Matthew+Lehmann

__**Reflection: Week 1**__ My favorite memory of a social studies class was when we practiced relaxation techniques in my high school Psychology class. The teacher had all the students get on the floor and hold diffeent stretching positions in order to relax our bodies and minds. This was in order to show us how the mind and body are related, so relaxing the body can help calm the mind and relieve stress. This was a fun activity because all the lights were turned off and it a lot of students were making jokes about the activity. It was also a unique exercise that I don't get to do that often.
 * __ Fall Semester Posts __**

The worst memory I have of a social studies class was this past summer when I took an online economics class. The class was very difficult for me and every single multiple choice test I took I remember getting extremely upset after and being mad the rest of the night. The information was just not interesting to me and I always felt stressed out about the class.

What makes me want to teach social studies is that I love Psychology and History because those subjects interest me the most and I feel relate to peoples' lives the most. It would be fun the learn and teach the information because it would bring back memories of when I used to take those classes.

I believe students should learn social studies because history ties into everything people go through in their lives. If people understand the past, they can know what mistakes were made and to not make those same mistakes again. History provides a template for people to follow so they know what works in life and what doesn’t.

__**Reflection on Lesson Plans: Week 2**__ A lesson plan is a set of information the teacher is planning on teaching the class on a specific day. They often include the goals of the lesson the teacher wants the students to understand, along with the purposes teachers have for teaching this material. Lesson plans also include the activities teachers are going to include for that specific lesson, and it is lays out exactly what the teacher is going to discuss and how they are going to go about teaching that material. Lesson plans usually list at the beginning the point of the lesson. In the middle of the plan is the information the teacher is planning on teaching the students. At the end, the plan sums up what the teacher just taught the students and ties back into the goals and purposes at the beginning of the lesson plan.

It is based on what the teacher feels is the most important information for the students to learn. It gives teachers a plan to follow so he or she doesn't leave out any important information, or so teachers don't feel lost up in front of the class. If teachers did not have lesson plans, they would be forced to make up all the information on the spot, which would mean they would most likely forget key information they need to get across to the students. Also, teachers will seem unprepared to the students, which could put doubt in students' minds on how good of teacher you are.

They might not always be useful because sometimes teachers want to throw in information that just came to them spur of the moment, which wouldn't be listed in their lesson plan. If teachers feel the need to stick to a strict plan when teaching, that might not allow them to say certain ideas that just come to them, which could further aid students in learning. In addition, some ways students learn best is by bouncing ideas off of each other during a conversation the teacher starts, and usually kids going back and forth like that isn't planned out by the teacher. If teachers wanted to stick to the plan they created, students would not get the chance to express their ideas, which could possibly inhibit other students from learning. Teachers that want to follow their lesson plan might be so concerned with getting through all the information they wrote down, that they might not feel their is enough time for this kind of back and forth discussion to go on.

__**Week 3: Planning, Managing, and Motivating**__ 1) A unit plan is a set of lessons created by the teacher that should be developed around a single guiding question that contains information the teacher thinks is the most important for the students to know. Each individual lesson the teacher creates teaches information that answers some part of that broad question, so all the lessons combined help to answer that question. This way each lesson has importance to it because it contains information that is anchored to the overall topic question that the teacher wants the students to take away from the unit. In addition, the text says that the content, environment, teacher, and student are four areas that the unit plan should be developed around.

2) Teachers need to think very thoughtfully about what lessons they are going to teach, because they need to make sure each lesson is tailored to the specific needs of the class, including the students, environment, and content. The teacher needs to come up with activities and discussions in class that will fit the personalities of the students. The gender, age, race, and maturity level of the students need to all be taken into account when making a lesson because the teacher could offend some students with material if they of a certain race. Also, certain material is not appropriate for certain age groups, which could only distract students from learning. In addition, boys and girls learn and are affected differently by certain material. The environment is also important, depending on what the socioeconomic status of the school takes place, and what part of the country the school is located in. If these factors are not carefully thought about, than teachers could end up offending or having difficulty getting through to students.

3) Thoughtfully planned units are beneficial when students are able to remember the information not just for the test, but are able to store it in their long-term memories and it has some meaning to them. In addition, good lessons make learning fun for students and are able to hold their interest. Also, teachers benefit from good lessons by them developing a greater understanding of what they should or can do in a classroom. This means understanding what lessons and discussions fit best for their students in the environment their in.

4) Lesson plans compliment a teacher's philosophy because their philosophy is what the teacher goes off of when creating lesson plans and discussions for students. If a teacher does not have a set of beliefs on material or how to teach, than he or she will be confused on what style of teaching to use, and will not be able to moniter student discussion very well. If a teacher has his or her philosophy set, than that can serve as a guide for how to teach and what to say and not to say to students. The philosophy of the teacher is definintly reflected in his or her lesson planning and how they go about teaching.

__**Reflection week 4: Modern Middle East**__ 1) Honestly, I do not know a lot about the Middle East. I never really had a class in high school, middle school, or college that has taught me a lot of information on that part of the world. All I do know is what I have seen on the news in terms of pictures and little bits of information they tell you on the war on terrorism. I do know that that area has a very warm climate, because I have seen pictures of palm trees and have never seen snow on the ground there. Also, I know that is a region of extreme turmoil that constantly has wars with each other and other sorrounding countries over political and religious ideologies, most likely. I do not know the exact cause of the fighting over there, however. I also know they very much dislike the United States and were the ones who committed the 9/11 attacks on us. We are currently at war with countries in that region and they do not like the fact that we are meddling in their business always. I would like to know the exact reasons why there is constant fighting in the Middle East, and if the average citizens feel as much hatred about us as their leaders do.

2) To me, modern means information, technologies, political ideologies, economic, and cultural means that are up to date relative to the rest of the world. It means that people are living their life differently now than they use to. Middle East is a term that is used to describe the area of the world from Libya to Afghanistan. This term means that these countries lying within it are in the center of the eastern hemisphere of the world. Culturally and economically, the middle east comes to mind as place of constant fighting between different ethnic, political, and religious groups. Also, I think of a place that is not high up the ladder socioeconomically, especially compared to the United States.

3) I believe students should learn about the Middle East because that is currently, and have been pretty much this whole decade, where the U.S. is fighting a war. We are fighting against countries that are a part of the Middle East, so to me our students should be educated on that area so if the war is still going on by the time they get jobs, they will be able to make good choices as potential political and economic leaders in dealing with the Middle East. The choices they make could directly affect the U.S. because if we do something to make the Middle East mad, they want to retaliate even more against us. In addition, I believe Americans feel that all citizens of the Middle East are anti-America just like their leaders are, and I think kids need to be educated that not all people there are bad and are out to get us.

__**Reflection #5: Types and Examples of Curriculums**__ A) Formal Curriculum: State standards set for a high school psychology class that say students need to learn about all the different approaches to psychology including behavior, cognitive, biological, and the Freudian appraoch.

Delivered Curriculum: A History teacher explaining Pearl Harbor to students, which was part of what the students need to learn based on the formal curriculum, but deciding to discuss her dad's first hand experience while being on ship that sank. This information was not part of the formal curriculum, but she decided to talk about it to help the students connect with the material on an emotional level.

Hidden Curriculum: Students learn that they are not supposed to talk while the teacher is talking, and they come to understand that they need to raise their hand when they have a question. This information was not directly taught to the students, but they picked it up from their experience at school.

Learned Curriculum: A student learned in a psychology class about the concept of classical conditioning, so she goes home and teachers her dog tricks based on this concept.

Null Curriculum: A textbook leaves out the roles of African Americans in World War Two because they do not feel it is important for students to learn.

B) Based on the reading, teachers do not have a major role at all in deciding the curriculum students learn off of, or what students should learn. Mostly the state, local, and district governments decide on what students should and should not learn. The reading discussed ten groups of people that decide on school curriculums, and teachers have less influence than six of those groups. Sometimes, teachers meet with these state or their specific school district officials and can share their opinions on what information they feel should be on the curriculums. Still, however, teachers are pretty much forced to teach certain information to students, and therefore their main role is to take that information and decide HOW it should be taught to students based off of the demographics, age, and environment of the class they are teaching. I think it is not particularly fair for teachers because they are the ones who have the most influence on students' education, but that is just the way it goes.

I do not personally believe Columbus Day should be celebrated as a national holiday for several reasons. First, I believe holidays should be created for people and events that were carried out in an effort to directly benefit America. Columbus was funded by Spain to go and find precious metals and resources in order to benefit Spain's economy. Columbus was actually looking for the West Indies, and just happened to stumble upon America. He was not sent to find America intially, and once he found America, his main goal was not to help those people living there or strengthen their standard of living.
 * __Discussion Post #6: Columbus Day__**

In addition, based on the reading, Columbus was very cruel to the native people living there, mainly the Native American tribes in the Atlantic states at the time. He had very greedy intentions and just wanted to take all the resources present in America for himself. Columbus just wanted to find gold and was willing to hurt or even kill many native people in order to get it. He was not looking to make friends with those people or help their lives in any way, so I do not think we should celebrate something like that.

Also, If we celebrate Columbus Day, than why aren't there other holidays in honor of past Americans who have done a great deal of good for America. I feel there should either be no Columbus Day, or there should also be other "American Heroes" celebrated with their own holiday. I feel the only reason Columbus Day was made a holiday is because Americans only focus on the fact that if it wasn't for him, we would not be a country. Instead, a lot of the realistic facts are taken out of the equation that include the greediness and power hungry mindset of Columbus. By celebrating Columbus Day, we are basically celebrating all the discrimation and cruelty done by Columbus to the native people living in America at the time.


 * Reflection Week 7: Unit Plan on Columbus Day:**

Personality information: 1) My tempermant type is the idealist and the letters/jobs specifically associated with it are: (ENFJ)-Teacher (INFJ)-Counselor (ENFP)-Champion (INFP)-Healer 2) In my own words, an idealist is a person who thinks more about the future, in terms of caring about the hopes, dreams, and goals people want to accomplish in their life ahead of them. This also goes for caring about your own goals and wishes for the future. These people go about trying to help figure out ways for those people, and themselves, to accomplish those goals without breaking laws or rules that our government has put in place. Also, idealists do not want to take shortcuts, but instead want to know that they helped someone else accomplish a goal by doing things the right way. Idealists spend most of their time acting for the future, so they make choices in the present that will help them and others be successfull in the future. Idealists also use their imaginations a lot and tend to daydream about what could be in the future. They do not really care about short term effects, but focus on the long term. 3) Ghandi, Eleanor Roosevelt, Nelson Mandela, Joan Baez, Gorbachev, Oprah, Princess Diana are famous idealists. I can relate to all them because like those famous people, I hope to someday find a way to change the world by helping students acheive their goals and make peace with the world. Most of those people are caring, good listeners, future oriented, and helpful to others, which is exactly the kind of person I am. 4) The site told me I was a counselor in the Idealist realm. Education matches these suggestions almost perfectly because counseling and teachers both work in a social setting with students to help them achieve their overall future goals, and help them to become morally sound, good people in their choices they make later in life. Also, counselors and teachers are similiar because both have to be culturally, racially, and gender sensitive to the students they are encountering because those students are all different and could have their feelings hurt if these professionals do not treat everyone equally and justly.
 * __Reflection Week 8: Personality and Political Types__**

Political Information: 1) My political coordinates after taking the test are -2.25 economic left/right, 1.44social libertarian/authoritarian. 2) I would be more similiar to Barrack Obama in terms of the election of 2008 because he has similiar coordinates to me based on the test. 3) I am most similiar to Pope Benedict and Mamoud Abbas in terms of historical and international figures. 4) This test illustrates the widespread beliefs that people have because the results are based on coordinates on a continuum in which there are a ton of coordinate combinations possible to get. This shows me that there are so many differences people can have in their beliefs because even a little difference in the coordinant means a little different belief. This shows that there are not just four different beliefs people can have (Authoritarian Right, Authoritarian Left, Liberatarian Right, Liberatarian Left) but a multitude of different beliefs. This means it is very important for people to be able to compromise their ideas because there is no way this country can function successfully politically and economically if there are that many beliefs held by people. No decisions would be able to get done and people would always be fighting over which programs and ideas are the best. If people compromise those ideas into more broad beliefs, than people would be able to make decisions easier and more efficiently.

1) The text discusses four different reasons or excuses as to why Controversial topics are not discussed more in classrooms across the country. These are political biases, subject perspectives, school cultures, and teacher costs. For one thing, the political and administrative members who develop the curriculums for schools often have their own perspectives on what students should be learning about, and those include very small objectives in terms of having students learn about all the various controversial issues. These perspectives hold that students should just learn about the main important events and facts according to the subject, which leaves little time for teachers to dive into the deep-rooted heated, debated issues. Also, schools would need a lot more funding so they could set up and offer the kind of classes that are solely dedicated to teaching controversial issues. Most schools do not have the money for this, so their classes tend to just leave these controversial issues on the back burner. In addition, there a lot of different cultures and racial groups that attend the same school and curriculum creators want to make sure they are not talking about any issues that are going to offend any of the students. They feel a lot of controversial issues would be diving into conversations that are likely to go against particular cultures or ethnic groups. Political biases of the people who create the curriculums also comes into play, because these people usually hold strong political beliefs about a lot of controversial issues, so they just want schools to teach issues that agree with their side of the story. Also, they so strongly believe a certain way about these issues that they believe there is no two sides to the controversial topic so there is no need to develop curriculums that would contain these debates in classrooms.
 * __Week 9: Controversial Topics:__**

2) According to Werner, schools should teach controversial issues in the classroom because he feels in order for our students to grow up to become good citizens, they need to develop critical thinking skills that will allow them to make thoughtful and creative decisions in their future. He feels that political and administrative members who create curriculums need to think in this way, or else they will be stuck in the mindset that the problems teacher costs, subject perspectives, political biases, and school culture issues outweigh the good that comes out of teaching controversial issues in the classroom. Werner also believes that teaching these topics helps students connect the taught curriculum with the real life social world. He feels that the writers of curriculums need to feel that teachers are worth paying the extra money to have extra classes to debate these issues, schools need to forget about their own perspectives and open themselves up to new ways of thinking, people need to understand that political biases are a natural part of the human condition and not be looked down upon, and finally schools need to adopt a school culture that is all around cosmopolitan. The text also describes how textbooks are one of the reasons why schools are not teaching more controversial topics, because these books make it seem like it is their way or the highway, and that there is only one right answer to everything. This doesn’t help students to use their own imaginations and takes away their passion because they do not get to use their own thinking skills to come up with their own reasons why certain phenomenons are occurring in the world. If students could have controversial issues presented to them, then would probably develop a greater knowledge for the material because they are able to relate it to their own lives through these debates, and the passion they would have from thinking about these issues would burn this information in their brains and help them to use it in a more useful way in their future.

3) I can see my future teaching practices as being a mixture of both discussing controversial issues and teaching the common curriculum standards that are handed down to me. I would not always talk about these topics because I would be little bit fearful of offending some of my students who are from different cultural backgrounds than other students are. I would have to get a feel for my class and see how students interact with each other and how mature and sensitive they are when it comes to discussing these topics. I would have to be careful about which issues I choose, and would not dive into these topics unless it was the right time, or I felt my students were not learning, or are bored with the common curriculum I am teaching. If I felt they were bored with the material, then I would want to shake things up and teach a controversial issue one day to get them excited about the material. So I would definitely consider using controversial topics in my classroom though because I know from reading the Werner reading that students are a lot more likely to gain the critical thinking skills necessary for being good citizens in the future, and my most important goal as a teacher is too help students become successful in their futures, not just for them to get good grades and then forget everything they have learned a week later.

__**Week 10: Objectivity vs Subjectivity**:__ 1) Objectivity describing something is different than subjectively engaging in that topic for various reasons. First, when someone objectively speaks about an issue, he or she is just simply telling the facts of what happened in that issue and those facts are completely indisputable. Nobody else can say those facts did not happen because they 100% happened. Also, objectively describing an event doesn’t include any emotion or desires, the person describing the event just discusses the issue without his or her opinions or beliefs. They do not say what they believe in or what should have happened, they just say that this did happen. It is just to make others aware of the situation. In contrast, subjectively engaging in topic is when people do include their emotions, beliefs, and desires when describing a certain event or issue. This is more of a debate, because people say their opinions on why they belief the objective facts should have occurred or not. They also usually speak with emotion and can disagree or agree with other speakers depending on their viewpoints. This is when people take that objective viewpoint and state their own personal desires as to what they feel should have happened, why it happened, and what can be done to change that in the future. Usually subjectivity is meant to persuade others to feel a certain way, the way that person speaking feels.

2) A teacher’s ability to maintain an impartial tone helps students in using critical thinking on an issue, because when teachers tell students what or how to think, they are pretty much taking the whole point away of critical thinking. The point of critical thinking is for students to form their own opinions on issues by thinking deeply about a topic, and when a teacher tells that student their opinion, the student will just be given an opinion, which takes away the need for students to have to think. Also, productive interaction is taken away when a teacher speaks subjectively, because students will feel uncomfortable speaking about their own opinions if it goes against that teacher’s opinion. They might feel their opposing opinion is wrong and therefore not want to speak. Without these students talking, it pretty much leaves a one-sided debate because only the students who agree with the teacher will want to talk. In addition, when a teacher is being subjective and biased in their opinions, they are not stating any facts, but just personal beliefs. In order for a debate to be successful, facts need to be stated to move on with the discussion. Opinions do not get the class anywhere because people will end up just taking shots at one another and it the classroom progress will become stagnate.

Loaded language prevents educational progress in the classroom because when a student hears a teacher or another fellow classmate speaking to him about an issue with this kind of language, they feel like they are being criticized or like they completely dumb for their own opinion. This can scar that student from ever wanting to talk out loud in fear that they will get spoken to like this again in the future. This language can really hurt a student’s feelings, even if the message was not intentional.

3) A. Like what I said above, it is important for teachers to be objective in their language and be impartial, because these way students will be able to think about a topic on their own and come up with solutions because they do not have any opinions in their heads from anyone else, especially the teacher. By a teacher staying impartial, all students comfortable to talk about an issue because they do not fear that they might be going against the teacher. This is because they do not know the teacher’s beliefs. Also, teachers can avoid hurting students’ feelings by staying objective because when a teacher involves emotion in their language, it can often lead students to feel criticized or intimidated because it sounds like the teacher is going against them or making them feel wrong.

B. A way I would handle controversy pertaining to the upcoming election in a classroom is to just tell the students who the candidates are, what beliefs they have, and what they are doing to help their cause. These are all factual information that is objective and cannot be disputed. I will have a conversation similar to the one Mr. Detmers had about how before the students speak, they should just be objective and there that I will not tolerate opinions in the classroom due to the chance of feelings getting hurt. If a student did go out of line and say how this topic is stupid, then I will tell them to see me after class so I can discuss the issue at hand, and even during class I will just nicely tell the student to keep his or her subjective opinions to himself for the better good of the class. I would see him after class to further discuss what I would briefly say in that moment. This is so the student fully understands me and so he doesn’t think I am just picking on him.


 * __Week 11: Motivation Prompt__**

1) A. Intrinsic motivation is when students want to learn because of desires coming from inside of them, not from an outside force. They desire to gain knowledge because they are really interested in the material for their own sake. Extrinsic motivation is the opposite. This is when students want to learn because of some outside stimulus or force. They want to learn just so they can get a good grade or to satisfy their parents, because they are putting pressure on them to do well. Extrinsic motivation uses rewards to get students to learn. Intrinsic motivation appeals to student’s interests where no reward is necessarily present, but the information is used to connect to students in a way that makes them really want to learn because they want to. __An example of extrinsic motivation__: A teacher has students memorize the state capitols of the United States and tells them there will be a fill in the blank test next week on the material. __An example of intrinsic motivation:__ A teacher has students act out a skit on the Cold War that is intended to be really fun for students and help relate the information to their lives, but says there will be no test on the material.

B. In Ben’s teaching at Haslett, it was mostly intrinsic motivation because when he taught them information, he related each topic to a story that tried to help the students make a connection to the material. These stories were supposed to be so appealing to the students that they would want to pay attention just for their own interests. He also never said there would be any tests on the material they were learning, especially not that day, which means he was not trying just have the students learn for a reward.

2) A. Multicultural education is when teachers try and expand their curriculum to help include all underrepresented groups in classrooms. This is a teaching style that includes perspectives of other minority groups that are a big part of the subject history, but are usually not talked about in dominant white society. This helps these groups feel more a part of the class and is more interesting for them. This also is important because a lot of important parts of history had direct involvement with these minority groups, so this helps students get a more realistic view and knowledge of history. B. I plan to incorporate this practice in my classroom by picking a textbook that is written by a non-white author, so the students can get a perspective of the subject from a different point of view, which allows them to see history in a different, more realistic way. I will also not skip readings in the book that talk about minority groups in history. I will assign students articles of different minority groups in history if the book doesn’t talk about those groups enough. I will also have discussions with my students about these groups so they can see their place in history, and it will help get rid of the stereotypes students have of these groups.

3) A. Differentiated instruction is when teacher employ new, diverse, and more fun activities in the classroom to help engage students more and help them learn the material better. Different students learn in best through different learning strategies, so using different ways to teach the material will be able to help all students learn effectively. B. I feel I need to work on pre-assessment the most, because sometimes I am too anxious to get going with the material that I forget to try and understand my students in terms of how they learn the best and what they are most interested in. I also find myself in the microteaching worried too much about the content I am going to teach, and the body language part of my learning, that I do not feel I have the time to pre-assess the students in my groups, but I should.

4) A. I feel interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligence is most prominent in myself, because I am a very personal person and I am naturally very concerned with how people feel and trying to make people feel more comfortable. I get emotional pretty easily and could see myself feeling a lot of empathy for my students when things are not going well for them. B. In my opinion, I feel intra and interpersonal intelligence needs to be focused on more by teachers in the classroom. I feel people who create curriculum plans for schools now are so focused on how competent students are and their test scores. This puts pressure on teachers to teach students mass amounts of information as fast as they can, and this causes them to not have time to care about the student’s feelings or develop a relationship with the students. Also, too much time is spent teaching students facts about history, so they are not able to understand HOW those people felt about what was going on in their lives. This too me is just as important is the content because if we understood the negative feelings people went through in history, we can stop doing those things that create those feelings.

** __Wiki Post 11: Kinetic Learning__ **

1) I would base a lesson around the Vietnam War. For an activity, I would have the students break up into two groups, one group being the Vietnam Soldiers and the other being the American Soldiers. I would have them act out a sort of hide and seek scenario where the group that is the American soldiers has to wait out in the hall for a certain amount of time. At that time, each person in the Vietnam group will find a place to hide in the classroom, and when they are done hiding, the other group in the hall will come back in and have to try and spot out the hiding Vietnam soldiers in the class. After they try looking for a few minutes, the hiding Vietnam soldiers will jump out and scare the American soldiers. I think this activity is good because it demonstrates to the students and helps them understand how hard it was for the American soldiers in Vietnam to find the hiding Vietnam soldiers in the jungle. They were very scared when they were running through the jungle and started hearing gunshots at them. This will also be a very fun activity for the students. I will then discuss with the students how they reacted to the activity.

2) For an article, I will have the students read a short novel called “Fire in the Lake” by Frances Fitzgerald. This will be very interesting to the students because it deals with how frustrating it was for American Soldiers to have to fight in the Vietnam War. This is also a novel I chose that is short and easy to read, so it will not take too much time. It is also appropriate for late high school students. Also, I will have a discussion with the students about the book after they have read it.

3) For a song I would chose for the Vietnam War, I would use Clearance Clearwater Revival-Fortunate Son. This song has the perfect lyrics for that war because it was written about the Vietnam War. This song is about how American Men got chosen at random for the Vietnam War, but they did not want to fight in it so they saw their luck as not fortunate for being chosen at random to go out and die in war. The song is appropriate for class and I would explain the song to them after they listen to it, and show the music video while they listen to the song so they can have a better visual idea of what the song is trying to portray. After I would discuss how the song relates to the Vietnam War and ask them if the song is relevant and accurate in its descriptions. []

4) For an interpersonal activity, I will have the students watch a documentary on the Vietnam War with interviews included by American Soldiers so the students can understand exactly why the soldiers felt and acted the way they did in the war, because it might be hard for students to understand why those soldiers were so afraid in war. I will also have the students after try and role play the American soldiers by having students in the class ask a specific student a question about their situation in war and see how they respond. This will also be fun for the students to participate in, and they will get to experience themselves what it is like to be in those soldiers shoes.

1) a. []. This is an old distorted map that I found of the Northwest Territories of the United States created in 1812 by Dr. R. Brooks, an American, which he published in his journal //General Gazetteer Improved//. In this map, he included what is now Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
 * __Old Maps Week 12 Post__**

b. Based on the definition of distortion, a map is distorted if inaccuracy is shown, shows author biases, or the locations are shrunken or enlarged due to the style of the map. This map is clearly distorted, because there are definite inaccuracies. For one thing, this map shows Michigan not owning the Upper Peninsula, which is because it was made before the U.P. belonged to Michigan. In addition, this map shows that there is a huge plateau area in northern Michigan; even though it was proven that no such plateau existed over 100 years before the map was made. Also, this map shows the southern tip of Lake Michigan as being on the same latitude line as the Ohio-Michigan border, even though Lake Michigan extends further south than the Michigan-Ohio border. The reasons for these distortions were that the person making the map never visited Michigan before, but only heard about it being high elevation from other geographers he talked to at the time. He assumed the term “high elevation” meant a plateau instead of being just plain hills. Also, the lack of technological advancements of the time made it hard for him to measure exactly how far Lake Michigan extended.

2) In my opinion, I believe that the Molleweide map is the most accurate, because it is the one that shows the Earth as being round. This makes it so all the latitude and longitude lines are curved, which shows exactly how the world is in real life. That means all the countries are of the correct proportion for how they really are, and in the right places, and of the right masses. This is what the text talked about in terms of accurate maps, that all the countries are of the correct sizes and not enlarged or shrunken at all. Also, north is up and south is at the bottom, which is correct for real life. I feel students should look at the map based on what it really looks like in space because they will get the wrong ideas if they are looking at a distorted map.

3) This is an extremely effective lesson because it is a great way for students of any age to dissect a map and figure out what is distorted or wrong about it. The text on Segall talks about how maps were starting to become analyzed and challenged for their accuracy around the world. Before that, everyone just accepted as what was drawn was right. When students look at maps with this subjective view, they are really developing their critical thinking skills because they are learning to think on their own and figure out differences in maps and how some are wrong in their depictions. Critical thinking is very important for students because they will need it for their future jobs and lives in general.

=**__SPRING SEMESTER POSTS__**= 1) The text establishes the significance of media by the authors first of all describing what they believe media literacy is, in which that definition is used as a springboard for discussion as to its importance to students in the classroom. The authors discuss media literacy as a way of analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating forms of media, as a way of gaining a greater understanding of certain phenomenon that occur in every day life. The authors also discuss how having this media literacy is a very important part of being a citizen, because the ways that people come to acquire knowledge in matters of life are from these media outlets. There are very important messages that are trying to be communicated through the media, and part of the job of citizens are to study those messages in a very thoughtful, critical manner, so that they can become more aware citizens of how this country operates. This will help our country run more smoothly because its citizens will be able to make choices that help the country as a whole based on what they take in from the media. In addition, the thought that media literacy was a vital part of being a citizen was a goal goes way back to the founding fathers of the U.S. constitution. The authors talk about how the TAP method is the way that students should be critically analyzing media messages. This includes students identifying the type of media they are observing, the author or producer of that media message, and the importance of certain factors of production of that media message. If students think in these steps, then they will be able to further their skills in critical thinking, and more specifically help themselves gain helpful knowledge of the messages portrayed in the media. Also, specifically for social studies, the authors talked about how media is most rooted and helpful for that disicipline.
 * __Reflection 1 Post: Using Media Literacy in Classroom__**

2) In order to incorporate a lesson that included some form of media, I would chose to show the movie The Breakfast Club to my students. This movie is about teeangers in the 1980's and different group dynamics between those teens. This would be centered around a Psychology lesson about how being with groups can influence how an individual acts, as opposed to just being one-on-one with someone. I would have the students try and identify examples of how each person in the film changed the way they acted in the presence of certain people. I would then have a group discussion with the class and have each student think of an example in their life of when being in a particular group of poeple influenced certain parts of their personality. I would have each student spend some time writing that example down and then sharing it with the class. I feel that by students seeing visually these concepts in movies, it helps them to better understand the material.

__**Reflection 2 Post: Assessement/Accountability Cooperative Learning activity on Candidates**__ The advantages of cooperative learning are that the students get a chance to develop their leadership skills, social skills, and teamwork ability by working together on assignments. However, it is crucial that each group member is held accountable for their share of the work load so that the project gets completed to the best of its ability, and so that work can be evenly distributed among group members.

This is why I would create an assessment/accountability activity that would help ensure that each group member did their fair share of the work in the activity. First of all, I would first divide the class up in groups of 4-5 students, randomly, and assign each student a presedential candidate to gather information on. I would have the students go on the candidate's website to make sure the information is accurate. Once the students gather information on their candidate, I would have each of them throughout the day interview 5 people outside the class to see what their opinions are of that candidate, and what they think the candidate stands for. They could be friends, random people, or family members. I would do this as a way to compare public perception with what is actually true about the candidate. This would be a good activity for the students because it is important for them to understand how the media can really give out false information, so it shouldnt always be believed. If a lot of people have different views on the candidate then what is really true about him, then that is the power of the media. I would tell the students to come back the next day and come together with their groups to share their findings. This way, they can each give each other necessary feedback on something that was wrong or needs addition. After each group member hears the other member's findings, I would then hand out a form to each student asking them to write a short paragraph on how accountable they thought each of their group members were to doing their fair share of the work.

After, I would have each group present their findings to the class. during each presentation, I would have the teacher also write a short paragraph for each member currently presenting on how accountable he or she thought each member was to their share of the work. At the same time, I will have the rest of the class do the same thing for each member of the group that is currently presenting. Then, each person in the class will recieve their feedback on their accountability from their group members, the teacher, and the the other students in the class. By having everyone in the class, plus the teacher asses each student's accountability, it removes any biases from any one person towards another person. For example, some students could be very good friends and give each other good feedback, even if that student didnt really do much work. However, if the whole class plus the teacher rates each student, then it will be a more fair measure of how accountable each student actually was because there is no way every person in the class is best friends with each other. __**Reflection 3 Post: Teaching Students about Global Issues**__ In their article, //Responding to Globalization?//, authors Kasai and Merryfield explain that, “the goal of global education is to prepare students to be effective and responsible citizens in a global society (p. 355).”

Question 1) The types of education techniques the authors have in mind to try and prepare students for a globalized world are the following. First of all, the authors emphasize giving students cross-cultural experiences, in which teachers teach students to work with other people from different backgrounds, cultures, and races from their own. Since students most likely someday will have a job that involves working with people from around the world, they need to get used to working successfully with people different than them. In addition, the authors discuss how teachers should teach students information using multiple perspectives from around the world. This way, students will be able to see how other people think and view the world who are from different cultures and backgrounds from themselves. This will help them when they get out in the workforce someday and are contend with these differing views. This also is a good way for students to get a global education at teh same time they are learning key historical events. Next, the authors talk about how the idea of teaching students about global interconnectedness while helping them get a global education. This means that students would be able to understand different cultures, ethnic groups, and races of people over time, and throughout the entire world. The authors also say that people develop their views on how life works and why it works that way through this line of thinking. Another way to say that is students develop their own worldview from studying how other people from around the world have behaved and acted throughout history. Finally, the authors discuss how it is important for teachers to help students think critically about history issues, and the way to do that is to teach them about social studies current affairs that are going on across the world at that time. This helps students to understand why things work the way they do, and what their role in society is, along with their countries.

Question2) Personally, I find these ways of teaching and ideas to be very helpful to students, because it is crucial for them to understand how different people think and operate from around the world, because someday they will be most likely be in a position in a job where they are forced to interact with people from different backgrounds then them. If students do not have this global awareness, they might offend a lot of people from around the world or simply not know how to properly interact with them. This could cause huge problems at the workplace for students personally, and for the company as a whole. Also, even in their everyday interactions, students more and more as time goes on will be forced to deal with people different from them because people are migrating more easily all over the world. Successful interactions with these individuals are only possible with this global awareness. I do not feel students will get this kind of perspective or teaching in any other part of their life outside the school environment, so I feel it is the teacher's duty to help the students become more global citizens. In addition, it is very helpful for students to understand how other cultures and ethnic groups think, and they reasons why they feel those ways, so they will not be as judgemental or stereotypical in their views towards those people. This will help America have more friends around the world and strengthen us as a country.

__1) Highlight 2 specific teaching strategies/techniques that were used to teach content__ Two Specific teaching strategies that were used were the role playing activity and student directed investigation. First of all, he had us get into pairs, and each pair was assigned a different event or aspect of the Vietnam War. Each pair had to go onto the internet and research the event we were assigned by learning as much information on that event as we could in a given amount of time. Then, we had to discuss it with the whole class. This forced us to learn the information on our own, however we thought best, which helps it sink in better because we are directly involved in the learning process. Next, we had to get into groups of four and each group was assigned another event of the war. We had to watch a short lesson and write down as much information on our event from the video. Then each group had to role play their event as a class, where each group took turns discussing acting out a specific person or aspect of that event. This gave the rest of the class a better understanding of the information because it was presented in an interesting way, and it was fun for the groups. This activity was also like discussion and debate, because each group was kind of arguing why their person or group was doing the right thing for the war. __2) What do you think was effective about the teaching methods and activities__? I think the discussion and debate was very effective for everyone to learn about the war because from the viewpoint of the group, they were directly involved in the learning process by acting out one of the characters they were assigned, so the information was more likely to stick with them. And for the rest of the class, they were probably really paying attention because it was very entertaining to listen to all the groups present their arguments while in the role-playing mode. Plus, other groups had to pay attention because they needed to to know what was being said in order to say their argument. Since the groups had to be attentive, they were learning the information and having fun at the same time.
 * __Reflection 4 Post: Vietnam Lesson__**

__3) What adaptations could have been made if this lesson is taught to different groups of students (college students, middle school students, etc)?__ If this lesson was going to be taught to different groups of students, particularly middle or high school students, then there would have needed to be a lot more background information provided about the Vietnam War and the specific events or people he had us investigate. Since we have taken a lot of courses in college in History, we already kind of have an idea of what those events and people are, so it is easier for us to understand what they were better. Also, I feel if younger students were to have to investigate information on their own, they would need to be directed and taught what good internet sources are to find information from. We know this because we have learned it in college, but some younger students do not know to not use Wikipedia. They do not know what makes a good source, therefore they could end up getting wrong information.

__**Reflection Post 5: Assessment of Ourselves as Teachers**__ Mr. Lehmann has a lot of teaching areas he needs to improve on, but he also has some areas that he really thrives in and that I really enjoyed. Starting with his strenghts, Mr. Lehmann is a really caring, compassionate, and respecting teacher. He does not discriminate any of the students because of their race, gender, and ethnicity, and he does not give any of the students special treatment above any of the other students. Also, he is very caring because he always asks us for our feedback and how well we understand the information after he teaches it to us. In addition, he always makes sure the students are comfortable in the class and that they are succeeding to the best of their abilities by emailing each student individually once a week to make sure they are on top of things. Also, he frequently reminds us of his office hours, in which for us to come in and see us if we have any trouble. Mr. Lehmann is also very good at creating different ways of learning for all students. He frequently shows us video clips for the visual learners, when he lectures he puts the information on the board, and also gives us handouts of that material to follow along. He is very organized and responsible when it comes to being to class on time and being prepared for the lesson.

Also, Mr. Lehmann is a very personal teacher that really cares to get to know the students. He always makes small talk before and after class asking us about how our weekends were, or discussing particular interests or hobbies that he knows we have. He is also very personal with us, in which he tries to fill us in on his life, but maintaining the professionalism he needs to have as the teacher. This makes us feel very comfortable with him and lets us know he really cares about us. However, there are also some things I feel he needs to keep working on to become an even better teacher. For one thing, he needs to work on speaking with a louder, more projecting voice when teaching to us. Some people complain in the back that they cannot hear him, and when the class is talking sometimes his voice gets drowned out by the other students. In addition, Mr. Lehmann needs to work on being more forecfull and tough when it comes to disciplining students. He is so nice, that a lot of the students feel they can do whatever they want in the class and get away with it. Mr. Lehmann needs to work on putting a little fear into the students to get them out of that mindset, and also when they do get out of line, he needs to be louder and more forcefull when telling them to be quiet.

Also, I feel Mr. Lehmann needs to have a little bit more enthusiasm when speaking in front of the class. He sounds a little monotone sometimes and does not seem to be into the material all the time, with passion or excitement. This makes it hard for us to pay attention sometimes, and makes it seem like the material is not that important. All in all, Mr. Lehmann is a caring, organized, respectful, and aware educator, but he needs to work on his teacher presence, speaking louder, and being less nervous in front of the class. 1) Cultural relativism is where there is fundamental diversity in cultures among their beliefs on moral ideas and principles, and ethnic relativism discusses how those moral ideas come from individuals themselves, not from any culture as a whole. However, the difference between both of those is that cultural relativism bases morality on the cultural norms of the people who are acting on those moral issues, and cultural relativism just bases people’s moral actions on how those people view morality themselves. This view holds there is no right or wrong so an action is moral if the person that is doing it thinks it is. An example of both of those would be female circumcision in various cultures, where in that culture they feel that actions was moral, but to us it is not. People cannot judge that culture’s moral actions based on their own culture, but instead that culture has to be judged on its own terms. An example of ethnic relativism is the saying that the US using an atomic bomb on Japan was not morally wrong because the US viewed their actions as moral.
 * __Reflection 6 Post: Cultural/Ethical Relativism__**

2) For a society that is as pluralistic as ours, ethnic relativism is not a desirable way to think about moral issues. For one thing, this theory holds that there is no right or wrong in terms of moral principles and issues. No matter what moral action somebody takes, as long as it is right to the person performing the action it is assumed to be okay. This means that nobody else can tell a person what he or she did is morally wrong, because this theory takes out the objectivity in moral issues. The implications for this are that people can harm anybody else and take any negative action towards other people and groups as long as they can justify it to themselves. Nobody else can stop that person or punish that person for their behavior because there is no such thing as right or wrong, or moral/ethical issues. In addition, this idea kind of contradicts itself because the text talks about how there is no objective right or wrong in society, and it is wrong for someone to feel the opposite way. This idea or statement is very objective in itself because it is an opinionated statement based on that person’s ideas. It is wrong for them to say there is no objectivity if they are saying that in an objective way.

3) In terms of teaching about the Nazi war crimes in History, the idea of ethical relativism makes it almost impossible for a meaningful discussion/analysis to take place. Since this theory says there is essentially no moral right or wrong, then there is no way any of the Nazis can be blamed for their actions in the killings of millions of people. This whole topic is based on ethical issues because of the simple fact that the Nazis were tried in courts based on their ethical decisions in the Holocaust. There is no need to even discuss this whole issue if nobody can be blamed because it takes away the two sides of the story. All we could say is the actions the Nazi criminals took were moral because they thought it was. Nobody can argue for what they did being wrong because right and wrong is thrown out the window in ethical relativism. There cannot be a analysis or debate when there is only one side to the story. In addition, this theory would teach students that they can take any moral action they want as long as they think it is okay. This is a horrible thought because that would let them believe violence and other harmful behaviors would have no consequences.

1) On an emotional level, there were many things that caught my attention. First of all, I felt pretty comforted after one of the panelists talked about how us as interns will still have a life outside of the classroom despite what people have told us. She was talking about how she still had time to have a boyfriend and still enjoy some of the hobbies she had. This made me feel good because I was kinda worried about having to devot all my time to just teaching next year. On the contrary, I was kinda worried after hearing about how I would have to retake the teaching tests if I wanted to get certified in a different state, in which I will want to. I am not a very good standardized test taker and I am having trouble with the MTTC test the first time, so I am worried about the test being a little different than the one in Michigan. Also, Joel said he ended up spending a ton of money just retaking those tests again to get certified. In addition, I felt kinda happy too about the fact that all of the panelists ended up getting to where they wanted to be in teaching, even though they all had different paths to get there. That makes me feel better knowing that I can end up getting a job in teaching or counseling even though I am taking a little bit unique route to getting there.
 * __Reflection 7: Teaching Panel__**

2) One a professional level, what really stood out to me was the fact that I now understand the importance of getting to know other teachers and faculty members in the school I am working at. This will help me to create networks with other people as a way to get ideas on how to create more effective and creative lesson plans, how to maybe deal with disciplining issues with students or parents, and just people I can turn to in times of discomfort or stress from the job. In addition, another good piece of advice the panelists discussed is how to deal with parents. One of the panelists told us to just be very direct with parents on telling them where you stand, and letting that sit with the parents, without saying too much. She said we need to develop that critical wait time where we just put the ball on the parents court and let what we say sink in with them. Also, one of the panelists talked about the importance of putting your foot down when disciplining a student, in terms of if you say your going to hand out a certain punishment the first time, make sure you follow through with that because if you dont, the student will just walk all over you in the future because they know your fake and that you will probably not follow through the second or third times.

3) In terms of my obersvations of the panelists, all of them seemed to all be very comfortable and confident in front of people. This is probably because they are all teachers and are used to that, but they all talked very slowly and gave all of us good eye contact while they were speaking. They also were exciting speakers and kept me interested in what they had to say. In addition, they all seemed to be about the same age and are at similiar points in there lives. Specfically, I mean that two of the panelists at least have babies at home and are married. They talked about this and it shows in how they view teaching in the same manner because of their similiar life circumstances. Also, most if not all of the panelists seemed to have experience or are from different parts of the country. Joel said he lived in Illinois for a while or grew up there, and one of the ladies said she went to school out in California while playing volleyball. Also, Andy said he lived in multiple states and taught for a while down in North Carolina. This gives them all different experiences that people from only Michigan would not have. In addition, they all seem to have similiar teaching styles in terms of how they like to teach and the instruction they use. They also seem to all be in extracirricular activities whether that is sports or club/culture events.

4) I feel I aspire to be like or most look up to Andy, because he taught down in North Carolina for a while, which is the exact place I would like to live someday or teach. He also seemed to have this very relaxed more soft spoken deamenor about him that is more similiar to my personality. He is not a big guy either physically, which is like me. These traits are what I can relate to because I am like that, so my teaching philosophy or instruction will probably most likely be similiar to his. In addition, he came up to me after class and asked me about my question. I had asked how long it takes usually to get comfortable in front of the class, and he said he is kind of a shy person too and it takes him a while to get used to being around a class full of strangers, no matter how young they are. This gave me a little more of an attachment and connection to him because I realized how he is similiar to me and he cared enough to come up to me and aske me about my question. he told me to email him with any other concerns I have, and I really felt he was an easy person to talk to.

I plan on teaching the terrible to my students through a specific way that will cause them to have an ejoyable, educational learing experience. First of all, I would start out the topic by giving them a heads-up lecture or discussion about the possible stories/emotions/or facts that they will be learning about. I feel this would be important because I do not want the students to be shocked and have all these negative reactions/feelings that they were not prepared for or expecting. If I have a conversation with them about what they may experience, it gives them a chance to prepare for the worst so it won't be as big of a deal to them if they do experience those feelings/thoughts. Secondly, I will hold an open-ended discussion in which I will ask the students how they feel about learning this types of information, and any background knowlegde they may have in the past about the issues I am about to present to them. This will give me a sense of the mood of the classroom and the maturity level of the students in how I feel they will react to certain issues. This will guide my teaching because because if I know that a lot of my students tell me they are very sensitive to these kinds of issues or that they have a certain ethnic/cultural background that makes this information hard for them to take, then I know whether to tone down certain issues or where I can go into more detail on. If I know the students are pretty mature and can handle this stuff, then I can give them the information full-blown.
 * __Reflection 8: Teaching the Terrible__**

I would also have the students take home some sort of a permission slip to their parents to make them sign, just in case they have any objections to any of the movies/photographs/or pictures that may really go against a particular religion or culture. I feel this will save me some trouble with parents in the end because I do not want them getting mad at me later and say that I was teaching their kids this information. If they agree up front, then at least I can defend myself by telling them that I warned them beforehand. At least they cannot get mad at me about not telling them. After, probably on the second day, I will finally start getting into the actual material. I will begin by showing them a pretty emotional movie clip or some sort of pictures that really grab their attention and make them feel something strong towards the material. I feel this is important because this will get the students really hooked onto the material in an emotional way so they will more likely remember it or be more engaged because striking their emotions will usually get kids to want to pay attention and care about what is going on. This would be similiar to the Band of Brothers clip you showed us in class. After the clip, I will just let that clip simmer with the students for a few minutes by just sitting there and having a silent moment. This will really allow the information they saw to sink in with them and gives them more time to think about what they just saw.

After, i will just have a discussion with the students about what they just saw, and ask for volunteers to talk about their feelings and thougths about the clip. In order to deal with students who do not seem to care about this stuff, in case they do pushback or say this stuff is stupid, I will directly talk to them about the issue and ask why does this not matter to you? I would just ask them questions like that to find out why they are so apathetic, but not in a confrontational manner or by getting mad at them. When I do eventually go into the facts about nitty-gritty issues, I will make sure to keep my personal feelings and emotions out of the process because I do not want to offend anybody or sound subjective in any way that I am teaching the material. I do not want to push my feelings and beliefs onto anybody else, but instead I want the students to think for themselves and develop their own beliefs on this stuff.

Finally, I would try to give the students the information from every viewpoint and every side to the issue. I do not want to paint anybody out as a bad-guy, and say this specific person is to blame, but just make the students aware of who did what and why it happened. I would want to present the story from all different angles and from different side's perspectives so they do not only have a narrow view of how something took place and just start putting blame on one party or person. I would make the students aware of the context of what happened so they can maybe realize that what happened might have made sense or wasnt 100% horrible for those times. But at the same time, like Hitler for example in the Holocaust, I would not justify his actions, but just help the students understand the context of why he did what he did and his viewpoint on why he did it, so they might get more a well-rounded and thourough understanding of the whole issue. Therefore, I feel by avoiding all these other perspectives or contexts, it would give the students only a very close-minded interpretation of what happened in the event, which would only make them more likely to blame and wouldnt be as accurate. In addition, I feel sometimes that emotion distracts learners, because their minds are too focused on being sad over these issues, that they do not pay attention to the facts or information I am presenting to them. This is why I would try not to overload their minds with too much emotion all the time

__Reflection 9: Reflection on Micro-teaching__ Overall, I feel my microteaching went very well during class. I did my micro teaching on the Haitian Revolution, and I chose to do a drawing activity where the students got into groups of 4-5 and had to draw a colorful picture of the article they had to read. This article was the same for all the groups, and they got to have the whole hour do read and draw their picture. At the end of their drawings, I had each group stand up and present the meaning of their picture and why they chose to draw what they drew. While the students were drawing their pictures, I was walking around the class helping any group that needed any help. Also, me and Justin talked about my lesson while the students were doing the activity. At the very beginning as a hook activity, I asked the students if they knew what the Haitian Revolution was. This was to get the students in the mindset to think about the revolution, and got them awake to know they have to do some thinking.

There were a few negative aspects of my lesson, or things I would change for next time. For one thing, I feel that I should have had the students in different groups read different parts of the article. I could have had one group read the introduction of the article, one group read the causes of the revolution, for example. I feel this would have been better because the article was pretty long and hard to read, so it took the students a long time to read the article. This gave them less time to do their drawings, and made it even harder for them to know what to draw because they had a over whelming amount of information in their heads. Also, I feel that I should have walked around to different groups and helped them more. I was too passive when they were doing the activity because I was afraid to butt in too much on the students work. I should have asked them what their ideas more. I think this also has to do with the fact that I am more of a passive and shy person so i didnt feel comfortable talking to much to the groups as a whole, because I would have been the center of attention. in addition, I feel I should have talked a little bit louder and had more of a teaching presence.

In terms of the positive aspects of my lesson, I feel that I was very creative in terms of my lesson of having the students draw. I felt it was a good idea because it is fun for students to draw, and it meant they didnt have to be bored by another lecture. Also, it really helped the students learn better because they are directly involved in the learning process by drawing. Plus, their drawings are personal to them because they are drawing what they want to draw. I could tell that the students were having a very fun time drawing the pictures because they were laughing the whole time. Also, I felt at the beginning it was a good idea to ask the students if they knew anything about the haitian revolution. It really got the students thinking and knowing they had to pay attention. __** 4 Lesson Plans **__ __**Cooperative Lesson Plan**__

Simulation/Role Play Lesson Plan

Discussion/Debate Lesson Plan

Student-Directed Project Lesson Plan

__**Humanities Lesson Plan**__ These are the pictures I would use for the activity __resume and cover letter__ __classroom procedures and rationale__
 * __ 4 Artifacts of Instructional Strategy __**

__**Student Directed Portfolio**__
 * __ 4 Artifacts of Teaching __**

__**Modules for minor lab**__