Social Studies in the Classroom!

I have seen social studies instruction take place mostly after lunch. I haven’t seen many social studies lessons because I leave an hour early each Wednesday and tend to miss the social studies lesson for that day. However, I have seen a lot of informal social studies instruction such as social-emotional regulation and awareness. The kindergarten curriculum is based heavily around social-emotional awareness. During read-alouds, my CT will stop the read-aloud and say, “What emotion do you think this character is?” and will proceed to talk to the students about how the emotion looks. My CT also talks about different emotions going on in the classroom throughout the day. For instance, she told the students what the word “hunk” meant (meaning a good looking, muscular man or guy) and the students instantly started laughing and becoming red in the face. My CT pulled one of the students up to the front of the classroom to show the rest of the class how this student was displaying the emotion “embarrassed”. She was red in the face, her body was tense, and she couldn’t stop laughing. This was a great display of emotions and the use of informal instruction such as this are constantly being taught throughout the day.

In addition to seeing a lot of social-emotional awareness taught throughout the day, the Washington Creed embodies social-emotional awareness. More specifically, the Washington Creed talks about respecting elders and teaching the young. Knowing their creed embodies a great deal of respect, they are constantly being reminded of it. Whenever they need to remember what it means, they go over it in their head or out loud and they instantly remember to respect their elders, teaching the young, resting, playing and so forth.

I have also seen history used in the curriculum by discussing President’s Day. More specifically, the reason why President’s Day is celebrated and who the two main presidents that are celebrated are– George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. The class would read articles on the president’s lives and contributions to the United States. When a new article or reading is discussed, my CT will refer to the day before to connect the lessons and allow the students to recall what they learned. My CT also connects what they learn in their lessons to everyday life. For instance, when an article or reading talked about George Washington’s clothes, she compared them to the clothes that the students wore and the students were able to make and see those connections. My CT even went as far as to incorporate cutouts of Abraham Lincoln and George Washington on their calendar in place of the date so when they would say the calendar, they would say, “February 15^th, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, February 18^th, etc…” 

As far as economics goes, I haven’t seen a great deal, but what I have seen are posters on the wall of coins. The coins have the image, the value of the coin, and the name of the coin.

My CT instructs students by connecting with prior lessons and asking students what they remembered from the past lesson, why certain things were the way they were/happened the way they happened, and she also connects new concepts to everyday life such as the example I provided about George Washington’s apparel with the apparel the children wear. When a social-emotional issue arises or needs to be addressed, my CT quiets the classroom down and talks to them calmly. She gets their attention by letting her attitude towards the topic reflect upon the issue that needs to be addressed. For instance, when she addressed how one of the students was embarrassed from saying the word, “hunk” she was laughing because it was a funny moment. She has a way of showing the students how it feels through not only her words, but her body language as well.

Students are very captivated by my clinical teacher. They love hearing what she has to say and listen to her every word. Students laugh at her references to different positive emotions and show a solemn look on their face when the topic is more serious. The students love actively participating in social studies lessons. They are always raising their hands and making connections to prior knowledge as well as everyday life. Students will raise their hands and talk about what they learned the previous day with such skill, I am always surprised to see how well they can remember what they learned.

I wish I could see more social studies instruction in my classroom. I believe a large part of this is due to having to leave the classroom an hour early every Wednesday. I think it would be a great learning experience to get to see more of this instruction so I can use it in my future as a teacher. I always seem to learn a great deal in a natural, classroom setting rather than reading about it from an article or book. From what I have seen, my CT does a great job of addressing social-emotional issues in the classroom as well as instructing the students regarding various social studies lessons to the point where they are able to recall previous lessons down to the last detail.

I saw about the same amount of social studies instruction at my last clinical experience in my 3^rd grade classroom at Northwest Elementary. I didn’t see much, if any social-emotional regulation in my 3^rd grade classroom, but I did see a good amount of history lessons. They would learn through song and story whereas this semester, I have only see stories and articles being read so far. As far as what I have learned in classes at ISU, I have seen a lot of civics and government (social-emotional awareness, respecting the community and respect for others), history (President’s Day discussions and lessons), and the economics I have seen entails the posters on the walls of the coins. I look forward to seeing more social studies instruction throughout the rest of the semester.

Seeing what I have witnessed reinforces what I have learned in classes at ISU and provides me with the confidence in knowing how to instruct students in the future. I see what techniques work well with students and what they connect best with. Especially in regards to social-emotional awareness and how my CT sets the mood for teaching them about how certain actions are displayed and how that makes students feel.

 I was able to do my own social studies lesson on the Sneetches and the objective was to teach students that it is important to show that they care about others and ways that they could do so. It was a great experience to be able to teach the students about kindness and respect and I hope that they take what I taught them and move forward with the concepts taught in their future. I will remember these experiences and the knowledge I have acquired through these experiences. I will make it a point to use these opportunities as a means to an end for when I student teach next semester. From there, I will apply that knowledge that I acquire as well as all of the past experiences and use it in my career as an educator. I really hope to learn more about social studies instruction through my coursework at ISU as well as in my clinical and student teaching settings.

 

Below is the Washington Creed and the Washington Way!