Ch. 4 Teaching Social Studies for Understanding (Task One)

     I enjoyed reading this chapter in our textbook today.  Since I teach Language Arts and Social Studies, I felt as if the material was relevant.  It was also nice to see that some of the things I've been doing in my classroom throughout the year are practices that others believe are necessary for good learning to take place. I am such a "history nerd," and I get a lot of joy out of teaching social studies.  Since I love to read as well, combining my two passions isn't difficult.  I find that I combine the two subjects often, however I am learning through my reading for this class that I can do a better job with a bit more thought and planning on my part next year.
     I feel as if my classroom library is set up in a way that would make the textbook author smile.  I have baskets of novels, picture books, magazines, and laminated articles from a variety of time periods and on a variety of social studies topics.  (My library is obscenely large - I can't put it all out at once!) I put the baskets out as I talk about each theme and I'm always pleasently surprised at how quickly the books are scooped up by my students. I like to begin lessons with questions that capture my students' interests or with interesting or gross facts that make them want to know more. My read-alouds frequently tie in with our social studies topic and I try to model making connections (and encourage my students to make connections as well) as I read. It was so nice to read that I was doing things right as I teach social studies.
     It was no surprise to learn that my planning needs some work.  The whole idea of "Big Ideas" intimidates me.  What if I don't pick the right big ideas for my class? I think I'd feel more confident if I could work on choosing the big ideas for next year as a team instead of on my own. It is hard to find teachers interested in putting time into social studies instruction  though, because it isn't tested.  Planning with the end in mind is also important.  I teach what is in the NC SCOS, but I make sure I cover the topics I enjoy the most more thoroughly.  Topics I don't enjoy as much are covered briefly with fewer activities to stimulate interest in my students.  This isn't fair to my students and I need to make more of an effort to plan my year ahead of time with my units spread out in a fair manner.
     Two new ideas I would like to incorporate into next year's instruction are simulations and Book Bags.  One of my students' favorite series in my classroom library year after year is called "You Choose Books".  During the reading, students must choose a role or scenario that takes the story in a certain direction.  It is difficult to keep these books on my shelves.  This leads me to believe the students would enjoy the simulation idea where they would take on a role and make decisions that real people had to make long age. I also think I 'd like to spend some time making Book Bags that students could take home and work on along with their families.  Parents often ask how they can help and creating these bags would be a way to send material home that could generate interest in a topic and provide extra practice on needed skills.