Mock Interview Reflection

The last day of class, we were required to participate in a mock interview. Half the class was assigned to be administrators and ask interview questions. The other half of the class were to be interviewed and answer the questions.
We were asked a number of questions by each "administrator" to display our knowledge of cooperative learning, inquiry instruction, and classroom procedures. I particularly liked one question that asked us "if we could be any color of the rainbow, what color would we be?" This question would be a great initial interview questions. It is a no pressure, no wrong answer question that would allow an interviewing person to relax and warm up to the administrator. My response was "I would be the color red. Not only is red my favorite color, but it is strong, vibrant, and cannot be missed. I tend to be an outgoing, strong hearted person and these are qualities I think of with the color red".
I felt I successfully answered the interview questions although many of them were worded poorly. I received compliments from each administrator about my responses to multiple questions. I also spoke clearly, confidently, and used examples from my experiences in my responses.
I think this assignment would have been more beneficial if we switched roles so every student had the opportunity to interviewed.

Cooaperative learning

Cooperative learning is applying mutual assistance to achieve a common goal. This practice can be a successful teaching strategy in which small teams of students work together to reach a common goal. In order to ensure success, it is helpful to mix students with different levels of skills, knowledge, and understanding. When students of different levels of ability collaborate, it can create growth in understanding of a variety of subject matters.
It is ideal to of a class discussion about group work and what it entails to be a good group member before assigning students into cooperative learning groups. Students must be aware of how to be respectful, give corrective feedback, and be a supportive group member. In addition, group work requires group roles. It is beneficial to not only go over the job of each group role, but also model how to accomplish the role successfully.
Not all students like group work. Many students feel pressure in social situations, end up taking on multiple or  all group roles, or feel discouraged in collaborative situations. It is vital that the instructor monitors group work and makes sure everyone is in a safe, equal learning environment.

My Field Work Experience

The theme of our social studies club was "Everyday is Earth Day". The purpose of "Everyday is Earth Day" is to create a world-wide campaign to encourage all individuals to make changes to their daily lives that will benefit our environment. Through our lessons, students participating in the Bishop Dunn Social Studies club have become more knowledgeable about the negative impact society has on our planet. As a result of direct, inquiry, and cooperative learning techniques, students had the opportunity to learn, explore, and participate in ways to create a healthier environment for future generations to come. As teachers, it become our responsibility to choose topics we felt important for children to become more knowledgeable about. My unit plan focuses on the topic of Hydraulic Fracturing. This topic is rarely discussed in a general education classroom. When most students are asked about pollution they relate the topic to garbage, factories, and dirty water. When asked what hydraulic fracturing is, the majority of society has no idea what you are talking about. Like many controversies, the practice of hydraulic fracturing is swept under the rug. My goal in this unit plan was to introduce the negative impacts of hydraulic fracturing, share the controversy of the practice, and encourage our youth to take a side of this often time unknown controversy. Students learned what Hydraulic Fracturing is, how it began historically, why it is used from an economic standpoint, and from a social standpoint why it is a danger to our environment. I felt this was reached successfully. As predicted, the class was not aware of the practice of hydraulic fracturing. The were shocked, and intrigued while learning and discussing the amount of pollution and harm it has on our planet as well as human and animal health.  They questions why this was the first time they are hearing about such a destructive practice, how come the government allows fracking to continue, and what can we do to stop it. It is important to teach this Unit Plan because students learn to question information they hear from others and learn to separate the facts from the propaganda and make knowledgeable decisions that create a better future for our planet.  Students were able to reach many social studies common core standards by integrating knowledge, key terms, concepts, and technology to summarize, create judgments, personal opinions, projects, and  presentations to display accurate learning. in addition, through informal and formal assessments, students displayed their new understanding and knowledge.

 

About Me

My name is Amanda. I am a graduate student at Mount St. Mary's College. I am studying Childhood Education and Special Education for grades 1 through 6. For the past few years, I have been a preschool teacher for 4 and 5 year olds. My goal as a teacher is to have the ability to teach any individual with or without educational difficulties in order to enrich and support students' young impressionable minds encouraging them to reach their full potential not only in their educational career, but also in society. Social Studies has the potential to be one of the most useful, compelling, information-rich content areas taught to young students. Appropriate use of instruction, inquiry lessons, and cooperative learning techniques can excite students about the world, assist them in seeing the role they can play in improving society, inspire them to use their powerful voices to make a change, and encourage them to think about their relationship to people, nature, and the world around them. 

Bishop Dunn

 

 

 

Research in Social Studies field work took place at Bishop Dunn Memorial School in Newbergh, NY.  Bishop Dunn is a Catholic school founded in 1883, that provides educational services to students from Pre- Kindergarten to grade 8. The elementary school is located on Mount St. Mary's campus, providing a cooperative learning experience for the students of Bishop Dunn and the students of MSMC. The philosophy of Bishop Dunn Memorial School is, as stated on their web page, "that success, particularly at an early age, depends on the growth of a child’s confidence, self-esteem and stimulation of their inquisitive nature". Bishop Dunn Memorial School hosts a variety a students with different backgrounds, ethnicities, learning abilities, and skills. The staff provides a wide range of extracurricular activities, sports, clubs, and after school programs to support growth social and academically among their students. Myself, along with 5 other MSMC students instructed an after school social studies club focusing on the importance of our environment. Every Wednesday after school, students met with us as we explored why "Everyday is Earth day". As instructors, we conducted daily orderly lessons that involved students in a hands on minds on experience. Direct, inquiry, and cooperative learning techniques were used alongside technology to advance students learning and activism. Some tools we used were, QR codes, Kahoot, Voki, Slides, ThingLink, and educational information sites. It was a successful program encouraging students to become involved in their learning and become active members of society.

Teaching Social Studies Philosophy

Society is rapidly changing socially, economically, and technologically. The ability to create these fast paced adaptations are a result of knowing what has been done, what hasn’t worked, what has worked, and what can be done better. Teaching social studies in elementary school is critical if we want our children, the future, to become knowledgeable in understanding how to be active participants in society, creating positive effective change, and valuing our ever transforming nation. 

Without curriculum based discussion on society's morals, values, judicial system, children are left to be tainted by media, and uneducated opinions of those around them. After school many children are either sent to after school programs with peers of a variety of backgrounds and social situations, or sat in front of a television to soak in the estranged voices of the media. The media bombards its viewers with constant unclear messages about war, race, sexuality, global warming, and our presidential candidates. Commercial networks view children as an essential economic force and push them to make consumer decisions. Children should not have to sit attentively and passively be manipulated by the media. Our future generations need the knowledge of social studies in the classroom to teach these children how to evaluate these messages and create informed opinions and decisions.

    

Social studies equips students with knowledge of social, political, economic, cultural, and environmental aspects of society’s past, present, and future. Elementary social studies focuses on teaching the past so that society can prepare for the future. Social studies allows students to participate effectively in the world, and understand the interactions between social, political, economic, cultural, and environmental aspects of society. It is essential to prepare children for productive problem solving, the skills to assess issues, make educated judgments, and to be beneficial members of society.  

NA project

Our class was assigned a Native American project. This project required us to work with partners and experience collaboration. Our task was to research a Native American tribe, answer specific questions about them, and present our information in a slides presentation. Our instructor selected the tribes and assigned one to each pair of students.
My partner and I split up the work evenly among us. She researched half of the questions while I researched the other half of the questions. We were each responsible to complete the slide for the questions we researched. In addition, each of us presented the slides we created.
I think this project was to give us an example of group work. We were able to work well together. We successfully completed our roles within our group, and completed the assignment to match the given task.
As an assignment, I feel this was a basic research assignment that is required in social studies classrooms daily. Most social studies teacher assign their class research projects. I think as a social studies instructor, it is important to think outside the box when it comes to assignments. Students get more out of exploration and engaging projects than they do in research. As a student myself, I can tell you first hand, we don't pay any attention to the topic we are researching. The information we gather is in our minds temporarily. We collect, and review it to get through our presentation, and then it's gone. Where as hands on minds on assignments allow us to be engaged, create interest, and connections to the world around us.
For our project, my partner and I, researched the Dine tribe. Right away we noticed a lack of information specifically on the tribe. We were unsure as to why we were assigned the Dine tribe when we came to realize they are referred to as the well known, Navajo. We researched their history, geography, culture, living, and historical figures. Overall, I am happy with how our power point and presentation came out.

Dine Slides Presentation