A Reflection on the Fieldwork Experience

As I write this reflection on my fieldwork experience for Dr. Smirnova's Social Studies Methods class, I do not know where to begin. This class has been one of the craziest, challenging, and rewarding experiences of my educational career, and life. Before I even enrolled for this class, I remember hearing a lot of rumors about the class, including the workload, and teaching in front of a whole class. At first this was terrifying news to me because I do not like to get stressed out with a lot of work, and I had never taught to a full class before. The day that classes first began, I can't say that I was any more prepared than I was when hearing the initial rumors about this class. For the most part, the rumors I heard about this class were true: there is a lot of work that goes along with the course, and it is one of the most challenging courses I have taken because of it. However, what most people did not mention to me was how rewarding the whole experience is. All of the new technology i was exposed to this semester will hopefully be the technology that I am using in my own classroom in the years to come. Also, having the experience to teach a full class was truly remarkable experience. Without this experience, I would feel much less comfortable going into my last semester of college before student teaching. Although at times this class was overwhelming, I learned so much about teaching, and being in a full classroom with all eyes on you. This was a completely worthwhile experience for me, and for all of the other groups as well.

It helped so much to be able to observe the other group's lessons before my group taught our own. Besides the amazing people that were a part of my group, this was one of the key factors for us to create great lessons. One aspect of this fieldwork that was especially helpful was the organization of the lesson's taught. In other words, every group began with a direct instruction lesson, then taught an inquiry, and finished with a cooperative. Because all of the people in our class expected this, we could all come into the lesson with expectations of what exactly was expected of the group. For all of the lessons, I brought in the reflection form and made notes during the other group's lesson. This helped my to write my reflections after the group finished teaching, but it also gave me ideas for my own group's lessons. The reflections on the performance of my other classroom colleagues helped tremendously when our group created our lessons, and many of our decisions considered this. For example, we noticed that in cooperative, and inquiry lessons, time management was a problem. We noticed this and tried to alter our activities to accommodate this. Also, some of the other group's activities for guided practice and independent practice did not go as planned, so we decided as group

to avoid these activities. In some cases we decided to attempt similar activities to other group's, but for the most part, we observed how the lesson's went for the group, and took notes on how to change this for our own group's lessons.

As for my own group, I am thoroughly impressed, and amazed at how well we collaborated as professionals, and worked together to plan and teach our first full-class lessons. I know that this was the best possible group combination for us, because we all worked together so well. Without this group, our fieldwork experience would have been totally different, and for the most part,  I only reflect positively when I think of what we did as a group in the second grade. It is amazing to be up in front of a classroom for the first time. All of a sudden, something that I have been working towards for years is right in front of me. Naturally, this is a totally mind-boggling experience not to mention the video camera rolling, and my entire class of peers observing and taking notes on our performance. Despite this, it was truly a remarkable experience to teach a full class. Our direct instruction lesson was timed absolutely perfectly, and all of our activities went exactly as planned. This was a huge confidence boost for my group. However, in following lessons, our timing was slightly off, which we had to consider, and change our activities accordingly. This was a great experience because it is exactly what happens in a real classroom. Sometimes due to unexpected circumstances, your timing is off, and activities go longer than expected. This is something that we, as a group had to solve, and it is also something that we, as individuals will experience at other times in our teaching careers. Although the timing of the lesson is only one aspect of our lessons, I feel that it applies to everything. Sometimes, things went exactly as planned and worked great, and sometimes even when they did go as planned, there was something else that needed to be fixed or addressed.

My point is, teaching is not an easy profession. It is a process of planning, and adapting, then planning again, then adapting your changed plans.  This is something that cannot be taught in a textbook. Teaching is a process, and should be treated as such. The only way to become a better teacher is to go outside of your comfort level and jump into it. The only way to grow as an emerging teacher is to just do it. As beginning teachers, it is important that we teach our students, but in reality it is the students that are teaching us.

My Philosophy of Education

Jean Piaget: founder of Constructivism

Students have been taught in a very similar, ineffectual method for some time. The establishment of a formal curriculum only succumbs to a teaching method that is outdated and leads to student burnout due to a lack of interest and personal motivation to learn. To promote the best learning environment possible it is important to help students establish their own desire to learn. School should not be boring. School should provide an opportunity for kids to express their own ideas and opinions in a student-centered collaborative environment. Many teachers today establish themselves as a classroom dictator, however students respond better to an environment in which they have some control over what is going on. This is not to say teachers should not play any role in the classroom; teachers need to be active in directing students in a way that allows them to learn on their own. By engaging students with meaningful and purposeful instruction, it promotes intrinsic motivation, which over time will advance their ability to think critically, and become motivated members of society.

While using curriculum to try to transform students into motivated members of society, it is imperative to also teach about our past. With an understanding of their history, traditions and symbols, coupled with the intrinsic motivation of student centered learning, we can promote a self-motivated desire to learn. Providing meaningful instruction is imperative to teach social studies concepts. According to Sunal and Haas, (2011) this is practiced “when teachers intentionally select what to teach, and students grasp the knowledge and skills taught” (p. 8). By establishing clear goals, and making a plan for what is to be taught, students can have a more meaningful experience in developing social studies concepts.

In order for a teacher to reach his/her students, it is important to foster an engaging environment. One effective way to engage students is to offer a challenging, yet appropriate level of instruction. To do this, teachers should “think critically about when to take the lead during instruction and when to support the leadership of student[s] in investigating ideas and issues” (Sunal & Haas, 2011, p. 8). In other words, teachers should make a decision about how much interaction they will have with the students and to what point will they assist their learning.

Dressing up for an interview

The mock interview was a new experience for me. I have participated in interview for jobs, and for my scholarship to Mount Saint Mary, but I have never took part in a mock interview. Before going into it, I was unsure about the type of questions I should expect to be asked, and how the overall feel of the interview would be. I thought that because it was a group of some of my closest friends interviewing me, it would be hard to "get in the moment," and forget that they are my friends interviewing me.

This is an example of the faces I do NOT want to see while
interviewing for a job. 

This is an example of the faces that I DO want to see while
interviewing for a job.

Overall, I thought the interview was a good experience that had a real feel of a job interview. I liked the array of different questions that were asked from each "interviewer," and I surprised myself with my own responses to some of the questions. Some examples of questions that stuck out to me are 'If you had to give education a color, which color would you pick?,' and 'If you had to choose an animal, what would you choose?' Although at first I thought these questions were unrelated to anything that would be asked at a job interview, I changed my mind once I started to hear the responses from the members of my group, and myself. An extremely important aspect of having a successful job interview is to be able to think quickly, and critically. In order to do this, it is important to have practice answering obscure and strange questions; this is exactly what this mock interview helped me with. When giving a job interview, the interviewer is not necessarily looking for the best answer to the questions but instead, is looking at the thought process, and the way that the interviewee responds to the question. This was the biggest thing that I got out of this experience.

Sometimes, the difference between a successful and unsuccessful job interview can be as trivial as not making eye contact, or having a incomplete resume. This experience helped me to think about these things in a different way than I have previously. My hope is that when I am interviewed for my dream job, I can use what I learned from this mock interview, and impress the interviewer with my ability to answer the questions thoughtfully, and critically.

Current Events

The current events cooperative learning project was very helpful in developing needed skills for social studies instruction. My group’s current events project focused on note taking strategies, and identifying the 5 W’s of the given article. Our lesson was designed surrounding the article "Creating 3-D maps anywhere, and quickly, with smartphones," and was created on a PowerPoint presentation. I thought that using note taking strategies was a great way to teach a current events topic because it encourages students to use listening skills, and to identify the 5 W's of social studies simultaneously. This idea was adapted from one of the sample lessons that was used in one of the previous Social Studies Methods sections. We decided to use the note-taking strategies aspect of the lesson to take a different approach to the project than some of the other groups. I was very happy with the ability of my group to collaborate to complete this project. Google drive made the collaboration manageable between a group of commuters, residents, and full time workers. Under these conditions it can be very difficult to collaborate however, I can say that we all contributed in some way to complete this project, and the final project was something that we all could be proud of. 

Sunal and Haas (2011) write "Many teachers at all grade levels use current events to illustrate the importance of history and social sciences to the lives of people today" (p. 196). Based on this assertion, I would like to include current events studies into all elementary grades. A good way to do this is to include current events activities for a very small portion of every day. For example, if teachers brought in a newspaper every day and choose an article to discuss briefly, this would help the students to have an understanding of hat current events is, and how it is something that is always happening around them. The first step in developing a students' understanding of social studies is showing it to them in a way they understand. By going over daily, local news articles, they may find more connection to current events than if non-local events were discussed. If I was teaching current events to the first grade, I initially would like to start with local articles to spark the students' interest. After some time, I would begin to introduce topics that have to do with other areas of the world because as Sunal and Haas state, "local problems can be linked to similar problems in other areas of the world" (2011, p.196). By introducing topics that are local, and of interest to the student, these concepts can be generalized to include problems, and events happening in other areas of the world. For a 6th grade classroom, the similarities between local events, and events in other areas of the world can be discussed. Instead of making a reference of local events to global events, sixth graders could be responsible for making these connections on their own through a research project, or presentation on a specific current events topic.

            Current events is a great way to engage students in the 5 powerful elements of social studies instructions By discussing social studies topics that are local, or of particular interest to the students in the students, a meaningful relationship with current events can be developed. A good way to do this is to introduce activities that are based on prior knowledge or experiences because this allows students to make meaningful connections in order to expand their pre-established viewpoints and knowledge. A good way to incorporate the integrative element of social studies is to give students projects that do not simply ask to reiterate events that happened in an article, but rather reflect, write or speak about what was learned in the articles. From the Common Core State Standards, the "Research to Build and Present Knowledge" standards for grade 3 writing would be an appropriate standard that integrates ELA into the social studies lesson. For example, if students were asked to examine a current events topic further with a research project, they would be implementing standard Conduct short research projects that build knowledge about a topic. This would relate to the Common Core State Standards topic of “Research to Build and Present Knowledge” for 3^rd grade writing with the standard 3.7, “Conduct short research projects that build knowledge about a topic,” and standard 3.8 “Recall information from experiences or gather information from print and digital sources; take brief notes on sources and sort evidence into provided categories.” By including activities that help promote ELA instruction as well as social studies, the lesson can be integrative.

Artifact Investigation through Inquiry

Also, it was interesting to see what many of our other classmates brought in to represent their topics. Some other items brought in were pictures, rocks, feathers, dollar bills and other materials. I liked that even though members of the groups did not plan it, they brought in some of the same items. It shows a similar thought processing when choosing artifacts based on their topics,and i thought they applied very well. The artifact bag project is a great way to teach social studies in a meaningful way. It is really helpful to bring in physical artifacts that can be passed around throughout the group and discussed. In my group, we all brought artifacts relating to Lewis and Clark and the expedition westward. I thought that our group did a great job in collecting artifacts that connected to this topic, and it was really interesting to see the different approaches we took. Some of the artifacts that we brought include railroad tracks, moccasins, beads, among many other items. I had a lot of fun looking through my group members items, and trying to figure out what their items had in common with each other. 

My only wish for this project is that we had more time to meet with the other groups. It was helpful to meet with my own group for most of the class to compare our items since we were part of the same topic, but I would have liked to see more of the other groups' items rather than a quick description at the end of class.

Overall I think that the artifact bag project is something that I would love to implement in my own classroom because it is engaging to the students to have real-life artifacts to explore, and helps to involve students in investigation and inquiry skills.

Here is a link to my PowerPoint, which includes additional pictures, as well as my book and article choices for this lesson.

Creating critical economic thinkers

Economics is an area of social studies that covers a wide range of concepts, and likewise, is a part of our lives everyday. In the classroom economics instruction is not limited to discussion about money, but rather can be used to teach concepts about things students will encounter everyday in life. According to a study, children can begin to understand basic economic concepts as early as kindergarten. Some of these skills include, economic decision making, and weighing alternatives (pros and cons). this is important to consider because by giving students the skills to understand basic economic concepts early on will help them later in life to apply these concepts to real-world situations. One thing that many economists and educators have agreed on about economics instruction is that it is more important to instill in students basic economic concepts rather than placing a lot of importance on large amounts of factual knowledge. By understanding this, educators can shy away from the teaching of economics through memorization of economic terms, and move towards the creation of lessons that will spark students curiosity, and allow students to think critically about situations.

One method to illustrate economics to children in an engaging way is through literature. By analyzing literature that focuses on people from different cultural backgrounds, students can form generalizations and economic conepts that are based on these different economic situations. For example, the books The Ox-cart Man (1979) and Beatrice's Goat (2001), which follow the lives of subsistent farmers in the 1800's and today, can help students to improve their understanding of economics through the book's details, illustrations and questioning. By being exposed to books that illustrate the contrasting economic situations between certain groups of people, teachers can ask students questions that apply to both the content of the book, and important economic principles. Some possible questions that could be discussed include "How are schools in Uganda different from our schools?" Or, "Looking at the pictures, what is something that you think the family really needs. These are important questions to ask because students can make a connection to the question being asked, and relate it to the books content, or make connections with the illustrations.

Another important economic concept that can be applied to student's lives is economic decision-making skills. Decision making skills are a very important economic concept because our lives revolve around scarcity. Scarcity is an important concept for students to realize, and is usually learned early on when they learn (usually from their parents) that they cannot have everything they want. This is because things are scare, and people need to make choices. Because students already have a general understanding of this economic concept, teachers can realize this and teach to build on this prior knowledge. In the textbook Social Studies for the Elementary and Middle Grades Sunal & Haas (2011) contend that "[h]elping students to identify alternatives, criteria, and consequences and to select what they see as the best alternative is the essence of teaching decision making." One way to practice these decision making skills is the creation of decision making charts. In these charts, students can help to generate solutions to problems by organizing pros and cons, to decide a possible alternative, or solution to the problem. Such charts can be made to represent a problem that the students can relate to more such as "Should recess be a required, and scheduled time during the school day?" However, economic concepts can also be used for students to practice decision making skills,  ability to identify pros and cons, or short term and long term consequences of an action. By using these strategies, teachers can guide students in their understand of basic economic concepts, and reinforce them through questioning about their created charts.



A more hands-on method of teaching economics is through field trips. Bringing students to local businesses, or companies can be a very meaningful lesson for students, especially if the students are allowed into areas that the general public is not normally permitted to enter. In addition to this, many government agencies, and federal institution such as the Federal Reserve Banks, the U.S Treasury, and the Internal Revenue Service, have developed educational materials that can be given to students.  Allowing students to take a step into the world of economics rather than being read or be lectured about it can be very enlightening to students. For this reason, it is important to engage student in a form of economics instruction that is engaging, interesting, but also touches upon the basic concepts of economics. Through this type of instruction, our students can grow to be independent and critical economic thinkers.

A look at Native American tribes

Today I observed the last group's tribe presentations. I thought that all of the groups did really well with these presentations. Every group had great graphics, information, activities, and enthusiasm during their presentations. I liked that every group provided the class with some kind of warm up activity before beginning the lesson, and concluded the lesson with an assessment. The Kahoot assessments at the end of each group's lesson was very engaging and informative! Our class gets really excited by the Kahoot quizzes, and it is a great way to end the presentations, and review the material. As a class, it is apparent that we are all very comfortable with each other. Even some of the more nervous presenters at the start of the semester are working outside of their comfort zone to present in a more appealing and enthusiastic manner.

Overall, I was very happy with the outcome of my group's presentation, and collaboration to complete the project. Although Sara was not able to contribute to the research and creation of the PowerPoint because of a medical problem, Patricia and I worked well together. Google Drive is an essential tool for collaboration when working in a group with commuters, and resident students. It is very hard to meet face-to-face often because of personal responsibilities whether it be work, or another college course, but google drive made the collaboration very easy. My only complaint about this cooperative group work assignment is the amount of time we were given to work on it. I don't think the workload for this project was too much, but it felt very rushed when we had to complete it over the weekend. A lot of the students at the school work on the weekends so that we can go to school full time during the week. I felt that if we had at least another few days to work on this assignment, it would have given myself, and the other members of my group more time to perfect the presentation. Also, if we had been given more time to work on this project, Sara could have been included in the project instead of her finding out about it the day off the presentations.



Click below for the group PowerPoints for their assigned tribe!

Jessica, Rachel, and Shannon's presentation on the Lakota tribe

Jean, Julia, Julie, and Felicia's presentation on the Dine tribe

Susan, Kristin, and Maureen's presentation on the Muscogee tribe

Patricia, Sara, and Brian's presentation on the Tlingit tribe