Welcome to Week 7

Hello,

I hope you have had a great week in School.

For Social Studies this week, I learned what one of the sad realities is for public school teachers. Chris posted two pictures on twitter of the government classroom versus the teacher funded classroom. The teacher funded classroom is filled with school supplies while the government funded classroom consist of nothing, but tables and chairs. Without teachers who are willing to give of their money for their classroom, some schools would be like the government funded classroom, bare and empty.  

Another activity I found this week while working on the App Evaluation Project is the "History for Kids" app.   When first clicking on the app, the resource directs the user to a map filled with historic periods throughout history. By clicking on these figures, students are lead to more figures about that particular time period. This is a great resource for upper elementary grades for social study content.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/history-for-kids-all-civilizations/id1178034868?mt=8

One of my activities outside of social studies this week was to interview a teacher on upcoming projects for my Fine Arts Class. My clinical educator gave me some advice without even knowing it. She let students decide on what they wanted to learn about, Space or the American Revolution.  Though she preferred to teach the Revolutionary War, ninety percent of her students chose Space. Therefore, she is now focusing on space with her students. This is a fine example of a qualified teacher who lets students take charge of their own learning.  Why is student input important? With students choosing the topic, they will be more engaged and eager to learn about a topic.

In relation to the NCTCS, standard one, “Teachers Demonstrate Leadership” applies to what I learned from Social Studies.  Teachers demonstrate leadership by overseeing the budget provided for them by the school. They also use a budget when spending their personal money to buy school supplies for their classroom. Teachers select tools which will be beneficial to their instruction and to their students learning goals.

My activity outside of the social studies classroom and the "History for Kids" app apply to standard 4, “Teachers Facilitate Learning." Students and teachers collaborate with student engagement. When teachers can give students a topic or option for a project, students can take control of their learning. As for "History for Kids," teachers discover different types of technology and integrate them into the class.

For my future classroom, I will advocate larger budgets for teachers to spend on their students. As Chris stated in his twitter post, the government could change in relation to a better funded system. As for my outside experience,  I am required to teach all standards regarded to the grade level, however if I am able to give students the option to do either or for assignments or topics, I will make student opinion count. Students who take leadership for their own learning will be more engaged in the topic. Lastly, I will keep the app "History for Kids" as a resource possible for my future classroom. Students will get practice with reading the app as well as learning about history throughout the world.

I would encourage you to download the app "History for Kids" on your iPad. It is great resource.

I hope you have a wonderful week.