Wake County Schools in the news...

Wake County Schools was recently a topic of conversation on national news- http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/07/21/north.carolina.schools.protests/index.html, http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/07/19/ncschools.resegregation.rally/index.html

The topic, as some of us know, is “to end ‘forced busing,’ a method initiated in the 1970s to promote diversity in public schools.” Since I have not yet taught in schools and I am not yet a parent, I do not have enough “real-world experience” to have a strong opinion either way about the issue. What I do know is diversity is a key ingredient in schools. Along with several other benefits, diversity promotes an understanding and an acceptance of differences among students.
The school board is saying that schools in Wake County are already diverse without having to bus students. I can see how this could be true by looking at my neighborhood. I live in an area where several cultural backgrounds are represented and where apartment communities, townhomes, and single-family homes are intertwined. However, I know this is just the view point from my neighborhood, not all of Wake County.

When I do have a more informed opinion on the matter, I will do my civic duty and will stand up and take action for what’s best for the students.

Lesson 1 Reflection

I taught my first 4th grade social studies lesson today and it was fun. I enjoyed having so many different options on how to teach the lesson. When I first asked my teacher what topic to teach on, she was going to have me and my Meredith classmate both teach about maps, since that was what her students were working on in Social Studies. However, I noticed that in the student's reading period, they were reading about how mail was being delivered (from a train). I had just heard a great mini-lesson on the Pony Express, so I decided to teach the kids an interdisciplinary lesson about how the mail delivery system has changed over time.

I packed a lot of things into the lesson; so much that I thought I may have had too much information for one lesson. However, I was being observed by a Meredith peer. Having this peer's feedback was very helpful. She not only was able to observe me, but she also heard what the classroom teacher was saying. The classroom teacher said that one student who answered a question of mine correctly was a level 1 student. The classroom teacher showed excitement when she saw this student answering questions. This was a self-esteem booster because I think it is very important to have all students connect to the lesson and answer questions about it, especially the students who do not usually volunteer answers.

I also enjoyed having my peer evaluate me on my lesson because she gave great recommendations on how to improve the lesson next time I teach it. The three items I will change next time I teach the lesson are:

• having a timeline
• including a video clip
• allowing time to view the posters

I drew a timeline for the students to see when 1800, 1860, 1914, and 2010 was, but next time I will have one already made with pictures next to the dates. For example, I will have a picture of a boat by 1800, a picture of a train and horse by 1860, a picture of a train by 1914 and a picture of a USPS truck or a computer by today's date. This will help show students how the mail system has changed over time.

Even though books were read and pictures and posters were looked at to show how the mail system used to run, I will add a video clip next time I teach this lesson. The video clips will show how mail was delivered during the different time periods to help students really see what it was like during that time.

I allowed students to look at Pony Express posters that were borrowed from my Meredith peer, but I read a book while the students were looking at the posters. Next time I teach this lesson, I will allow time for the students to just look at the posters. I felt for time management purposes I should read while they looked, but I noticed that students were not listening while they were looking.

Overall, I was pleased with the lesson and am looking forward to the next one.

Questions

I have been asked to think about the following quote: "If the textbook contains the answers, then what are the questions?"

When I was in school, my social studies teachers had us read the chapters and then answer the questions at the end of the chapter. I do remember my teacher saying, "The answers are within the chapter". If I had just read the answers, then what are the questions?

Students need to be asked questions about big ideas so that they can transfer information they know about one topic and relate it to other topics. This can be accomplished by asking students essential questions. Essential questions are those that make students look at the big picture. The goal of essential questions is to think about it and discuss it instead of finding the one right answer, since they typically have no resolution. These questions are generally covered throughout several subject areas and help students make connections to the real-world. They are thought provoking and fun to discuss. So, instead of having teachers ask their students to answer the questions at the end of the chapter, ask them why studying this particular topic is important and how it connects to the real-world and to other subjects. Asking them these essential questions will allow students to make these connections.

So, my question for you is, why does learning about history really matter?

A Quote I'd Like to Remember

I found a quote the other day that inspired me. It's by Dan Seufert, but was found in The First Days of School by Harry & Rosemary Wong.

Our Business

"Ours is not the business of producing doctors, or lawyers, or teachers, or nurses, or scientists, or policemen, or sales people, or factory workers-- or higher test scores.

Ours is the business of producing smiles on young faces, happiness in young hearts, and dreams in young minds.

The rest will take care of itself."

Annual Plans

I have been asked to write an Annual Plan for Social Studies. I have never written, interacted with, or even seen an Annual Plan before. However, I am excited about writing my first one. Even though I have not written one yet, I feel as if there are advantages and disadvantages in having and using an Annual Plan. The advantage I can envision of using one is it keeps the teacher organized. For example:

• Having a plan allows the teacher to know what lessons will be taught and when they will be taught to ensure all lessons that need to be taught are taught.
• Having to think through all lessons ahead of time allows teachers to think about what materials they need to teach the lesson and find these materials. Materials for Social Studies lessons include things like artifacts that may be found in other countries. Finding these types of materials could take time. Therefore, knowing ahead of time what is needed is important.
• If teachers have a plan ahead of time, they will have the opportunity to ask parents of students if they could participate in the lesson. For example, if you are studying a particular country/culture and a parent is from that country, you may ask if they can talk about it, bring in artifacts, or teach a dance or something special they do in their culture to the class.
• Teachers may also need to do extra research on the topic that will be taught so that they can share as much information as they can. Students always have questions and whereas it is okay to let the students know that you and the student can research the question, it would also be nice to have the answer on hand through the research that was performed prior to the lesson.

However, I can foresee some disadvantages of writing and using an Annual Plan. Examples include:

• Formative assessments need to occur at all times in the classroom. If a teacher notices through these assessments that students do not understand the information, then they need to spend more time on the topic. Reteaching the topic is an option. Therefore, if this were to occur, it would postpone the Annual Plan. At that point, the teacher should decide which topic should be eliminated due to time restraints.
• On the other hand, students may enjoy working on a project so much, that they want to research further into the topic, which will extend the time of the lesson. Again, this will cause a delay in the Annual Plan.

I know that one of the key things about teaching is the ability to be flexible in day-to-day activities. Therefore, if the plan is delayed, then be flexible and adapt accordingly.

When writing Annual Plans, a teacher must first start with the resources and work backwards. I understand why a teacher should work backwards in planning lessons, but I am not 100% sure why start with resources. I understand that the teacher should think about the results first; what will the students learn from the lesson. Then plan how the students will show what they learned, and finally, plan what activities students should do & what materials are needed to get to this understanding. What I don't know is why start with the resources first in an Annual Plan. To me, it seems that teachers should think about the topics they would like to teach first and then think about the resources that will support this topic.

However, I would guess that if a resource is only available at one particular time during the year, that is when the topic should be taught. This is why I think starting with resources first happens in Annual Planning.

Experiencing Art

Not that I think anyone would ever doubt the power of education, but if they did, I recommend taking that person somewhere out of their element, like to an art museum. Let the person explore the museum on their own first and then have a docent educate the person and see if the person changes their thoughts once they are educated.

I recently took a tour of the North Carolina Museum of Art and in the past when I have toured art galleries on my own, I would admire the paintings or statues that I found appealing to the eye. For example, my favorite colors are pink, purple, light blue and most other pastel colors and I enjoy things like ballet. As you can imagine, when I visit museums, I enjoy looking at artwork from artists such as Claude Monet and Edgar Degas. However, can you imagine an uneducated person (in art) looking at statues/sculptures from artists such as Rodin, where backs of heads are absent… or entire heads for that matter. One would think, “This can’t be art.” However, after learning about the different pieces and the artists, you begin to understand it and appreciate it; this, in my opinion, can be applied in all aspects of education.

I did not only attend the museum for me to learn about and have a better appreciation for art, but to learn how to help elementary students find this appreciation. Taking students to an art museum would be a great field trip. I cannot wait to teach students about the different types of art and have them make their own before visiting the museum.

Before the visit to the art museum, I would:

• Have students make art from recycled materials, mosaics, paintings, sculptures, etc and have them write a story about their piece explaining why it is a piece of art/what the meaning is behind the piece of art.
• Teach about different cultures like Egyptian, African, and Judaic.

While at the art museum, I would:

• Ask the students to pick out geometric shapes or patterns and explain the similarities and differences between the pieces of art.
• Visit the Egyptian, African, and Judaic rooms to connect what we learned in the classroom to the pieces of art.
• Have students make connections from what they learned in class about history to art.

The sky is the limit with making connections from art to other areas, as long as you are educated about it…

Social Studies Lessons

I've been asked to think about the attributes of a meaningful, well-planned social studies lesson. This will only by my opinion since I have yet to do research on the topic. It will be interesting to see if my opinion changes from now until the end of my social studies class.

To me, the most important aspect of a social studies lesson is to ensure that students are able to connect to the topic. Students may initially think the topic is unimportant. Therefore, it is up to the teacher to help the students make connections to the topic so that students will understand the importance. In order to do this, lessons should:

• Grab the student's attention at the beginning of the lesson; give the students something really interesting to think about and discuss.
• Connect the topic to the real-world, which helps students understand the importance of the topic.
• Be fun. It is important to find out what students are interested in and have a social studies lesson that connects to these interests. For example, I think it would be fun to have students act out a part of history; students would perform research on how people dressed during that time period and what they may have had at that point in time. Students would then either perform a pre-written play or create their own play to perform.

Overall, it is important that social studies lessons not be taught directly. Instead, it should be discovered. Teachers can help students discover the topic by allowing them the opportunity to read non-fiction books, perform research, have discussions, etc.

An important attribute for teachers to have a well-planned lesson is to be well prepared with the necessary materials and knowledge of the topic. Since social studies includes many aspects (the social science aspects like civics, economics, etc), it is necessary for teachers to know what topics are most important for elementary students to learn and plan lessons that cover these main topics.

I look forward to learning more about the attributes of a meaningful, well-planned social studies lesson.