https://padlet.com/chelseawitwer/8rco56ggz0oeb4j4 What does good social studies teaching look like? en-us 2021-09-22 02:51:31 UTC 2025-10-05 17:15:21 UTC hello@padlet.com dmw3kf https://padlet.com/chelseawitwer/8rco56ggz0oeb4j4/wish/1776211386 I used to think Social Studies was about teaching young children about their government and what we did in our government and in United States history, but now I know Social Studies was originally used as an holistic approach to teach immigrant children about citizenship and their new country by using social science techniques. 

 Now I understand how Social Studies came about. Social Studies first started off as a way of teaching immigrant children. Although, then there was a debate between educators ultimately turning Social Studies into a blended social science subject of history, geography, and civics. To help all children understand American Heritage and acquire the skills and basics to be a proactive citizen in our nation’s democratic society. 

So my overall understanding is Social Studies is constantly changing and teachers need to be able to be flexible as time changes. ]]> 2021-09-29 00:01:30 UTC https://padlet.com/chelseawitwer/8rco56ggz0oeb4j4/wish/1776211386 https://padlet.com/chelseawitwer/8rco56ggz0oeb4j4/wish/1776211452 Through the resources I learned multiple things about what it means to be a good teacher of social studies. One of the biggest things was allowing students to share their voice/opinions and being inclusive of all opinions and all students. this will create an accepting atmosphere for social studies classroom and allow for great discussion. ]]> 2021-09-29 00:01:32 UTC https://padlet.com/chelseawitwer/8rco56ggz0oeb4j4/wish/1776211452 https://padlet.com/chelseawitwer/8rco56ggz0oeb4j4/wish/1776211544 Teachers do not need to choose between a rigorous lesson and a culturally responsive one. Our current political moment, and indeed our nation's history demands both.
Rigor and cultural responsiveness are not mutually exclusive 
 ]]> 2021-09-29 00:01:36 UTC https://padlet.com/chelseawitwer/8rco56ggz0oeb4j4/wish/1776211544 mlbrfn https://padlet.com/chelseawitwer/8rco56ggz0oeb4j4/wish/1776211579 We could use more of this right now.....
Melissa Bressman]]> 2021-09-29 00:01:37 UTC https://padlet.com/chelseawitwer/8rco56ggz0oeb4j4/wish/1776211579 af6gg https://padlet.com/chelseawitwer/8rco56ggz0oeb4j4/wish/1776211728 My main take away from the two articles that I read is that people are misinforming kids because they feel uncomfortable or uneasy to educate them on the whole story, and it is this way with a lot of different topics. ]]> 2021-09-29 00:01:43 UTC https://padlet.com/chelseawitwer/8rco56ggz0oeb4j4/wish/1776211728 hcbhf7 https://padlet.com/chelseawitwer/8rco56ggz0oeb4j4/wish/1776212256 One big take away I had from reading the articles was how often we "soften" history to essentially be what we want it to be. The quote that really stuck out to me was from "The Courage to Teach Hard History" and it said, “We the people are much more comfortable with the Disney version of history, in which villains are easily spotted, suffering never lasts long, heroes invariably prevail and life always gets better.” This is something that I never want to do in my classroom. while it is sometimes hard to hear what really happened, it is truly the only way we will learn from our past.

]]> 2021-09-29 00:02:02 UTC https://padlet.com/chelseawitwer/8rco56ggz0oeb4j4/wish/1776212256 allison31199 https://padlet.com/chelseawitwer/8rco56ggz0oeb4j4/wish/1776213323 A history class can be so much more than memorizing dates. I truly think that with all of the subjects, there is so much to learn other than what the standards bound you to. These are guidelines to touch on. History is a subject where you can take the students interests and likes and run with them. Turn a students liking for mummy's into a full blown lesson that involves math, history, science AND english. There is so much that students can learn simply by listening to THEM and their own interests and letting those guide what you teach and fill the standards in where you can. 

]]> 2021-09-29 00:02:23 UTC https://padlet.com/chelseawitwer/8rco56ggz0oeb4j4/wish/1776213323 brittneycardenas0 https://padlet.com/chelseawitwer/8rco56ggz0oeb4j4/wish/1776214088 A big take away I learned from researching is that even kids are ready to talk about hard topics, but a lot of time it's parents and teachers who think the student is too young. From what I've researched, students actually have a lot of questions when it came to hard topics, because they're a lot harder for students to comprehend and wrap their heads around. This makes for a good discussion, and even kids need to know and understand about things like slavery, racial injustices, stereotypes, etc.]]> 2021-09-29 00:02:49 UTC https://padlet.com/chelseawitwer/8rco56ggz0oeb4j4/wish/1776214088 https://padlet.com/chelseawitwer/8rco56ggz0oeb4j4/wish/1776214090 Giving young people space to discuss things they feel strongly about helps develop strategies to deal with conflict among other skills ]]> 2021-09-29 00:02:49 UTC https://padlet.com/chelseawitwer/8rco56ggz0oeb4j4/wish/1776214090 cawpmc https://padlet.com/chelseawitwer/8rco56ggz0oeb4j4/wish/1776214492 Something I read about that I did not realize was such a big thing/ had a name behind it was the different kinds of Racial Trauma that can happen while in the classroom. From having kids do things or showing them pictures or videos that can be traumatic/ offence towards them.  
- Cora]]> 2021-09-29 00:03:03 UTC https://padlet.com/chelseawitwer/8rco56ggz0oeb4j4/wish/1776214492 emilybarton32 https://padlet.com/chelseawitwer/8rco56ggz0oeb4j4/wish/1776214637 In the video Revolution, Reaction, and Reform, the teacher introduces terms to the students and has them do a quick write to enhance their thinking to see if they can think of their own definition. She also had pictures around the room and had the students do an "I see, I think, I wonder" activity. I think these ways can be effective in the classroom and help students actually remember and understand the material they are learning.]]> 2021-09-29 00:03:08 UTC https://padlet.com/chelseawitwer/8rco56ggz0oeb4j4/wish/1776214637 zmbz9t https://padlet.com/chelseawitwer/8rco56ggz0oeb4j4/wish/1776214829 Originally, I just wrote out that the teacher should use relevant content. Relevance is not enough. The article I read about talked about the Black Lives Matter movement very in depth (how it started, what it means, myths and misconceptions about it, etc.) I really liked this because it showed how current events are so important in a social studies classroom. It is so significant as one of the unfortunate incidents where a black man was killed happened in our state! Current events will definitely make a teacher do well teaching social studies.]]> 2021-09-29 00:03:16 UTC https://padlet.com/chelseawitwer/8rco56ggz0oeb4j4/wish/1776214829 https://padlet.com/chelseawitwer/8rco56ggz0oeb4j4/wish/1776214836 I think that teaching difficult history is something that seems daunting to many teachers, I myself insluded. And the article I read discussed how we go to the "disney version" of history and seem to shy away from the real difficult history. But I feel that stepping out of our comfort zone as educators can allow us to show not only the real history but also a more comprehensive overview of history in the world. Not picking and choosing what to include shows the students that everything is important to look at. ]]> 2021-09-29 00:03:16 UTC https://padlet.com/chelseawitwer/8rco56ggz0oeb4j4/wish/1776214836 kebnd9 https://padlet.com/chelseawitwer/8rco56ggz0oeb4j4/wish/1776214844 I watched the American Symbols Lesson for Kindergarten. The teacher modeled good social studies teaching in several ways. She encourages students to work collaboratively in a group, discussed prior knowledge with students, required everyone to participate and share, she modeled responses for her students, and she got the students excited to learn by telling students they go to be the teacher and teach the class the facts about their symbol on their poster. The students learned so much from the structure of the lesson and they were engaged and excited for their social studies lesson. ]]> 2021-09-29 00:03:16 UTC https://padlet.com/chelseawitwer/8rco56ggz0oeb4j4/wish/1776214844 rbrz89 https://padlet.com/chelseawitwer/8rco56ggz0oeb4j4/wish/1776215543 I learned that student are very much included and working hands on, to develop problem solving and decision making skills to learn about the world around them]]> 2021-09-29 00:03:42 UTC https://padlet.com/chelseawitwer/8rco56ggz0oeb4j4/wish/1776215543 https://padlet.com/chelseawitwer/8rco56ggz0oeb4j4/wish/1776216054 It takes into account the ability for students to understand difficult concepts with the right amount of priming. Seeking the proper contextual information to launch a lesson from.]]> 2021-09-29 00:04:01 UTC https://padlet.com/chelseawitwer/8rco56ggz0oeb4j4/wish/1776216054 ern34b https://padlet.com/chelseawitwer/8rco56ggz0oeb4j4/wish/1776222107 Promoting critical thinking was one thing that I wrote down. I actually found an article called Lets Talk about it, that is a guide for facilitating critical conversations with students. It goes beyond what I thought when asking students critical thinking questions. There is so much that goes into preparing students for critical thinking questions that I would have never thought about. It is important for social studies teachers to know content and current events to facilitate discussions. There classroom norms to set up for a safe speaking environment There are prompts teachers can use to further discussion.
-Erin

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