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Harley Montgomery

What I know about Social Studies
Growing up, social studies was always a core subject. I find in schools and other children's lives that is not the case. My mo has always made it an important part of our lives. W have traveled to many different states, visited many different historical places, and studied it for fun in my house. What I do know about social studies is that it helps us to be a better person to contribute to society. We can be good citizens and be knowledgeable about the land we live on. It helps us to learn the diversity of others and how we all came to where we are now.

What I want to know about social studies is how to teach it so my students want to learn it like I do. I also want to know how to create the interest in the subject for not only the students, but the parents. I think this will help them to become more engaged and want to learn if their families show interest. With my family wanting to learn and go do things it helped me to want to do it as well.

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What I know about teaching Social Studies 

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What I know about teaching Social Studies 

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Nina Frazier

Out of the 4th and 5th grade students I teach Social Studies to, only one mentioned how it was his favorite subject.  Not only did I find this surprising, but sad as well.  Why aren't our students wanting to learn about the history of the country they live in, the structure of government, the geographical areas of the world?  Was it because it has become a boring subject to them or perhaps adequate time isn't being spent on the subject?  I believe it is both.  Students are looking for subjects to be more authentic and relatable.  Bringing Social Studies to life in each level of the subject is needed for our students to appreciate the subject.  The amount of time that is allotted for teaching Social Studies in a school day seems to be minimal compared to other subjects.  In 5th grade, the schedule time for social studies is for 15 minutes prior to lunch and 15 minutes after recess, which ends up being 5 minutes after recess after you get the students back in the classroom and settled down.  Other subjects get 45 to 90 minutes.  Where is the time to actually teach social studies with authenticity?

What I want to know

How can you teach a subject like this subject be taught with the authenticity that is needed for the students to relate? The learning and understanding of the structure of the different levels of government in our country is needed. Students are in need to know who they are, where they come from and how their individual voice can contribute to the direction of their country, state and community. How do we teach this in these time constraints?

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What I know and What I want to know - Dakota Fox

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What I know and What I want to know - Dakota Fox

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I believe that social studies is often overlooked as a core subject, but that it is far too important to be overlooked. In regard to teaching social studies, I know that there are several instructional strategies that can be used to make an effective, memorable lesson. I know that it is important to have student-centered and interactive activities in lessons for every subject, including social studies. What I want to know about teaching social studies is what instructional strategies there are that are specifically effect for teaching social studies. I would like to know more lesson plan and activity ideas so that when I become a teacher, I will teach this subject most effectively.

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What I know about teaching social studies? What I want to know about teaching social studies?

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What I know about teaching social studies? What I want to know about teaching social studies?

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I do not know very much about teaching social studies because I am not a teacher yet. What I do know about social studies is that it is not entirely what people think. Social studies is about history and geography, of course. It is also about learning about the community and how to interact within the community. It can also be about the cultural traditions that are practiced within the country.

What I want to know about teaching social studies is how to teach the course in a way that would be fun and engaging to the children. I would also want to know ways that would help the children recognize and be able to retain the information which is being taught to them. I also want to know how to teach social studies to the children in a way that would benefit them later in life.

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What do I want to know about teaching social studies and what do I know now

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What do I want to know about teaching social studies and what do I know now

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Jeanette Gallagher

Currently, I am not a teacher nor in a classroom. I completed Practicum 3, and in only one of the three classrooms was social studies even taught. I think this is a very important topic for the classroom. So many people complain that cultures are not properly identified or recognized. During social studies lessons this could be a great time to incorporate different cultures and traditions into teaching. I am interested to see what kind of social studies are being taught in the classroom as well. I was in elementary school twenty years ago so Im sure the curriculum is very different. I am excited to see how teachers teach this subject and fun ways to incorporate different learning styles.  I do know in my fourth grade class we were talking about NJ. Different days we would talk about factories and pollution and some days we would talk about the landscape such as the farms and oceans. We never really did anything fun.. we just read from a textbook. I suggested a Kahoot for a test review and the kids really enjoyed it! Im looking forward to new techniques and making this a fun topic for my self and students! I do remember learning state capitols, and monuments, and landmarks important to history. There are so many topics and it can be such a broad category but Im ready to learn more!

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Students need to learn social studies because through that they learn about basic human needs, communities, government, cultures, societies, geography, and history. All of these help students prepare for their futures. Students will need to understand the way communities and the government works, how to find their way around, how climates and land of a region will impact the way they live and prepare for travel. It also helps students learn to identify patterns in history and hopefully make changes to promote a different path in life. Social studies teaches students to recognize and empathize with people who are different. Social studies taught in a meaningful manner can help students in all these ways. A meaningful manner is a well- rounded method that gives students different perspectives and experiences allowing them to use multiple intelligences and senses to learn. Meaningful social studies will invoke discussions and debates giving teachers a great opportunities assess what students have learned! Educators can assess students through many different ways, using performance and written assessments. In fact both ways provides the educator with the best data, because some students will show more and do better with written, while others will do better with performance and social experiences.

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What do I know about teaching social studies?

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What do I know about teaching social studies?

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This present time I’m not a teacher. I don’t know anything about teaching social studies, but I’m ready to learn more about it and learn new ways to teach this subject to students and keeping them engaged in the learning. Provide the students with history and knowledge they can build upon.

What I do want to know about teaching?

What I want to know about teaching is how to design lesson plans and provide material for the students. Effectively being able to reach and teach all students with or without disabilities. Be able to relate the information given to real life situations and keep them up to date with current history.
VerRona

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Courtney Surratte--What do you know about teaching social studies and  What do you want to know about teaching social studies?

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Courtney Surratte--What do you know about teaching social studies and  What do you want to know about teaching social studies?

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I know that Social Studies is a very important subject that needs to be taught to everyone. I also know that Social Studies has many different points of view and it is very important to study all of these points to understand the full story. Social Studies help everyone understand why the world is the way it is today. You can look back on history and see how certain events prompted certain protocol, and why certain countries like or dislike one another. It is important to teach Social Studies so students understand why things are the way they are. It is also important to teach social studies in fun ways to help students relate to the information.
What I want to know about Social Studies is how to effectively teach this information to 1st through 5th grade. Sometimes I feel like students may not be interested in Social Studies because it may not be as exciting as other subjects. I would also like to know how to create activities that tie in with other subjects to help students learn effectively.

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From my experience in school as well as what I have seen in the school I work at, students learn civics, economics, geography, and history during each grade. Beginning in first and second grade, students learn about communities, resources, civil responsibilities, climates and landforms, maps and geography, etc. Students will build their knowledge each increasing grade level. For younger grades, I think it is important to make social studies interesting for students to learn by making it hands-on and connect it to students' lives. As I am working towards my Masters in Elementary Education, one thing I would be interested in learning how to teach students the different aspects of social studies. There are many subjects within social studies, I feel like it would be hard to incorporate all of them and teach all the important concepts.

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What do you know about teaching social studies?

What I know about teaching social studies primarily comes from my time as a student. When I think of social studies teachers, I think of being taught history, the importance of history, and the importance of understanding how our government works. Teaching social studies translates to  me a revealing of where we've been as a society, who we are, and where we're headed as taught through a wide variety of subjects. What I think my memories of elementary school and high school have taught me is that it's more about the past than the now. But what I've come to learn, is that Social Studies provides students the understanding of how they fit into their communities and the larger world.

What do I want to know about teaching Social Studies?

I'm excited to learn how teaching Social Studies has changed and evolved over the years since I was last taught it in Elementary and High School. We live in a much more connected world now than ever and I want to know how as educators we can use the wide collection of subjects that fall into the field of Social Studies to impress upon our students the significance of community, being a global citizen, how to to analyze and think critically about history, and how to use this knowledge to better where and how we live.

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Rachel Timanus - What you know and what you want to know about teaching social studies

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Rachel Timanus - What you know and what you want to know about teaching social studies

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Social Studies has never been a strong subject of mine in school, and in many elementary grades it is not one of the main subjects until you hit maybe second grade. With that being said, I know one part of social studies is geography that has to deal with maps, how to read maps, different countries, etc. I also know there is a strong sense of community, how you can help your community, different workers in the community, etc. When it comes to teaching social studies, students might be more engaged with physical objects, such as a globe for geography, or maybe seeing pictures from a time period that is being discussed. What I want to know about teaching social studies is how to integrate more social studies into lower grades that are really focused on math and reading, how to make lessons more interesting for students, and how to really differentiate lessons so it does not feel repetitive.

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(Spring 2022, Block 1)

What do you know about teaching social studies?

For several years, I worked for a small non-profit, Sultana Education Foundation. Social Studies was a large part of our field experience and classroom-based curriculum. Like any other subject matter, some students enjoyed the topic, while others did not. However, any time we could make the topic "come alive" through artifacts, games, and other hands-on activities, the level of engagement and enjoyment for all students increased.

What do you want to know about teaching social studies?

I currently teach 6th-grade science on Maryland's Eastern Shore. I am very interested in learning more about Maryland's social studies standards and our district's curriculum so I am better able to create cross-curricular learning experiences for my students.

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During my practicum placements, social studies was not a huge topic of discussion when I was there. During one of my placements, the teacher did review the differences between a globe and a map. During the map/globe lesson, we also talked about where our families were from and pointed to those locations on the map/globe. The students were interested in where their families were from and the location on the map/globe.  Knowing how to interpret a map and globe is extremely crucial in the geography aspect of social studies. I want to know how to engage students in social studies lessons effectively. When I was in school, social studies consisted of lectures, which I know tends to lose student focus.

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I know a little bit about teaching social studies from when I completed 2 long-term positions in an ELA/SS 6th grade classroom. I found out that a lot of the students were bored by the content so I tried to make real-life connections to it or at least more modern connections. For example, during our unit on Ancient China, we read a ghost story from Ancient China and we also watched Mulan to end the unit.

I would like to find more ways to give assignments because I struggled to find ways to engage the students and grade work. I was given a lot of multiple choice papers to work with and a lot of writing assignments but I would love to learn more ways to have the students learn and show what they know.

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Since this is only the start of my second year as a classroom teacher, and I have little to no experience teaching a structured Social Studies class or lesson, I have to go with what I've observed.  And at this point, I think that class can be what you make it--even though that is a cliche--it really seems that Social Studies teachers have some flexibility in the way they can approach and present their content, especially after taking a look at the DE standards.  I'm hopeful that this means creativity in our lesson planning is encouraged and that we can be as flexible as need be to accommodate our students.
What I would like to learn is how to effectively incorporate social studies concepts and materials into special education classrooms. I have noticed in my experiences that social studies is not a part of daily instruction, as there is a significant amount of time spent covering other topics like money, writing, reading, and life skills. I'm hopeful that after this class, it will be easier to adapt social studies curriculum for a greater number of students.

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What do you know about teaching social studies?

Well I am not a teacher yet so I would say I know very little. However I have friends who are teachers in many subjects and grade levels. I talk with them regularly in my studies to help me become a better learner and one day teacher.
Also what I know is the Social Studies is more than what most think. Some could say this is history or just geography. I believe this is more of exactly what it state. Social Studies- studying the social. Interactions between people, social climates and all social interactions with the earth as well.

What I want to learn is ways to teach social studies differently. Ways to talk about geography with using more locate relation.  Help talk about history and more recent events as well.

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What you know about teaching social studies, and what do you want to know about teaching social studies?

I taught 5th grade Social Studies in 2015. While teaching Social Studies, it was my goal to get students to understand their true history, and their place in the world. Also, help them acquire knowledge and understanding of social sciences, history, and humanities while also developing the skills of thinking and processing, values and beliefs, and citizenship. What I want to know about teaching Social Studies is ways in which to get students to be engaged in topics that may not spark their interest.

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What do I know about teaching social studies?
I've taught 5th grade social studies last year, and in 2018. My goal was to enable students to understand, participate in, and make informed decisions about the world around them.
Students learn the knowledge needed in order to have an  understanding of the past.
What do I want to learn about teaching social studies?
I would like learn more ways in which to engage students further where they understand how to read and use maps, and government.

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What do I know about teaching social studies? What do I want to know about teaching social studies?

I don’t have any experience yet in teach social studies but my knowledge comes from watching how my prior teachers have taught this subject. I remember it being mostly content based, especially when it came to civics. I became more interested in social studies when it was relatable and taught in way I understood and could retain the information. I think social studies should be taught where students can relate to the content. It needs to engage students so they can retain the content and use it for future knowledge. Social studies should be taught where students see all angles of the content and how it has affected lives during that time and possibly how it still may affect lives today.

I want to learn about the effective strategies and approaches used in teaching social studies. For example, how to engage students on a topic that they may not be interested in. I want to know how to make content relatable and understandable. I want to teach social studies in a way that prepares and gives them the tools needed for their future.

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Brigette Eliane -What do I know about teaching social studies?What do I want to know about teaching social studies? 

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Brigette Eliane -What do I know about teaching social studies?What do I want to know about teaching social studies? 

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I have had some experience with tutoring children with their social studies curriculum, and I think what I realized is that it is best to always try and find a way to make the material relatable to them, especially for the young children. If they feel that something happened so long ago, or in some place so foreign to them, they may not be engaged or retain the information. I think the best results I have seen when teaching social studies have come from being able to make it engaging, relatable and fun.
What I want to learn about teaching social studies is how to do the things I mentioned above to the best of my abilities, and I would like to learn how to break difficult concepts down for children in a kindergarten classroom. Issues such as world policies or economics are things I think children should be exposed to early on, but they are such difficult and in depth concepts, I am not sure how to go about it.

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What do I already know about teaching social studies?
I know that teaching social studies is very multi-dimensional...meaning, there are many layers to it. There's the surface level content and what is trying to be taught but underneath it there are layers that include things like "why did this happen?" "what kind of impact did it have?" "what can we learn from it?" "has something like that happened during your lifetime?" "what other event/person can we compare this to?" "does this make you think differently about the topic/person?"

What I want to learn about teaching social studies?
Is how to effectively get to all those layers mentioned above, but do so with elementary age children who have young minds, not a lot of experience with life, don't have a large attention span, etc. Social Studies can seem so open-ended and so broad, how do we best narrow down to essential questions, keep them focused on those essential questions, but also help them think broadly so as to help create civic competence in our young learners?

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What do I know about teaching social studies and what do I want to know about teaching social studies?

Currently i don't know anything about teaching social studies however i do know about teaching in general. Out of all the subjects to teach i feel as if social studies will be the most interesting to me since i really enjoy geography. I want to know how to teach social studies, effective strategies. How to engage my students and keep them engaged.

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What do I know about teaching social studies and what do I want to know about teaching social studies?

I know there are many different aspects to a social study lesson that doesn’t just include history and geography.  There are lessons we can create that teach our students how to be good citizens, we can teach our students about economics, government, taking care of our planet, sociology, etc.  What I don’t like, and what I’ve discovered as that a lot of schools don’t allow teachers enough time to teach an effective Social Studies lesson.  At my kids’ school the teacher has 15 minutes to teach Science and 15 minutes to teach Social Studies, or they can teach 30 minutes Social Studies in one marking period and teach Science in another.  I feel like this is such a disservices to our students.  What I would want to know, is how can I teach my kids Social Studies in an effective way so that we can touch on Social Studies every day in class?

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-Abigail Frey                 Thinking back to my own experience being taught social studies I know there are a lot of materials and resources utilized to help support student learning. Textbooks, articles, websites, videos, maps, and art projects are all used to teach each topic. Also, I would like to learn how to engage multiple learning styles/profiles during assessments. From memory most forms of assessment seemed to be written quizzes and tests. I would like to learn how to better incorporate creativity and fine arts into assessment and instruction.    

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-Abigail Frey                 Thinking back to my own experience being taught social studies I know there are a lot of materials and resources utilized to help support student learning. Textbooks, articles, websites, videos, maps, and art projects are all used to teach each topic. Also, I would like to learn how to engage multiple learning styles/profiles during assessments. From memory most forms of assessment seemed to be written quizzes and tests. I would like to learn how to better incorporate creativity and fine arts into assessment and instruction.    

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What do I know about teaching Social Studies?
I have never taught Social Studies, so I do not know very much. However, I have worked as a private tutor for many years and one thing I see over and over again is students seem to struggle with making meaningful connections to the content and view Social Studies as an arduous task of endless memorization. Often, my students come to me with study guides provided to them by their teachers and tell me they need to know all these places and dates to get an A. They are successful in memorizing the information, but often lack a deeper understanding. For example, I have many students that can easily tell me that Pearl Harbor was bombed on December 7, 1941. However, they struggle to tell me what led up to that event. In fact, I had some students who did not know it was the Empire of Japan that bombed Pearl Harbor and believed it was Hitler himself that did the bombing. This is a common misunderstanding  I see when tutoring kids on WWII because many students see Hitler as the one and only face of the WWII opposing side because of the unspeakably horrific atrocities he perpetrated on Jewish people. Many of my students had never heard of the Axis Powers and Allied Powers, and were interested to learn that historians believe that Hitler was also surprised by the attack on Pearl Harbor and although he knew the Japanese had an intention for an upcoming attack on the United States, he did not know about Pearl Harbor specifically  before hand. Understanding these details brings history to life, and leaves students wanting to know more.  Therefore, what I know about teaching social studies is the content needs to be taught to students in a way where they understand the big picture and engage with the content, and it is not just a regurgitation of facts that they may have technically correct, but do not fully understand and won't remember a week after the test.
What do I want to know about teaching social studies?
Because I know so little about teaching Social Studies, I want to learn everything I possibly can. If I had to narrow it down, I would be very interested to learn effective ways to work Social Studies curriculum into other academic areas. I recently finished clinical hours in a second grade classroom and was really struck by the complete absence of social studies curriculum. I think it is critically important to cultivate an early interest in Social Studies within elementary students to better prepare them for the more complex concepts they will encounter in middle school and high school.    Another thing I would like to learn about teaching Social Studies is what are effective performance tasks to give students that measure understanding of concepts but also really engages them with the content.

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What do I know about teaching social studies? What do I want to know about teaching social studies?

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What do I know about teaching social studies? What do I want to know about teaching social studies?

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I don't have any social studies teaching experience. I was raised in China, so this subject is new for me. I took grade 1 social study homeschool online lessons with my daughter together, and the lessons helped me understand this subject better. Social study involves history, economy, social science, geography, law, philosophy, political science, psychology, religion.
What do I want to know about teaching social studies?
1. I want to know what knowledge I should know first. 2. What kind of teaching methods and activities are good for each part of social studies.

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What do I know about social Studies?  I know that Social studies is a core subject that students can explore a myriad of information about human society. I know that Social Studies is considered an educational discipline that teaches about geography, history, law, and government.
What I want to know about Social Studies is how I as a teacher can teach my students in a way that is interesting and fun for students.  I want my students to be eager to learn about different aspects of social  studies so they can know about social responsibilities,  and the world in which they live.

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What do I know about teaching Social
Studies? hmmm... Well teaching specifically social studies, pretty much nothing.  But I feel I've learned a lot about teaching in general.
What I want to know about teaching Social Studies? I would like to learn how to teach the different areas of social studies to elementary students.  How to engage them and keep them engaged.

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What do I know about social studies? I know that social studies is a core subject that is taught to elementary students. I also know that social studies is a huge umbrella that consists of many different content areas. Social studies includes the government and how it works and it also includes how we can be leaders and citizens. I know that Social Studies is very interesting and relevant to the students every day life. I feel that social studies is a great opportunity to teach the students about the world around them.

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I want to learn about the different content areas within elementary social studies. I also want to learn about various techniques to engage students and keep them interested in social studies. I feel that social studies can be taught in a hands-on way and students can relate to the content being taught. For example, the students can go through a mock election to learn the process. Or the students can learn about citizenship and how they can be better citizens. I am eager to learn more about elementary social studies.

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Social studies is the subject that I have had the least amount of exposure to throughout my master's program. While I have a basic understanding of Social Studies at the elementary level I definitely did not know the broad range of topics that are covered. What I do know about teaching Social Studies is that American history and geography are two subjects that are covered in elementary school, but I assumed these two topics were the major focus and there are definitely other branches of social studies that are covered and important for young students to learn. When I first think of social studies my mind gravitates towards history and maps but teaching civic duty and responsibility is necessary because the classroom is where most students learn how to interact with groups of people. The classroom is the model for students on their socialization and the blueprint for learning how to work with others. I know that students need to learn societal roles and political roles so that they have a better understanding for the outside world works. Something I want to learn about teaching Social Studies is how to incorporate it in an interesting way that will keep students engaged. I want to learn how to properly teach politics to students in a factual and non-biased manner that informs them but also lets them know that they are all respected. I also want to know how to create interesting economic lessons because that is the one topic that I always had the the most difficulty with staying engaged as a student.

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When I hear the word social studies, I automatically think of history or economics. However, Social Studies involves examining the economic, social, and political activities of different economies. I am currently a paraeducator in a first grade classroom and  the unit that is mainly focused upon is kindness. Students are taught the 7 habits of highly effective people. The 7 habits are : Habit 1. Be Proactive.
Habit 2. Begin With the End in Mind.
Habit 3. Put first things first.
Habit 4. Think Win-Win
Habit 5. Seek first to Understand, Then to be Understood.
Habit 6. Synergize.
Habit 7. Sharpen the Saw.
The students in my classroom have been completing activities associated with each habit. I feel as though so far I do not have a concrete grasp on what it looks like to teach social studies to an elementary class. Therefore, I hope to learn additional techniques that may be utilized when teaching various subjects in Social Studies. I wish to create a fun and exciting environment when teaching on social, political and economical aspects.

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As many other of my classmates, I do not know much about teaching social studies. Most of what I know about teaching this subject is from observing teachers when I was a student. There are many topics and concepts that can be taught under the subject of social  studies. Teaching this subject requires the teacher to have a wide variety of knowledge to effectively teach their students. There are numerous topics that students need to be taught, but it seems as if there is minimal time devoted to social studies. Another thing that seems to be important to this subject is the use of other materials such as maps, videos, and graphic organizers.
As I do not have any experience teaching social studies, there are many things that I would like to learn. First, I would like to learn how to effectively plan a lesson that maximizes time. As I mentioned earlier, it seems that social studies is often seen as an after thought. I would also learn how to keep students interested and engaged throughout lessons by using games and other forms of teaching. Lastly, I am also interested in how to effectively differentiate learning.

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As a kindergarten para, many of our social studies units may include key moments in US history, as well as some information that relates to geography. The only other areas that are covered during social studies units are kindness, growth mindset, and our school philosophy.
With that being said, I believe that in order to teach elementary social studies I must expand my knowledge in areas such as government, economics and civics. Social Studies has always been an interesting topic for me and as a learner from k-12, I thought that the use of textbooks were very useful to gain knowledge.

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While I do not know much about teaching studies in a classroom setting, I do understand that social studies encompasses so much.  These lessons must include an introduction to economics, geography and etc.  I do believe that it is their exposure in social studies that assists them with framing ideologies about the world around them.  Students must have an appropriate exposure so that they can have a chance to develop authentic feelings about the world, not just their neighborhoods and communities..
I started my college career wanting to be a Social Studies teacher so this is really near and dear to my heart.  What interests me most is the scaffolding of Social Studies. What do kids in learn in K-2? How is Social Studies developed and crafted to be applicable to their everyday lives?

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I think I am at a slight disadvantage with teaching social studies. During my last practicum class, I was placed in a second grade class where social studies was not at the top of the list to be taught. One thing that they did go over (on a specific day I was there) was how to be a better citizen. I think that this was a very important topic to discuss with them, especially with everything that is going on in the world today. Some of the things that they talked about were ways to be better citizens and what a good citizen looks like and the things that they do.

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By: Sara Biehl                One thing that I know about teaching social studies espicially at the elementary level is it covers various topics that help students learn about the world around them and how they connect to the real world. This includes learning about different cultures, geography, economics, government, civics and historical events. Social studies also implements sociology and teaches students their role as a good citizen in a culturally diverse and democratic society.  Because social studies includes so many vast topics it is essential for me to help students understand the importance of each concept and how they are interconnected. I would like to learn how to effectively make this connection interactive, engaging, and fun. Instead of just teacher-led instruction, I want to learn how to implement more student-centered and group learning activities. Giving students more opportunities to work on group projects, and including learning centers will help build on their social and critical thinking skills which is an essential aspect of social studies in itself. 

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By: Sara Biehl                One thing that I know about teaching social studies espicially at the elementary level is it covers various topics that help students learn about the world around them and how they connect to the real world. This includes learning about different cultures, geography, economics, government, civics and historical events. Social studies also implements sociology and teaches students their role as a good citizen in a culturally diverse and democratic society.  Because social studies includes so many vast topics it is essential for me to help students understand the importance of each concept and how they are interconnected. I would like to learn how to effectively make this connection interactive, engaging, and fun. Instead of just teacher-led instruction, I want to learn how to implement more student-centered and group learning activities. Giving students more opportunities to work on group projects, and including learning centers will help build on their social and critical thinking skills which is an essential aspect of social studies in itself. 

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One thing that I know about teaching social studies is that trying to relate it to students prior knowledge is key. Social studies is also a very broad term and includes subjects such as: history, government, geography, law and economics. In order to get a student to be interested and maintain interest through a lesson, it is important to try to spruce up the topics as much as possible and make them more exciting.  Although there are some social studies topics that can be dull, there are also very fascinating and important concepts needed to be a functioning member of society.  In learning how to teach social studies, I am curious to learn different and more creative assessment methods in social studies besides the a typical test/quiz.  I think its important for students to adequately understand social studies topics and their mastering of each one is crucial in order to move to more complex material.

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One thing that I know about teaching Social Studies is that there are many different topics that constitute the overarching term of "social studies." When people hear "social studies," most people immediately think about just history. However, social studies also includes topics like geography, government, economics, psychology, sociology, law and of course, history. With that being said, one thing I would like to learn about teaching social studies is how all of these different topics come together into one curriculum. I am curious to understand how these concepts build on each other throughout a child's education. I would also like to learn more about the goals of teaching these different components of social studies and how they are incorporated into the standards for social studies in Delaware.

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Alexis DuBois: At the elementary level, social studies is all about the community in which the students are living. Students should be encouraged to observe the community around them and be able to identify certain aspects. For example, in my second grade class right now, they are working on community helpers. I think this aligns perfectly with the times we are living because it ties to the term essential workers. As a class we were able to discuss what those workers are and how they benefit our community. It also helped students to make real world connection to something they’ve been hearing a lot about but may not have understood. I also believe that exposure to other cultures will develop inclusivity and understanding. 

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Alexis DuBois: At the elementary level, social studies is all about the community in which the students are living. Students should be encouraged to observe the community around them and be able to identify certain aspects. For example, in my second grade class right now, they are working on community helpers. I think this aligns perfectly with the times we are living because it ties to the term essential workers. As a class we were able to discuss what those workers are and how they benefit our community. It also helped students to make real world connection to something they’ve been hearing a lot about but may not have understood. I also believe that exposure to other cultures will develop inclusivity and understanding. 

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When I was taught social studies in grade school, I remember using our textbook a lot for our main reference. We did activities using our textbook and homework. Teaching social studies is teaching facts from our history, and in order to do well on tests, you have to memorize the information. One thing I want to know about teaching social studies is what is the best method of teaching? I was taught by lecture. What kind of fun activities can you do to best teach social studies in a captivating way?
By: Alex Mapa