Saturday, July 23, 2011
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Social Studies Strategies
When teaching Social Studies in Elementary School 3 Strategies/Techniques I find most useful are:
1. Combination of Nonfictional/Fictional texts to support learning
2. Authentic materials and artifacts to create connections
3. Real-World connections i.e. meeting with people who lived during a certain time period/event, field trips to a relevant location, connecting various social and historical issues to the student's present world.
1. Combination of Nonfictional/Fictional texts to support learning
2. Authentic materials and artifacts to create connections
3. Real-World connections i.e. meeting with people who lived during a certain time period/event, field trips to a relevant location, connecting various social and historical issues to the student's present world.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Social Setting Observation
Social Situation: Metra Train ride from Chicago to the Suburbs
The Setting: Thursday afternoon metra train express from Chicago to the northwest suburbs. It was another nice summer day in Chicago, and people were clearly taking advantage of the nice weather by leaving work a bit early to catch the 3:30 train home. As I boarded my train car, I notice the floods of people rushing to jump into a car just minutes before the train was scheduled to depart. Lucky for me, I was able to find a seat quickly in one of the first cars, before the car completely filled up. And promptly at 3:30, we were on our way!
Actors: As almost all my experiences on the Metra to and from the city, there is always a diverse group of passengers riding the train. On this day it was especially crowded with tourists venturing to the city for the Taste of Chicago. I grabbed a seat on the train next to a younger business man who paid little attention to anything on the train besides his Ipad. My car had quite a few other business men on the train as well, some loosening their ties as they kicked back and relaxed; others still working and making last minute phone calls. Two rows behind me was a nice looking older couple sitting calmly as they each read their novels. And in front of me, where the bikes and handicapped seating is was a group of 12 men who all seemed to either work together and become train companions until they each got off at their respected stops. The men worked in some sort of blue collar job, most of them wearing overalls and heavy working boots. And before the train took off, as a new man joined, they all greeted him with yells and hollers of excitement and welcoming. The men were also casually drinking cans of beer, clearly enjoying the end of another work day.
It is always an interestingly fun experience to “people watch” on the Metra train home. With the wide array of people coming in and out of the city everyday for a variety of reasons, there are always interestingly social scenarios to observe. What I always find the most intriguing is the way individuals interact with others whom are different. Sometimes people will zone out and choose to ignore with their earphones in, avoiding eye contact. And others, you get that irritable passenger who complains, or moves to another car. I think that the Metra train rides are great settings that define our countries unique diversity and social tolerance of individuals.
The Setting: Thursday afternoon metra train express from Chicago to the northwest suburbs. It was another nice summer day in Chicago, and people were clearly taking advantage of the nice weather by leaving work a bit early to catch the 3:30 train home. As I boarded my train car, I notice the floods of people rushing to jump into a car just minutes before the train was scheduled to depart. Lucky for me, I was able to find a seat quickly in one of the first cars, before the car completely filled up. And promptly at 3:30, we were on our way!
Actors: As almost all my experiences on the Metra to and from the city, there is always a diverse group of passengers riding the train. On this day it was especially crowded with tourists venturing to the city for the Taste of Chicago. I grabbed a seat on the train next to a younger business man who paid little attention to anything on the train besides his Ipad. My car had quite a few other business men on the train as well, some loosening their ties as they kicked back and relaxed; others still working and making last minute phone calls. Two rows behind me was a nice looking older couple sitting calmly as they each read their novels. And in front of me, where the bikes and handicapped seating is was a group of 12 men who all seemed to either work together and become train companions until they each got off at their respected stops. The men worked in some sort of blue collar job, most of them wearing overalls and heavy working boots. And before the train took off, as a new man joined, they all greeted him with yells and hollers of excitement and welcoming. The men were also casually drinking cans of beer, clearly enjoying the end of another work day.
It is always an interestingly fun experience to “people watch” on the Metra train home. With the wide array of people coming in and out of the city everyday for a variety of reasons, there are always interestingly social scenarios to observe. What I always find the most intriguing is the way individuals interact with others whom are different. Sometimes people will zone out and choose to ignore with their earphones in, avoiding eye contact. And others, you get that irritable passenger who complains, or moves to another car. I think that the Metra train rides are great settings that define our countries unique diversity and social tolerance of individuals.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
This video of sixth grade students learning the order of operations really jumped out at me. For the most obvious reasons, the teacher has some really great and unique classroom management skills. This video was linked to a Power Teaching link at a College in California. While I am not familiar with this strategy, it is clear that the combination of gestures and peer teaching cultivate active student engagement. I think that this powerful combination had outstanding results in classroom management skills that appear to carry over into all curriculum within the classroom. While I think that all of these methods combined seem a bit much in one lesson, I feel that these are great methods in classroom management.It is clear that the teacher has established herself as an authoritarian figure as well as a classroom full of mutual respect and understanding. To have the students respond and actively engage not only to her, but to their peers as well would require an effective management strategy from day 1.
Not only are this teacher's strategies and methods within the classroom exceptionally effective; in this particular video we see this teacher playing the role of a facilitator of learning. This teacher is effectively guiding the students through their learning experiences and content, while maintaining a student-centered environment. The students are clearly engaged in the material and what they are learning, and the teacher can monitor this through their gestures. For example, when she noticed not everyone was on board with the learning (not following the gestures) she took a point from the class as a whole and requested everyone stay on track with their work. She facilitates some peer to peer interactions and teaching by having the students gesture and teach each other. Turn to partner and gesture_____, turn to your partner and tell them how excited you are about _____. The students are playing an active, front seat role in their learning. To further my understanding of the video and the full extent of the lesson, I would be curious to know/see what takes place after and outside of the video. Does this particular teacher incorporate gestures as seen in this video across all curriculum or is it only a situational strategy? I do believe, however, that her power teaching strategies helped her to be an efficient facilitator of learning in this video.
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