Spring+Semester+Posts

Sunday 4/29/12

__Final Wiki Post:__ Consider and reflect on your micro-teaching, even critiquing it. Give a “+”, “delta,” and “-” in 3 paragraphs. Due by Sunday 8pm (Stock Champion is exempt).

Overall, I think my microteaching went pretty well. I was happy with the way I presented myself and my teacher voice. I was able to stay away from using "um" and "like" which was something I have been working on all year. I think that the video I chose for the lesson worked really well in context. I was a little unsure that the students would be interested in the video, but they really enjoyed it in the lesson. Lastly, I think that my presentation of the content was well done. I was able to stay focused and keep the content simple enough for the students to understand.

My lesson has some negative aspects that went along with the positives. First, I think that my slide had too many words on them and may have been overwhelming. I did not really have a lot of pictures and visual aides to help students learn the content. I should have tried to engage students more during the lecture so that they would not become bored hearing me talk. Lastly, I did not move around the classroom enough and did not engage with the students enough.

Many of my deltas go hand in hand with my negatives. I think that it would have been helpful if I had split my slides into more slides, with less words, that were easier to pay attention to. I could have emphasized that what I was presenting was only one way to become an American citizen and that paths to citizenship may look very different in other countries. I could have explained the sources of my information better and had the students discuss the bias that exist with the sources. Finally, I could have added more citizenship questions at the end because those seemed to be very popular. Monday 4/16/12 How will you handle 'teaching the terrible'?

As Social Studies teachers it is inevitable that we will someday have to 'teach the terrible' to our students. We will have students of varying ages anywhere between 12-18 and we will have to know how to teach the terrible to students at different education and maturity levels. Teaching the terrible involves us a teachers thinking about how our students might react, anticipating apathy and puch-back, as-well-as understanding how our students might percieve the content. We have to develop ways to deliver the terrible so that our own personnal bias' are as hushed as possible. Finally, we need to think about 'teaching the terrible' in a way most suitable to our students' needs and through the appropriate learning strategy.

When 'teaching the terrible' it is very important to use a learning strategy and tailor instruction appropriatly to the content. In my opinion, I think that introductory lesson on the terrible should be led by the teacher so there is a strong level of control of the content. Lecture/Direct Instruction would be usefull to fufill this purpose. Likewise, I beleive that videos are a very good way to teach the terrible because they illustrate concepts that are often hard to imagine. Videos make the terrible more human, more personable, which an help the students understand and feel empathy.

It is also important when 'teaching the terrible' for the teacher to keep their own bias and others' bias out of the content. I beleive that it is almost impossible to stay unbias when talking about the terrible, and eveyone should have an opinion, but as educators we need to present facts and allow our students to have reactions and opinions. When you try to teach the terrible without bias you are trying to prevent alienation from any student(s) that may hold a special position related to the content. It is very important to consider language use as a means to supress your own personnal feelings when it comes to the terrible. As teachers we have to know our bias and conciously work to direct instruction in a way that will not transfer our own personnal feelings to our students.

Lastly, when 'teaching the terrible' it is crucial to monitor students' reactions and be flexible based on how students respond to the content. The teacher must be attentive to students' feelings and emotions. They must have a plan if students get emotion as a response to the content. Teacher may allow students to leave the classroom, reflect individually in silence, or talk out what they are feeling in small groups or as a class. The teacher must also be able to alter the lesson based on students' reactions. You may have a long in depth lesson planned but after a while you can tell the students are emotionally drained. If this happens the teacher may need to scrap the rest of their plans and find ways for the class to decompress and reflect on what they have learned and how they feel.

Sunday 4/8/12 reflect aloud (or “e-loud” if you will) about Monday’s teacher panel. Respond thoughtfully (e.g. in handsome & articulate paragraphs) to the following prompt about some profound “take-aways” you had from the panelists. __Respond to 4 of the 6 options__.

__ A - On an EMOTIONAL level, what especially comforted, troubled, excited, frustrated, or (other emotion) … you? __ On an emotional level comforted when hearing the panel talk about their experiences as teachers. It was comforting in that they seemed like everyday people who I could relate too and it made me less tense and nervous about stepping in front of a class full time. I was comforted when they said that were are not going to get it all right all the time and that we will struggle and be overwhelmed during our internship year. I think hearing this from experienced teachers is refreshing because it helps to calm some of my nerves and anxiety about next year. Listening to the panel also made me feel very excited for next year and to start teaching full time. __ B - On a PROFESSIONAL level, what insights especially stood out to you? __ I especially liked some of the advice the panel had about dealing with parents. I particularly liked how the panel suggested calling home with good news on students throughout the year. I think this is a wonderful way to connect parents, students, and the teacher and help build classroom community and confidence in students. I like how the panel suggested that we email updates to parents when important things are coming up in the classroom such as tests, quizzes, big assignments ,etc. With emailing parents, we as teachers can keep the parents informed and cover all our bases by making students and parents informed on what needs to be done when. I also found it particularly helpful when the panel mentioned finding out from parents the best way to contact them. I had never thought to ask parents how they would like to be contacted and think it is a very good idea to figure out how they want to be contacted that way you have the best chance of reaching them. __ C - Making OBSERVATIONS, what traits did the panelist appear to have in common and/or differ on? __ I think that all the panelists seemed to be very friendly, open, optimistic people. These are key traits that, in my opinion, they all shared and in which I believe makes them great teachers. As a teacher I think it is very important to maintain an optimistic, friendly personality in order to have an upbeat atmosphere in your classroom. They also all seemed to be confident in their abilities as teachers which I believe would automatically reflect into a good classroom presence. Lastly, all of the teachers seemed to have a genuine love of teaching and love for students. It was easy to tell that they all cared a great deal about their students and were very invested in their success in school. This to me is something that is crucial to being a good teacher and to reaching young students. __ F - VISION CASTING: How did this panel help you think about your future "legacy" or teacher identity? __ I think that the people on the panel set a very good example of what I want to be like as a teacher. I want to be fun, open, optimistic, and friendly. I want to be a teacher that builds good relationships with students and with parents. I want to be able to have the inevitable embarrassing moments in class and laugh them off. I want to model good classroom behavior like all of the teachers on the panel in order to maintain classroom order. I want to be able to build relationships with my colleagues and use them as valuable resources within my school. Lastly, I learned from the four panel teachers, that I want to be the type of teacher who can reflect on my own behaviors and teaching practices and decide what was good, bad, and what needs to be improved on.

Friday 3/30/12 __A. What is the difference between cultural relativism and ethical relativism? Give an example of each.__ According to the text, cultural relativism is the belief that there is a fundamental diversity in moral principles and ethical relativism states that moral principles come from people themselves. The difference between the two is that cultural relativism determines what is moral based on the cultural norms and that ethical relativism determines morality based on an individual persons view of morality. An example of cultural relativism would be the treatment of women in some Islamic countries where in those places it is moral and acceptable, but to us the laws can seem immoral and unacceptable. An example of ethical relativism would be saying that the Nazis were ultimately not immoral because they viewed their actions as moral. __B. In a pluralistic society such as ours, why or why not is ethical relativism a desirable way to think about ethical issues?__ Ethical relativism is not a desirable way to think about ethical issues because it ultimately argues that there is no "right" or "wrong" and therefore, nobody can decide what is moral or ethical. Thinking like this enables people to harm society, people, etc. without being blamed or held accountable for their actions. Ethical relativism rules out all objectivity and reference points which can lead to confusion in deciding morality and ethics. Finally, ethical relativism is troublesome because it is claiming that there is no such thing as objectivity while at the same time being objective. In the text it is stated that, "ethical relativism essentially says it is correct to affirm there is no universal or objective right and wrong and it is incorrect to assume the opposite; this assertion is ultimately problematic since the claim being made is objective." __C. Specifically thinking about "teaching the terrible" in Social Studies classrooms, how might ethical relativism prevent (or enable, if you can make that argument) a meaningful analysis of events such as the war crimes of the Nazi regime?__ When you are "teaching the terrible" in Social Studies classrooms, specifically the Nazi war crimes, ethical relativism can prevent a meaningful analysis because it does away with a general morality and therefore closes discussion. When teaching about Nazi war crimes it is essential to look at ethics because the Nazi war criminals were tried on ethical charges. Ethics is often inseperable when dicussing this piece of history. When ethical relativism is applied to this content, it takes away the role of the perpetrator and even more troubling is that it takes away the role of the victims. To say that the Nazis were doing what they thought was right and therefore what they did way okay would encourage and promote hatred based on ingnorance and individual prejudices. That is ultimately why ethical relativism can harm a discussion while "teaching the terrible."

Friday 3/2/12 Ms. Noffsinger has many strengths and many areas with room for improvement as a teacher. She started this school year having little experience when it came to teaching. She was new and had to learn along the way how to become a great teacher. It was immediately clear to all of the students that Ms. Noffsinger had a passion for teaching and for reaching out to us as individuals. She seemed to really care about her students and was very invested in seeing them succeed. She fit in really well as a new member of the school community and she became very involved with the community inside and outside of the school.

Ms. Noffsinger was very good at creating a warm, respectful classroom environment where we could all participate openly and get the most out of our learning. She set very clear rules for what behavior would, and would not, be accepted and allowed us to give our input into what we thought rules for the classroom should be. She was really able to help me learn the content because she presented the material in so many different ways. She would use pictures, songs, videos, PowerPoints, readings, prezi, etc. which all really helped us to understand the content better than in our other classes. She was very good at creating fun, engaging, and different lessons for topics so that we were not doing the same thing every day.

Ms. Noffsinger could improve on her classroom management a little more. Sometimes she did not discipline students enough or was not firm enough in her rules. She needs to be sure to keep control of the classroom and not let students goof off or take advantage of her gentle nature. She could also do a better job of making the learning relatable to our lives because sometimes we do not care about social studies. If she was able to connect us to the content a little better we would be able to understand the material and have fun at the same time.

Overall, Ms. Noffsinger was a very caring, organized, innovative, and creative teacher. I really enjoyed having her because I knew she cared about my success in school and I knew she loved teaching social studies. I can tell that with more practice and experience she will be a great teacher and will really help many students like myself.

Sunday 2/26/12 A) Highlight 2 specific teaching strategies/techniques that were used to teach content.

Cuong used many different teaching strategies and techniques to teach the content about Vietnam and the Vietnam War. He used a lot of cooperative learning as part of his instruction. The cooperative learning was designed to get the students involved in the learning process and working together to formulate ideas and concepts. Cuong also used simulation/role-play to get the students into the midset of different people and groups that were important during the Vietnam War. The goal was to get the students thinking about the mulitple perspectives from which we should study the Vietnam War.

B) What do you think was effective about the teaching methods and activities?

I think the use of cooperative learning throughout the lesson was very effective because it enabled us to collaborate with our classmates and reach a better understanding of the content. Most of us did not have an extensive understanding of the content so when we were able to work with our classmates on defining what certaint things were and deveolping an understanding of different terms it was much easier and much more effective. The simulation/role-play portion of the lesson was very effective in that it enabled us as students to understand the many different perspectives of people during the Vietnam War. It forced us to research and understand the facts surrounding a viewpoint/perspective and then argue as if we were a person within that group. This is an excellent activity that forces students to understand the content, argue a position, and stand behind that posititon even if it is not one they would normally agree on.

C) What adaptations could have been made if this lesson is taught to different groups of students (college students, middle school students, etc)?

I think if you were teaching this lesson to younger students it would be beneficial to structure the debate/role-play/simulation activity a little more. I would have clearer guidlines as to what needs to be talked about and I would maybe not have as many groups so as not to make the debate confusing. I would also structure the group work a little more for younger students so I would require them to obtain specific information on a topic and present that information in a specific way. For older students I would maybe require more higher order thinking and discussion about the conflict. I think there is a lot of material that can be discussed extensively and with older students you could have a good discussion/debate about the issues surrounding the Vietnam War.

Wednesday 2/15/12 ** Choice 1 **

- 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).”

a) What do the authors have in mind for education to be responsive to prepare students for a globalized world?

b) What do you find especially helpful or troubling about the claims being made? A) For education to be responsive to prepare students for a globalized world the authors Kasai and Merryfield have several things in mind. First, they emphasize the importance of multiple perspectives being taught in the classroom. The use of multiple perspectives they argue is a good way to teach important historical events and content while infusing a global education. Next, they emphasize the importance of global interconnectedness as part of a classroom that seeks to foster global education. This is they argue helps teach students how to understand people, ideas, and events across different levels of time and in different parts of the world. This global interconnectedness they would say is what helps us develop our worldviews and "rests upon the recognition of commonalities and connections across time and space." Next, they emphasize the importance of teaching about global issues as a way to synthesize content with current affairs and as a way to get students thinking critically about their place in the world. Lastly, they emphasize cross-cultural experiences where the goal is to enable students to work effectively with people from different backgrounds, places, and cultures.

B) I find the claims they make to be very helpful in that they seem like really good ways to teach material and connect that material to the bigger global picture at the same time. I do not find the claims and suggestions they make to be too daunting or undo-able. I think that the suggestions are easy ways to bring a higher level of thinking and understanding into the classroom. The world is very diverse and getting more diverse as the years go by and it is becoming crucial to someones success in life that they are able to work with diverse groups of people and understand and appreciate their place in a global community. Often, this is not something that people are going to be able to learn effectively on their own and I think it is important for teachers to foster education that emphasizes being a citizen at the local, state, country, and global level.

Monday 1/23/12

The most important thing when it comes to grading students on group work is to be sure that the grades hold each student accountable for their own work but they also reflect how well the group was able to work together. I really like the idea of having clear assigned roles when working in groups and having students write down who should be working on each specific part. In my opinion this is a great way to keep each student accountable for their own work and a great way for the group to get organized before they begin a project/assignment. It is also important that all students be able to assess their group members and give a report on how well they thought the group worked together. To complete this part of the assessment I would use a rating system that would require each person to write the names of their group members and then rate how they think they contributed according to the scale. The teachers job will be to grade each student individually based on their portion of the assignment. The group grades will serve as an indicator of how the students are working together and will help the teacher gauge how effective the cooperative learning activities are for the class. The following is a rough sample of an assessment sheet that I would have each student fill out as part of our group assignment on the Election in class.

Group and Self Assessment Rubric

Assignment: Candidates/Election

The following are the tasks for this assignment. Please assign each group member to their own task and fill in the names of the assigned individuals below. In the space provided for each task please use the following scale to assign a score for how well you thought each group member was able to work as part of the group to complete the assignment/project.

3: Student worked well with all members of the group, was able to effectively complete their portion of the project, and contributed greatly to the creation and completion of the final product.

2: Student worked well with some members of the group but was not always able to work effectively with group members, completed their portion of the project but was not always focused and working on their assigned task, and minimally contributed to the creation and completion of the final product.

1: Student did not work well with members of the group, was unable to effectively complete their portion of the project, and hardly contributed to the creation and completion of the final product.

Task #1: (student name here), (student score here) What are the key issues?? Difference between a Caucus & Primary? Present & record for group.

Task #2: (student name here), (student score here) Summarize or explain the platform: Mitt Romney

Task #3: (student name here), (student score here)

Summarize or explain the platform:Rick Perry

Task #4: (student name here), (student score here) Summarize or explain the platform:Newt Gingrich

Task #5: (student name here), (student score here) Summarize or explain the platform:Rick Santorum

Task #6: (student name here), (student score here) Summarize or explain the platform:Ron Paul

Task #7: (student name here), (student score here) Summarize or explain the platform:Barack Obama (Obama/Biden)

Wednesday 1/18/12

1 . How specifically does the text establish the significance of Media?

The text is very specific in how it establishes the significance of Media. The text first tries to establish an understanding and definition of media literacy in order to emphasize how important media literacy is today. The text defines media literacy as "the ability to access, analyze, and evaluate media messages, in addition to the ability to use media to effectively communicate." In finding a definition of media literacy the text is trying to convince us of the importance of this type of literacy and therefore the significance of the Media. The author argues that it is in social studies where media literacy is most logically located and where media is most significant and can be used to enhance learning and understanding. The text is very aware of how significant media is in the lives of students throughout the U.S. and uses this as a foundation for developing media literacy and techniques to use media in classroom activities. The text argues the significance of media by explaining how influential it can be on our lives without us even realizing it. The author seeks to not only educate students on the availability and prevalence of the media but to also make students think critically about all media sources in order to be able to protect themselves from manipulation.

2. Develop an idea to share of a lesson you would like to teach that uses/presents a film (of any genre) to explain (a) a time period; (b) a cultural/social/political point; (c) a biography; or (d) an idea or concept.

One film I really like and think would be a wonderful film to use in a classroom is the film [|Conspiracy]. It is a film that portrays the Wannsee Conference during WWII and the beginnings of the Nazi Final Solution. It would be best used when talking about the Holocaust and the Final Solution. The film is filled with lots of information and depicts some very important historical figures relating to Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. An interesting activity to complete while watching the movie could be to have students focus on one of the characters/historical figures and try to understand what their arguments were and why their positions within Nazi Germany may have made them act the way they did at the conference. It would also be really interesting to use the movie to start a discussion on euphemisms and there prevalence during World War II and especially the Holocaust. It would be a wonderful stepping stone for defining euphemism and thinking of examples from today and pulling examples used in the movie. The movie depicts a very important historical event in a way that is entertaining and informative.