Models, Strategies, and Methods!

Models, Strategies, and Methods

There are several different models of teaching, these are a few that I have learned about during this course: 

• Behavioral Model- develop basic skills and knowledge and design behavior by repetition
• Information Processing Model- equip students with skills and information so they can process, organize and reflect new information 
• Social Interactive Model- Develop students social skills and democratic skills
• Personal Model- find students identity, self-esteem, talents, and experiences through individual projects

These models could be combined and used for different purposes!

What can be assessed?

• Readiness....do they have skills, concept knowledge already, content knowledge, what do they already know?
• Interest: you can determine this through interest surveys, interest centers, self-selection
• Learning profile- areas of strength and weaknesses, work preferences, self-awareness
• The three main assessments are: Diagnostic, formative, summative

Assessment is a collection of student progress!

What are the building blocks/components of objectives?

• Central focus, this is the big picture, goals for the whole unit will be found here. 
• Objectives are the most specific statements of what students will learn!
• Condition- setting ( Given tasks or materials)
• Behavior- Action exposed by the verb
• Criteria- Expected performance level ( no percentages)

Objective Formula:

Given ( a task or materials) the student will verb ( from Bloom's taxonomy) with an expected level of performance.

This takes place during the independent practice!

Ex: Given a task to work in a group of 4 and the resources on the American Revolution, the student will create a poster, following the criteria of the rubric and scoring at 3/4.

Given a research article on supply and demand, the student will write a paragraph, following the criteria of the rubric.

Earth Day!

People all over the world celebrate Earth Day on April 22. This day began to promote awareness of air and water pollution in 1970. On this day around 20 million Americans participated in rallies coast to coast in streets, parks, and auditoriums to encourage others to live in a way that we will have a healthy sustainable environment. Groups that all have been fighting for our planet realized that if they could come together their message would be much louder. These groups have been protesting against polluting factors and power plants, toxic dumps, loss of wilderness, extinction of wildlife, oil spills and much more hazardous issues going on in our world. Protests against the deterioration of the environment went from a few, to hundreds, to thousands. This movement was extremely successful and it actually led to the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Clean Air, Clean Water and Endangered Species Acts. Earth Day only continues and it is important that we keep this movement alive. This is our home and we must take care of it. It is necessary to teach our students about this day in history because it is something that will always be important to our society. As social studies teachers it is important to prepare our students for the world and how to make conscious decisions about our planet. I know as a future teacher I will teach my students about the history of Earth Day and I will make sure to do something fun and exciting for this day each year. I remember in elementary school my second grade teacher took us to the park and we all planted a tree on Earth Day. I would love to do something similar with my future students because they will be engaged but also doing something great for the environment. I want to make sure my students are aware of what is going on in the world and know they can make a difference.  

The Power of Social Studies

This course has taught me a lot about the subject of social studies and different ways to teach it effectively. When I have a classroom of my own, I want to make sure I am teaching social studies in a meaningful way. Social studies is so important for young students because it provides them with skills and attitudes that will help them be a reasonable and thoughtful citizen in a culturally diverse world. Which is why I think it is necessary to start with the definition of social studies; the body of integrative knowledge, concepts, skills, generalizations, and theories about history, economics, geography, citizenship.etc. When most think of social studies, we think about just history and homework assignments from a textbook. Additionally, we typically think of lectures, and discussions, occasionally with audio-visual aids, and field trips. Therefore, it is crucial that we break these misconceptions about social studies to our future students. When teaching social studies in an elementary classroom it is important to have small group and independent work, manipulative, films, tv, computers, integrated approaches and greater instructional variety than other subjects. Social studies  helps students understand developments in society and their rules in shaping the future. This will guide these students to make informed and reasoned decisions for themselves and for society. 

Social Studies Powerful Elements

In order for social studies to impact students s it is important to keep these concepts in mind:

To teach students in a  meaningful way - engaging, connect students with real-world situations

To be an integrative teacher - Draws on more than one discipline, subject or skill set

Social studies should be value-based- Strengthens students' sense of democratic values and social responsibility

Create a challenge - Incorporate different perspectives and draws on students' critical-thinking skills

Make the students active - Participatory, makes use of manipulatives or physical environment

How People Learn? What is Learning?

In order to teach students, it is important to know the different ways people learn. So take a guess! Here were my guesses, along with the actual percentages.

Reading- 15% - actual 10%

Lecture- 15% - actual 10%

Audiovisual-20% - actual 20%

Demonstration - 50% - actual 30%

 Discussion - 60% - actual 50%

Practice doing - 85% - actual 90%

Teach others- 95% -actual 95%

It's not what you know but what you do with what you know! 

Current event

This is a project I completed with a group from my class, this is where we chose a method on how to teach current events to students.

I really enjoyed this project because I learned that there are multiple ways on how to teach current events to students in exciting ways. My group and I decided to teach the students through an article then have the students participate in a debate. I believe debates are interesting and would have all the students engaged and participating. Debates require all members to be involved and this could actually be really fun if done correctly! It is important to first teach the students about what a debate is and how to effectively coordinate one. Debates are arguments with rules. Two teams present a resolution( sometimes called a proposition) or topic that they will debate. These are always timed arguments. One team is for the resolution (pro or affirmative) while the other team is against the topic. Then a judge decides at the end of the debate who the winner is, based on a point system. It is also important to teach students how to format a debate.  A debate should always start by stating your opinion clearly, give a reason for you opinion, then support your reason with an example, then restate your opinion as a conclusion. 

Debates are great for the classroom because it is a great tool for engaging students and livening up classroom curriculum. Using debates in the classroom can help students grasp essential critical thinking and presentation skills. Also classroom debates can help foster abstract thinking, citizenship, etiquette, clarity, organization, persuasion, public speaking, research, teamwork and cooperation.

Digital Me Project

From the beginning of this course to the very end we learn various ways to incorporate technology in the classroom. The first project given to me during this course was to create an introduction of myself to the class digitally. I was given the assignment to make a word wall with at least 25 words that I believe would describe myself. I used this website to create my word wall and I loved using this resource! This website was very easy to use and it allowed me to customize my word wall through colors and design. Here is my word wall: 

This website let me design my word wall any way I wanted to, so I chose a music note because music is a big part of my life! I picked words that are my favorite things or ways to describe myself. I think students would like to pick out words that represent themselves then customize the colors and design. I would definitely want to do this with my future classes because this is a creative way to learn new students.

Snow Day

On January 29, 2019 Mount Saint Mary College had a snow day. Even though we did not have to be on campus, we still had our class, just online! Whenever there has been a snow day my professor has held a virtual meeting. This was something I never experienced before having Dr.Smirnova, but this is such an amazing tool to know about! This is a way for students and teachers to stay on track even on snow days. Even though my class was not able to meet in person, we still were able to complete everything planned for our class session. This tool allows you to chat with your peers, turn your microphone to chat, and you could even turn on your webcam to have face to face conversations. This would also be awesome to use for group projects if someone could not meet in person because there is a screen sharing option for this application. This could be something that could come to use in several different ways and I am so glad that I have learned about this. 

Welcome Spring 2019!

Today was the first class of my Spring semester at Mount Saint Mary College. I began my Social Studies Methods Class with Dr. Smirnova. I already took Dr. Smirnova last semester for my Science Methods class and I learned so much and I'm so excited to see what this semester holds for me! Our first task today was to create name tags then write numbers 1-4 on the back. She told us to close our eyes and imagine our first memory of learning about social studies; what the classroom looked like, what we were doing, how the seats were arranged, posters on the walls, etc. Then for number 1, we wrote the name of that teacher that we remembered from that memory. For number 2, we wrote three things we thought teachers should be like while teaching social studies. For number 3, we wrote what we thought about social studies in general. Finally for number 4, we wrote how we thought social studies should be taught. Once this was completed, we found a partner and discussed our answers with one another. Comparing what we had in common and discussing the differences found among us. Next to we grouped together with another pair in the class and discussed our answers even further. We were then told to make up a group name and select a spokesperson for our group to share the general idea of all of our answers to share with the class. I learned that a lot of my peers had the same experiences and thoughts about social studies as my group and I. From that exercise I learned the method of think, pair, square. This is when you think individually, compare your thoughts with a partner then group with another pair to further discuss. Think-Pair-Square exercises help diminish fears about speaking up and help build relationships. I would love to use this in my classroom because it shows students that the classroom is a safe place to share. This takes away anxiety from students that find it hard to just share their individual thoughts to the entire class. This is best done through peer-to-peer sharing. I love that I learned this exercise because it will definitely be used in my future classroom. 

 The video was created to encourage educators to use technology in the classroom to elevate their students' abilities. I thought this video was interesting because it showed how often students use technology in their day to day lives. It is important for educators to incorporate technology however, educators need to be provided with the tools and information to effectively use technology in the classroom. Often times educators drift away from technology in the classroom because they are not properly trained in ways to make technology beneficial to students. With that being said, it is important to find the creative ways to find a use of technology since it is part of the students' daily lives. Throughout this semester, I hope to learn useful ways to bring technology to the classroom while making everything fun and enjoyable for the students.