Social Studies

Social Studies is an interesting class. I am learning so much about social studies content and things that are often not taught but should be On Monday, we learned about silences in education including the influenza epidemic of 1918. She had us try to guess this even through 20 questions and I was the only one to get what it was and that was because of the Balto movie, not what I have learned in Social Studies. It was very interesting but sad to learn about this event. She gave us different opportunities to learn about it as well by letting us write, draw, or talk about it. There are so many other silences in history that would be interesting to learn about. She also asked us who from history we would like to meet, what event we would like to see from history and what organization or group would we like to talk to. I ended up picking a bunch since I love history and it is hard to choose. Some of the people I wanted to meet included Joseph Smith, Ester, Ben Franklin, George Washington, Martin Luther King Jr, Anne Frank, Walt Disney, and Abe Lincoln. I am sure there are lots of others. One of the events I wanted to see besides the middle ages because I love the middle ages was the signing of the the Declaration of Independence. We also talked about the different orientations to social studies and ways it can be approached in teaching

On Tuesday, we started by learning about a current event in New Zealand and then discussing how it is important to include current issues in a social studies curriculum. These current issues need to be centered on the issue, real-world dilemmas, based on conceptual knowledge, and they need to give the students the opportunity to make decisions and analyze multiple solutions for the issues.When teaching current issues it is most important though to choose ones that are age appropriate and ones that the children will be able to relate to or have a connection with.

We also discussed social amnesia and trying have our students see from multiple perspectives instead of the stereotype perspective. This is so important when learning about other people and cultures as well as history. Seeing from multiple views can just give us such a better understanding of the world.

On Wednesday, we  did a population/comparison activity with the m&ms taught me so much about the world and helped me to gain a better picture of the statistics. It would be a great activity to do with kids as well. I think that seeing the percentages through a tangible item will really help the students to grasp meaning from them and understand the statistics rather than see them as numbers on a page. It opened my mind to how much difference there is in consumption in the world and made me as an American feel greedy. I think that this view is important for kids to see so they can start early to think about other places in the world and their living conditions.

Reading the articles on the differences children have made amazed me. The children in the articles were able to make such a difference because they knew about the issues, we concerned about them and were willing to try to make a change. I know this is completely possible in the classroom and being involved in some ways is probably easier than it used to be. In order to motivate my students to even think about or want to make a difference, I will need to give them opportunities to learn about issues, think about solutions, have persistence, etc. I will need to consider their ideas, and it would also be a good idea to show them what other students have done to make a difference to show them that as a child they can make a difference. Instilling these ideas in our students will help them to gain the qualities needed to be an active, informed citizen.

Watching the story about Iqbal made me sad, and opened my eyes to so much.Iqbal was sold into slavery as a young child in Pakistan to make carpets. he escaped when he was ten, did 6 years of schooling in 2 years and then at age 12 started to speak out against child labor in different countries. He even came over and spoke in the US, but when he returned to Pakistan, he was shot and killed. Some of the students in the US that has met him, then started a project to build a school for children in Pakistan. It was such a sad story and really opened my eyes to some of things that happen in the world. There are so many issues and things going on in the world today that we don’t know about and sometimes think about in America as a thing of the past, but these things would be important for kids to know about and to know that slavery for example does this occur. Informing the students about some of these issues is important we cannot let them continue to be silences. Children really do care and can make a difference if provided with the opportunity to do so.

On Thursday we did  a workshop  looking at  many resources that could be used in a social studies classroom. I sometimes worry that I do not know enough social studies content to teach it well, but there are so many great resources available where I and my students could discover more content and find answers to questions we have. I also enjoyed reading the children’s literature books and seeing how much social studies material is available in children’s books.  Having a discussion on social studies being marginalized is one I have been waiting to have. It is so sad that it happens in so many schools are brushing off social studies partly because it isn’t tested, but just because there is not a standardized test for it does not mean it should not be taught. In class it was said that goals of education are the same as the goals of social studies to help students to become informed citizens that can make reasoned decisions for the betterment of society.  It this is the case, then social studies should be focused on much more than it is currently in the schools. I hope that when I start teaching, I am able to find a way to teach lots of social studies even if I am only given a specific time slot when I am allowed to teach social studies. It can be integrated in to other subject, but there are so many aspects of social studies that need to be taught in order for our students to become informed, active citizens. 

On our last day in social studies, we played Scattergories with current issues and social studies content. It was really funny and way fun. We also watched a movie on a protest that occurred in 1981 in New Zealand concerning the All-Blacks rugby tour with the South African rugby team. Huge riots broke out in protest because many people did not want a country that promoted apartheid and segregation to be in New Zealand.  I learned a lot but it was a long movie. The past week in social studies has been pretty good and I learned so much especially about social studies content. I am excited to have the opportunity to teach it.