Semester Reflection

The semester has finally come to an end.  I can’t believe how fast it went.  It was definitely an experience that I will never forget.  I learned an amazing amount of information.  Teaching Social Studies has always been a challenge and having techniques and skills in your arsenal is always beneficial.  I have learned so many different forms of technology to use that I will definitely be able to use with my students.  Using technology can help you to align with your students.  We are living in a society that is centered around technology and the more we know as teachers can only help you and your students to connect to the course work. 

            One of the most important things that I will take away from this class was how to effectively work collaboratively.  Cooperative learning is an essential tool to utilize with your students and I learned great skills and techniques for this.  I also learned how to give feedback effectively, which is so important.

            This class helped me to delve deeper into the different lesson formats such as: Direct Instruction, Inquiry Lessons, and Cooperative Learning.  I learned how to always be prepared for any situation because you never know what can happen.  I really enjoyed the size of our class because it allowed us to work more closely with one another and learn so much from one another.  I have never learned more information in one single class then I have in this one.  I am so grateful for what I will take away from this class.  There was an overwhelming amount of information presented to us, but once you sat down and really sifted through it, you took away so much.

            When I have my own classroom I am going to use many if not all of the things I learned during this class.  I am a firm believer of group work and see the most progress from peer work.  I am going to make my classroom a hands on learning environment where my students are never afraid to ask questions.  I want them to feel at ease and always know that every question is important.  I want students to really understand the importance of history and how it shapes who we are today and where we will tomorrow.  

MOCK INTERVIEW

Today we had Dr. Werba and Dr. Corrigan come and interview potential candidates for their schools.  The thought of interviews gets me all stressed and my mind spins.  Dr. Werba was a superintendent for Maple city schools and was looking for two new teacher candidates.  His teaching style and methodology school of thought was centered around direct instruction.  His personal philosophy is that students learn better through direct instruction.  However, he did say that he was open to other teacher styles if results can be proven successful within the classroom.  He did also state that students from his schools have a very high success rate on state and local exams, which has been proven from his current and former teachers.

Dr. Corrigan was a principal for a private institution whose philosophy is completely different then that of a public institution.  Her method of teaching is geared towards cooperative learning and having the students work together through exploration.  In her experience students work better through a hands on learning environment where they can feed off one another for answers and information.  While both teaching methodologies have been proven effective I feel that a combination of both would lend itself better to students.  Each student learns at a different pace in a different manner and not only being able to differentiate the lesson plan instruction but the environment in which the student learns I feel would be extremely beneficial.

            I really enjoyed the experience of the mock interview process.  When preparing for getting a job in the future it’s important to have background information on the place you are going to interview with.  I would definitely ensure that I did some research on the district that I was applying for.  It’s important to go in prepared letting the interviewer know how important their school is to you and how serious you are about making that place your home.  Competition is extreme from potential educators and you have to set yourself apart from all the other applicants.

NATIVE AMERICANS

Learning about the Native Americans has also interested me.  Colleen and I were paired up to work on the Native American project together.  We chose to learn more about the Muscogee tribe.  Before doing this project I knew nothing about the Muscogee and what they had done.  They created amazing pottery and ceramics.  They built pyramids and ceremonial complexes along the riversides. 

            There are two creek tribes:

·      The Poarch Creeks live in Alabama on a reservation.

o   The land is owned by the tribe and under their control.

·      The Oklahoma Creeks live on a trust land. 

o   Has its own government, laws, police, and other services.

Dance was very prominent in the Muscogee.  Stomp dance is a set of traditional social and religious brought across the Trail of Tears from the Muscogee ancestral homelands in Georgia and Alabama.  It’s a demonstrative prayer. 

Muscogee wore very few clothes. Men wore deerskin breechcloths and women wore skirts.  European traders introduced wool and cotton to the Muscogee in the early 1700’s.

For food the men hunted deer and the women gathered nuts, wild onions, and berries.  Corn was very important and women ground it into meal and made “softkey.” 

A typical village was built around the council house and a large field used for sports.  The houses had thatched roofs