Melanie+Borson

(Artifacts are below the Spring Responses; in between the Spring and Fall)!


 * SPRING SEMESTER RESPONSES**

Response for 4/29/12

Microteaching and reflecting gives us the opportunity as future teachers to test out how an actual lesson would be and see how we could alter the lesson or keep it for future use. I found it helpful to execute a lesson in front of my peers and other future teachers because they noticed little aspects about my teaching style that I could not realize myself. My lesson plan on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was meant to be at the end of a unit to review and analyze different peace making attempts between the parties. I think that my teacher presence was strong and the class was attentive and engaged through the lesson. The use of primary sources allowed the class to be exposed to different news resources and apply critical thinking skills to answer responsive questions as well as forming their own suggestion and opinion on the issue. Assigning conferences from different points in time allowed the class to see how the conflict persisted and evolved over time.

Many of the suggestions that my classmates had after my microteach really allowed me to think and reevaluate how I would teach this topic. Some suggestions of using different types of resources from a variety of news and media would have allowed the students to recognize a bias in the media as well as the content. Another huge "delta" I would change is trying to go back to my original lesson plan. I briefly introduced the activity that I would use in the classroom after this lesson by simulating a peace conference and allowing the students, in preassigned groups, to analyze different documents from throughout history from one particular party then I would facilitate a peace conference. I was not confident enough to try this approach but when my classmates said how much they would have liked it I regret that I did not use this time as an opportunity to try out that lesson so I could potentially master it for the future.

One major negative/"delta" that I recognized was that I did not consider how the students would take notes. I assumed that people would but I should have created a chart for them to fill in or a graphic organizer so they had a way to pick out the important information from others' presentations and would in turn have a structured and organized base of notes. The exit card of a new fact they learned from a different group's presentation did not go as smoothly as i imagined because they were not warned to take notes on others presenting. Another negative aspect that I thought about, and our teacher and intern panels touched on, is classroom demeanor and when to act more strict or like a friend. I was nervous to appear to passive in front of my peers since our class has formed such a great community feeling and we have all become friends so when I went to teach I was focused so much on being a strong and authoritative figure to take on the teacher role that I think I seemed maybe //too// tough.

From these negatives, however, I think that I have already reflected and learned about how I can make these changes to have better results from the lesson. I even read back on my first reflection from microteaching from Gerardo's class back in October and I can see how I have already made changes in my teacher personality, teaching style, and how I analyze my teaching. This course and the microteaching exercises have given my the opportunity to grow as a teacher and I feel more confident going into my internship year having already felt like I've taught a successful lesson.

Reminder --> this was my microteaching lesson plan and powerpoint

Response for 4/16/12

Teaching the terrible is something that I have anticipated and thought about, but I think the instruction will change depending on the classroom dynamic and the students. First and foremost it is important to think about the topic and acknowledge our own outlook on what is being taught. This can help predict some feelings that students might have or help to realize our own bias that may exist. Also it may give a way to make the content more real and help us understand how to best frame and teach the information.

The students level of engagement and maturity can impact the lesson. If the students in the classroom have shown they are mature enough to handle difficult or uncomfortable topics then it allows the teacher to present the material in more in depth ways that could evoke real and strong emotions from the students. However, if the students are not as mature then the content would have a more limited scope in terms of means to present or show events. For example, in a lesson like our own classes on the Holocaust if students in a high school class showed high levels of maturity then to understand the content photos and video clips that were more graphic and detailed could be used to show just how brutal the conditions were and the students would likely have some emotional feelings in response to what they saw. If the class was not as mature then I think using primary documents such as letters or a narrative that does not present as many harsh details would be a nice way to make the content real because they would see from a person's point of view without being bombarded by images or details that would make them uncomfortable and resistant to respond.

Emotions that may arise from teaching the terrible events range from deep and heart-wrenching empathy to feelings of guilt or confusion. I think that it is really important to get feedback as the lesson goes on, whether it is asking the class or having them fill out an exit card if they want it to be private, but that way a teacher can track with the students to see how the material is being handled and how the students are feeling about these difficult issues. This can help shape the lessons for the next day or also let the teacher know if they need to present the content in a different means to help the students have a deeper understanding and make sure they are taking away the important messages and information. Apart from everyday feedback I think that when teaching terrible topics that any outlet for students to share their feelings on the issues, like a response paper or answering questions with an emotional component, can give students time to digest and process what they've learned and allow a personal reaction.

There are a number of aspects that a teacher should consider about the students maturity and how they will react but I think that making the content "real" is a huge part of what makes this topics so difficult to teach but usually memorable for the students. In a discipline where we are supposed to be shaping future citizens and encouraging critical thinking it gives us the opportunity to work on personal development with the students that grows from experiencing and dealing with their emotions and feelings with events and issues that existed or still exist in the world. To help reach this level teachers have a huge variety of resources that they can find and use to make the information "real" for the students by examining primary documents, showing fairly accurate adaptations like films, analyzing other forms of media from the time period an event occurred in, going on a field trip, making connections to other terrible issues or events, and so on. Whatever means makes the particular event more real in the eyes of the students will help them to process and understand and this can lend to the development of their personal character and deeper understanding of the world.

Response for 4/8/12

A - On an emotional level, the teacher panel left me feeling comforted and secure. Many of the nerves that I have been feeling about having a certain teacher identity or finding a job died down when each of the teachers spoke of their individual stories in the beginning with their background. I feel like many of them have different dispositions and histories and to see how they were able to be successful, despite the struggle, made me feel less nervous for trying to find a long-term job as a teacher. I felt like I could just accept that finding a place will be difficult and require a lot of hard work and dedication but to see how happy they were in their places made me remember why I wanted to be a teacher in the first place and just made me less nervous and more excited for this phase in our lives.

B - On a professional level, the insights that stood out to me stem directly from my first response about how I felt after hearing their background stories and finding jobs. Some of the suggestions they made or just a part of their history that I took away were the importance of making connections during our next year of student-teaching and not being afraid to get our name out there with others in the building and district. I always knew it was important to take time and form these relationships but after hearing about how Allison was able to teach in her same district after forming those connections I see that it truly could provide an opportunity and make a difference for us, too. Also, the option of getting a masters degree or another degree on top of our teacher certification is there and I found it valuable to see how it had a positive influence on Allison and Colleen initially finding a job. On a separate note, I really enjoyed hearing about how they make connections with their students on a personal level and take the time during the first few weeks of school to get to know the students and build a strong classroom community.

D - Personally I really enjoyed hearing tips and stories from the teachers and I would have loved to hear more from them on aspects like keeping up with modern technology in the classroom or integrating things like current events or community that helps the students to interact more with their own society and community. I feel like we have heard a few ideas but to hear from people doing the day to day teacher it could make it more realistic to see if it causes issues or problems in a district or interferes too much with standards or any other obstacles that may come about. Or if they were simply able to execute these types of lessons successfully and how their students liked/disliked it.

F - Throughout this course I think my personal teacher identity has definitely developed but I think next year working in a school from the start of the year that it will truly take form. Each of these teachers seemed very different in their own teaching style whether it was more direct instruction but classroom community allowed the students to respect them or just being on the same level of the students and creating new and interesting activities to interact with information. Right after class last Monday I left thinking about how my classroom would look in terms of classroom procedure and management, types of instruction, etc. and it gave me a better idea of how important it is to have these thoughts before next year so that our students will see how we operate from the beginning. I also began to think about how to adapt in a different environment or whether I would need to or what other obstacles may come up that will impact and shape how I teach and how my classroom functions.

Response for 3/30/12

A. The main difference between cultural relativism and ethical relativism is, while both acknowledge a variety of moral principles, only ethical relativism takes this a step further to claim that the differences in moral principles do not converge and they are related to the individual. An example might be, in the context of religion, that ethical relativists could view religion by each individual practicing the religion they choose and cultural relativist could view religion of that person as influenced by their culture.

B. I think that ethical relativism is a desirable way to think about ethical issues because I think that in a typical group of people that although moral issues, such as abortion or same-sex marriage, can be viewed in a variety of ways. There is not always a yes or no answer and it is not merely shaped by cultural setting or community. Views on many moral principles can be seen on a spectrum and each individual may have a slightly different understanding. This is a nice view about ethical issues because our stances and beliefs are changing as we think and this makes it that much harder to be objective because of the distinction between fact and value.

C. Ethical relativism could definitely prevent a meaningful analysis of terrible events in a social studies classroom and I think one way to examine this is by noticing our own classroom discussion. Even when we allowed ourselves to not be as objective and actually feel something when talking about such a sensitive topic some people, myself included, chose not to share our ideas with our classmates. By holding back that could hinder a meaningful analysis of the Holocaust because some feelings we had or others that were not shared could have sparked something in other people and our discussion could have gone other ways. People definitely hold their own moral principles in discussions that talk about these types of moral issues because they might not understand, have personal experiences, and other influences that shape their own feelings about a certain topic like this. Different feelings were evoked, or not evoked, by the clip shown and others drew their thoughts to making comparisons in current events or to class last week. Overall, I think that ethical relativism, if I am understanding it correctly, primarily explains why a meaningful analysis of the Holocaust was prevented in our own classroom discussion, and it is important that we realize those types of frameworks in our own classrooms so we can learn how to encourage a more thoughtful discussion on terrible issues like this.

Response for 3/2/12

Fictional SIRS form from a student:

Ms. Borson taught us social studies from a different way that we have learned before by showing how connected history can be to our own lives and events from other times in the past. I like the way that she taught us with personal stories to help us relate to the material and also let us share our personal stories with the class to help my classmates with something that one of us had an experience. She let us have some form of input in the activities to help us learn in different ways that we were interested in, like letting us choose for an assignment to do something with reading, music, simulation, etc. so we could pick the way we learned best.

From the beginning of class Ms. Borson seemed a little nervous as a first year teacher but we always knew that we could approach her with questions or concerns with the class and this helped us warm up to her as she warmed up to us. One of the first things we did as a a class was to get to know each other and this contributed to building out classroom community so that we could all feel comfortable sharing and learning together which made our learning environment more fun. After a while Ms. Borson tied down more on classroom management when she realized that we would do anything, like be quiet or concentrate on our assignment, if we were allowed a few minutes of time at the end of class to talk or given a special treat. And we would listen to Ms. Borson so we could get those rewards.

Ms. Borson made our learning environment fun by including different types of activities for every unit. Our classroom had a structure of seeing what we already knew before a unit, doing a project and having a final assessment but for our daily lessons we never knew what was coming at the beginning of each class. Some units we did individual projects using different medias like videos, prezis, powerpoints, or primary sources, and some units we did group projects that required everyone to bring something to the table. Of course there were exams but we knew that already going into school. Overall, Ms. Borson made our social studies class fun and interesting because we did so many different things to help us make connections to our own society.

Response for 2/26/12

Two teaching strategies that were clearly used in Cuong's lesson were cooperative learning and discussion. We worked with our classmates many times throughout the lesson; first, with a partner to look up a specific person, event, or aspect of the war, then we worked in groups to examine the video lecture from a specific perspective from a person involved in the Vietnam War. Discussion was used in the lesson after the lecture when the classroom opened up to talk about the war and each group spoke from the perspective of the person/group of people that they represented.

I think that these methods were useful for the activity and it was something different than I experienced in my education about the Vietnam War. This lesson was definitely unique in that the teacher had person experience that differed from all of ours and he made it clear that we were able to ask questions, and knowing that he had personal experience in an area that is foreign to most of us was really cool and made his take on the war very interesting. From the beginning of the lesson I noticed small techniques that were great to use in the classroom. He began by recalling our prior knowledge of wars that we knew, then assessed our knowledge of the region by examining maps, and labeled the geographic regions and the major political players in the war. Throughout these introduction activities he did not just tell us and label the people he waited for us to answer and gave appropriate wait time. In this lesson we worked individually, with a partner, and with groups. We got a basic knowledge about the war, but also used higher level thinking to understand a particular perspective from someone involved in the war. The guiding questions helped to focus our understanding during the video lecture and to better understand different dynamics of the person (ie their political stance, actions, possible other actions they could have taken). Throughout the discussion whenever there was a pause he did a good job on waiting for volunteers but then coming up with questions to make us think more and to hear from different groups on the same question.

This lesson moved pretty quickly and I could see if used in a high school classroom more than a middle school classroom. For a middle school classroom this lesson could be adjusted by using a different means than the video lecture because it moved at a fast pace and with guiding questions it would definitely be hard to follow and answer at the same time so whether it is an activity like reading a short passage or having a short lecture with basic facts and maybe guided notes or a worksheet with the questions that would follow along then it would be better for a middle school classroom. For the first part of the activity with the 14 terms working with a partner to define I think that a worksheet could have been given out with the terms and a place to write or have everyone write them down before then when the pairs read about the term they were in charge they can summarize into a few words or a sentence and everyone can write it down for their notes. In a high school class I think that the video lecture would be really cool for them to watch and that activity would have worked really well but then after it is done just making sure that the class understood all of the different perspectives rather than the one that their group was in charge of to make sure they can see the conflict from many perspectives.

Response for 2/15/12

(choice 1) 1. The authors believe that for education to be responsive to prepare students for a globalized world that students need to utilize their real-life skills, learn more about the world, and expand their perspective to a global viewpoint when looking at any event or issue. The authors suggest that students need to see the world from "the other's" perspective and truly take on that view to understand an issue/event from a viewpoint that differs from their own and this requires higher-order thinking. They also suggest using interconnectedness to help the students make connections from issues and events to ones that they may be more familiar with or those of our present world. This notion suggests that students can learn to think globally by making connections across different historical time periods or just different cultural or regional groups of people and this contributes to the "worldmindedness" that we, as teachers, should be trying to help our students develop. It is necessary for students to understand the dynamic tendency of conflict so that they can make connections between conflicts that occur at different times or a conflict that has an impact on future conflicts or an impact on a different society. One suggestion that the authors make for helping students to better understand and work with global issues is to directly interact with those of different cultures. This makes it realistic and, in turn, the students have a deeper understanding and experience with the material that they are covering. Overall, I think that the authors argue that for students to be responsive in a globalized world that in their education they need to examine global issues and events and make connections, examine from different perspectives, and truly interact with a variety of different cultural aspects to develop a greater understanding of our global society.

2. Personally, I find that these suggestions are great goals to have in mind, especially as social studies teachers, because it helps to develop the thinking skills of the students and this will ultimately impact their responsiveness as citizens. I understand the criticism that the article provides in that by implementing this type of instruction that it can lead to controversial topics and other complexities, but I think that the advantages outweigh the criticism because our main focus should be to help the students develop as thinkers and understand their world rather than being able to recite information from an American bias and perspective. Reading over this article I wish that my teachers had implemented more of this instruction but I think that the state and national standards probably make it difficult to incorporate this huge array of material. I can see this as a huge challenge to stay within the standards and expectations as a teacher but also find activities or lessons that we can use multiple perspectives and make connections to other global issues from throughout history to current events.

Cooperative learning lesson plan: Role-play lesson plan: Discussion/debate lesson plan: Student-directed project lesson plan: Humanities-based lesson plan: Assessment samples (2): Classroom procedures plan: Resume & Cover letter:

Focus student portfolio: Special education artifact: English language learner artifact: Differentiated instruction artifact (lesson plan):

Response for 1/23/12

Cooperative learning activities require assessment on the group final product as well as each individual student's role and contribution to the group activity. Since it is a group project or activity the group can be assessed as a whole, but each student should also be assessed on an individual level to ensure that each student was held accountable for their specific tasks within the group.

For the cooperative learning assessment on our campaign/election activity I would use a rubric similar to those presented in chapter 8 of the book that assess //each// member of the group on: their contribution to the group discussion at group meeting times, individual efforts on finding material pertaining to the project, and contributed to the final product of the group presentation. I might give freedom to the groups, to accomodate for different learners, on the method in which they want to present the material; suggestions such as facilitating a debate, creating pamphlets to help uneducated learners understand the upcoming election, etc. I would have small sheets of paper with the criteria on them of the three main factors and they would be graded on a 3-point scale. I would ultimately be grading the students but I would have the other group members in each group grade their group members on the same rubric so that if any group members give an individual a low score on participation or individual efforts I would know that maybe that one member did not contribute as much as the others and it can be something to consider in addition to their final product and the material that they were help accountable for.

Response for 1/18/12

1. The text establishes the significance of media by making connections between real people analyzing the media and its contribution in understanding their community and society overall. The author used the TAP (text-audience-production) model to show the three major components in analyzing and evaluating a wide range of media that can be helpful in the classroom to focus the discussion and guide students in understanding the purpose of the media rather than blindly looking at, watching, or listening to the media. The author also provided examples and helpful tips in using the TAP model in classroom lessons that involve various outlets of media such as film, photographs, and music. The article provides concrete examples on a global scale to show how the media can be used proactively to create more knowledgable citizens and this is incredibly valued and important in any social studies course.

2. I would use a segment of Forest Gump to explain the common American perspective on the Vietnam War. He is a somewhat dumbfounded character but the scenes show how many Americans were dedicated to their country and went to war, but a common theme of how their presence in Vietnam was portrayed by the soldiers and the civilians at home in America and the strong opposition, especially the scenes showing the protests in Washington D.C. I would have a disclaimer for the segment so the students know it is a fictional story but that the attitudes were a huge part of the US involvement in Vietnam War. I would use this lesson after the students have done some reading from a textbook or another source about the Vietnam War; I would give that disclaimer, show the segment, and have students work in pairs to analyze what they saw using the TAP model (ask questions such as what did they see? who was important and what was their opinion of the war? etc..), then make connections to what they have learned about the Vietnam War and what was more realistic and what was not. This presents an opportunity for them to make connections but also develop their own thoughts on why it was realistic or not and it requires them to think critically and challenge what they have seen in textbooks to what they are seeing on the screen. I also think this is a good way to keep students engaged because the movie is entertaining and they will likely know Tom Hanks or have seen the movie before so it has an aspect of entertainment rather than a more cut-and-dry film.


 * FALL SEMESTER RESPONSES**

Response for 12/4/11

http://www.flickr.com/photos/northdakotahistory/4902015819/#/ 1. Political Map of the United States (1845) a. Map created by William C. Woodbridge in 1845. This map is in English and from the State Historical Society of North Dakota. This map shows political divides from the United States and Mexico from the year 1845. b. This map does show distortion that you can see from the longitude and latitude lines. This is focused on one area but I would assume if I could see it all that it is a molleweide map projection because the lines are closer together at the top of the map than they are at the bottom of the map. This map depicts the political divide occuring in the nation in 1845. By having distortions the information is not as accurate and someone may perceive the difference between the northern and southern states incorrectly if they are comparing the area a political group occupied by looking at a state at the top and bottom; for example, if someone was comparing areas of Wisconsin and Mississippi the real land area is different because Wisconsin is slightly smaller and Mississippi is slightly larger than the real dimensions. Otherwise this map is from the State Historical Society of North Dakota so the information can be distorted from their perspective and the political affiliation of associated with North Dakota. The map is merely for comparative purposes and does not provide a key to show what political groups are being portrayed so it assumes that the reader knows of the different political groups and where they operated. This does not tell if by "political groups" implies political affiliation or different social political groups.

2. a. I find the Miller Cylindrical World Map Projection most accurate, with the exception of the poles. Since the lines of latitude and longitude are straight lines meeting at right angles. The direction is easier to understand than the other maps and, beside for the poles, the continents seem the most accurate in terms of relative distance. b. Of the proposed lessons I think that activity #2 "what constitutes a map?" would be the most helpful in teaching the nature of maps because it uses a variety of maps and requires students to apply the use of maps to their lives. They decide the ranking so without even thinking about personal connections they subconsciously rank the ones they find most useful or maps that they would use for a particular event or task above other maps that they probably would not use or do not understand. They analyze the purpose of the maps and this helps them to understand why the map was constructed in a certain way or for a particular reason. For example, if the map used above was used in this classroom activity students would likely rank it low on their list because it was from 1845 and inaccurate in today's society, and in analyzing the purpose of the map they would acknowledge that this map is for political purposes.

Response for 11/28/11

A. Lesson plan for prohibition. B. Aspects of the lesson activity... a. Classroom mock speakeasy! The week prior the class will be split into groups and given one key component of a speakeasy to research and execute for the classroom speakeasy. They will have to bring something visual, act/role play, demonstration, etc. Components include: music/dance (flapper girls?), gangsters, clothing, bathtub gin (demonstrate, do not bring in!), and so on. b. Solo-reading: Before the speakeasy, reading an overview from Hippocampus. This will give an overview of the unit to use in the beginning to show the major aspects of the 1920s and different legislature to open their heads to thinking about prohibition and what was going on in the nation that encouraged prohibition and led to illegal activity. http://www.hippocampus.org/homework-help/US-History/World%20War%20I%20and%20the%20Roaring%2020s_Prohibition.html c. Music: As a class, lyrics handed out we will listen to the song and analyze the popular attitudes in American society at this time. Students will be asked to think about the following questions then the class will discuss together: What was the common attitude of people in American society like? Was this impacted by prohibition? If so, how? If not, why not? What was valued in this society? Song: Billy Jones & Ernest Hare - Ain't We Got Fun (1921) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uF6DMubhiLE Lyrics: http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/a/aintwegotfun.shtml d. Interpersonal: After looking at some political cartoons and propaganda from newspapers and the media, students individually choose the perspective of one individual and create a political cartoon about prohibition that clearly displays an individual or a groups perspective on the issue. This can be someone specific like Al Capone, or from a general point of view from political official, Women Temperance, religious group, etc. Students can take parts of other cartoons, but they must be cited. Each person finds their own and will share with the class to explain why that person/group felt a certain way about prohibition.

Response for 11/20/11

1. a. The difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation is what is motivating the learner or why they are motivated. Intrinsic motivation is when the learner is motivated to learn for self-fulfilling purposes and internal/personal rewards. They must value the learning for themselves and genuinely want to learn the material. An example of intrinsic motivation is showing students that the material applies to them, such as learning about candidates in an upcoming election because the students are motivated to listen and learn about the candidates so they are more knowledgeable on how they should form their own opinion and vote. On the other hand, extrinsic motivation is when the learner is motivated to learn for external rewards or a specific outcome. An example of extrinsic motivation is easy to spot in classrooms currently and occurs when students merely learn the material to get a good grade on an assignment or exam. They are motivated to learn simply to achieve the external reward, a grade. b. From the class period we observed I feel Ben Pineda was utilizing intrinsic motivation. The lesson was on the Amendments and he showed the students how a typical person could be effected and how it applies to them so the students were motivated to learn so they could in turn learn their own rights in American society.

2. A multicultural education aim to create an equal opportunity for students from different races, ethnicities, social-classes, and cultural groups. This provides equality for students from different background to get the same education and learn about their community from a more realistic perspective. b. Even if the classroom does not appear "diverse" their is a necessity to employ a multicultural classroom and this can be done by teaching from different perspectives on certain issues and challenging the students to see an issue from a differing point of view. Teachers should incorporate aspects from a variety of background and cultural groups into their classrooms.

3. a. Differentiated instruction incorporates different teaching strategies and options to cover the same major theme or topic in the classroom. This serves to provide opportunities for learners to learn the material because not all students learn the same way so if there is options then it is more likely for them to identify with one teaching strategy and better learn the material.This requires flexibility from the teacher to incorporate strengths of students into the classroom. b. Figure 4.1 shows the different aspects of differentiated instruction in the learning cycle. I feel, in my own classroom, the most consideration should be on the process and how the teacher plans instruction, whole class, groups/pairs, erc.

4. a. The multiple intelligence theory provides different intelligences and learning styles that may coincide with those intelligences. Personally, I identify most with bodily kinesthetic intelligence, spatial intelligence, and interpersonal intelligence. b. I feel that in secondary education the underrepresented intelligences are probably logical-mathematical intelligence, musical intelligence, and naturalist intelligence. Teachers may not incorporate these because they do not necessarily have standardized test assessment value or because the students may not voice an interest in them but I think that they are definitely underrepresented in the classroom.

Response for 11/14/11

1. There are different ways to effectively cover a controversy in a classroom discussion. Describing (objectively) a controversy entails that the person or source that describes the controversy does so from an __unbiased__ perspective of facts or events that every person can agree with because it describes an issue from a __factual__ and logistical point of view. Engaging (subjectively) in a controversial issue entails that the person or source has implemented their personal __biased__ feelings about the issue into the discussion so the controversy reflects their __opinion__.

2. A teacher's ability to maintain an impartial tone helps the students engage in critical thinking and interactions because by framing a controversy in an unbiased way they can digest the information and develop their own ideas without the influence from an outside source (the teacher). When teachers use loaded language they imply their biased opinion or feelings about a controversy, and many times students may unknowingly adopt the same opinion because they think it is correct if their teacher said it or they may get heated and sharply disagree if they have prior knowledge and have developed an opposing opinion to the same issue. The use of loaded language, therefore, prevents progress in the classroom because instead of analyzing or describing a controversy the students may get fixated on one issue and debate it if they had strong opposing opinion. Or, if the students do not have prior knowledge and the teacher uses loaded language then they may merely adopted the same opinion and not engage in critical thinking because they unknowingly accepted one perspective so the issue does not require as much critical thinking for them to engage in.

3. a. For similar reasons above about loaded language, it is absolutely imperative that educators maintain impartial tones in the classroom to ensure that the students are thinking critically to form their //own// opinions rather than accepting one opinion as fact. Teachers need to be able to describe a controversy from a factual and unbiased perspective so that the students engage in the information and use higher-level thinking to develop their own perspective on a controversy. b. One example of handling a controversy in a classroom over the upcoming 2012 election could be that students claim since they are under the age of 18 and cannot vote that they do not need to be informed about the presidential candidates. A teacher can use questioning to find specific reasons that the students feel that this does not serve them and use the responses of the questions to create an interactive activity, maybe student-directed investigation, so that students are actively discovering reasons for why this information has a huge impact on them and their daily lives, as well as practicing for voting in the future. At the end of the activity after the students find information the teacher should get mock ballots and take the vote in the classroom to get the feel that the students need to understand different perspectives of the candidates and have a feeling like their work and research matters.

Response #6

After reading the selection by Howard Zinn and considering points that arose in our classroom discussion I have thought about many different angles to tackling this lesson about Columbus Day in a potential classroom. Firstly, I think it is important to teach Columbus Day but whether to celebrate or not is a difficult and personal decision for each student to make individually. One thing to think about as teachers is maintaining an objective viewpoint and if classroom discussion, an activity, or even a lecture is strongly against any issue, in this case Columbus Day, then this information can be misconstrued and taken back home where the parents of our students could find it offensive or wrong. It is a moral question for the students to examine and decide their opinion on and it is the teachers job to show the different perspectives of the parties involved in this historical conflict.

As secondary school teachers we can likely assume that our students have a basic knowledge of who Christopher Columbus was and his legacy on our nation. Even if it is something as simple as the common rhyme "Columbus sailed the ocean blue in October 1492." Most of the students will know that he is considered a man from Spain who conquered the Americas. It is then our job as teachers to give the students more information. We should show the pressures Columbus had from the leaders of Spain, as well as the perspective of the naive Arawaks who were taken advantage of and wiped out of their resources and freedom for the sake of Columbus and his men.

Even as a critical thinker now I am unsure if the celebration of Columbus Day is morally just. This is why it should be an issue for the students to tackle themselves and really analyze and consider. Zinn suggested, "To emphasize the heroism of Columbus and his successors as navigators and discoverers, and it de-emphasize their genocide, is not a technical necessity but an ideological choice" (Zinn 9). I definitely agree with this statement in that some historians write literature and choose to show the benefits of Columbus' mission and focus less on the mass murdering of the Arawak peoples. This is a common trend in literature throughout history as he compares to the Aztecs, Incas, and Pequots. It is crucial to show the other perspectives of the people whose lives were drastically changed due to the "progress" of Western civilization. Without showing this it is hard to explain to students why other genocides (i.e. the Holocaust, Darfur, etc.) are problematic without seemingly like our nation has never been the villain in a similar situation. Overall, I find this extremely important to cover in social studies education and I wish I had a deeper understanding of these underlying issues before entering university. And in the end isn't it more important that we foster this critical thinking and challenging views of the students instead of following the same issue of historians by distorting history to make "us" appear morally just compared to "them" in a technical lens?

Reponse #5

1) Examples for each curriculum - Formal curriculum: a unit plan for a History class outlining the focus for each day and page numbers for the corresponding textbook reading. - Delivered curriculum: during a lecture about the Silk Road and trading routes the teacher switches gears because the students are not engaged or understanding and makes an activity to show what types of products and ideas were exchanged along the Silk Road by having students assume the roles and physically move around the room. - Learned curriculum: students learn the concept of exchange of ideas, products, religion, and disease between the eastern hemisphere. - Hidden curriculum: students can easily be misconstrued in history classes and in social studies in general because sometimes learning about the historical background of certain groups of people (by ethnicity/race/gender/etc) the stereotypical roles may be reaffirmed in their minds rather than just understanding it as part of that groups past. - Null curriculum: public secondary schools may skip over areas that propose controversy to avoid the discomfort and differing opinions of their students in the classroom such as abortion and death penalty.

2) Figure 1.2 implies that teachers do contribute to curriculum but not as much as one might expect due to all of the other stakeholders that are involved in creating curriculum. The most broad themes and topics that the curriculum will cover are determined by the national standards and followed by the state standards. These standards are important because the assessments and test scores will reflect on the state or even the district and influence their standing in the greater area, as well as possibly having an impact on funding. These external pressures are in place and emphasized when teachers do have the freedom to create their class curriculum because the stakeholders such as political interest groups, elected officials, state school board, and other administrative figures will depend on the teachers to incorporate those standards into their plans to help the districts and schools achievement. The department planning is when the teachers get more involved in designing curriculum. Teachers will typically meet with other teachers in the same department, and may break off into subject areas, to create an overarching curriculum for the year. From there the teacher may meet with others or create course curriculum individually. Teachers can take the opportunity to individually create their own unit plans and lessons within those units. This is the place where teachers can be creative and implement their teacher philosophy in their plans for the students to learn the material that the other stakeholders have integrated in the curriculum.

WEEK 4

A) Last spring I actually took a course called the Modern Arab World which basically covered the Middle East within the class curriculum so I learned a lot about the history of the area in terms of geographical borders, different types of government and leaders, as well as religions and ethnicity. But our focus was on the Arab regions so I would like to further learning in the dynamic with other ethnicities and cultural customs with the region.

B) The term "modern" means contemporary or recent; usually in historical sense it negates new age as opposed to the past, how things are right now. The term "Middle East" refers to a region that stretches from Northern Africa to the Arabian Peninsula to West Asia.

C) This subject is very important for citizens of the U.S. to study because the our economy and daily lives are affected by products from the Middle East, in particular oil. Also this region is targeted throughout history as hostile toward the U.S. because we generalize our hostilities from the events such as 9/11, Iranian Hostage Crisis, Operation Desert Storm and even the possible Soviet influence in areas during the Cold War. Also it is important that we see how our relations with the Middle East are impacted by the U.S. support of Israel. Overall, whatever our personal stance is concerning issues that arise in the Middle East it is important for us as U.S. citizens to learn about the Middle East to educate us better so we do not generalize certain issues to represent an entire area and broaden our thinking to better understand our foreign relations with this region.

WEEK 3

A) According to //Planning, Managing, and Motivating//, units should be developed around essential questions. In a more general sense a unit should be developed around a main concept or theme that links everything from the unit together. This helps the students to understand because if they are lost in a lesson it can help them regain focus when the connect the material to the common theme of the unit or the question that the material is intended to answer. This way of planning also helps teachers to not get overwhelmed by the material and think of the year in technicalities, rather the teacher can take a few weeks and group it as a "unit" and from there focus on the main ideas or skills that they want the student to take away from that unit.

B) Teachers need to think long and hard about teaching units because there are many aspects of a unit plan that take time and effort to make sure that the lesson and the teachers' teaching philosophy are being portrayed in the unit and are being used to help the students really understand and apply the material or skill. This is time consuming to make sure that the content the students are learning is connecting and that the students can acknowledge the relationship between the material from each daily lesson and apply it to the main idea of the unit.

C) A thoughtfully planned unit can benefit the students by providing a main idea and focal point for all of the individual lessons and activities that they do and draw it back to one central point. The essential questions help the students to refocus their thinking if they get off track and stay engaged in the lesson in hopes of finding answers to the questions. A unit plan can equally benefit the teacher by keeping their focus and making sure that each activity that they plan is working toward the central idea of the unit and not getting sidetracked. When focusing on the unit plan the teacher can make sure that each component of their lesson plan is purposeful.

D) Unit planning can not only benefit the teachers and students but it can compliment a well-developed teaching philosophy because as long as the teacher is creating the lesson plans to work toward the main ideas and questions of the unit plan then they have the freedom to be creative in their classroom and teach lessons in their own way because they are focused on arriving at the same main ideas of the unit plan. This way there could be the same unit being covered in two classrooms with two teachers that have differing teaching philosophies and their students could be assessed over the same information even though they learned it in a very different way. Overall, the unit plan gives teachers an overarching focus to their unit and this gives them the freedom to teach the material in a creative, fun way that reflects their individual teaching philosophy.

WEEK 2

A lesson plan is how the teacher organizes and outlines the time spent in class on a specific lesson. The teacher uses a lesson plan to anticipate how much time will be spent on each activity to make sure that the material is covered and any other goals or objectives are reached. Lesson plans are necessary to make sure the teacher stays on task and prepares for how the material will be touched on in class and how much time to devote to each activity or lecture. A long and drawn out lesson plan may not always be necessary for every lesson and it would be very tedious to plan that for each lesson, but the notion of planning out how the class will play out is extremely beneficial to help guide the class and keep the teacher on task for their intended goals and objectives. However, lesson plans may not always been useful because if the students are confused or curious about a certain lesson or the class gets sidetracked and the teacher thinks it is important for them to cover that material instead it may be necessary to abandon the lesson plan in general and talk about an important issue or review material that they are confused about.

WEEK 1

A) My favorite memory from a social studies course was from my 10th grade American History course. Overall the course did not get boring because for each theme in history or time period there was always a different activity to help us explore. Each topic we would watch a short film the first day of exploring that topic to help the class get an idea of the time or events. The reading was always done on our own unless some textbook segments were assigned to do in class in groups but each topic had a different activity to help us learn. In particular, one lesson that has stuck with me was learning about the 1960s because we examined the era in such a fun way; one day we each burned a few songs from that time to help understand cultural aspects, another day we read clippings from important literature like the Feminine Mystique, debates over the Presidential elections, and used movies to learn about civil rights. The overall format of this course made each day different and kept the students engaged in learning the material.

B) One of my least favorite memories from a social studies class was my 8th grade Greek mythology course. We learned by reading in class and discussing so even though each myth is distinct and can be made interesting they all just felt like work because we learned them all in the same manner and it was merely reading from a textbook in class and answering questions about the reading.

C) One reason I want to become a social studies teacher is because of the great example I had from the teacher who taught my 10th grade American History course discussed in part A. Her teaching style was so distinct and made learning fun that I signed up for two other courses by the same teacher. I was always more interested in political science and government so after taking AP American government and a Civics course I realized how much all of the subjects intertwined and I was intrigued and wanted to keep learning more. I think it is important to teach social studies because the historical content and information about government help to understand why and how our society works the way it does and it is important to teach this to people and to keep learning ourselves.