The Grande Finale

From this social studies class, I have gained a lot of knowledge, insight, and experience. I have learned various technological tools to implement in the classroom, the true meaning of social studies, different ways to teach social studies, and how to engage students in the classroom.

I have learned three different types of lessons to teach: direct instruction, cooperative, and inquiry. I have learned about things that worked in my lessons and things that did not. I have learned how to engage students in lessons through interactive technology, such as SMARTBoard activities, Voki, Tellagami, ThingLink, etc. I have learned that social studies is powerful because it is integrative, active, challenging, value-based, and meaningful. I am different today than I was in the beginning of the course by gaining more classroom experience, as well as learning about and implementing various technological tools for the classroom. 

The one thing I had difficulty with in this course was during my fieldwork experience. It was difficult to teach the lessons within the allotted time. I often found myself going over the time limit. This is a weakness that I will continue to work on, until I perfect it. 

As elementary teacher, I will be teaching multiple subjects in my classroom, especially social studies. I plan to make sure all my students academic needs are fulfilled. The social studies class I would like to create in the future, is a fun, interactive, and worthwhile classroom. I want to incorporate technology every chance I get, because technology makes learning interactive, fun, and engaging. I think a worthless social studies class, is one where the teacher just reads to the students and has them regurgitate what was just read. When social studies is taught this way, studies lose focus, become bored, and ultimately, come to strongly dislike social studies.This semester has been a great semester and I am grateful for the technological tools introduced to me by my professor, as well as feedback from both my professor and my peers.