Final Thoughts
In Reflection
Throughout this semester, I have learned a great deal about teaching social studies in the high school classroom. In the seminar, I was given the opportunity to learn numerous strategies to help my students gain content literacy. There are examples of mind-mapping, columned-notes, RAFTS, & numerous other strategies that I can always refer back to in my student-teaching semester and future career. In my field experience, I was able to implement some of these strategies and hone my skills as a teacher. I most notably grew in my confidence in working with older students and comfort with the economics content. Overall, I have learned and developed the skills to become a better social studies teacher. I feel very confident to go into my student-teaching semester in the coming fall.
Field Experience
The classroom I was placed in was a challenging classroom with high school senior economics. I was unsure as to how well I would be able to manage them and if I knew economics well enough to teach it. As it turns out, seniors were not as bad as I feared and economics is easier than I remembered. Throughout the semester, I developed relationships with the A-day students which helped improve my classroom management. Seniors did present their own challenges, but they helped me develop the skills I will need as a teacher.
The biggest highlight of my field experience was getting to teach A-day an entire unit for the week. Getting to plan the entire business organizations unit allowed me to organize the lessons knowing exactly what the students would be doing on each day and what their prior knowledge level was. This also allowed the teachers to see me as more than just a drive-by teacher for that week. Teaching three times in one week helped me feel like I truly was in the role of a teacher. This experience was very encouraging for what it will be like in student teaching.
Seminar Experience
In the seminar class, I had the opportunity to learn specifically about teaching social studies. I enjoyed the focus on the field I will be going into over a general " how to teach " class. The content literacy strategies I learned will be useful as I enter student-teaching, and, shortly thereafter, the teaching profession.
The biggest highlight of my seminar experience was practicing the review strategies we learned. While going over the information for the PPR & content exams, we practiced many strategies that would be useful to help reinforce student learning. These strategies included games, which allowed our class to interact and bond with each other through competition and teamwork. It was fun to have a competitive spirit while reviewing the information we will need to know for our exams. I look forward to being able to one day implement some of these fun activities in my future classroom.