Why should we study history?

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
 There are many reasons why we should study history. It is important that students learn about the worlds past and learn from the mistakes that have been made in the past. It is also important that students learn about different cultures and learn about their impact on history. It is important that we find out who we are in comparison to other people so we are able to identify how we want to become and where we would like to go in our lives. Through history, students are able to better understand people, how and why they acted certain ways. This is very interesting to me because I am a psychology major. Without history of ways different people act and how their brain acts my field would not have any basis. Many theories in psychology are based around the history of symptoms and actions of certain people to make diagnosis. History helps us learn about many different people and societies.
 History has made an impact on the world we live in today so it is important that students learn about it. History has shaped the things we do today so in order to better understand the way we live today students need to understand the history of our past. History helps us understand the present because we are able to look at past mistakes and successes. Learning history can also help us attempt to predict the future because we know what has already happened so it is easier to see where we are going. To feel some sense of belonging to our country we need to learn how our country was shaped and learn about the people who shaped it. It is upsetting that some immigrants know more than our own citizens in our country about our government and history. Only through studying history can we grasp how things change and begin to comprehend the factors that cause this change.  We  are only able to understand what kinds of things in an  institution or society persist despite change.
Finally history instills good moral development and citizenship into a student. The student learns about things in the past that were done to other human beings that were immoral and from that are able to determine what is moral behavior and what is not. Students are also able to learn how to become a good citizen and what that means. They are able to do this because they learn about the history of the voting process and what it means to vote.
Overall, History is very important for students to study. There is no way that we would learn from our mistakes without studying history. History helps students learn about different cultures and helps them develop good citizenship and good moral development. Students are able to understand themselves better and are able to identify their potential by understanding and studying history.

Social Studies is learning about cultures other than your own.. correct?

 "A fundamental objective of social studies instruction is to link students’ lives and experiences to the lives and experiences of others." -Litner
I definitely agree with this quote. My opinion of Social Studies is learning about cultures different from your own and linking students lives and experiences to the lives and experiences of others helps them learn about other cultures and their similarities and differences to the students. A fundamental objective of Social Studies education is to link students lives to the outside world. This way students are learning about the outside world but are also able to remember it better because they link it to their lives.  An example of a way the teacher could teach this would be to do a service learning project for a needy family. Students could do something like Habitat for Humanity where they learn about a needy family and then help build a house for them. This way students are gaining knowledge about other peoples lives and the experiences they have gone through. Another example of this would be for students to research a students school day in Brazil and then find similarities and differences in the two different cultures. It is fundamental to have students learn about cultures that differ from their own so that they are not ignorant of differences when they go out into the real world. Students learn best from their experiences and their connections they are able to make to their self. If students are able to link theirself and see their similarities and differences to another culture then that culture will not seem so foreign to them. I believe what Litner said is profound and that as teachers we need to pay attention to these things and need to give students direct experiences with people who are different from them. After all, that is what Social Studies content is centered around.

Meaningful learning in Edu 358

It is very hard to pick out a couple of things that I find are meaningful in my Edu 358 class because I feel like I have learned a lot. I guess because I am so close to having my own classroom, I continue to reflect on the different types of social studies classrooms. The different approaches to teaching the social studies curriculum. I have also learned about service learning which I had never heard of before this class. I have really enjoyed learning about new technology such as a prezi that I was not familiar with before. Being able to look over the new Social Studies North Carolina Standards made me feel like I had a voice. Finally, the fact that I have had a choice to choose 50 points of my grade has made me feel competent and confident. I am lucky to have the opportunity to show my knowledge in an assignment that I have chosen.
I continue to look at the different approaches, and try to figure out how to integrate all of them the learner-centered approach, society centered approach, and the knowledge center approach. The paper in class and the discussion really helped me reflect on what approach I tend to lean towards. It made me think about how I am going to set up my classroom and that there are multiple approaches to get students to understand the social studies content.
Before this class, I did not know what service learning was but now I see how much of an impact in can have in the classroom. When I saw the students that took part in service learning I was amazed at how much they were learning while helping others. They almost got more out of their learning because they were so interested and willing to help. Students were able to integrate different curriculum as well when they worked on different projects.
I also have learned a lot about how to use newer technologies such as, the prezi. I had seen the prezi before but had never learned how to use one and I was really impressed. I liked how I could move all over the screen and write sideways. It is very useful in cutting down the amount of information that is put on the screen and helping people know about the topic but not read from the prezi. This is a new interesting way to present information.
Being able to state my opinions about the new proposed North Carolina social studies standards was very encouraging. I really felt like I had a say in the standards as a future educator and concerned individual. I appreciate the fact that we were able to do this in class because I don't think I would've taken the time or known to do this outside of class.
Finally, I really appreciate the fact that we get to pick fifty points of our grade. This makes me feel like my teacher has more confidence and trust in my abilities. I am also more interested in the assignments because i am allowed to choose them. I  am able to demonstrate my course knowledge in a way that is more effective for me. I appreciate being able to choose the projects I am going to do in order to achieve the number of points I need to make the grade I would like. I hope that I am able to somehow incorporate this idea in my classroom. I could do it somehow but just make sure students have a little more guidance because they are younger.
There were many meaningful activities that have taken place in this classroom. I have learned a lot about Social Studies as a student and how to teach it to students. I have really benefited from this class and am not going to put social studies on the back burner in my classroom.

What a busy week with my cooperating teacher at Cary Elementary!

  Since this is a free post where we can discuss any topic we want, I have chosen to share my experiences with my cooperating teacher. This week I have had to do a math assessment interview, science demonstration and a literacy lesson. I really enjoy my 4th grade classroom and have already had some rewarding experiences with them. My cooperating teacher is very wonderful to work with and she was a Meredith graduate so she understands some of the work I am having to do.
  For my math assessment I worked with a very vocal child who loved the attention he received from me when doing the math assessment. It was a pleasure to work with him because he was very bright and told me how much fun he was having the whole time I was assessing him. For this assessment I gave him several math problems that Dr. Gleason gave us to ask them. I had to pay attention to his thinking while working the math problems. I really enjoyed listening to his thinking and explanation of the problems. I learned a lot about his thinking process from watching and listening to his explanations. He was not scared to answer and he was very sure of himself which made me proud to see. I belive Mrs. Shaw is really doing a great job in the classroom with making them feel comfortable explaining and talking in front of their peers about answers. I know I would've had a hard time doing that when I was that age because discussion was not integrated into our activities as much as Mrs. Shaw puts it in her activities. He understod almost all the problems and was able to explain them effectively
  Today during my science demonstration I struggled a little because students had not previously talked about the different types of rocks. I was very nervous so I looked down at my notes a little and did not ask questions while I was demonstrating how to form the different rocks. Other than those few things, students listened to the demonstration well and enjoyed learning about the different rocks and seeing the rocks go from igneous rocks to sedimentary to metamorphic rocks. I believe students understood the different types of rocks because when I asked them questions they seemed to understand. When Mrs. Shaw asked students questions about the different types of rock and the rock cycle they seemed to understand as well. Before I began the demonstration, I told students what type of a rock granite was that they had been studying. This way students were able to see an example of an igneous rock. Overall, this was a good experience!
  My literacy lesson  overall was good. We used a Social Studies book as our nonfiction text and practiced locating information for specific purposes. I really enjoyed this lesson and think the students got a lot out of it. I was much more comfortable teaching to a small group and not being videotaped. It was easier than the Science demonstration. The only problem was that there were some behavior issues. Some students talked while I was talking and while their peers were talking. This was a little expected because some of the students that I worked with had attention deficit disorder. In the end the students were able to successfully complete the evaluation and seemed to understand the concept I was trying to teach. I did realize however, that while teaching you have to repeat yourself a lot and scaffold the students.
  Overall, this week I learned a lot about myself and about being a future teacher. It is not easy whatsoever and you have to be prepared all the time. You never know what comment or answer a student will give. In my literacy lesson one student brought up the fact that you can use the glossary to locate information. I did not know this and so not only did he learn from me but I also learned from me. I am learning some exciting things and can't wait until I have a classroom on my own!

Integration of social studies into other curriculum

   It is important to try to incorporate different subject areas into other areas in the curriculum. I have heard over and over again that social studies should be incorporated into literacy, science should be incorporated into math or vice versa. I personally believe that the subjects are not watered down when they are incorporated into other subjects. I believe students almost get more out of social studies when it is  integrated with literacy. It is being used for another subject, so students are able to see how it is more relevent in their lives and see how it affects other parts of their subjects and lives.
   The other day, my cooperating teacher incorporated social studies into the literacy time by informing students that the social studies textbook they use is an informational nonfiction text. In the students literacy time my cooperating teacher was talking about nonfiction text and made sure to mention the social studies text as a part of the nonfiction text. She had students make predictions about what they thought would be in the book by looking at the pictures on the front of the book and looking at the title of the social studies book. After they made predictions students read some of the headings and some of the text to see if their predictions were accurate. Also, for my read aloud for my literacy class I read a social studies level reading book to my students. They really enjoyed this book and were able to learn more about geography of North Carolina. Students were able to answer literacy questions and use sticky notes to answer them. These are usually techniques that are used in literacy but they were used with a social studies reading book. In this case, students were learning a lot of social studies concepts while using literacy skills to reflect on their reading. Social Studies content was NOT watered down in anyway. For my Science Unit, one of my activities had students collect the high and low temperatures for a week and then find the average for each day and week. Once they were done they plotted the data on a line graph. For this assignment students are fully learning math and science concepts. They are learning how to measure temperature and how to find the average and plot those points on a line graph.
I believe it is impossible to dedicate enough time in the school day for an ample amount of time for social studies, science, math and literacy so I believe that incorporating other subjects into one subject is necessary. Students might be learning about the regions of North Carolina in their social studies class but there learning about that subject matter does not have to stop there. To receive additional information about the subject areas, students can read or do some activity with the subject matter in literacy. There are many ways in which two subjects can be incorporated without one being watered down. There are many math books that can be shared with the class and students can make predictions with in the reading but also work math problems. Overall, I do not believe that when incorporated into other subjects, social studies is watered down. The subject is only developed more and practiced more by students as they explore the concept integrated into another subject matter!

Hello!!! Technology is ingrained into our society...

           So when I saw what we had to post about today I thought it was a very interesting and necessary topic to talk about. This issue is heavily debated right now. A boy from Rutgers University committed suicide because of a sexual encounter he had that was posted on the internet. Many children are being harassed on the internet everyday on sites like facebook and myspace.
          While there are many dangers and hazards with technology it is important that students know how to effectively use technology. Afterall, technology is our future. Students are going to have to use technology when they go out into the workforce and if they don't know how they will have a huge disadvantage. Students are going to be interested in technology because they are surrounded by it in society. Popularity revolves around who has the latest ipod or cell phone. I think most people today would be lost without these technologies. No one can even remember the last time they weren't able to talk to someone when they were away from home. But there was a time. Technology has progressed so much in the last couple of years and it is only going to progress more. If we do not teach our students how to use these technologies they will become even further behind the country in their education.
         Why don't we use technology to enhance our teaching. There are so many lessons that can be augmented with the use of technology. Students are going to be using technology outside of the classroom so why not let them use it in the classroom. A lesson can be built surrounding technology. It is important students be able to search the internet and at least be able to make a powerpoint because these are common tasks they will need to know how to do to be competitive at the workplace. Students need to be taught in the classroom because their employers will not take the time to teach them.
        Overall, In order to connect with your students you need to engage them into technology. They already know a lot about technology that many teachers do not know about because they grew up with it. Technology is a benefit of our society not a hinderence. If students know how to properly use technology then they will have an advantage over the students whos teacher did not introduce them to the technology of the time.

                                            Image retrieved from Curtis Palmer on flickr

Social Sciences... now thats my idea of Social Studies :)

Discuss each of the social science disciplines in a way that helps you identify/remember/analyze what makes each important.  What are your areas of weakness in regards to these topics? What are your areas of strength? Did you learn SOCIAL STUDIES or SOCIAL SCIENCE in your elementary school days?

Immediately when I hear social science, I get excited because I am very intrigued by the study of human behavior which is what social science focuses on. I mean after all I am a psychology major and I really enjoyed my sociology class I took freshman year and considered majoring in that. Humans have always fascinated me and I really am fascinated in how all of our differences shape us into who we are. When I think of Anthropology I think more of the study of old cultures. I believe anthropology investigates more about how cultures came to be and how they have developed. Anthropologists go back and look at the traditions and mores of older tribal groups. When I think of economics I think of resources in particular money. Money is not the only resource though, land and labor are also. Economists look at time, capability, and interest people have in these resources. They look at consumers and producers and usually deal with business more. I usually believe they work hand in hand with business. Geography is the study of place and space and mainly deal with maps.Geographers attempt to explain why places are where they are. When I think about history I think about more dates and records of events that have taken place. Historians ask more questions about human interactions in current time and in the past. Sociology is another social science that deals with the study of social life, social change, and the social causes of human behavior. When I think of sociology I think more about the study of groups and their behaviors in society. In my sociology class I remember looking at men and women in the workforce and who made more income. When I think of Political Science I think of government and the study of the way it is run and public policies and political policies. There is a huge emphasis on systems.

My areas of weakness in the social sciences is probably geography and maybe economy and political science. I know I am not as strong in geography because I am not good with the location of places. I have trouble locating many places on the map which I am working on because I have to know them for my midterm. I haven't really studied economy or political science very much but I feel like I would not be as strong in these subjects. I am more into the study of the people then the study of locations, resources or institutions.

When I was in school I feel like I learned more social studies than social sciences. I never would've even heard of some of the social sciences like anthropology, sociology, economy, or political science if I hadn't have gone to college because none of these subjects were incorporated into our curriculum.

Diversity.. can be an uncomfortable topic :/

     Last Wednesday's class on diversity was very difficult. There were some uncomfortable moments for me especially when we had to blurt out what first came to our heads when Dr. Duncan said a phrase. I couldn't believe what came out of my mouth and I think others were just as shocked about what had come out of their mouths. I felt bad about putting stereotypes on a certain race, hair color, profession etc.. I was really scared that I would offend someone in the classroom. When Dr. Duncan said lazy so many people said black people and I felt bad because I have so many friends who are of that race who are certainly the opposite. When Dr. Duncan said "astronauts are.." and "doctors are.." everyone said smart, but it was crazy that no one said smart when Dr. Duncan said "teacher's are..". This really got me thinking and made me feel sad that we weren't even advocates for the profession we are going into. I was so intrigued by this game that Dr. Duncan played with us that I went back and told all of my roommates and talked to my boyfriend about it.
    I was really not surprised by the classes responses because I believe some of the same responses are found in our society. Media portrays black people in a negative light most of the time and teachers are very under appreciated and believed to not be as smart as maybe astronauts or doctors. I really liked the fact Dr. Duncan pointed out that someone has to teach those doctors and astronauts.
    After this class I did reflect on some of my thoughts, ideals, and practices and found out that I need to try to stereotype a lot less so that I do not hurt some of the students in my classroom. I also need to figure out where I stand on issues and have an opinion. I need to let my students know that I have an opinion but not try to force my opinion on them. I guess I always thought teachers couldn't really have an opinion because if they did they might try to push that on their students. I have had teachers who have done this and I felt like the only thing I was learning in their class was their opinion. I believe much of my thinking has changed since freshman year of college because I had a korean roommate. She made me change some of my stereotypes and see the way we were alike instead of our cultural differences. I guess I realized that even though people come from different cultures they still are alike in many ways and have the same kind of feelings as I do. This lesson was great, because it really made me stop and think about how I was stereotyping people because they were different from me.
    I think these kind of discussions can be hard in the classroom. If this exercise was challenging for college students then of course it would be hard for elementary students. I think the best way to address this is like one teacher I observed did. Somehow different types of families came up and she said having one dad or two moms is not the traditional way but it is fine. She modeled the accepting behavior that is important to model for younger children so that they understand that every family might not look the same. It is important to get students to accept all different cultures so if there is a person from another culture in the classroom, you might can ask the parents to come in and share a little information about their culture. When having a discussion on diversity it is important to make sure that all students know that everyone has similarities and differences and those differences are what make the world interesting. During the discussion I will make sure everyone is respectful and accepting. This discussion should be a learning process and not a time to be judging or stereotyping.

What will you be caught doing on Facebook?

Media plays a significant role in everyone's life today. We get news fast about things that are going on around the nation through the television, internet, radio etc. We can be connected to people around the world and celebrities through Facebook and Twitter. A lot of information about people can be viewed on their facebook or twitter. Sometimes people can get in trouble with what they put on their social networking site. We all have heard about the teacher who got fired because she had a picture of herself drinking a glass of wine and her students saw it.
Because Media is so instantaneous and it is so easy to connect with people all over the world, we are able to see how one country affects the nation. Our nation no longer sees each country as an individual nation but as a whole nation that affect one another. As a nation we are more together than we used to be because we are all connected and we all receive the same news. When 9/11 happened in New York City, everyone around the world knew and everyone was able to discuss the implications of the attack and were able to mourn for America. If other countries had received the news really late it might not have been as catastrophic as it was viewing it that same day as more and more information kept appearing. It seemed like everyone around the world was tuned in to see what was going to happen to the towers and the people in those towers. Countries rallied around America when we were in such turmoil as a nation.Support was very encouraging for our nation in that troubling time.
Much of the news now is negative so sometimes we can stereotype things and people negatively because of the way the news is portrayed to us. Because our news is instantaneous, sometimes we make our decisions faster and we are able to make more informed decisions because we get our news faster and more detailed.The news used to be more for adults, but now there is news that is written for children so that they can understand what is going on in the world. More and more, we are trying to get children to learn about the nation as a whole and make decisions about what they think about issues.

Students have learned to believe that we are all citizens in the world and need to be respective of other nations. We as a country are going away from egocentric feelings about our country to caring more about the nation as a whole. By being culturally diverse and celebrating these different cultures children are able to see how our country is a part of a much bigger nation.

Students today have a much more accurate portrayal and perception of the world today than what they had years ago because they receive news from all over the world and are also introduced to many different cultures all over the world. Students are also working together to take care of the environment because they realize that everything they do affects the nation as a whole. Overall, Students are much more knowledgeable about the nation than they used to be.

How Children Learn!

     When thinking about how children learn, I immediatly think about how different and unique each child is. Because each child is unique and different, they all learn in different ways. Some children are auditory learners while others are visual learners. Some students like to do things with their hands and are considered kinesthetic learners.Sometimes as a teacher it is hard to teach to every student in their preffered learning style but it is very important to make an effort to do this to help students succeed. There are many different issues that can be thought about when thinking about how children learn. Some of these issues are interest, motivation, activity, exploration, and collaboration.

   As a future social studies teacher, it is important that I make sure the materials I am teaching the students are interesting to them. This might mean letting students have a little more choice and freedom about a topic. If students are younger, you can give them a list of topics they can choose from so that they still have some kind of choice about what they are learning. It is important to get the parents involved so that they know what their child is doing and can also help them get information. The students will draw a picture illustrating something they learned or enjoyed about their topic and then talk to the class about their findings. This way individual learning is left to the student and they are not just reading straight from a textbook and answering questions. It is also important that students stay motivated and as a teacher I need to make sure that students stay aroused and their attention is captured. I am going to make sure I have an interesting beginning to a lesson such as, state an interesting social studies fact to grab their attention. I can also use extrinsic motivators to help students become even more motivated. Another issue that is important is the activity. It is important that I make sure the instructions to my activities are very clear and concise for easy comprehension from the students. I need to be a facilitator of knowledge who moves around the room giving assistance if it is needed, ask questions to make sure students comprehend, maintain order,and reassure students. It is important that I foster students learning and not just tell them the answers in the activity.One more issue is exploration. As a social studies teacher it is important for me to let my students explore the community, state, and nation. By letting students explore, I am making the subject more real and exciting to them. I can take students to museums where they can actually see the history of the state or world.  It is important that I let my students figure out what they believe and feel about certain issues as a part of exploration. The final issue that influences childrens learning is collaboration. This is a very important issue because social/moral growth depends on the ability to engage with other students, share decisions, be a part of something, and give them more strength then simply doing things on their own. Collaboration and team building provides students with a real life experience of a democratic community.

   All of these issues influence my Social Studies teaching. It is important that I make sure all of these issues are developed in a way to give my students the best possible learning experience. I believe by taking part in these issues, students will have a very good social studies knowledge that will come from many things instead of just textbooks.

My thoughts on Social Studies and the literacy connection!

    In all of the education classes I am taking this semester, I have begun to realize how much my education lacked as far as a challenging education that makes me want to learn more about a particular subject. I feel that if my teachers had given me more problem solving or more direct experiences, I might have like particular subjects better. I really don't remember any of my social studies learning coming from outside a text book. This is pretty sad considering I have already learned about all of the direct and vicarious experiences you can have in social studies from reading this chapter. I didn't even feel like there was a lot of discussion in my social studies classes either. I remember some group activities but in many of the groups only one person did most of the work. I wish I had more time to read for pleasure because reading is very important in social studies as it takes you to different places and students are able to explore a different language. I also would've never thought about a journal being used for social studies but like I read, it encourages metacognition (thinking reflectively).I really only thought journals were used during communication skills. I can see how this would be good after talking about complicated world issues like students often do in Social studies. I am upset that I never had the chance to do this especially because I am a person who likes to write their thoughts down.
      As a future social studies teacher, I would like to have a lot of discussion in my classroom. I would like to divide students into groups and then have them talk about an issue and then this way they are forming their own opinion instead of just giving me my answer back to me on a test. I believe after the group discussions individually students can write in a journal to further reflect on their thoughts and make sure they are their thoughts and not just someone elses in the group. It is important for me as a teacher to bring in literature books that supplement the textbook. An example of this is reading Number the Stars or excerpts from it when talking about World War II. I am upset that I didn't have a strong foundation in social studies, so I am going to see to it that my students have a stronger foundation building upon all of these activities.

Reactions to the Edu 358 class!

I am thoroughly excited for this class. I am really excited that Dr. Duncan is allowing us to choose 50% of our grade because that means I have more control over my grade. I also really like the activities we get to choose from. I really like blogging so I know I will enjoy this part of the 50%. I also am excited to do the current events part so that I am made to pay attention to the news. I think everyone should stay current on what is going on in the world. Another part I am excited about is the museum, because this is just an opportunity for me to go and get graded on such a fun experience. We have such a wonderful museum right down the road from where I live. I have to admit that I might have been a little overwhelmed when I found out all of the things I had to do because I have a million other things I have to do being a senior. I just always worry about getting my work done on time and then I always manage to get it done. I'm trying not to worry as much this semester though and realize that I will get everything done. I just can't do everything all at once. I was also a little anxious about the midterm and knowing where all the states and capitals are because I know that I struggle with geography. I didn't really have much geography in school and it seems like we mainly needed to know about North Carolina. Other than a couple of anxieties, I am really excited for this class and know it will be great!
My goals as a learner of social studies are to learn more about geography and also how to teach my students better. I have always liked history and learning about different cultures so I believe I will really enjoy this class. I hope I will gain enough knowledge to be able to effectively teach social studies to my students. I am very excited for this class and think it will be very beneficial knowledge for my elementary classroom!

Changes over the semester from my learning and experiences in Introduction to Language Arts!!

Wow!! The semester is basically over, and I am moving on to my senior year. That is very hard to believe, exciting and sad at the same time. It feels like just yesterday I pulled up to Meredith college and unloaded my stuff into the freshman dorm. I have learned a lot in these three years that I will take with me into my future. I can't wait to see what my senior year brings. This semester I have grown not only in my studies but also as a person. I have become a lot less anxious than I used to be and more independent. I have really learned a lot from my courses especially my introduction to language arts class!

One thing I realized was that there are six language arts which I never knew before. I never really thought talking and listening were a part of language arts learning. I never really considered them to be and I believe many of my previous teachers did not either because it didn't seem like many of my teachers allowed me to freely speak in class. I also learned about different types of reading which I was able to view in my classroom observation when Mrs. Smith read aloud to the children. I also learned about reading and writing workshops which I was able to observe as well. If my teachers had allowed me to participate in reading and writing workshops, I would've probably liked school more. It was wonderful to see how enthused students were when participating in these workshops and to see how enthused Mrs. Smith was about them when I asked her in the interview. I really believe Powell elementary is doing the right thing by having those children participate in reading and writing workshops because I could tell students were benefitting from them. I know in the future I will implement reading and writing workshops in the classroom because I have seen the benefit from them and I am intrigued by the independent learning that is going on in these workshops. I also learned about the different types of listening and all about phonemes, grapheme, and morphemes which I had never heard about in my life before this class! I also really enjoyed learning about the different stages of spelling, which I know will come in handy when looking at future papers written by students.

I really loved the fact that almost everything I learned about in class I was observing. I believe that really engrained the mateial into my head. I learned so much about writing workshops because almost every time I went to observe that is what I saw. I was so excited to get in the classroom and witness the writing workshop taking place because I knew what was going on within them. In the interview I felt really knowledgable talking to Mrs. Smith about the writing workshops because of what I learned in class. During a reading workshop I observed in Mrs. Smith's class, a little girl was reading and using sticky notes to mark the main idea of the book and other things. I remember learning that students did this in the reading workshop while they were reading. So many things I learned from class I was able to observe in the classroom which reinforced what I learned in class.

The final project in Introduction to language arts helped me learn more about the writing process. I learned about the different steps in the writing process but also practiced each step when I was writing my book. I really enjoyed writing the book, because it gave me a chance to share my story of my life in elementary, middle, high school and college. I was able to be creative in organizing my text and pictures the way I wanted to. I believe this would be a wonderful project for students to take part in because they are able to apply the steps in the writing process and be creative.

Overall, I believe I have learned a lot from my introduction to language arts class this semester. There are many things I am going to do in my classroom such as literature circles and reading and writing workshops. I can't believe this semester is coming to a close, but I can proudly say  have worked hard and learned a lot from my classes and my self. Now its time for summer and preparation for my senior year!!!

The impact of my field experiences on my course learning....

I have really enjoyed my observations/field experiences of the classroom. They have definitely impacted my learning for the course. The observations have helped improve my learning of language arts in the K-6

classroom. I was able to learn about reading and writing workshops in class and then go to the school and actually get to experience these strategies for language arts instruction in the actual classroom. I was able to see the benefits and happy faces of the students that were taking part in the reading and writing workshops.

I was pleased to see that this method of teaching language arts was very beneficial for the students. Mrs. Smith even told me that student testing had improved when they implemented reading and writing workshops into their curriculum. Most of the times when I went to observe, there were few discipline problems and I could tell students were interested in the reading and writing workshops. I think it is great that students can choose what they want to read and that they have a lot of free time during the day to write. I have truly fallen in love with the children in Mrs. Smith's classroom, and they made my experience even more enjoyable. I loved listening to their comments to Mrs. Smith's minilessons and how creative they were with their stories they wrote in their writing workshop.

My reflections show how much I learned from my observations. Usually my reflections were very long because of how much I experienced in the classroom that I had learned from my Education 300 course. This semester I learned and observed reading and writing workshops. From my observations I also learned about fractured fairy tales, biographies, story elements, fables, narratives, and inferencing and drawing conclusions. I thought Mrs. Smith was a very dedicated teacher who wanted the children to succeed. I thought Powell elementary was a good school that I might like to work at in the future. My overall observations allowed me to experience what I learned in Education 300 in a third grade classroom with actual third graders.

Revising and editing...

During class this week you conferred with peers to make revisions/edits to your narrative story. Discuss this experience in your posting this week. Likes? Dislikes? Would this work in a K-5 classroom? What if you are teaching in a middle/secondary content specific classroom? How can you make changes to implement this practice?
I enjoyed getting feedback about my narrative. Usually I feel like I am being criticized when I get feedback about papers, but the way this format of revising and editing was set up I did not feel criticized. I actually agreed with the comments the people made about my paper, and looked forward to correcting it. I believe the person who revised my paper did not give me as much feedback as the person who edited my paper. The conference with the person who I edited with also made it more clear what I needed to correct on my paper. I really liked getting valid and constructive feedback about my paper. I also enjoyed reading another person's paper to revise. The only thing I did not particularly like was the fact that I wasn't quite sure what to revise for. I think there should've been a little more direction as to what to revise. I found myself trying to edit the paper instead of revise it. Usually when I look over a paper I pay attention to the grammar part and don't really focus on revising.
I believe this method of revising and editing would work well in a k-5 classroom. I believe it would work well, because students would be working together in order to better one anothers work. Teachers would benefit from having students revise and edit one anothers papers so that not all of the work is on them. By editing and revising one another's papers, students would become better at revising and editing. This would help students with their grammar. Students would also learn how to take criticism and would learn how to work with their peers better. I believe having peer revisors and editors in the k-5 classroom is very beneficial. The only thing that would need to be implemented would be to give students more time in the revising and editing stage. Also, the teacher should give students specific things to look for when revising.
I believe this also could be used in a middle/secondary classroom in language arts or maybe even in other content areas where they might be writing a paper. The teacher should just make sure the students know what to look for when revising and editing. She should probably make these students go in a little more depth with their revising and editing then in elementary school, because they will know more grammar and have more revising skills.

Overall, I belive peer revising and editing is beneficial to students in k-5 and middle school. I believe it gives students a chance to work with their peers and it helps students become better at revising and editing. It also can free up some time of the teachers so she won't have such a huge job to fill. I really enjoyed revising and editing other peoples papers and received some useful feedback about my own narrative.

Experiences with writing workshops, reading workshops, literature focus units, etc...

What are your experiences with WW, Readers Workshop, Literature Focus Units, Thematic Units or Literature Circles? Discuss your likes, dislikes, pros, cons, etc. to using these types of strategies for LA instruction.

I have had experiences with writing workshops and reading workshops in two classrooms I have observed at Powell Elementary this semester. Mrs. Smith's classroom usally typically participates in a writing workshop when I am observing them. Mrs. Smith does a writing minilesson with the students and then they have free time to write. The students are all in different places in their writing, which I thought was kind of chaotic at first but am now seeing the point of it. Some students conference with Mrs. Smith. I really like the fact that students have more independent time to write what they like to write about. Students are able to have more of an influence on their education. I belive students are also able to be more creative, because they are able to choose what they write about and are not confined or limited to what the teacher asks them to write about.

I have also had the experience of observing a reading workshop at Powell Elementary in a fourth grade classroom I observed. I really enjoyed this experience as well. In the reading workshop I witnessed the teacher giving students a very brief minilesson and then students read and some students read with her through guided reading. I really enjoyed observing the reading workshop because I knew the students were happy reading what they wanted independently. It made me happy to see one student so lost in her book that she didn't even look up once. I remember being in elementary and middle school, being told what to read and not having as much time to read what I wanted to. I really liked the fact that students were able to read what they wanted to and were given this time during the day to do so. The only problem I could see with the reading workshop would be if students did not like reading and did not want to take the free time to read. Some students are just not motivated to read on their own. In Mrs. Smith's class when they were participating in the writing workshop, I saw some students not working as well as others and easily being distracted and not wanting to do their work. This is the only possible problem I could see with these workshops.

I have not had any experience with a literature focus unit, but I know that a literature focus unit is when teachers and students read and respond to one text together as a whole class or in a small group. Teachers choose the text that will be read in these groups, it should be from a high-quality literature selection. This text can coincide with the lesson or unit that the students are learning about. Students can then do projects for better understanding of the unit. I hope that I will eventually have some experience with a Literature focus unit. I believe a literature focus unit could help students better understand the unit they are studying about through literature.

I have had experience with literature circles in my Education 255 class in college. In this class, we have participated in one literature circle where I read The Watsons go to Birmingham-1963, this was a very good book. I really enjoyed participating in this discussion group and I realized that my understanding of the book was so much stronger from having been in this discussion group. I was able to see different aspects of the book that I had not considered. I was also able to gain more knowlege about the parts in the book that I had forgotten or not read as carefully. By having the different tasks to do, everyone in the group has a role they must fufill. Because their are different roles students have to read, it is easy to see who hasn't read because they would not be able to do fully complete their role. One negative thing is students might depend on other students to gain knowlege about the book.

Overall, I believe these strategies for language arts instruction are more beneficial then detrimental. I think it is great that students have more say in their education now. Students are learning more independently and are learning about stuff they are interested in. I believe it is important for educators to continue this type of education because I belive it is making students more interested in language arts instruction and this is being shown in their test scores.

ASSESSMENT!!! AHHHHHH!!!

The first thing that comes to my mind when you bring up assessment is tests, and I do not like tests. Considering I believe I kind of have a little bit of test anxiety, I really do not like tests. I feel like naturally I don't really do as well on tests as others because I get very stressed out. I feel like I didn't do as well on the SAT because I was very stressed out right before I took it. I think I am better about tests than I used to be. I try to think to myself that if you don't do well on a test it doesn't mean you can't do well on the next test; it isn't the end of the world. My parents always told me, "Lori just try your best and study hard before hand and we will be proud of you." This still didn't always calm my nerves, especially before the SAT which determined what college I would get into. Now that I am in college though I am learning that I do worse on tests when I freak out about them before hand then if I just relax and study hard. If I freak out about the test, it is also harder for me to focus on studying for the test.

When I was younger, I was in the top class in school and many of my classmates were being pulled out for A.G. and I soon realized I was not being pulled out. I guess when they did the assesment at school, I did not demonstrate that I was smart enough to be in A.G. I was so distraught about this that I told my parents, and they took me to see a special psychologist who specialized in testing students for A.G. He determined that I was equipped to be in that class and I got pulled out like the other students. I probably got nervous while being tested and did not do as well as the others. I will never forget what happened to me because of testing. I felt very ostracized and lonely when almost my entire class went to A.G. and I did not because I did bad on one test one day!

Now I believe it is so hard for students and teachers, because so much emphasis is placed on the EOG's. Teachers have a hard time getting everything in before the EOG and are therefore mainly teaching what is going to be on the EOG. I believe students and teachers would rather be learning material they are interested in but instead have to focus more on the EOG. Even more emphasis is now placed on the EOG because of the No Child Left Behind Act. As a future teacher I know a lot of emphasis will have to be placed on the EOG's but I am going to make sure I still teach what students are interested in so that they will stay engaged in school. I think it is important to assess students to see where they are in their learning but there also can be too much assessment going on. I believe I will asess students when I need to and make sure they are learning the basic concepts I am teaching, but I will not over assess them. I also am not going to put pressure on them and make them feel like if they don't do well they are failures. Reality is that students have bad days and don't always do their best on tests and as teachers we need to be understanding of this. I know I will be understanding of my students so that they don't grow up to have testing anxiety and so that they are better equipped to handle the pressures of assessment.

Horton Hears a Who! What a wonderful book to have in the classroom...

In my future classroom I would love to have Horton Hears a Who! as a part of my collection. I just feel this is a great book about helping others, standing up for what you believe in, and helping the small people. Every child needs to learn this kind of lesson. I also love Dr. Seuss and believe all of his books are worth reading and are kid friendly. I saw the movie that just came out with my boyfriend and absolutly fell in love. It was such a good movie, and I was suprised my boyfriend liked it as much as he did. After reading the book to take to a classroom tomorrow to share with a student for my Edu 255 class, I knew I would need to add it to my collection. The theme of this book is about helping others no matter how small they are. When Horton hears a small sound he looks around and finds a small speck of dust. The dust has creatures living on it called the Whos. They need help and Horton is the only one for a while that will help him until the other animals finally hear the Whos and decide to help them as well. Horton never gives up in his determination to save the Whos. The main story element exemplified is the theme, because the other animals besides Horton go from wanting to hurt the speck of dust, to wanting to save it. This theme of helping others is greatly illustrated in the end when all of the animals gather around to protect the speck and the kangaroo that wanted to get rid of it most in the beginning, now wants to help the speck. Some questions I could ask students are if they were Horton would they save the whos and why do they think Horton saved them? I would relate this to  the Science curriculum and ask them if they thought there were any planets besides Earth and if they thought they were bigger or smaller? I would ask them if it was important to help a person smaller than them and how they could help a person smaller than them. I would finally ask them why they didn't think the animals believe Horton the first time and if they felt like no one paid attention to them sometimes. An activity I could do with them is have them draw a picture and write a couple of sentences of when they helped someone smaller than them.

What makes writing worth reading?...

Well there are many things that make writing worth reading. People sometimes disagree on what good writing is, but I believe good fiction writing usually needs to have a good plot, characters and story line. A good nonfiction book about a person or another subject needs to typically be accurate.

I think most people would say that writing worth reading is writing that is interesting and appeals to them.
However, this should not be the only thing that makes writing worth reading.

Sometimes it is necessary that we read writing for safety issues like different signs we have to read to drive, recipe instructions, or instructions on how to put something together. This writing might not be interesting, but we have to read it in order to do things the correct way or to be safe.

Many good books are necessary to teach us things, even though some of my textbooks are very boring to me, I still believe it is important for me to read because I am learning about the particular subject I am taking. Sometimes I find that my textbooks are very interesting as well, like my abnormal psychology textbook. It definatly appeals to me.

Writing needs to have merit to it in order to be considered good I guess. Gossip writing can be very entertaining to us all, but I wouldn't really consider it good writing. I don't really feel like I am learning a whole lot from that kind of writing. From a textbook, I might learn about an important subject. From a chapter book I might learn about an important theme presented in the story or I could learn from the characters.

A way a person might be able to tell if a book is quality writing is if they have a pulitzer prize or a Newbery award. Usually these awards are looked at based on if there is quality writing displayed. Thes awards measure the story elements such as themes presented, characters and the story line. Many of these book are good books and quality books as well.

Basically, most writing is worth reading, and a person determines rather the writing is worth reading for themselves.

"Sticks and stones may hurt my bones, but words will never hurt me," or will they?...

It is completely false to say that words can never hurt a person. It takes a strong person to say that no words have ever hurt them because everyone has been called a name they don't like or has been hurt by something someone said to them. Even though words might not physically hurt us, they definitely hurt internally. It is not the words that are necessarily bad, it is the way people interpret the words and give them meaning which makes them hurtful. Some words that are hurtful to people are racial slurs which are demeaning to many people.

Children seem to be becoming even more verbally viscous than ever before because of all of the social networking sites that children can use to bully other children. Not only can children be bullys at school, but they also can be verbally abusive through AOL instant messenger, my space, facebook etc. Because of this issue, I think it is very important to sit down with kids and talk about the power that their words have on others. They need to understand that they can really hurt someone by what they say.

Language is very powerful and especially now when the whole world seems to have to be politically correct. When teachers label a child they must use person first language so instead of saying "Schizophrenic Suzie", we must say Suzie who has schizophrenia. We also must not label anyone retarded or gay. Words which are also labels can have a very negative effect on some individuals. Religious holidays are also not allowed to be mentioned anymore in schools. Instead of saying "Merry Christmas," many public places say "Happy Holidays" to not offend people. Public schools are not allowed to sing Christmas songs either. Many people even want to have the words "in God we trust" taken off the dollar bill because they deem it to be offensive. There was also controversy over whether to have the ten commandments up in a courthouse or not.

Anyone who says that words don't hurt, are lying. Words offend people everywhere. This phrase has good intentions, because it is good for children to brush off ugly words said to them, but isn't really true. Children should learn to forgive people for the nasty things other say to them, but sometimes it is hard. The truth is WORDS HURT!

How I learned language when I was little

Well I had to call my mom to see how I learned language and she said I used a blend of both phonics and whole language. She said I used more phonics though and that I had a phonics game at home I used to practice sounding out the letters. My mom said she also believed I learned phonics at school and that I learned how to read fairly quickly. She said even when I was little my parents would read books to me and before long I would have them memorized so if either of them accidently fell asleep, I knew what part they missed and I could turn the pages on cue. I believe it is very amazing how children can easily memorize their favorite book and know when to turn the pages. When I was little I enjoyed reading so much that I made my parents tape me reading. Rewatching that video it seemed like it took me a while to read, but I was able to sound out and read all the words well. My mom said I never really struggled with reading but I do remember struggling a little with speech. I had a tough time saying "library" and had to go into speech therapy for a little bit. My speech never hindered my reading though, that I am aware of.

My previous learning has impacted me greatly today. I enjoy reading and am a fairly fast reader. I have noticed that when helping students read I tend to get them to sound out the word to help them learn it. I guess phonics helped me a lot and I try to help students the way I learned to read best. All of my classes this semester in college have a lot of reading for them so it is important that I use those beginning reading skills to help me. I believe phonics helps students learn language better so I believe I am going to teach that in my classroom. Teaching students memorization is not completly effective in my mind. Although if a child is struggling learning with phonics then I will teach them using whole language. All children are different and some children might learn differently, so I believe as a teacher it is my duty to find the best method of learning that works for that student. As long as my students are able to effectively read, I will be a happy teacher. The method doesn't matter as much as the learning does, that takes place within the child.

The Six Language Arts

What suprised me about the six language arts was that there were so many. I originally believed that reading and writing were the only two language arts. I didn't think to include talking and listening as a part of the language arts, because like Dr. Duncan said most teachers do, I assummed students already knew how to talk and listen and that this wasn't a part of the curriculum. Viewing and visually representing are another part of the six language arts that I forgot to include as a part of the curriculum of language arts.

I believe viewing and visually representing should definatly be apart of language arts because they supplement the original literature. Sometimes students are able to understand the literature better if they view the movie after reading. The internet might have additional activities that students can participate in to supplement their knowledge of the literature. Kidspiration is a great tool to use for visual learners. With this program, students can list the main points of a story in a creative way. Viewing and Visually representing allows students to supplement their knowledge of literature in a creative way.I believe students only benefit more from viewing and visual representation. If Viewing and visual representation were not a part of language arts then students would be missing out on literature illustrated through viewing and visual representation.

My experience with all of the language arts was very positive. More of my language arts time was focused on the language arts that would be thought of first, reading and writing. I enjoyed language arts classes when all of the language arts were included. I distinctly remember one of my language arts classes in middle school where the teacher was pregnant and the entire semester we just read silently. This was very boring and I felt like I learned nothing. I believe students need to be supplemented by all of the language arts. My English 206 class at Meredith kept me very interested in learning because we read outside of class, discussed the literature in class, then towards the end of the semester we watched some movies of the stories representing the different eras of literature. I was able to understand the post modernism era better when my professor showed us episodes of The Simpsons and pointed out the aspects that made this tv show a part of that era. I believe all of the language arts are important especially when used together and one is not more important than the other. My language arts preferences have changed a little, I used to enjoy listening to literature, but now I enjoy viewing and visually representing literature. I believe my language arts preferences will always change depending on what helps me comprehend the literature better. All of the language arts are beneficial to the student and help the student grow in their knowledge and education.

blogging...hmmmmmmm

Well I have not really thought about blogging personally. I have never really thought about getting into it because I feel busy enough as it is. I believe facebook is enough for any person and don't really see the need to twitter or anything else like that. I can understand how this would be beneficial for a class though because you can reflect back on the work in a class. I probably wouldn't like to do this everyday but I think I will like the fact that I am reflecting back upon myself and maybe it will help me understand myself a little more. If I could understand myself a little more that would be very beneficial to me. Hopefully I will grow to enjoy blogging!