EDG4376 Reflection #20

As always, I knew I would enjoy any class taught by Professor McNair. Yes, his reflections, quizzes, and assignments are definitely a challenging workload, but in the end, more than worth it. It’s a great feeling to get my money’s worth and feel well-prepared for my future academic endeavors. After taking “Integrating Language Arts and Social Studies,” I have become much more knowledgeable in the areas of curriculum integration, the history of the educational system in America, creating unit plans, and creating constructivist and behaviorist lesson plans. But I have to say, most importantly, Joe McNair’s lectures were by far the most influential aspect of the class. I love listening to what Professor McNair has to offer; it’s effortless to get lost in his almost spiritual discussions. Furthermore, it’s almost impossible to walk out of class and not reflect on the thoughts and concepts that were proposed.
As far as my field experience hours at Hibiscus Elementary School went, I had a blast! I worked with Mr. Rodriguez’s third grade TEAM class, and even had the opportunity to conduct a cooperative learning activity with the students for my EEX 3071 class. The children were absolutely wonderful, and I was thrilled to have enough time to get to know each child individually. Mr. Rodriguez’s class was composed of twenty students, and I had never worked with a class that large before. At first, I was completely overwhelmed, especially because I wanted to learn all the students’ names as soon as possible. Furthermore, I had absolutely no idea just how much attention eight years need! The kids were all over me, telling me stories, asking me questions, and seeking out hugs. I spent as much time as I could with each of them, and thirty hours wasn’t nearly enough. I will definitely continue my volunteer work at Hibiscus with “I Have A Dream,” and plan to visit the students from Mr. Rodriguez’s class as often as possible. From my experience in the School of Education at Miami Dade College, I’ve learned quickly that as an educator I must also be a role model. And the more I show the children that I care, the easier it will be for them to care about themselves. This, to me, is the essence of education.

EDG4376 Reflection #19

A little less than a year ago, I thought learning how to use the Miami Dade College School of Education lesson plan format was particularly difficult. Today, I fly through lesson plans with ease. However, the constructivist lesson plan format was brand new to me this semester, and at first, it seemed completely out of my league. I had absolutely no idea what a bridging activity was, what the details section was supposed to consist of, and even how to go about grouping the students! As a so-called advocate of Constructivism, this was an absolutely terrible realization for me! However, I learned a lot from creating the three Constructivism lesson plans, and now, thankfully, feel pretty comfortable with the format. The content area web matrix portion of the unit plan still confuses me, but I know that, in time and practice, I can master that as well. All in all, I think I enjoy creating Constructivist lesson plans even more than the regular ones. I like the idea that the students are grouped together to research and construct knowledge on their own. To me, this is an imperative aspect of education. Cooperative learning activities build social and communication skills, which are vital skills to have in today’s diverse world. Furthermore, group activities reflect what goes on in the world in real life situations. Not many people go through life without some sort of job, career, or schooling where they don’t have to interact with other people on a regular basis. Additionally, I believe that any lesson is more meaningful to students if they are given the opportunity to construct their own knowledge and opinion of the subject matter. Now, although I do not consider myself an advocate of Behaviorism, I absolutely loved creating the Behaviorist lesson plans! Believe it or not, they made sense to me, and I easily understood the concepts of each portion of the template. I thought it was organized and structured in such a way that it made sense for any and every grade level and/or classroom. I truly enjoyed creating a step-by-step procedure and modeling examples. For some reason, I thought the Behaviorist lesson plan format was, by far, the easiest and most pleasurable of all the lesson plans to formulate and construct. However, all in all, I’m thrilled I was given the chance to practice all three formats this semester.

EDG4376 Reflection #18

I thought creating the Constructivist style unit plan was extremely interesting, to say the least. Up until this point, I have only used the Miami Dade College School of Education lesson plan format in LiveText, so not only was a unit plan foreign to me, but a Constructivist unit plan seemed completely alien! Furthermore, I had absolutely no concept of what or who the Yoruba people of Southwestern Nigeria were. I only knew I would have to conduct a lot of in-depth research in order to create a unit plan that actually made sense. I thoroughly enjoyed reading O Se Sango by Professor Joe McNair, and I learned a lot about the Yoruba culture and traditions. I found it extremely interesting that many of the Yoruba rituals are highly secretive, although I have to admit, initially, I was beyond frustrated that my Google search attempts were pointless. However, once I realized that most of the information I needed to research came directly from O Se Sango, I had no problem creating my unit plan. I enjoyed my reading and research about the Yoruba naming ceremony, their bridal bath tradition, and their bridal poetry. Consequently, my lesson plans were about those topics. I just wish I had more time throughout the semester to take my time reading O Se Sango from front to back, but I’m sure I’ll be able to do that at some point. And now I have a pretty good idea of how to create a unit plan in the future when I am in charge of my classroom. I’m just happy Professor McNair went over each aspect of the unit plan in detail, because at first I don’t think anyone in the class had a clue as to what we were supposed to do. He was definitely helpful in assisting the class in this unfamiliar and somewhat frightening task. Moreover, I think it will be fun to construct my units with subsequent topics for my students. As long as I follow the Florida Sunshine State Standards, I am given more than enough flexibility to teach according to my educational philosophy. Additionally, I can have fun in the process and teach what I am passionate about, which will hopefully inspire and motivate my students to learn. In the end, I was thrilled to have been given the opportunity to create a unit plan. I learned a lot from this project, and as a future professional educator, I will definitely have the chance to use what I’ve learned at some point.

EDG4376 Reflection #17

In problem-based learning, students usually work in collaborative groups, and some typical activities include question generating, story creation, case reasoning, reason analysis, and concept mapping. Since problem-based learning is based on the Constructivist ideologies of John Dewey and Lev Vygotsky, the teacher usually acts as a facilitator throughout the lesson after he or she presents the students with a problem. Therefore, in creating my own lesson and unit plans that focus on problem-based learning, I would most likely utilize a Constructivist lesson/unit plan format.
Inquiry-based learning strategies require students to learn based on their effective questioning skills and techniques. Again, students work in cooperative groups in order to solve problems, and the teacher’s main purpose is to guide them along. Inquiry-based learning pushes students to develop experimental and analytical skills, and they become scientists in the classroom by conducting extensive research. In creating my own lesson and unit plans for inquiry-based learning, again, I would probably use a Constructivist format. Most likely, I would attempt to present my students with a real life situation or problem that they will be motivated to solve because of its validity.
A WebQuest format is similar to problem-based learning and inquiry-based learning in that students are required to construct their own individual knowledge on whatever subject matter they are currently focusing on. The only difference is that just about all the information used by students comes from the World Wide Web. Personally, I think the WebQuest format is particularly useful in today’s classrooms. It is imperative that young people become proficient in using computers and the internet, and the integration of technology in lesson/unit planning can only make learning and research more effective and efficient. In my classroom, I hope to have a plethora of computers with internet access available to my students, and I will definitely make use of them on a regular basis. Most likely, I will incorporate the WebQuest format and internet–based lesson and unit plans at least two to three times a week.

EDG4376 Reflection #16

In the 1940’s, Jerome Bruner did significant research on the development of human cognition and how mental sets (needs, motivations, and expectations) influence people’s perceptions. In the late 1950’s, Bruner became interested in the education system, and in the 1960’s he developed a cognitive theory that intellect progresses in stages “through step-by-step changes in how the mind is used.” Bruner believed that children will be actively engaged in learning if they are interested in the material that is presented, and furthermore, they are active problem-solvers who are completely capable of exploring difficult learning material. He saw education as a process that attempts to mold children into creative thinkers. Social Studies is a topic, to me, that completely feeds off of the creative thinking process. People cannot make informed, educated decisions about history, current events, psychology, etc. if they aren’t utilizing their cognition. Furthermore, Bruner’s theory of cognitive growth that was developed in the 1960s focused on environmental and experimental factors, which both also directly correlate to Social Studies. He also wrote a variety of texts that concentrated on the fact that students construct their own paradigms of the world on the basis of their will to learn, how they are instructed, and how they are taught to make judgments and formulate opinions. He believed that culture, and appreciation of culture, is key in the education process. Therefore, if educators can inspire young people to acquire a curiosity for Social Studies, then ultimately, they will become cultured, worldly, productive citizens. It’s pretty apparent that Jerome Bruner’s ideologies make a lot of sense. Young people need to know about the history of their country, how a bill becomes a law, how to vote, what is going on over in Iraq, why the economy is doing so poorly, how geography influences businesses where they live, what hate crimes are and how to fight them, etc. All of these topics are, essentially, the Social Studies, and they all are imperative to our lives. Additionally, knowledge of them requires intrinsic motivation and a thirst for knowledge, which was the basis of Bruner’s life work. Therefore, if Jerome Bruner didn’t have an impact on the new Social Studies, I don’t know who else could have.

EDG4376Quiz#6

EDG4376 Reflection #15

Knowledge of the social sciences is essential to everyday life, and personally, I feel that they should play a much larger role in school curriculums then they do. Currently, reading and mathematics are taking over, and not because they are important subject areas children must become proficient in, but because the FCAT has taken over. Of course, studying anthropology will educate students about the classification and physical traits of Homo sapiens. However, children need to know the basics of economics too. Businesses and money make the world go ‘round and students need to be taught the value of a dollar if they are expected to succeed in life. Geography is important as well; sadly, many elementary students in Florida are unable to point out the state they live in while looking at a blank map of America. The same goes for political science. This subject is something I was never taught in school, and believe me it was tough to teach myself the ways of politics. The arts and humanities can teach elementary school children the beauty and enrichment of diverse cultures, which is imperative if children are to practice tolerance and acceptance. And of course, American History should play a vital role in any school’s social studies curriculum. Children in America need to know about the significant facts and figures that have shaped our country, such as Christopher Columbus, the Declaration of Independence, slavery, and the Civil War.

However, when it comes to elementary schools, I believe sociology should be at the core of the social studies curriculum. Young children need to be taught the basics of society in order to learn about themselves and what type of roles they want to partake in life. Basic social skills need to be thoroughly explained and proper behavior should be demonstrated. If sociology and psychology can be integrated into the social studies curriculum, children can be given a beautiful opportunity to create a strong foundation of who they want to become for the rest of their lives. And to me, this concept should not stop at the elementary school level. Behavior modification, communication skills, and social interaction skills need to be reinforced throughout middle and high school as well. Sociology is a broad concept that covers it all, including topics such as culture, education, family, religion, gender and sexuality, race and ethnicity, criminology, social networks, and technology. Children today will have a much easier time growing up in today’s society if they are exposed to reality.