Final Blog

 

This course has made me reflect on what is meant by social studies and why it should be taught in elementary school.  A teacher, teaching young citizens about social studies may be one of the greatest services she or he can give to students and to our country.  This is something I had not really spent very much time considering before this class.  I was definitely on the right page though with my thoughts on integrating the arts into social studies.  I had years ago mentally designed a unit for fourth graders on North Carolina history where the students would learn about famous North Carolinians.  This unit I had imagined would integrate the arts as students would learn to draw portraits.  They would draw a portrait of a famous North Carolinian they would research.  Their finished portraits of their famous person would be included on a class timeline.  The students would present their research on their famous person throughout the year as we studied the time period their famous person lived.  (The study of North Carolina history would be an ongoing yearlong topic!)  This course confirmed that such a unit would work.  But now I’ve learned that including the arts in social studies may be the only way to incorporate arts education into today's jam packed curriculum.  And designing a unit is a herculean task, best attempted by seasoned professionals!

Through this course I learned about “Backwards by Design”, a way to begin from the end goals of a unit.  This idea makes sense to me now.  Instead of having an end in sight, the end is what guides you from the beginning.  Preparing our final cooperative unit was quite a project that took an amazing amount of forethought.  At times starting with the ending felt a little weird, but at least I now understand the rationale behind this method. 

I was so glad that this course included visits to the North Carolina Museum of History and the North Carolina Museum of Art, both wonderful resources.  I know some people can be intimidated by museums or turned off by them, but I was glad that we were encouraged to use field trips to these museums as we teach social studies.  I just hope I will be able to convince my school where I’m at that I need to take field trips with my classes to institutions such as these museums.  I was fortunate to have been taken to first class museums since I was very small and was provided with good models of how to get the most out of a museum visit.  I want to make this opportunity happen for other students too, so they can have information and concepts they learn in social studies and the arts come to life.

The “History through a Child’s Eyes” project was a very insightful tool for getting a quick look at what student’s might know about history and social studies.  It was a fun assignment to hear some of the student’s comments in response to the questions.  I now know that 4^th grade students think stores get things from Amazon and Google to sell to people and that a picture from John White’s voyage to Roanoke in 1585, appeared to be “very modern” because the picture has “boats and rakes in it which they must have bought at a store”.  But seriously it was interesting to note the student’s misconceptions about economics, a lack of knowledge about famous women in history and little knowledge about places in their state, including not knowing what county they lived in.  This project would be beneficial to do before beginning to teach social studies in the classroom.

The final piece I have learned from this course is how to work collaboratively and cooperatively in a group.  Growing up in an age where group work was akin to cheating, my skills for working in a group were severely lacking when I began my MAT program.  This class, requiring me to complete my mega unit project with my partner, was the capstone on my experiences in group work.  I am sincerely indebted to my great partner who dealt with my idiosyncrasies and patiently modeled how to work effectively in a group.  I will take these skills into the classroom for my students to model and practice as they learn to work collaboratively and cooperatively.

I have learned that social studies is often forced out of the classroom, but this course has renewed and energized my excitement for making social studies a prominent part of the elementary classroom - if for no other reason than for the betterment of our young citizens, the future of our country!