What I Have Learned

I have learned so much about integrated teaching! It makes so much more sense to teach this way and it's a way that we can also combine our time to teach more information. I have really enjoyed the Harvey and Daniels book. I plan to read more into certain chapters so that I fully understand and retain the information. For instance, chapter four about small group activites. After reading Chapter Six, I felt kinda bad because I reflected on my own teaching practices and I do not include as many authentic learning experiences as I should. Then I was inspired! I have already begun planning to implement lessons that I have read about. For instance, Schell and Fisher (2007) discuss "Real World Teaching and Learning" in chapter 8 of their book titled "Teaching Social Studies: A Literature Based Approach." This goes hand in hand with authentic learning experiences. I realize why children aren't getting some concepts I taugt...because I did not let them be involoved in problem solving in a real world situation. I did appreciate the reminder that we are only one person and under budget constraints but we must still provide "students with activies that have relevance and meaning built right in, whether they occur inside or outside of the classroom" (Daniels and Bizar, 2005, p. 146).  More to come! :)

Chapter Seven in Daniels and Bizar's Teaching the Best Practice Way

ASSESSMENT! Here we go! Yes, assessment is an important part of what we do. Assessment assists teachers in determining whether or not a child has 'got it!' Assessment of skills is absolutely necessary in education. But there is a concern when we spend more time testing than we do teaching. I see why shareholders want assessments...data. I agree that data is important also but to what extent? To the extent that teachers don't have time to pull small groups to intervene before the next assessment? I appreciate that the book addresses standardized testing (and I bet that I am not the only one who will be writing about this topic this week :) ) and how teachers should address it in the classroom. Don't be run by standardized tests but give your students "the coaching they need to show their best on the tests - and then return to the real business of education, which is nurturing the growth of individual students' thinking, over years, across disciplines, and among collaborators" (p. 224). While that is great coaching for the teachers...how many of us could really react that way?

Social Studies and Classroom Management

This week as I read Chapter 8 in Schell and Fisher's "Teaching Social Studies: A Literacy-Based Approach, I found two great ideas that I would like to implement in my classroom. I need to think them through but I am going to try them next year. The first one is the rules of the class. I discovered some different ways of wording expectations that I feel will evokea more postive response in my children. I have always facilitated making classroom expectations but I had never made the connection to social studies with my children. I also liked that it stated rewards before consequences on a poster next to the classroom expectations. Having a visual reminder of rewards may encourage more good behavior. The other idea I loved was the 'banking behavior' section. This will require me to think alot about the management of this idea but it would cover so many objectives that we cover: money, adding, subtracting, occupations, earning, spending, saving, supply, demand, etc. The list can go on. This behavior management system is integrated with math, social studies, and comprehension skills! :) These two ideas are a wonderful way of integrating social studies into the classroom. I did not realize how social studies is everywhere until we began this class. It always seemed like social studies was the subject that got left out because we couldn't figure out how to fit it in but now it seems like every lesson has social studies in it. If I use these strategies, I will be addressing social studies everyday.

Integrated Unit Based Upon the Artwork from Mali, Bamana

Artwork from Mali, Bamana: Pair of Antelope Headdresses

I would use this piece for my second grade class. I would be able to tie in many skills. When I first looked at the piece, I was baffled as to how in the world I was going to make any of these pieces work with my class but then I read the lesson plans and resources and I saw how easy it was to make it happen. I would like to target language arts, social studies and art into this lesson.
Arts: Ask children if they were going to a party or celebration, "how would you dress?" Children may recognize that they wear special attire for speical occasions. Introduce that the antelope headdresses are worn during special celebrations for farming. Using music from Africa, allow children to dance to the rhythm and explore ways people from Mali might express themselves. Children can create their own headdress or special covering for their dances.
Social Studies: Using directional and mapping skills, children could find Mali, Bamana on the map. We can discuss the type of crops they raise and compare them to the crops we raise. We can discuss why we grow different crops. Factors in the environment can effect the crops they are able to grow.
Language Arts: Children could interview local farmers then they could write about the information they gathered. If interviewing farmers is not an option, children could always use literature or other resources to learn more.

Using this website, my gears began turning on different ideas. I am going to continue to use this website to help. I never even thought about using artwork to introduce a new unit. I will use this from now on!

Integrated Unit Based Upon the Artwork from Mali, Bamana

Pair of Antelope Headdresses from Mali, Bamana
http://ncmoa.org/artnc/artifact.php?artifactid=2

Melber and Hunter's "25 Strategies for K-8 Inquiry Based Learning"

There were many wonderful strategies to discover in Unit Two but I found "Strategy 7: Developing Map Skills" very helpful. This is a skill that we teach in second grade. I admit that I struggle teaching this skill but if I use this strategy I think I will be more confident in my lesson delivery and the children will be more involved and engaged in their learning. I like this strategy so much because it incorporates their home-life (mapping their homes) and community. Parents would be assisting children in creating their home map. This would increase their retention of information since children would be seeing the skill used in more than one location. As I was reading this, I also thought that families could take this time to plan their emergency meeting locations and fire escapes from the house as well. This would also help children see one relevancy of mapping. For their school/community walks, we could also tie in emergency locations and occupations that reside there. I am glad I have this useful resource to revert back to when this unit comes around next year. I am starting to see how I can make social studies more interesting for myself and my children. :)

Using Schell and Fisher's "Teaching Social Studies: A Literacy Based Approach" to Drive Our Integrated Unit

This chapter was very interesting to me. I had to read it a few times to understand the different meanings of the key terms: topics, themes, concepts, and big ideas. As I was reading this, I was relating it more to my personal experiences with teaching and wondering how I can make this work in my classroom. As for our integrated unit, I found some very helpful information. The book stated on page73, that we should identify what we want our children to know and be at the end of the unit. I think this helps our focus of the lesson. I will also use the topic section as we plan. Since we plan to use a building (John Wheeler House) as our focus, the section on topics will be more useful to us. Although, the themes can be useful too when we tie in our social studies themes from the National Standards.

Summer Vacation

It's that time of year and summer is upon us. Days of sleeping in, playing outside, working in the garden, catching up on the numerous things that have fallen to the wayside for our passion, teaching. So the question has been asked... Does the summer make us better teachers? I would say, "Yes!!" in a heartbeat! By this time of year, teachers and students are restless to be out in the sunshine and feeling stress from testing. We have exhausted ourselves trying to be superhuman and rejuvenation is needed. Teachers need that time away from teaching to discover how much they really love what they do. By the time the end of July rolls around, teachers are already back in their classrooms...voluntarily... to prepare for our next group of babies. Teachers need that release of accountablility and stress and then they come back renewed.

What do you guys think?