new questions for them and we thought that this was another great way to test their knowledge, but in a fun way.

We started the Celebration of Learning off with a quick powerpoint. This powerpoint showed pictures of us working with the students and teaching our lessons. We asked them what they learned about, what they enjoyed, and then we gave them their post-tests. I thought that they did a fantastic job with taking the post-test. When the students heard us say 'test' they were obviously not excited, but they kept quiet and finished up the test pretty quickly. After we collected their papers, we all passed out iPads for the students. We instructed them to keep them locked until every student was finished with their post-test. After all the papers were collected, we introduced our Kahoot! game. The students were so excited, as usual. This was the perfect way to keep them engaged but also review information that all of us teachers have taught them within the past few weeks. At times, the class got extremely loud but it was only because they were so excited which is understandable. We had to quiet them down at times but overall, I think it was a great idea on our end to incorporate this game into the Celebration of Learning. After they completed the Kahoot!, Miss Marie spoke to the students on behalf of all of us and thanked them for being so cooperative and helpful during our lessons. In order to celebrate and congratulate them, we had certificates made for each student. We called out their names one by one and handed the student their certificate. This was a great way to celebrate our students. We all gave them a round of applause and gave them a special gift. We provided the class with two informational textbook sets about Christoper Columbus. We thought that this was the perfect way to sum up our lessons and have the students get an opportunity to learn even more on their own time!

The Last Observation

The last observation I did for my Social Studies Methods course was of a cooperative learning lesson on life in New Spain. Group four had the students form into four different groups are were given a specific topic they were going to present on. But the catch was, these topics were top secret! I thought that this was a very interesting tactic to use. Even though us as the observers didn't know what the students were doing at their tables, the students seemed to enjoy that no other group had a clue what they were presenting. By observing groups around me, I noticed that one group was creating an illustration on a Christian missionary. Students drew a large church as the focus of the poster and different images to help back up their ideas. Students were all given a specific role in their group and got the opportunity to switch roles throughout the lesson. Each group had a their own "captain" which consisted of one of the teachers. The groups definitely needed someone to keep them in line because at times they got too rowdy or would argue over something. Enough time was given for each group to finish their overall project to present but there definitely could have been more dedicated to have the students practice what they were going to say in front of the entire class.

Before the students presented, the teachers reiterated what a proper presentation should be like. They displayed on the smart board that their voices should be clear, they shouldn't be covering their faces and other students should be active listeners while the presentations are going on. Some groups did well with presenting, but others had difficulty remembering what to say when they got to the front of the room. Also, many students started to laugh and skip over important information they were supposed to say because they got nervous. If this happens consistently, than these students need to practice their presentation skills. The purpose of this lesson was to work in groups but to improve themselves, I feel as though the students should present projects on their own before working in a large group. The students shared their topics and what they were presenting as they got to the front of the room which was helpful for all of us listeners. Overall, the idea was very cute and I think that the students enjoyed their tasks. The students definitely do need to improve their presentation skills but I think they did well with their tasks. Group four did a great job and it was a great way to wrap up all of the lessons and to introduce celebration of learning!