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Nick Aichele

Blog Post #8

1) My Classroom November 1st, 2016


Being in a trade school has given me a different view on Social Studies than what I have
seen in your traditional classroom. The overarching vibe that I continue to see and feel is that the
students do not really care. They are more worried about their Labs or anything else to truly
focus on the content. Not all of them are like this though. From what Ms. Brown (Toledo Student
in methods) has told me is that the other classes are a lot better and more engaged with the
curriculum then the class I currently attend. Today the students had a test. Like most of the tests
it is on Socrative and once they finish they had an intro to the next chapter as well as a project
over the 14th amendment. While half the class di what they were supposed to and stayed n topic
most of them had to be prompted my Ms. Brown, Mr. Even or myself to get nay work done. And
for most of them that was not even enough. We did have a sub today which could have played a
role in their behavior but this presented me an issue of getting students to do the work that I
knew would help them in the long run. But the biggest problem I was faced with was creating
motivation that was just not there.

2) What social studies content does one need to know to achieve the citizenship purpose?
Social studies are such a broad topic its hard to pick just one important topic to see as the
most important. But one that I see as extremely important is American Government. In Blog Post
2 we talked about the importance of Social Studies and why it is important. The National Council
for Social studies says Social studies is the integrated study of the social sciences and
humanities to promote civic competence. (NCSS 1). We live in a world where social studies can
show future generations how to be engaged global citizens. It is in these government classes that
we teach students the importance of voting and how our Government is run. Without this
knowledge we wouldnt know how to elect officials or the importance of elected officials.
Students wouldnt know how Bills become laws and why the judicial branch can say that isnt a
law. We need American Government to show our future generations how our society came to
be. In blog post 1 Dr. Pattersons finding was while one needs to be, cautious

in overgeneralizing findings from this study, it appears that students do not


consider social studies to be very important because it has little meaning
for their future lives. (Patterson 53). Social studies is more important than any student or
teacher can fully grasp. Social studies is the root of our society and how our nation has
come to be what it is. Without social Studies we would have no Bill of Rights or
Emancipation Proclamation, and without American Government we would have no America.

3) Questions
- What is the most important thing to know as a Social Studies Teacher?
To be a teacher you need to know how to think on your feet, go with the flow. Some
of my favorite classes stirred from a conversation that engaged the class in a way where we
learned from it more than the actual lesson plan wouldve. But as a teacher y need to know
the content inside out, backwards and sideways. When you can do this than you can have
these conversations and stimulate your students in a positive way. With that you can stir
these side tangent conversations in a way that still teaches the students. And also you can
teach your students the knowledge from bullet notes instead of reading word for word from
a slideshow presentation. When this happens t makes for a more interactive classroom as
well as a class that students want to be a part of.

-What is the most important content area to study when getting ready for the OAE?
Every person is different. Some people know American government like the back of
their hand while others thing economics is easy as pie. I think the big thing to take away
from this is whatever you find necessary to study the most. Whatever of the content areas
that you need the help with the most should be the one that you study. But you must
remember all of these content areas are important to study. You should find a balance and
focus on the topics that you need to the most. You should also focus on test taking skills and
question formats all of these things are important in order to ensure your success on this
test.

4) Closing Remarks
People walk around campus telling me that Education majors dont do anything. That
being a teacher is easy and that anyone can be a teacher. But thats not even the case.
Teachers need to know so much for the teacher to be successful. They need to know their
content, how to run a classroom and how to help all kinds of students so that they succeed I
whatever environment they are in. So long story short you need to know a lot to be a good
Social studies teacher, well teacher in general. Not everyone can do it through but those who
can will be instrumental in changing the world and influence our future generations for the
better.

5) Reference List

Bower, B., Lobdell, J., and Owens, S. (2010). Preview assignment. Bring learning alive!
Methods to transform middle and high school social studies. Palo Alto, CA: Teachers
Curriculum Institute, pp. 22-26.
Bower, B., Lobdell, J., and Owens, S. (2010). Essential questions. Bring learning alive! Methods
to transform middle and high school social studies. Palo Alto, CA: Teachers Curriculum
Institute, pp. 226-228.
Cantrell, D. (n.d.). Using a variety of teaching methods and strategies. OSU Extension School of
Natural Resources.
Kurth-Schai, R. & Green, C. (2008). Education and democracy. In Encyclopedia of the Social
and Cultural Foundations of Education. dio:http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781412963992
National Council for the Social Studies. (1994). What is Social Studies? Expectations of
Excellence: Curriculum Standards for Social Studies. Washington, DC: NCSS, 1-3.

National Council for the Social Studies. (1992). A vision of powerful teaching and learning in
the social studies: Building social understanding and civic efficacy. Retrieved from
http://www.socialstudies.org/positions/powerful.
Newmann,F.M.,&Wehlage,G.G.(1993).Fivestandardsofauthenticinstruction.Educational
Leadership,50(7),812.
Patterson, N., Misco, T., & Doppen, F. (2012). Beyond personally responsible: A study of teacher
conceptualizations of citizenship education. Education, Citizenship, and Social Justice,
7(2), 191-206.
Ohio Department of Education. (2010). Ohio's new learning standards: Social studies standards.
Retrieved from http://education.ohio.gov/getattachment/Topics/Ohio-s-New-LearningStandards/Social-Studies/SS-Standards.pdf.aspx.
Schug, M., Todd, R., & Beery. R. (1984). Why kids don't like social studies. Social
Education, 48(5), 382-387.
Sorkin, A. (2009). The Newsroom First Scene. YouTube Video retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJWKccHQFOA

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