SSED Week Four

     Week four of Social Studies Methods challenged me and brought much depth to my process of thinking.  My whole view of how to go about setting up my unit plan was completely altered this week, and I was challenged to think "outside the box" with how I should approach information.  I was also challenged through the Google Community page this week.
     Thinking of what my own personal philosophy of differentiation would be really shed light on the fact that very soon, with LOTS of work and prayer, I will be the one person who is in charge of twenty or more little minds who all need something different.  How am I going to satisfy each child's intellectual need?  How will I be sure that each child in my classroom is challenged just enough and not falling behind?  I believe that I understand the idea of differentiation.  I have read articles on it.  I have listened to professor after professor speak about it.  They have given me ample resources and strategies.  However, until this week, I had not realized that differentiation really is a task that must be personalized to, not only each individual student, but also to each teacher's philosophy of differentiation.  There is not a specific formula that each teacher must follow.  It is dependent on what he or she finds effective in the particular classroom at hand.
     Last week, I was challenged to change my way of presenting information with the idea of generalization.  I understood what it was, but I didn't completely understand how to go about presenting lessons or even just questions in this form to my students.  This week, the video on guiding questions gave me my "aha" moment.  Breaking the guiding questions down into three distinct levels gave my brain a way to begin organizing the questions I wish to ask my students.  When I was an elementary student, I recall that most of the questions given to me were factual.  However, moving students to think through conceptual and provocative questions is really what gives them the opportunity to explore the information that they have been given and see how it applies to them, as individuals.  When the students reach the conceptual level of thinking, their abstract thought process leads them to a deeper understanding.  When we, as teachers, throw the provocative questions out, the students then have the opportunity to make a connection with the presented information through discussion.  I am, by no means, a master of generalization now, but I can see leaps of growth in my understanding since just last week.
     This week, my outside "research" was a bit different than an article or tweets.  I have the opportunity to babysit a kindergartener two days a week.  Along with this, I am asked to pick her up from school and do homework with her.  This week, she was given a "story."  It was only four sentences of very simply structured sentences.  The directions asked parents to "discuss this short story with your child," so I decided to try using one of each of the questions.  I was able to find a question that fit into each category.  This was encouraging to me, because no matter if there are only four simple sentences about Kit's mom getting mad, it is possible to challenge students' thinking with each level of guiding questions.
     Through thinking about guiding questions this week, I was challenged to consider the ways I will push my students to think on a deeper level and how I will plan the best possible learning instruction for them.  The new understanding of teaching that I received this week directly links with the fourth professional teaching standard, which is "teachers facilitate learning for their students."  I firmly believe that this week has given me a depth of understanding regarding how I will effectively give my future students opportunities to learn and be challenged.