Native American Collaborative Learning Project Reflection

We participated in a Native American Cooperative Lesson in our Social Studies Methods class.  Before this project my knowledge about Native Americans here in the area was very limited.  I knew basic information about Native Americans.  Most of my knowledge consisted of Native Americans from the western United States as I lived in South Dakota for a three years.  Through this project I gained a lot of new knowledge about the Native Americans from this region.  I gained this new knowledge through working collaboratively in our expert groups and then reteaching the information in our base groups.  Our presentations went well and everyone did such a great job.  The only aspect that could have been improved was the way we presented our PowerPoint Presentation.  Our groups were somewhat large and it was hard for everyone to see the screen and hear the speaker at the same time.   Other than this, there was nothing major that prevented anyone of us from gaining new knowledge.

During this teaching demonstration I learned the importance jobs within the expert group.  We divided the work up and tackled the presentation information.  This worked well and saved time.  I think if I were to do this project in the classroom I would ensure that the students would have ample amount of time to complete the research task.  This project also highlighted the importance of working collaboratively and assigning jobs within the group.  The jobs were essential in completing the research on time.  This project also showed me the importance of creating Social Studies lessons that are engaging for the students.  The quiz that was created in the end helped check for comprehension and reinforced what we had learned in our expert groups.

This project was designed for college students.  I would adapt this project for elementary students by providing the research information for the students. The material could be printed off a head of time for the students to read and create a presentation.  Because the students are younger, the students will require more guidance.  I would assign the jobs within the groups so it would eliminate any issues of choosing their jobs.

This project can be related to The Six Elements of Geography Education that is addressed in our textbook reading of Social Studies for the Elementary and Middle Grades.  According to Sunal when students know about "locations and interactions between people and natural habitats" this helps them "understand events and places today, in the past, and possibly in the future."

I loved exploring the Native American history during this project.  I could imagine using this in my own classroom and will definitely adapt it for whatever grade I teach!

Kahoot! Quiz

Recently, I demonstrated this new website in our college classroom.  After I worked out some errors on my end, it worked very well.  I did not realize that everyone had to enter the same access code when entering the quiz.  Once we solved that issue, things ran smoothly.  The website is user friendly.  I loved how easy it was to add graphics to the quiz.  The graphics made the quiz more engaging.  If you know your material, it will not take long to create the quiz.  The best part is that the teacher gets immediate feedback whether students understood the material that was taught.  It provides the teacher the opportunity to reteach any material the students may not have understood right after the quiz.  I believe that this is the most important feature of the website.  The website also shares other quizzes that have been created.  You can search for quizzes that other people have made and use them in your classroom too.  What a time saver!!

The best part was that our quiz was featured on their website.  I got an email from the co-founder and lead designer of the website informing us of this.  So exciting!  He also shared with us the idea of having the students create the quizzes to check for understanding.  Great idea!

Current Events in the Elementary Classroom

When I was in elementary school, my teachers always assigned current event projects.  We were required to bring in an newspaper article and present it to the classroom.  We learned about the news but it was not engaging.  In college I had a professor who reviewed news articles from each country as we studied where they were located.  This was interesting and provided us with a perspective of what society was like in that location.  I loved this activity and found it to be very enjoyable.

After reviewing the websites our professor suggested I found a lot of intriguing ideas to use in the classroom.  I particularly liked this website that provided many engaging ideas of how to bring current events into the classroom.  The website suggests to challenge the students and ask them to identify why the news article is news.  Some of the suggestion they provide are:

Timeliness—News that is happening right now, news of interest to readers right now
Relevance—The story happened nearby or is about a concern of local interest.
Magnitude—The story is great in size or number; for example, a tornado that destroys a couple of houses might not make the news but a story about a tornado that devastates a community would be very newsworthy.
Unexpectedness—something unusual or something that occurs without warning.
Impact—News that will affect a large number of readers.
Reference to someone famous or important—News about a prominent person or personality.
Oddity—A unique or unusual situation.
Conflict—A major struggle in the news.
Reference to something negative—Bad news often "sells" better than good news.
Continuity—A follow-up or continuation to a story that has been in the news or is familiar.
Emotions—Emotions (such as fear, jealousy, love, or hate) increase interest in a story.
Progress—News of new hope, new achievement, new improvement

I like the idea of examining the news on a deeper level and have to students question this.  This activity promotes critical thinking skills as it has them constantly questioning and thinking. Another idea this website poses is to have the students create historical newspapers.  The students would chose a historical happening and answer Who, What, When, Where and How.

After thinking about these different activities,  it would differ what you can do with each grade.  I feel that a teacher would be able to allow the students to explore more independently in sixth grade as compared to first grade.  In first grade I would provide more guidance and structure for the students in what they are exploring in the news.  

In my classroom I would love to use a map and use yarn to link the articles to the location.  I also would have the students preserve the news articles as suggested in the blog featured above.  The students then could create books with all the news articles from that year.  The books could then be kept over the years for students to look back into history.  I feel with current events there is so much room to be creative in the classroom.  I am excited to use these ideas in the classroom.

Multicultural, Global and Civic Perspectives in the Classroom

I recently reviewed an article for my Social Studies Methods class about integrating multicultural, global and civic ideals in the classroom.  It was an interesting article that I feel pertains to all educators.  Their is a growing demand for students who have these qualities. Without this perspective, students will lack the ability to understand others' positions in life and be able to relate to these people.  The world will not be a socially just place without this global perspective.  Even with this demand, it is not present in the majority of curriculum in our schools.  In order to be excellent leaders and citizens it is necessary for them to be possess multiple perspectives.  It is our duty as educators to help guide the students.  I imagine that this might be easier said then done.  In a classroom a teacher could be presented with multiple needs of the students and it might be challenging to meet everyone's needs.  Though I feel it is crucial that I try my hardest to meet that goal.  I will definitely remember this article as I move forward in my career.  You can access my entire using this link.

Think Bigger!!

As we quickly approach the next chapter of our education, student teaching, we have a lot to think about.  One of the topics that always seems to be the invisible elephant in the room is high-stakes assessments.  I have a feeling that this is present no matter where you are at in your education or in your career as an educator.  Whether you support them or are against these tests, I think it is easy to say we need to improve these tests because, in my opinion, we are failing our students. I recently read this article and watched a video Standardized Testing: The Monster That Ate American Education.  I found this article very interesting and it makes a valid point.  We are teaching our kids not to be critical thinkers.  We are closing schools because they are not performing well enough on these tests.  These school usually have a high population of poor students or students with disabilities.  So, if students are repeatedly performing horribly on tests we just close the school?  How does that make any sense?  To me, it does not.  I feel as though we need to step up to the plate for our students and fight for them.  Something needs to change.  What do you think?

 "If we think about what our needs are for the twenty-first century, and not just how do we compete in the world but how do we live in the world, how do we survive in the world, we need a generation of people who will succeed us who are thoughtful, who can reflect, who can think," says Ravitch. The question is, does testing really provide us with a measure of how well students utilize higher-order thinking skills? If not, perhaps it's time to reconsider the use of standardized tests as a monolithic means of evaluation in K-12 education.

QR Codes in the Classroom

I am currently enrolled in three methods classes at MSMC.  Aside from my Social Studies Methods class, I am also taking Language Arts Methods and Math Methods.  In our Math Methods fieldwork we were assigned to work with students one on one.  My student was not engaged by the worksheets I was creating for her and I could tell she would enjoy a more interactive way to learning.  I thought back in to my Social Studies class and how we completed a QR Code hunt.  I thoughtI could use this idea in my Math Methods class too.  I was so excited to use what I learned in Dr. Smirnova's classroom about QR Codes!  I created laminated cards with different three-digit subtraction problems.  On the cards, I placed a QR Code that told the student the answer once she completed the problem.  It was a hit!! The student and teacher both loved the idea.  The student had such a great time with it she challenged me to create a math game using QR codes for next time.  The great part to this was that this project was easy and FREE to create  and view the QR codes.  Most importantly though, the student was engaged and had a good experience with math!