Constructing Powerful and meaningful Social Studies Units

We were told to read chapter 8 in our textbook, "How Are Powerful and Meaningful Social Studies units Constructed?" and create a visual map based off of it for homework. After reading this chapter, I learned that there are many different parts to making a unit plan. I made my visual map according to what I learned from the chapter. I started with the title of the chapter in the middle. from it, I had 5 different branches. the first branch is Focus. Coming from focus, I have the three different focuses when designing a unit, descriptive-focused units, thinking skills-focused units, and conceptual and thinking skills-focused units. The next branch was Units. Fro units, I had the two types of units to pick from, Theme units and Issues and problem solving units. Theme units may include topics associated with other subject areas, and issue and problem solving units attempt to solve a problem that is relevant to somebody. The third branch was Planning. The two different types of planning a unit is by using a wheel design or using a column design. The fourth branch I made was Integrated Units. From this branch, I listed the 16 steps to developing integrated units:

1. generating ideas for the topic

2. Rresearch the topic

3. Develop focus or guiding questions

4. Identify and accommodate special needs of students

5. Develop intended learning outcomes

6. Develop inteded learning outcomes as knowledge, skills and attitudes

7. Create a web

8. Develop a rationale and goals

9. Begin the KWL charts

10. Develop learning objectives

11. Develop an assessment plan

12. Develop lesson plans

13. Develop accommodations for technology

14. Implement the unit

15. Evaluate student learning

16. Reflect on the unit

My last branch was Conceptualizing. Coming from this branch i wrote "Find several different topics across subjects" and underneath that i said that this was Inquiry and problem solving.

We Are Historians

For homework, we were assigned to make our own artifact bags that were related to the subject we were assigned for fieldwork. My fieldwork group was assigned the Declaration of Independence. So, for my artifact bag, I chose to put an old copy of the Declaration of Independence, an old picture of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and for a website, I found a YouTube video for kids all about the Declaration of Independence. We had to bring in our bags and present them to our fieldwork groups as if they were our students. I thought this was a great activity because we all got to experience both becoming the historians and teaching the historians. This is definitely an activity that I want to use in my classroom when teaching social studies. It is really good for the students to become the historians because it teaches them to explore and research on their own rather than just being given the information by the teacher. For the most part, everyone in my group got some of the same artifacts. we all had the same idea in what we wanted our students to find. These were our artifacts:

Assessing and Evaluating

Week 4

This week in class we took notes on assessments and evaluation, based on chapter 14 in our textbook, "How Do I Teach Students Multiple Assessments and Evaluation?" The five powerful elements of social studies are meaningful, integrative, value-based, challenging and active. Meaningful is engaging, connects students with real-world situations. Integrative draws on more than one discipline, subject or skill set. Value-based strengthens students' sense of democratic values and social responsibility. Challenging incorporates different perspectives and draws on students' critical-thinking skills. Active is participatory, it makes use of manipulatives or physical environment. A diagnostic assessment is on-going. It continues throughout the year. Part of this assessment is pre-assessment (finding out), formative assessment (keeping track and checking up) and summative assessment (making sure). The assessment modes are performance assessment, authentic assessment, authentic instruction, and portfolio assessment.

We also learned about selected response assessment: multiple choice, binary choice, and matching. The stem is the question or incomplete statement. The alternatives are possible answers. The Distractors are the incorrect answers. There are some advantages and disadvantages to using these types of questions. Some advantages are that there is a broad sampling of knowledge, scoring is easy and objective, practice on items for high-stake state accountability tests, and they are more reliable and have more diagnostic power. The disadvantages are that they take longer to answer than other tests, it is difficult to write good multiple choice test items, especially with good distractors, and the probability to guess the right answer.

When designing multiple choice items, you should write the stem as a clearly described question or task. There should be much more information in the stem instead of in the response. You should use complete stems and short responses. the students should have a tentative answer in mind based on the stem before reading the responses. you should try to avoid negatives in the stem. Also, avoid giving irrelevant clues in correct response and avoid making longer, more detailed, and general questions. some examples of multiple choice questions are as shown:

Binary choice assessment is when students select answers only from two response categories. some advantages to using binary choices are that the format is similar to what is asked in class, it provides for an extensive sampling of knowledge (two items in a short time - 2 or 5 items per minute), they are written in short, easy-to-understand sentences, they are easy to construct and scoring is objective and quick. A disadvantage is that they are susceptible for guessing and poorly constructed items can give clues to the correct answer. When constructing binary choice questions, avoid using long sentences. Avoid using negatives or clues to the answer. Avoid insignificant, trivial facts, and do not try to trick the students. Some examples are:

 

 

Matching items effectively and efficiently measure the extent to which students know related facts, associations, and relationships. Some advantages of matching are that they provide for an extensive sampling of knowledge, they are easily and objectively scored, and constructing matching responses is easier than multiple choice items. in a matching item, the items on the left are called the premises. In the righthand column are the reponses. the student's task is to match the correct response with each of the premises. As long as the suggestions listed next are followed, matching items are excellent for measuring knowledge that includes associations. Some examples are:

Finally Settled Into Things

Week 3

Monday September 9, 2013

We are finally settled into things in the class. It took a week or two, but I think for the most part we all have an idea of what we are doing now. We have finished the About Me projects and have gotten to know each other, and technology sources to use while teaching. Today we started off the class with some notes.

First we learned about the 5 Powerful Elements of Social Studies:
1. Meaningful - Engaging, connects students with real-world situations. Students have to understand what they are going to be learning.
2. Integrative - Subject or skill set. Draws on more than one discipline.
3. Value-Based - Strengthens students' sense of democratic values and social responsibility.
4. Challenging - Incorporates different perspectives and draws on students' critical-thinking skills.
5. Active - Participatory. Makes use of manipulatives or physical environment. 

We later took a guess of what the percentage is of what we learn which is retained in memory. Some of my guesses were way off and some were just on target. Most everyone had a good idea of what the percentages were.

My guesses were:

When we read ----------------------------------------->     15%

When we hear ----------------------------------------->      20%

When we see ------------------------------------------>      30%

When we see & hear --------------------------------->      45%

When we do things ------------------------------------>     50%

When we teach things -------------------------------->      75%

When we discuss --------------------------------------->     50%

The real answers were: 

We continued the lesson talking about the structure of knowledge. Jerome Bruner designed a pyramid that shows the different stages of learning. the bottom of the pyramid is facts. The facts are the content that is to be taught to the students. The next layer of the pyramid is concepts. The concepts refer to the Core Curriculum concepts and understandings. As a teacher, you have to decide what concepts are best to use in your lesson based on the Core Curriculum concepts. The third layer is generalizations. This refers to the key idea. What are the key ideas you want your students to pick up during your lesson? The top and final layer of the pyramid is meta-cognition. The meta-cognition layer is the learning. What are the outcomes of the lesson? 

Wednesday September 11, 2013 and Friday September 13, 2013

I'm putting these two days in one post because they are connected. In the beginning of class on Wednesday we started off with some note taking about engaging students to learn in social studies. The notes were connected with chapter 11 in the textbook that we had to read for homework. The second half of the class we modeled how to do an artifact bag activity in the classroom and experienced it ourselves. This carried on into Friday where we finished the Artifact Bag activity.

We focused on direct and indirect instruction. Direct instruction is when you're first introducing something. During a lecture, explain and develop basic skills and knowledge. For indirect instruction, give the students a problem to solve and research individually. The exploration is part of the meta-cognition. You can also split the students into groups. This will focus on the social aspect of indirect instruction.

The class split into our fieldwork groups and each group got an artifact bag. We were told to look for the 5 w's while exploring what our artifacts were. When we opened our artifacts, we found that we had a red and gold Russian diploma/award, a red, gold, and black Russian spoon called a khokhloma, and a blue and white gzhel napkin holder of a fire-bird from Russia. We didn't know what everything is right away, but we found out by doing a little research on the computer, and talking with Dr. Smirnova, who was the owner of all the items. After finding out what everything was, we found out that Dr. Smirnova got the award/diploma after graduating from the International Teaching Training Academy of Science in the year 2005. She was already living in America when she received the award. The khokhloma has been in Dr. Smirnova's family for decades. It is part of a Russian tradition to eat with this type of spoon during certain celebrations. Finally, the gzhel came into Dr. Smirnova's possession before she and her husband got married. As her brother was coming over to America from Russia, in the airport he picked up the gzhel and with a letter, he gave it to her husband. Dr. Smirnova's brother said that he was giving her husband the gzhel because it was very precious, just like his sister, and he has to keep very good care of it. The connection between all of these items was that they all belonged to Dr. Smirnova and they were all from Russia.

I thought this activity was really fun and great to use in the classroom. During this activity, we became the historians and explorers. We had to explore to find out what our artifacts were. It's better for the kids to become the historians because they are teaching themselves then, instead of the teaching just telling them the information.

 

Let's See What The Bag Has to Offer

We were asked to read anarticle by Carol J Fuhler about using artifacts in the classroom. I found the article very interesting. While reading the article, I was able to imagine how much fun students would find this activity and how much they would learn by doing it. Fuhler states, "using artifacts, from primary documents to items that can be held in one's hand, is a motivational technique that can tie readers to a variety of genres and bring a period of history to life in the process."  The best way for students to learn is to motivate them and letting them experience things for themselves. In the article, teachers modeled how to do the activity while encouraging the students to participate and answer questions, that way the students would know what to do when they did themselves and the excitement would build. Teacher modeling is a very effective way to teach.

Some tips for using Artifact Bags:

1. Build the excitement of using the artifact bags before handing them to the students.
2. Use primary sources and authentic artifacts, it helps the students really feel like they are true historians making a discovery.
3. Encourage the students to use their prior knowledge to really help them discover and investigate their artifacts.
4. Use the bags a starting point for a unit plan. Let the bags carry on into a group project, presentation, etc.
5. Discuss what the students have found at the end. You can use a big chart to have the students fill out.

Timelines In The Classroom

For homework, we were asked to read chapter 11, "How Do I Engage Students in Examining History?" in our textbook, Social Studies For The Elementary and Middle Grades. This chapter is about ways to teach history to students so it seams more meaningful to them. So many students do not realize the importance history is because it does not serve a utilitarian need. But it really is important to know about our pasts and how things used to be. The chapter gives teachers several reasons to study history, and help students become historians on their own.

After reading the chapter, each student in my class was given a number from the chapter to answer and share with the class. I was given number 7 from the chapter objectives. he question was:

Describe how timelines are used to assist in developing an understanding of time.

My answer was....

Timelines are used to assist in developing an understanding of time at a young age. In Kindergarten teachers may use a calendar or a time chart for the day in the form of a timeline. when certain events during the month or during the day have passed, the teacher can mark it on the timeline. This gives students a sense of time because it shows them that something has passed. Not only does it show them that time has passed, but it also shows them how things happen a series or order. A good way to make these timelines are with clothespins. The events are easily seen and easy access for students to ass events to. Complete timelines not only identify dates or time periods for which the events occurred, but also order them over the uniform passage of time. placing events along the timeline requires the ability to add and subtract. in the case of long periods of time, then multiplication and division are required as well. When considering events over a long period of time, students can also be asked questions linking the passage of time to generations to assist them in understanding.

Time To Learn!

Week 2

Monday September 2, 2013

LABOR DAY, NO CLASS!!!!!

Wednesday September 4, 2013

Today we finished presenting our About Me projects. Only half of the class finished presenting last class. I enjoyed watching and listening to everyone present their projects. I really learned a lot about different websites that I can apply to my classroom when I start teaching. I think everyone did a great job with their presentations and helped me think of new ways to make learning more fun for my future students.

Friday September 6, 2013

Today James presented his About Me project. James joined the class last week and became the only male in a room full of women. When he finished his presentation, we were officially done with the About Me projects. It will be good to get a male's perspective in things now. At the end of class, Dr. Smirnova showed us an adorable video about the days of the week. It was a nice class, but I was certainly glad it was the weekend!

This is the video Dr. Smirnova showed us in class :)

Where It All Starts...

Summer is officially over and the new semester has started. There's so much to experience in this upcoming semester and I am excited for every minute of it. Walking into class the first day, I didn't know what to expect. After walking out of class that day, I will admit, I was a little overwhelmed. There is so much to learn and do in this class, but it will all be worth it. Everything I learn in this class will make us become the best teacher we can be!

Week 1

Monday August 26, 2013

Today was the start of our journey through Ed 3120.02 with Dr. Smirnova. I walked in and saw so many familiar faces, and a few unfamiliar. We started off the class by making name tags. On one side we wrote our names, on the other side we answered four questions that Dr. Smirnova asked us. After, we met with a partner and discusses our answers. Finally, we met in groups of four to five and had to introduce our partner to the others in the group.  Lastly, in our groups, we summarized everyones answers and discussed them with the class. I think this was a great way for us all to learn a little about each other and our thoughts on social studies.

Wednesday August 28, 2013

We mixed things up a bit today. Instead of meeting in the classroom today, we met in the curriculum library in Hudson Hall. The librarian, Tiffany, helped us learn how to use the library website to find books and how to find books on the shelves. She taught us how to read the codes on the books to know what genre they are and how to figure out what grade level they are for. She also taught us how find articles on the databases on the computer. After that, she introduced us the world of kidspiration and inspiration. Lastly, she showed  us how to make worksheets on Microsoft Publisher. I enjoyed having class in the Curriculum Library and thought Tiffany helped us a lot in what we needed to know.


Friday August 30, 2013

Today we started presenting our About Me projects. We all had to submit them to e-class and went one by one to present them. Everyone had to use a different digital media device to introduce themselves. While someone was presenting, the rest of the class was commenting on the persons presentation on the e-class. We wrote three things we liked about the presentation and one thing we wished the person had done. For my About Me project, I wrote about myself in about.me.com. After I was done, I checked all of the comments I got. I mostly had positive feedback, which was good. The thing most people said they wished was that I had talked more about myself.

Here is my About Me out project if you would like to check it out!

A Little Taste of Who I Am

Hey All,

My name is Laura McKenna. I am a junior at Mount Saint Mary College majoring in Math. I am getting my certification in childhood education with middle school extension. Here are a few things I'd like to share about myself to let you get to know me better:

- I have two older brothers, one works in insurance, the other is a Staten Island Ferry driver
- I am 100% Irish
- I was born cross-eyed
- My favorite color is teal
- My dream is to one day travel the world

 I hope you all enjoy my blog and join me as we take this journey together to better teach the future!



This is a picture of me and my family and my brothers graduation from the United States Merchant Marine Academy Kings Point