HEART- My perspective has changed when it comes to teaching socials studies. I believe it is important for teachers to illuminate the single-story aspect of historical events and figures in our history. When teachers limit the single story, we also reduce this image that people are perfect in our society. We ALL have flaws and that includes historical figures.

FEET- I plan to create open discussions in my classroom so that students can learn from each other’s perspective. When I become a teacher, I want to present truthful history but allow my students to be in a safe place where their opinions matter on the subject. I believe when our student’s opinions are recognized in the classroom, we can create compassion for one another and create meaningful learning.

Image - I chose this image of students working together in open discussions, because it is important for teachers to allow students to offer their opinions in a safe space in the classroom.

Head: One Major takeaway is that I feel more confident about learning and teaching history. 

First, learning about “one Story” and how it can impact our students by just teaching one side of a story. I will provide resources besides textbooks to teach every side of the story.

 

Heart: I have gained so much that I am confident and prepared to teach history. I gain more knowledge than I ever learn in school, undergrad, or up to this point. Since history was my least favorite or boring subject to me but now I feel confident and say history is my favorite subject. I can teach history. Before, I was hesitant to teach. I feel so much more equipped to teach it ethically. 

 

Feet: I will continue to prepare myself and grow on my own to better educate my future students through the many topics in social studies that we will cover. Reading and educating myself first is important to provide my students with the best learning opportunities.

HEART – I am feeling more prepared, I know I still have a lot to learn and research more ways to educate and prepare younger students to become a more empathetic, compassionate citizen that will take action to fight for justice. Once I officially have my own classroom, I plan on adjusting my social studies classes to teach inclusive, engaging, and meaningful social studies. I will use a lot of the readings from this class as a resource. I also hope I can contact Dr. V. to brainstorm or get some useful tips on modifying the curriculum without getting in too much trouble .   :) 

FEET – One commitment I will make is that I will teach the truth. I will teach all sides of the story, I will allow my students to make a meaning of their learning after being able to see the bigger picture, instead of a one narrow version of it. I want my students to learn how to be empathetic, to try to understand where others come from and why they act different than them. 
 

Head- This course has helped me understand the importance of diverse strategies that connect with students’ backgrounds to build a deeper meaning with the Social Studies curriculum. 

o   One takeaway is to avoid portraying historical figures used in my lesson or activities as heroes. Students should be given opportunities to learn about historical figures without omitting important characteristics that create them as perfect patriots. 

o   Another takeaway when teaching geography is the importance of allowing students to make representations of the environment in which they live and interact to grasp new information about geographical concepts of cultures, people, and places.

Heart – This course has given me the courage and motivation to help students learn about Social Studies in a healthy, positive manner. I also feel a sense of confidence to employ strategies that foster critical thinking about historical events and how it impacts their communities today. Lastly, I feel better prepared to know how to connect Social Studies with other content areas and expand on their abilities to learn beyond the time constraints that are placed on the Social Studies curriculum.

 
Feet- My next step is to continue to seek professional development through individual research or collaboration with a team of teachers. I am committed to building a library of diverse literature that will connect with the cultures and identities of students in the classroom. I am also committed to creating engaging lessons that foster higher-level thinking and exploration of solutions to relevant problems in students’ communities. Lastly, I am committed to teaching Social Studies with other content areas and ensuring that they align with state standards. 

Human geography encompasses a wide range of topics, including population dynamics, cultural geography, political geography, economic geography, and urban geography. It explores issues such as migration, globalization, urbanization, land use, and environmental management.

Heart: I feel more prepared to teach inclusive social studies. I really enjoyed how interactive the modules were and also really enjoyed the book club project as well. All of these things will stick with me as I start as a new teacher. I feel a lot more ready than before to teach inclusive studies in a conscious matter. I feel more empowered and confident than ever before to teach subjects that I was originally a little nervous to teach,
Feet: My next steps I want to take are sharing what I have learned with other teachers at my school as well as gain even more knowledge on inclusive social studies so I can advocate in my professional community and also seek professional development through my own research and create highly engaging lessons for my students.
Image: My image shows people from all walks of life coming together to work together. It is important for both students and teachers as well as staff to come together with people from all walks of life and embrace each other and work together.

Heart: I am feeling more prepared to teach students. I have gained more knowledge on how to create an inclusive learning environment where I know my students can succeed. 

Feet: The next step for me is to keep learning how to accommodate and teach students with different needs and backgrounds. I’ve been making a list of educational documentaries to watch, books to read, etc. so I can continue to grow to be more culturally responsive and a better educator. 

Image: I chose this image because it takes account the roots of everyone in the classroom- their communities, their perspectives, their culture, how they learn, their roots etc. I believe this is what social studies is, acknowledging and respecting different stories and backgrounds and learning the history of the world around us so that we may grow towards a better future.

Heart: During this semester, I have had the opportunity to be in a classroom that advocates fairness, inclusivity, support, and uniqueness. Going through this semester and learning the different ways I can support my classroom, and seeing what I learned in person, has given me a stronger connection to my students as a teacher. I feel like I have learned the important techniques and factors that will greatly impact my students in a positive and respectful way. There are so many things that teachers can do for their students and sometimes it can feel very confusing and cause a teacher to feel lost and confused. With the guidance of this class, and in my experience, I feel that I am prepared and ready for my future classroom and of the wonderful students that will be inside.

Feet: After finishing this course, and finishing my experience as an instructional aid in the pre-K classroom, I have many goals for myself that will help me become a better teacher. In my journey, my next steps are to student teach in a third grade class. I enjoyed my experience with the little ones, and I was able to see the fundamentals, but I see myself teaching older grade levels in the elementary school level. In my future commitment as a teacher in my district, I plan to give the students my effort and support throughout their learning experience. I will work in unison to the mentor teacher and share my ideas and thoughts that I have learned in my class. When working with the mentor teacher and creating my own lesson plans, my commitment to my class is to allow them different forms of learning and giving the students the opportunities to see more than one side of each story.

In this class, we have all learned and grown to become a better teacher for ourselves and for our students, I am so excited to take what I learned and put it into my future classroom.

Hard History demands to be taught. Those who don’t know the past are doomed to continue it. One of my main takeaways this semester is to constantly be authentic and honest (in an age appropriate way) to students. We do them no favors by sugar coating the hard parts of history. 

I feel like I still have a lot of areas I need to grow in, but I want to. I’m excited about doing independent research to further figure out how to make my classroom curriculum  as inclusive as it can be. 

I will always be ready to say “I don’t know but I’d love to look into that with you” if a student asks me something I am uninformed about. I make a commitment to constantly be engaging the ideas of others and listening to views different than my own in order to before a stronger educator.