Week 12

I have been working in a 5 year old kindergarten room and recently they began working on a Social Studies project.  The project was introducing them to maps and locations that can be made on a map.  It was very simple.  The teacher read the book daily.  After she read the book the students would then create a map.  The first map was of their bedroom.  The next day it was their house.  Every day it got a little bigger.  The kindergarteners focused on room, house, town, state, country, and planet.  I thought this would be a great way for second grades to use technology and introduce a few more locations that are important to know.  So being inspired by the kindergarten lesson.  I created for my fourth lesson plan a Me on the Map.  I integrated technology by having the students use Google Earth to find all the locations need to create their own Me on the Map book.  I know I could have had them create a tour using Google Earth but I honestly was having trouble myself navigating it.  I have in the pass created a Lit. Trip using Google Earth but I really struggled with that also.  As I created this lesson, I was thinking of so many other ways that students could use Google Earth in a Social Studies curriculum.  I know that I need to "play" with it more so I can overcome some of my own technical difficulties with it.  I think that is my problem with much of the new technology that I have encountered is finding time to actually work with and figure out all the ins and outs of it.  Maybe on my Summer off between this semester and student teaching.

Week 11

This week I had many conversations that related to things that we had discussed in class.  I was listening to conversation between friends the other night.  One works in Human Resources and the other in Customer Services they were discussing about how the attitude of the younger generation has affected getting employees with good work ethic.  They were discussing how potential employees dress for interviews but the Human Resource friend was stating her and her companies biggest problem is that technology.  Employees feel that they have the right to bring their own devices to work and that it is their right to be connected to technology during working hours, especially non-work related.  I know that I am guilty of checking email, texts and sometimes Facebook when it is not appropriate.  But I was surprise that the words she used is that it is their right.  Is this something that we are teaching the entitlement of technology?  She questioned how it should be regulated.  How do schools that have bring your own device deal with Facebook, Instagram,  and all the other social media? I love technology but how do you get away from the constant social media connections.

I came across an article entitled  27 Tips For Becoming A Digital Teacher.  It had this wonderful picture of the characteristics of a modern day teacher. The website Edudemic is a neat website filled with many articles for students and teachers interested in education and technology.

Week 10

As I read chapter 10 on Literacy in Social Studies, I kept reflecting on the fact that I love going to the library with my sons. We love to browse the stacks looking at all sorts of things. I think about easy it is to find books that relate to almost any subject. I have picture books at home that relate to math concepts, health concepts, science concepts and social studies concepts. Some of the books are non-fiction but most are fiction books that concepts can be drawn from. In my lesson, I use a picture book to engage the students into thinking about different types of communities the characters in the story live in. This not only helps the students work on comprehension because they need to recall the events, characters and the details of the settings in the story, but it gives the students an idea of the aspects the different communities in our world have. In the lesson I have the students compare and contrast the communities from the story by using a Venn Diagram. The beginning of this lesson is all started by reading a children's. picture book.

I have seen many different ways teachers have used books, fiction & nonfiction, picture & chapter books to help students dig deeper into their social studies curriculum. It seems like a natural fit.

Week 9

I love Geography.  I loved learning all about other countries and capitols in school.  I know that I am by no means an expert on the subject of Geography however I still to this day love maps and books about other countries, states, rivers, mountain ranges etc.  I am not a world traveler either.  Although it is on my bucket list to travel through Europe, Asia, Africa, Austratlia, and South America.  (I have no real desire to go to South or North Pole)  It surprises me how many people can't identify the 7 continents on a map.  I just read a story about a professor that gives her Sociology students a pop quiz on the 7 continents. (Read the Article and watch her video) She now requires this map primary test to pass her class. I think that there are several politicians and even news reporters that need to take this test.  There are several times I have been watching a news program and have seen a geographical error.  I can't believe that a politician who discusses foreign policy does not have his or her fact checker give them correct geographical information (.  It seems like a simple subject to learn and teach.  It just also seems to be a subject that many chose to forget, when it is a very important subject to know for everyday life.  Here is Mitt Romney (I am not looking for a political debate just trying to show how important it to learn geography) in the presidential debate that Syria is Iran's only route to the sea.  I think he needs a refresher course on the middle east geography. :)

Here are some funny pictures and cartoons I found:

Look closely that is not the state of Wisconsin in between Braun & Rodgers. This is ESPN reporting!