INTASC Principle 1: Content Pedagogy and INTASC Principle 6: Communication and Tech and INTASC Principle 9: Reflective Practice

INTASC Principle 1: Content Pedagogy and INTASC Principle 6: Communication and Technology and INTASC Principle 9: Reflective Practice

I knew when I entered graduate school that going into the social studies content area meant I could end up teaching a number of different things. The social studies classes that I completed as well as my student teaching experience in civics and economics helped prepare me for becoming a social studies teacher. I feel that pairing the social studies graduate courses along with the education courses allowed me to get in depth understand of different social studies content as well as ways in which to teach students the content.

Dr. Lee’s ECI 525, Contemporary Teaching Approaches in Social Studies, allowed me to learn about new ways to approach teaching social studies content. In the class I visited the Historic Stagville Plantation in Durham. The class was paired off, and each group was to report on different aspects of the plantation. My partner and I reported on slave culture and crafts. The main goal of this project was for the class to create a digital history website that entailed all of our information. I found this project very interesting because it incorporated United States history and technology. It allowed me to see how digital history websites can be used within the classroom. While I was teaching civics and economics during my student teaching, I know that if I have the opportunity to teach United States history, I will use the class’s digital history website to help teach the antebellum south to my students. In Dr. Lee’s class I was also given the opportunity to reflect on the Stagville experience, which allowed me to recap the things I had learned about the plantation as well as understand how it could be used within a classroom.

http://www.docstoc.com/Docs/447880/%20%20stagville%20project[1]

http://www.docstoc.com/Docs/447881/%20%20reflection%20on%20stagville

Also, Dr. Lee’s class helped me understand how educational games can be implemented in a social studies class. I got to research three different educational games and learn about many more that my classmates reported on. I took the things I learned in this class and used one of the games during my student teaching experience.

http://www.docstoc.com/Docs/447882/%20%20peter%20packet%20game%20review

http://www.docstoc.com/Docs/447867/%20%20game%20review%203

http://www.docstoc.com/Docs/447865/%20%20game%20review%202

In HI 554, U.S.- Latin American Relations, the class was divided into groups and required to research different topics dealing with the United States and Latin America and report on that research in the form of a wiki. At first I was very intimidated about making a wiki, but once I learned I realized what a great learning resource it could be for students. While I have not had the chance to use the wiki in my student teaching I feel that having a group of students make a wiki would be a great learning experience that would make the social studies subject matter more meaningful for students since they would be the ones who make the website.

http://wikis.lib.ncsu.edu/index.php/Oct_18_United_States_and_Cuba

http://wikis.lib.ncsu.edu/index.php/Plan_Colombia

In HI 575, South African History I learned just how important primary sources can be to social studies classes. I wrote a paper on the Use of Violent and Non-violent Resistance against Apartheid in South Africa based solely on primary documents. In my student teaching I used several primary sources such as the Manga Carta, the English Bill of Rights, The Declaration of Independence, among many others. Working one on one with the documents allowed the students to understand the subject matter better by breaking the document down and understanding why it is important to social studies.

http://www.docstoc.com/Docs/444324/Primary%20Sources%20South%20African%20History

The combination of social studies classes and education courses I took in my graduate school career helped me to understand content pedagogy that will help me become a successful educator.