Social Studies, History, and Geography

Professional Teaching Goal

It's all about the connections.
http://fondationdiagonale.org/connectedness/
Since social studies, history, and geography (which I have shortened to ss/h/g for the purposes of efficiency) are so closely tied to what's happening in the world around us, I think I need to spend more time reading the news and staying connected with current events. In class, we had a large group discussion where we talked about past events related to current events was a real eye-opener for me. And when I say current I mean literally that day. Everything that happens can be related to something that happened in the past or something that happened somewhere else. However, prior to that discussion I didn’t know that much about current events. Granted, I’ve heard of almost everything, but I don't really ‘know’ much about it, let alone know enough to make the kinds of connections I'd need to in order to facilitate current, relevant learning for my students. Moving forward, I’m going to spend more time reading (or at least skimming) the newspaper and listening to radio stations like CBC1. But rather than passively consuming that information I’m going to be looking at it through the lens of ss/h/g connections. Having what you’re learning in school relate to the ‘real world’/the here and now makes class more relevant and I think my students would really benefit from that.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Exploring the Ethical Standards for the Teaching Profession through Anishinaabe Art

Image
I thought I knew a lot about FNMI history and beliefs, but now I realize how wrong I was. As I’ve learned more about the first peoples of Canada I have grown a profound respect and admiration of them. It wasn’t until I read the “ Exploring the Ethical Standard for the Teaching Profession through Anishinaabe Art ” resource that I truly realized my lack of knowledge. The piece of art for the ethical standard of care has a drastically different meaning then the one I interpreted. My interpretation was that we need to care for all people (referring to the elderly people on the sides), but in reality those people are caring for the story that is being conveyed by the teacher in the middle. Before that, I didn’t realize the importance of the story, and I knew about the oral history traditions but never applied that knowledge. This resource is phenomenal, and definitely worth a look since it provides a FNMI perspective on the teaching profession. The Ethical Standard of Care. Artis
Read more

Math and Speed

Image
One of my biggest pet-peeves is when teachers test the speed student's can complete a math problem. Being fast at math has nothing to do with how well someone knows math. For example, I consider myself fairly competent at math and I enjoy solving math problems. However, I don't have my times tables memorized and it takes me time to solve questions. I find that whenever I'm tested on speed and compared to my peers I get really stressed and completely shut down. This is a great concept to both encourage students to realize as well as practice (i.e. don't have timed activities and/or tests). Another great point that was raised this week was a discussion around making mistakes. According to research, when students make mistakes in math more synapsis in the brain fire and allow the brain to grow. Below is a video that summarizes this concept.
Read more

Math Re-Introduction

Image
Autumn Clip Art #14312 http://goo.gl/rKZvv1   The school year has begun again, and with that we have a new, condensed, math class. For our first class we did some ice-breaker activities and played a math game, as well as introduce the assignments for the semester. The ice-breaker and game were ones I haven't heard before, so I'll share here. Toilet Paper Ice Breaker The first was a toilet paper introduction. As we walked in, we were instructed to grab as much toilet paper as we wanted. Later in the class, it was revealed that we had to share one fact about ourselves per square. I liked it because it gave everyone the opportunity to say what they wanted to about themselves rather than the prescribed questions. Plus, it's a little silly/goofy so it broke the ice even before we shared facts about ourselves. Game about Squares This game  is an addictive one, so be warned! Our professor introduced this game without any instruction. Since we had to figure i
Read more