Social Studies Methods was
my last education course I had to take before student teaching
next semester. I have learned about the different types of lesson plans,
however in my education courses I have only written direct instruction lesson
plans. This semester I learned the distinct difference between all
the lesson plans and now I have a complete understudying of when to use
them and how to implement them into teaching. As a teacher candidate it is very
important to know how to write a lesson plan, which I have had experience with
the past three years at Mount Saint Mary College. When I started taking
Social Studies Methods with Dr. Smirnova, I knew I was going to teach a
class with a partner and have to write lesson plans. However I never
thought I would walk away for this class with so much experience
and motivation for student teaching. Although I taught with Lindsay for a
week, I felt attached to the students and wanted to continue to teach them
to help them grow.
Group 1
The first week
of fieldwork, Kelli taught a fifth grade class by herself. I give her so much
credit going first and by herself because teaching a class for the first
time is a big responsibility and nerve racking with your peers, professor, and
teacher watching you. From observing Kelli, I learned how to get the students
attention when they are not paying attention. I realized that many students
liked to share stories if they could relate to the causes of the American
Revolution and it was difficult for Kelli to move onto the next cause. I
thought Kelli’s activities were very engaging and the fifth graders seemed to
take away a lot about the causes leading up to the American Revolution.
To view Kelli's teaching reflections,
please visit the following blog posts:
(Still waiting for Kelli's Links)
Group 2
Following
Kelli’s lessons, Christine and Nicole taught the battles of the American
Revolution to the same fifth grade class. Through the three lessons, Christine
and Nicole worked together implementing engaging activities to the fifth
graders. After observing Kelli’s teaching, I got to observe how two teachers
can work together while teaching. They both were usually at the front of the
board and there were sometimes that they spoke at the same time, but by the third
lesson they knew to make eye-contact with each other before talking. As I
watched Christine and Nicole teach, I was thinking of how I was going to teach
the following week with Lindsay. I also watched closely to see how they
communicated with each other without distracting the students. Observing Kelli,
Christine, and Nicole was the first half of our fieldwork experience and I
learned so many little skills from them, such as signals, speaking loudly, the
font color when presenting information, and always being happy your teaching.
To view Christine's teaching
reflections, please visit the following blog posts:
To view Nicole's teaching
reflections, please visit the following blog posts:
Group 3
The
third week of fieldwork, Lindsay and I were teaching in a fourth grade class
with thirty-one students. It seemed overwhelming at first with that many
students, but Lindsay and I were very excited teaching our domino effect for
the direct lesson plan. I thought that this was the hardest lesson to teach
because you want to have the students engaged and questioning, but it is also
teacher-centered to provided the students with the information they will need
in the following lessons. The inquiry-based lesson Lindsay and I taught for
half the time, whereas the students worked on an activity for the rest of the
class time. The cooperative lesson followed the inquiry lesson, which are when
it was student-based and this allowed Lindsay and I to see if what we taught
was effective. I thought Lindsay and I worked great together, we were always
communicating throughout the lesson by gestures, eye-contact or passing the
clicker along. Collaboration is so important when teaching because you get more
ideas based on others. When Lindsay and I were planning, she would say an idea
and I would expand upon it as well as the other way around. Creating the
lessons together, expanded my knowledge of each type of lesson plan as well as challenging
ourselves when teaching. We both decided that for our inquiry-based lesson we
wanted the students to use an iPad for Socrative and Voki. This was challenging
because the fourth grade students never used iPad in class and I was teaching
them by explicit instruction. I was very excited for this lesson to introduce
the iPad’s to the students. Although we had some technical difficulties and not
enough iPad’s, we met our expectations. Challenging yourself is important in
teaching because you want your students to learn as much as possible, but in an
engaging environment.
To view more of my teaching reflections,
please visit the following blog posts:
To view Lindsay's teaching
reflections, please visit the following blog posts:
Group 4
The last week
of fieldwork, Ainsely and Amanda taught the fourth graders about the battles of
the American Revolution. At this point I got to observe what the students knew
from when Lindsay and I taught and how they will use that knowledge when learning
new material on the battles of the American Revolution. The students used their
knowledge from our lessons and applied it to how the battles were caused. After
teaching, my observations were different and I focused more on the student
response than the teachers teaching. I think this experience changed the way I
observe and I was analyzing how each lesson was implemented. After being familiar
with each type of lesson, I wanted to know how this group was teaching each one.
To view Ainsely's teaching
reflections, please visit the following blog posts:
To view Amanda's teaching
reflections, please visit the following blog posts:
Overall,
I observed new ideas that I would want to implement in my future classroom and
got the opportunity to teach a fourth grade class. This course was the most
rewarding methods course I took because I got to teach a class. It is different
just sitting in the back of a classroom observing than you actually teaching
and being in charge. The students look at you differently and you can see how
they interpret the information you teach. I will carry everything I learned
from my fieldwork observations to my teaching for next semester when I student
teach. I will now not be nervous teaching in front of a class because I did it
this semester. The more you practice, the more comfortable you will feel when
teaching. I look forward to teaching more next semester and in my teaching
career.
Thank you for reading,
Works Cited
National Council for the Social Studies. “Executive Summary.” Expectations of excellence: Curriculum standards for social studies
National Council for the Social Studies. “Principles of Teaching and Learning.” Expectations of excellence: curriculum standards for social studies.
Following
Kelli’s lessons, Christine and Nicole taught the battles of the American
Revolution to the same fifth grade class. Through the three lessons, Christine
and Nicole worked together implementing engaging activities to the fifth
graders. After observing Kelli’s teaching, I got to observe how two teachers
can work together while teaching. They both were usually at the front of the
board and there were sometimes that they spoke at the same time, but by the third
lesson they knew to make eye-contact with each other before talking. As I
watched Christine and Nicole teach, I was thinking of how I was going to teach
the following week with Lindsay. I also watched closely to see how they
communicated with each other without distracting the students. Observing Kelli,
Christine, and Nicole was the first half of our fieldwork experience and I
learned so many little skills from them, such as signals, speaking loudly, the
font color when presenting information, and always being happy your teaching. 
