SSED Week One

This week in my Social Studies course was an eye-opening experience.  I now realize that I was not fully aware of the effect of an encouraging Social Studies experience at a young age.  Through my reading of the article, "Powerful and Purposeful Teaching and Learning in Elementary School Social Studies," my eyes were opened to the impact of Social Studies in early education.  I never linked my inadequate social studies experience with my initial disinterest in all societal topics and issues.  Now, however, I understand that engaging students at a young age gives them the opportunity to grow into involved, well-educated, independently-thinking citizens.  Presenting students with Social Studies related information at a young age in an intriguing way has the ability to "feed the fire" for students in regards to their desire to dig deeper into Social interactions whether is they have occurred through history or they are present in our lives today.

All the information I have learned this week will be effective in my classroom when I begin planning lessons and activities.   I have learned ways to engage students and make their Social Studies time something they look forward to and enjoy.  On Pinterest, I have found many ideas of ways to "bring history to life," as that seems to be the least enjoyed of all social studies topics.  I also have found some fun videos on youtube that tell the stories we all have learned throughout years of history class in a fun way.  In the future, I also plan to look for many hands-on activities that will get students out of their seats and moving while we are have our Social Studies time.  I once used an interactive web-site as part of a lesson plan.  It gave students the opportunity to go online and discover the information for themselves.  Due to the fact that all the information was presented in a level way with no bias

This week, the most prevalent teaching standard, though they all need to be represented at all times, was leadership.  Without leadership in the classroom, the teacher will have no power over the attitude or the atmosphere that is associated with Social studies in his or her classroom.  However, when a teacher steps into the leadership role that he or she should be fulfilling, it is possible for that individual to set a tone in the classroom that is welcoming to Social Studies and motivates students to become involved.  One way that I like to look at how Social Studies affects the young minds is that they, too, are citizens.  Though they are small and their minds and ideas may change once every minute, they will one day be the citizens who vote and the citizens who are elected to serve.  It is valuable to educate them now and allow their thoughts to grow as they do.