Hard work!

A Little Late!

I just want to share that I have received 100% on my chapter 1, 3, 12, and 14 tests! These tests were all fairly easy as long as you did the textbooks readings! 

Exploring Visual Maps!

Visual Maps

This is a great way to write down and remember important information and terms while you are reading. A visual map is in many ways similar to an outline, with less details. It is a fun way to remember information and would be a great technique to introduce to students in the classroom. 

There are several ways to do a visual map. There is the traditional way, which is on a piece of paper with makers. Now with all the new technology that we as students and teachers have at our disposal we can also make visual maps online. There is a numerous amount of websites that you can use and plenty of opportunities for creativity. 

I found that this video, given by Dr. Smirinova to be very helpful when learning how to draw out a visual map on paper. This particular video is posted below. 

Click here

I also viewed several different websites using an online website called Cool Tools For Schools. This website had many options that could help you to create an online visual map. Below is a visual map I made using wordle. It was a lot of fun and there were many ways to be creative. 

Here is my visual map.

Creating Unit Plans!

Unit Plan

Is the largest segment of teaching a key idea, a skill, an attitude or a value. May consist of 4 weeks to a semester. 

Evaluation

Significance, Coherence and Relevance.

Types of Unit Plans

Descriptive Content-focused - Acquisition of knowledge. 

Thinking Skills-focused - Greater content, less process, developing inquiry, thinking skills.

Theme-focused - cut across SS topics and integrate other subject areas.

Problem-solving - attempt to solve an issue or a problem relevant to an individual, a group or a society as a whole. 

Planning wheel

This is a good way to organize information for making a lesson plan.

Example below!

Wheel Design

1. Start with Social Studies topics in the outermost ring. 

2. Add subjects (Science, ELA, Math, Arts, etc.)

This is just one of many ways you can organize the information you have/need.

Structure?

There are several things that need to be included in your unit plan. 

• Introduction (Overview and Rationale of lesson)
•  Goals, Standards, Objectives
• Subject Matter Outline (traditional and/or graph)
• Starting the Unit (3-5 activities)
• Lessons 
• Culminating Project
• Evaluation
• Resources
• Reflection (impact on the student learning)

Fun with Artifact Bags!

Artifact Bags! 

Below is a picture on the three objects that my group found in our artifact bag. We used the internet to look up most of the information on these items. We were very unfamiliar with the items, but were very curious to learn the story behind them.

These are some of the results we came up with after researching the items and then discussing it with Dr. Smirnova. We displayed out results in a chart explains who, what, where, when, why and how. Artifact one was a doll that was bought by her husband from Russia. This doll shows the traditional dress that the nobles in Russia wore. The second artifact was an award given to Dr. Smirnova from a university in Russia for her contributions in the field of education and the development of the University. The third artifact was a photo of Dr. Smirnova at a summer camp in Russia where she was a head camp counselor.

	Artifact 1	Artifact 2	Artifact 3
Who/ What?	Doll that represents traditional dress.  The dress was worn by nobles and she is called a boyarinya.  The dress is called a sarafan and the hat is a kokoshnik	Silver Award from the Russian school	Photo of Dr. Smirnova
When?	?	October 13, 2009	1960s?
Where?	Russia	Volgogradsky Pedagogical University, Russia	Summer Camp in Russia Dr. Smirnova was the head camp counselor
How?	Bought in Russia by Dr. Smirnova’s husband	Given to Dr. Smirnova for the contributions in the field of education and the development of the University	Taken by another camp leader?
Why?	Bought because he loves Russian culture	Award given to Dr. Smirnova during School of Foreign Lang. anniversary celebration	During judging of marching during camp

After looking through the artifact bag given to my group, I learned a lot more about who Dr. Smirnova is. The artifacts show that she is very proud of her culture and the success she has achieved. This was a really fun activity to do in class and would work great in many different activities.

Tips For Artifact Bags!

Artifact Bag Tips!

After reading the article on artifact bags and looking at an artifact bag in class, I realized that this would be a great activity to use in the classroom. This bag would be great for a social studies lesson. It can help students when learning about different countries, cultures, states and other areas. This is an activity that can be done in the classroom where different groups have different bags, or each student can to given a topic and they can make up their own artifact bags. Artifact bags can also be used as a way to get to know students. Students can fill a bag with items that tell more about who they are and where they come from. 

Here are some tips that can be used when doing an artifact bag activity in the classroom.
1. Go over what an artifact is and what an artifact bag is.
2. Make sure the bags are appealing to the students in order to grab their attention.
3. You can use reading, writing and social studies in this lesson.
4. Allow students to work in groups, so they can share ideas and figure out what their artifacts mean.
5. Allow each group time to present what they learned from their artifact bags.
6. Make it fun!

Paintings Vs. Passages!

What Do You Think?

I am responding to question number 1 in chapter 11 on page 343. 

The question is: What similarities are there between a painting of an event and several written paragraphs about the event. 

A painting is very similar to a written account of an event. They both are able to show students what went on at a specific point in history. They also both show who was at these specific events and where specific events took place.

They are two different methods with the same information and they are both good tools to use in the classroom when teaching history. Both a writing passage and a painting go hand in hand. Sometimes a written account of an event can give more specific details of what happened and a painting will give you a more visual understanding of what happened. Both of these methods will get the point across. Viewing a painting may be used more with young students who are just beginning to learn how to read, whereas older students will focus more on reading passages. 

Below is an image that you may have seen before. By looking at the picture you are able to tell that this is a painting of a historical person sailing somewhere. When you look at the this painting with more knowledge of history you know that this is a picture of Washington crossing the Delaware. 

Becoming a Digital Teacher

Here we go again!

The semester has just started and I am half way done with my time here at Mount Saint Mary College. I am excited to start all my new classes and get to know my teachers. In the first week of classes we spent a lot of time going over the course syllabus and getting to know our classmates and teacher. In Social Studies Methods with Dr. Smirnova we used online websites to help us share information about ourselves with the rest of the class. This was a fun and different way to get to know the other students in the class and I also learned about many different websites that can also be used in a classroom setting. Below is a video link that was recommended by Dr. Smirnova.

Visions of Students of Today

Reflection of the Video:

This video shows that though students a go to school and sit in these classrooms they are not in engaged in what they are learning. With all the new technology it is hard for some people to sit and listen to lectures that are not interesting to them. This is a problem that students face and teachers need to come up with ways to get their students engaged and interested in what is being taught. This is not an easy task to accomplish, but it is important.