HIST502/SOSC401 Syllabus
Montclair State University
Department of History
SOSC 401/HIST 502 Social Studies Teaching Methods
Monday 5:30 to 8:00
University Hall 1010
Contact Information
Professor Jeff Strickland
Email: stricklandj@mail.montclair.edu
Office: 425 Dickson Hall
Office Hours: Monday 4 to 5 PM, Tuesday 2 to 5 PM, & by appointment
Professor Fred Cotterell
Email: cotterellf@mail.montclair.edu
Office: 281 Dickson Hall
Office Hours: Monday 2 to 3 PM, Thursday 5:30 to 6:30 PM, & by appointment
Course Description
This course familiarizes prospective social studies teachers, grades K-12, with pedagogical approaches and innovative teaching techniques needed to convey to a diverse population current state and professional standards-based curriculum in the social studies. Innovative uses of technology, development of instructional units, individualizing for students with special needs, and strategies for managing problem behavior will be emphasized throughout the course.
Course Objectives
· You will examine and reflect on the relationships between curriculum, instruction, and assessment in Social Studies classrooms with a particular view to multicultural context, content, and process.
· You will examine and analyze curricular and pedagogical practices for educational significance, integration of history, geography, political science, and economics, sociology, and psychology, respect for students’ cultures, and contribution to equity and social justice.
· You will design a thematic unit.
· You will acquire practical presentation experience.
· You will enhance your knowledge of social studies content
.
Blackboard Web Site
You are responsible for obtaining course updates and submitting assignments via the Blackboard website http://montclair.blackboard.com/. In addition, you will submit all assignments to Blackboard dropbox. Blackboard confirms when files have been uploaded and sent. Please do not send emails to us requesting confirmation.
Email Accounts
You should activate their university email accounts no later than the first week of class. Failure to do so will result in the inability to log into Blackboard, receive course documents, updates and other messages from us.
Required Readings
James Loewen, Lies My Teacher Told Me
Articles available on Blackboard.
Reading Assignments
You are expected to follow the course outline contained at the end of this syllabus.
Attendance
You are expected attend each class meetings since it is necessary preparation for the final planning unit and each class meeting entails some form of assessment (or preparation for it). It is important that you begin thinking of yourself as a professional, since you will begin teaching soon. If you miss more than one class, you will deduct 15% for each absence thereafter from your final grade average. If you miss more than three classes you will need to retake the methods course (a D is the best grade you could earn).
General Rules
If you arrive after 5:30 PM, you will be marked absent.
If you leave class for longer than it takes to use the restroom, you will be marked absent.
If you attempt to use your cell phone during class, you will be asked to leave the room and marked absent.
If you plagiarize, you will fail the course and we will refer you to the Dean of Students for adjudication.
If you plagiarize, you will be removed from the social studies program.
Reading Quizzes (15%)
You will write a short essay response to a question about the assigned readings during the first five minutes of each class. You cannot make up a quiz without a documented excuse for missing the class.
Primary Documents Lesson Plan (7.5 %)
You will design a lesson based on historical documents located on the Internet and present your findings to the class. Detailed primary documents assignment guidelines will be given in advance of its due date. In preparing your lesson plan, you should provide clear expectations and explicit instructions for your students. You will submit a brief lesson plan on the due date. You are expected to implement the jigsaw method. You should include no less than four documents (one document per group member). In the spirit of the Jigsaw method, each group member will have a specific responsibility in preparing this assignment (presenter is not a specific responsibility).
Historical Geography Lesson Plan (7.5 %)
You will design a history/geography lesson that focuses on historical maps. You should consider the topic, method, and means of evaluation.
Mock Trial Lesson Plan (5 %)
You and your group members will construct a mock trial transcript. You will present the mock trial to the class. Choose a famous trial from Douglass Linder’s “Famous Trials” website at the University of Missouri-Kansas City or some other website. Use the primary sources to develop a trial transcript. You should have at least four main characters and each character should speak at least three times. These are minimums and you can develop a much more elaborate trial if you prefer. Refer to the mock trial guide in the course documents section of Blackboard or the American Bar Association website listed above. Each group will present their mock trial to the class. We will hold three mock trials during class.
Précis on Lies My Teacher Told Me (5 %)
On the week when the class meets to discuss the Loewen, each student will turn in a two-page précis. This can be done in prose, outline system, or with headers. The two-page précis is designed to help you read the book critically for argument, historiographical issues, and provide a "road map" for our discussion. You should address briefly:
(1) The Author's background and other works (search the web, web databases such as "American History and Life," "Historical Abstracts", "World Cat," and the MSU Catalog)
(2) The Historical problem(s) the Author tackles. Pose these problems in the form of a question.
(3) Author's thesis (or theses)
(4) Sources
(5) Genre of History (Social, Cultural, Institutional, Diplomatic, Economic, Intellectual, Political, etc)
(6) Significant findings
(7) Historiographical contribution(s)
(8) Author's Ideological/Methodological Orientation (i.e. Marxist, structuralist, post-structuralist, foucaultian, etc).
(9) The Strengths and Weaknesses of the Book.
Professional Resources (7.5%)
You will complete three two-page summary/reflections of professional publications/resources for the teaching of Social Studies. They will provide you with an understanding of the ideas, rationale, approaches, and strategies in Social Studies curriculum and teaching. You will complete two review/reactions from professional publications and one from the Social Studies in Action PBS series. Reflections and reactions will include the relevancy of the ideas/strategies. You will read/view, summarize and reflect on two full-length articles from two different professional journals of the following three: The Social Studies, Social Education (National Council for Social Studies publication), and History Teacher. The third summary/reflection resource is an online video series from the Annenberg/WGBH series Social Studies in Action at http://www.learner.org/resources/series166.html?pop=yes&vodid=724819&pid=1788#
Instruction Material Analysis (5%)
You will examine and analyze instructional materials created for Social Studies educators. A list of materials, location, and specifics guidelines for this assignment will appear on Blackboard.
Film Lesson (5%)
The public often hears stories about students watching “movies” in their Social Studies/History class. Too often the perspective is that nothing meaningful is happening and that the entire situation is just “filler,” and Social Studies teachers have it easy. Your task is to develop guiding questions that you could use with an associated media clip. Assignment guidelines will appear on Blackboard.
Jigsaw Lesson (7.5%)
You will design a lesson plan based upon the jigsaw method www.jigsaw.org. Detailed assignment guidelines will be distributed in advance.
Final Teaching Unit (20 %)
This assessment represents one of the primary goals of the course. You can include revised work from previous assignments. Detailed unit guidelines will be given in advance of the scheduled due date. In short, you will submit a week-long unit as your final project. You must type your unit with no larger than size 12 font and with one-inch margins all around. In addition, you should provide a title page and bibliography/reference page. The unit must be submitted on the date noted, assignments turned in after then will be considered tardy and penalized a grade and subsequently an additional grade each day late thereafter, e.g. an A to a B, etc. etc.
Unit Plan Proposal
You will submit a two-page Unit Plan Proposal due Feb. 21 at 10PM. If you fail to submit the proposal on this date, you will deduct 10% from your final teaching unit.
Unit Plan Rough Draft
You will submit a rough draft of your unit plan on April 4 at 10PM. If you fail to submit a rough draft, you will deduct 10% from your final teaching unit.
In Class Participation and Discussion (10 %)
You are expected to participate thoughtfully in the discussions. You will earn as much as four 4 points per class. In addition you are expected to attend office hours four times per semester (once per month).
Binder (5%)
Your binder will consist of teaching strategies, handouts, print material, and other resources that you can use in your teaching. You should include materials from your field experience. Assignment guidelines will appear on Blackboard.
Revisions
You may revise any assignment except the final unit. Revisions must be submitted within one week of receipt of the initial grade. You will receive the grade earned on the revised assignment. It is important that you seek advisement on each assignment, rather than submit substandard work. In a case where a student repeatedly submits substandard work, they will receive an average of the grades earned on the initial assignment and the revised assignment. In short, the revision policy is a privilege not a right.
Students with Disabilities
The Services for Students with Disabilities office is located in the Academic Success Center in Morehead Hall (Suite 305). You can make an appointment by calling 973-655-5431. You can visit their website at http://www.montclair.edu/wellness/.
Tolerance to Create a Climate for Civility and
Academic Honesty—Plagiarism—Cheating (Section 9, MSU Code of Conduct)
Plagiarism is defined as using another person's words as if they were your own, and the unacknowledged incorporation of those words in one's own work for academic credit. Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to, submitting as one's own a project, paper, report, test, program, design, or speech copied from, partially copied, or partially paraphrased work of another (whether the source is printed, under copyright in manuscript form or electronic media) without proper citation. Source citations must be given for works quoted or paraphrased. The above rules apply to any academic dishonesty, whether the work is graded or ungraded, group or individual, written or oral. The following guidelines for written work will assist students in avoiding plagiarism:
(a) General indebtedness for background information and data must be acknowledged by inclusion of a bibliography of all works consulted;
(b) Specific indebtedness for a particular idea, or for a quotation of four or more consecutive words from another text, must be acknowledged by footnote or endnote reference to the actual source. Quotations of four words or more from a text must also be indicated by the use of quotation marks;
(c) A project work shall be considered plagiarism if it duplicates in whole or in part, without citation, the work of another person to an extent than is greater that is commonly accepted. The degree to which imitation without citation is permissible varies from discipline to discipline. Students must consult their instructors before copying another person's work.
Minimum sanction: Probation; Maximum sanction: Expulsion
Grading System
| 95-100 | A |
| 90-94 | A- |
| 87-89 | B+ |
| 84-86 | B |
| 80-83 | B- |
| 77-79 | C+ |
| 74-76 | C |
| 70-73 | C- |
| 67-69 | D+ |
| 64-66 | D |
| 60-63 | D- |
| 1-59 | F |
Course Outline
| Date | Week | Topic | Assignment | Readings | Professor |
| Jan. 26 | 1 | Introduction Lesson Planning Social Studies Standards | Select a topic for a primary documents lesson and submit it to the digital dropbox by January 31 at 10PM. Professional Resource Reflection #1 due Jan. 31 Précis on Loewen, Lies My Teacher Told Me due Feb. 14 at 10PM | Folder 1 for Feb.2 Loewen, Lies My Teacher Told Me for Feb. 23 | Strickland Cotterell |
| Feb. 2 | 2 | Unit Planning Historical Thinking | Reading Quiz 1: first five minutes of class. You will respond to a general/thematic question about the readings in Folder 1. Professional Resource Reflection #2 due to the digital dropbox by February 7 at 10PM Two-page Unit Plan Proposal due Feb. 28 at 10PM | Folder 2 for Feb. 9 | Cotterell |
| Feb. 9 | 3 | Teaching with Technology | Reading Quiz 2: first five minutes of class Begin working on primary documents/PowerPoint lesson in computer lab | Folder 3 for Feb. 16 | Strickland |
| Feb. 16 | 4 | Teaching with Primary Documents | Reading Quiz 3: first five minutes of class Primary Documents Lesson Plan due Feb. 21 at 10PM Meeting in computer lab | Folder 4 for Feb. 23 | Strickland |
| Feb. 23 | 5 | Beyond the Textbook Loewen Discussion | Reading Quiz 4: on Loewen Discuss Loewen | Folder 5 for Feb. 16 | Strickland |
| Mar. 2 | 6 | Teaching with films & photographs | Reading Quiz 5: first five minutes of class Develop film/photography lesson plan due Mar. 7 at 10PM | Folder 6 for Mar. 9 | Cotterell |
| Mar. 9 | 7 | Collaborative Learning | Design Jigsaw Lesson due March 21 at 10 PM | Folder 7 for Mar. 23 | Cotterell |
| Mar. 16 | | Spring Break | | | |
| Mar. 23 | 8 | Teaching Geography | Reading Quiz 6: first five minutes of class Historical Geography/World History Lesson due March 28 at 10PM | Folder 8 for Mar. 30 | Strickland |
| Mar. 30 | 9 | Teaching World History | Teaching Unit Rough Draft due April 4 at 10PM | Folder 9 for Apr. 6 | Strickland |
| Apr. 6 | 10 | Writing and Assessment | Reading Quiz 7: first five minutes of class Professional Resource Reflection #3 due April 11 at 10PM | Folder 10 for Apr. 13 | Cotterell |
| Apr. 13 | 11 | Teaching Economics Analyzing Textbooks | Instructional Materials Analysis due April 18 at 10 PM | Folder 11 for Apr. 20 | Cotterell |
| Apr. 20 | 12 | Teaching Politics & Govt. | Reading Quiz 8: first five minutes of class Mock Trial Lesson Plan due May 3 at 10PM | Folder 12 for Apr. 27 | Strickland |
| Apr. 27 | 13 | Oral History & other projects | Reading Quiz 9: first five minutes of class | Folder 13 for May 4 | Strickland |
| May 4 | 14 | Discussion & Debates | Reading Quiz 10: first five minutes of class Teaching Unit due May 9 at 10PM. | Folder 14 for May 11 | Cotterell |
| May 11 | 15 | Student Teaching | Professional Notebook due May 11 in class | | Strickland Cotterell |
Friday, September 5, 2008
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14 comments:
Since I was a young child, I have always enjoyed learning about the past, and all the factors that contributed to it. I loved learning about the different people and events that occurred long ago. It was until I was in high school that I realized the importance of history in students' lives. I had several history teachers in high school that simply "brought history alive" and made it applicable to the everyday lives of students. These teachers did not use the traditional, methodical approach when teaching in the classroom. Rather than simply lecturing and showing films (without questions to follow!), the methods of instruction they implemented in the class actively engaged students to the point that students WANTED to come to class. Being enrolled in these types of energetic classrooms made me realize a critical point of teaching; It is not what you teach, but how you teach it that captivates students in the class. I feel that so many students find history boring and unnecessary to study, however, I feel that I can effectively influence students to see the importance of social studies and the impact it has on their very own lives. The topics of history/social studies consume our world and society whether it is politics, economics, etc., and my duty is to help students realize that history surrounds them, ALWAYS. I believe that it is essential to relate all the components of social studies to students' lives because it is only then when they will realize the importance of studying history. My motivation to teach combined with my knowledge and great interest in the content area fuels my desire to teach social studies to children and adolescents. Furthermore, I have been inspired by so many history teachers in the past that I feel that I can contribute to the profession in a manner just as they did. Hopefully, my interest and knowledge in the content area and my experiences from the history/education department at MSU will prepare me for such an endeavor.
Throughout middle school and most of my high school years Social Studies classes never resonated with me. I cared little for what was taught and retained next to nothing. Instead I focused on doing whatever was needed to get a good grade. But I was never motivated or interested in memorizing the dates of all those US Presidents who would show up on tests or knowing which battle happened when during the Civil War. For those kinds of reasons Social Studies was never my favorite subject. While I was fairly horrendous at math and science (and to this day I haven’t improved much), I found English classes to sometimes bore and sometimes engage me.
It was not until I took an elective in Social Studies with a wonderful, captivating teacher named Mr. Evans who taught Race, Class, Gender & Ethnicity. This class was compelling. I looked forward to school only because of my interest in the discussions, assignments, and overall dynamics of this course. It was here that I truly learned to love history. I love that I felt connected with this course because of my own background. I loved that I actually wanted to use my voice in this class. Most importantly I loved that Mr. Evans was able to motivate students personally and academically.
It is the memory I have of this course that began my interest in history. In the second semester of my freshman year at Rutgers University I took my first history course and was literally amazed at how I had fallen in love with the subjects I was studying. I enjoyed having my major be in History and my minor in Gender studies. This combination was reminiscent of my Race, Class, Gender & Ethnicity course.
While I always expected to stay away from education (because of the venting I constantly heard from exhausted, burnt-out teachers) I did see myself working with children, teenagers, or individuals who were at risk or had disabilities. I have always seemed to be at my best working with these groups of people. After graduation I worked for one-year in a pre-school autistic classroom with 3-5 year old boys with severe cognitive impairments. Besides struggling quite a bit with the invasive gossip that was endemic throughout the school and classroom, I enjoyed myself immensely. . I will never be able to forget the moment when a non-verbal child I was playing with became verbal for the first time. I enjoyed how hard the students and aides had to work together. I enjoyed the challenges that arose. Most importantly I fell in love with the job, the students, and the unbelievable growth and potential that is possible with a sincere investment.
After observing Mr. Evans’ classroom once or twice I decided that a Social Studies classroom is where I could thrive. I feel that my patience and commitment to students, the community, academics, and to education in general would begin my journey to hopefully being a wonderful teacher.
I must say I have serious reservations about entering the education sphere. While I understand burn-out is normal I am realistic about the possibility of it not being a long-term career for me. I have experienced one too many teachers who was no longer committed to the classroom or students and I acknowledge if I am ever to become that individual I will leave the profession immediately. But for now I am hoping to be the kind of teacher to students that Mr. Evans was to me. I felt that his course changed my future and my outlook towards society and history. That course made me grow as an intellect and individual. As an educator I hope to soon inspire and be inspired. I hope to teach and be taught. I hope to challenge students as they challenge me.
there are a few reason why i chose social studies education...first i hated how the bad social studies teachers i had showed no back bone at the end of each quater and let students pass the class..i never understood why i did the work on time and got good grades and i didnt feel rewarded because students were allowed to skip by...this made me want to be a teacher in general becasue i feel that i could motivate the students to do the work on time..but if they didnt punish them for their inaction...2nd when i first went to montclair i wanted to be a math teacher..still to this day i like working with numbers but i knew that i was not smart enough to continue on in math...so that is why i am in the social studeis education program ~mike savacool
My family has always been history oriented, my sister and mother both have degrees in history, and like I said in class yesterday I have been to Williamsburg almost every year since my birth (and my family prior to my arrival). We we able to learn history through walking the streets of Williamsburg and seeing Jamestown and Yorktown. This lead to my love of history which unfortunately throughout my years in school was dampened due to poor teachers. In High School I always used to say that one day I was going to replace one Social Studies teacher I had. She was terrible and would just yell at her students all day. It really made us not want to learn. So when I finally decided to become a teacher History was the first thing that came to mind. Through college I was able to bring back my love of history and want to be able to make my students love learning about the past as well.
My favorite thing about history is both the World War II era and the History of Costume. While I studied fashion for four years in high school and one year in college I learnt about the history behind clothing and fell in love with it. I hope to eventually be able to teach not only Social Studies but also become a Professor of Costume History at a University or College.
As I was growing up I knew I always wanted to be a teacher. However, what I wanted to teach was a mystery. All throughout middle school and high school I had horrible social studies teachers and always dreaded going to those classes. For instance, I had one of those teachers that would put in a video and hand us worksheets with blanks in them and we had to watch the video and fill in the blanks. Needless to say I learned absolutely nothing.
It was my first year of college that I finally started to enjoy history. I had a professor who had traveled all over the world and seen so many historical sites. He knew what he was talking about and was excited about what he was teaching us. It was so interesting because he was able to tie in what was going on in one part of the world with what was happening in other places. This professor made me realize that history really was interesting and was relevant to my life.
It was then that I decided that I wanted to become a social studies teacher. I want to engage the students in learning and help them to love social studies as much as I do. More importantly I want them to be able to see the importance of history and to be able to use history to make relevant connections to today and to make good decisions in their lives.
I believe that social studies is one of the most important topics taught in school today and I want to be a part of it.
I am a firm believer in the idea that one cannot truly understand the present until one understands the past. Time flows along and does not occur in segmented pieces, which means that humanity is always moving forward yet cannot break away from the past. What has occurred in the past also has a constant influence on the future. Unfortunately, I feel that a lot of young people do not see this connection. They are trying to make sense the the era in which they live without considering the fact that current issues and ways of life are deeply rooted in human history, particularly the individual cultural histories of nations and regions. I hope to be a social studies teacher so that I can attempt to make the present more meaningful for young people by helping them understand what came before and how it has shaped our world.
For me, the series of events that led me to this career choice are many, so I will focus on some of the highlights.
Perhaps the most important factor, as I assume it is for many others, was encountering a really good social studies teacher in high school.
I was very fortunate to have Mr. Richard Schwartz (Whippany Park HS) as my teacher of AP US History I. He was a teacher that was humble, highly intelligent, and deeply humane. He displayed a real interest in his student's well being, while not being afraid to be critical of work that he felt was not up to one's potential. I can truthfully say that his course was the first that really forced me to use my critical thinking skills consistently in order to earn that "A".
He certainly used some innovative teaching methods, including jigsaw, but he was also so good at lecturing that he was one of the few teachers that I could listen to at age 15 and not lose interest in at all. He also skillfully used humor to break tension before a big test or presentation. (like one of the many practice tests we took to prepare us for the dreaded DBQ on the AP Exam)
In short, he is the model I hope to follow in my own teaching career. I feel if I could teach in a way that would make him proud, I will be OK.
The second major factor was my experiences over the past few years working for large companies, most notably Intel and ETS (the SAT, AP, GRE, etc.) people. I found my days spent there, while financially rewarding, to be lacking in many other respects, including a sense of purpose and feeling gratified by the work I was doing. I came to realize that spending 9 hours a day, 5 days a week, in front of computer screen was simply not satisfying enough for me. I needed to do something more centered on people, and more specifically, in helping people. Since I was not blessed with good fine motor skills or a natural affinity for science, that sort of ruled out being a doctor. I came to teaching because I feel I have good communication skills, a desire to help people in their own personal growth. Teaching seemed to be the perfect fit.
As for why social studies in particular, beyond my lifelong interest in history (I was riveted by Ken Burns' Civil War at age 9 when it first aired on PBS...and this is one reason why I was probably considered a bit of a geek in school), I also feel that given the social complexities of our world, preparing young minds to deal with those complexities via a strong background in social studies is more crucial than ever. I've always been struck by the fact that the ancient world's understanding of science lags far behind our own, but their take on social problems remain as relevant today as they ever were. (Plato's Gorgias comes to mind...) Where then, do people need the most help? I must say social studies, because while we are stuck in many of the same patterns and problems that the ancient world was in terms of social relations, we now also have nuclear weaponry and other tools of mass destruction. In other words, the stakes cannot be higher, and the price of our ineptitude in dealing with social issues can only keep increasing.
If I can, in any small way, contribute to helping us deal with those problems by working with young people to at least think about them in a more thoughtful, critical way, then perhaps I will be able to find the gratification that I could not in my other jobs.
Here's to hoping. And thank you for reading this rant.
-- Mike DeVincenzo
Friday, September 5, 2008
Why I chose to get into History/Social Studies education
After 25 years chasing filthy lucre on Wall Street, I decided I wanted to do two very different things: 1) get a PhD in (Intellectual) History, and 2) teach in an urban high school. Each of these interests was, curiously, independent. I wanted to get the PhD because, as an undergrad, I had been exposed to a number of philosophical questions that I wanted to delve more deply into; but it took me 25 years to save up the money to do so. I wanted to teach in an urban high school because I had worked at the Boys Club of New York in the 1970s and found out that it was possible for someone like me to make really big difference in an inner-city adolescent's life.
I decided I would be able to leverage the former by becoming the latter.
Posted by mark sheridan at 2:03 PM 0 comments
I'm not sure what to say, really. I've wanted to do this for so long that it's hard to describe. I, of course, love history. I was lucky enough to have fantastic teachers in high school and in college that inspired me and constantly reinforced the idea of becoming a social studies teacher. I've been able to form real friendships with some of these people, which also helped to encourage my choice.
I know it sounds corny, but I'd love to be able to introduce history, politics, etc. to students and hope that they love it as much as I do. Substituting has helped me realize how much I enjoy working with kids. I honestly can't imagine doing anything else at this point. I guess this isn't a terribly in-depth answer, but it's the best I can describe it!
I’ve always felt that social studies courses, throughout middle school and high school, were the most relevant to me and my peers. It was always in a history or sociology classroom that we felt most free to discuss current events that shocked or confused us, or to ask questions about other cultures or religions. Also, it is the one of the only courses I consciously explored outside the classroom, thinking about how the ideas I learned in class applied to what I saw when I left school. Because of this, and my general fascination with history, I chose to study history.
I chose to teach history, in part, because I saw the same enthusiasm in my classmates. I saw students that normally didn’t participate in any discussions or classroom activities find their voice in history classes. Even those who didn’t respond initially were turned on to the subject in one way or another outside of the classroom. I also chose social studies education because I think that no matter what their academic aptitude or interest, a person should be able to participate in politics, and understand his rights as a citizen. In addition, he should gain a basic understanding of other cultures, belief systems and ideas. Social studies is the subject area that connects students to the world around them - the area in which the connection between knowledge and action is the most obvious.
I choose to teach history because I feel it is the subject area that completes the other areas of study, especially the humanities. Art and literature, for instance, cannot be completely understood unless the student is given some sort of historical back-story or explanation. A student cannot be expected to simply pick up a copy of Shakespeare’s plays and be expected to understand it without some context. Even science and mathematics could seem to have little (or even less) relevance to high school students if they didn’t understand how those areas altered society over time.
The first seeds planted in my mind about becoming a teacher occurred when I was in high school. I was not a big fan of my US I teacher, all we did in class was copy notes off the blackboard. The next year for US II, it was the total opposite. The teacher was engaging, interesting and most of all made me look forward to class everyday. After experiencing much of the same in college, some teachers better than others, at this point I thought to myself why should anyone have to suffer though such constant note taking cruelty? My response of course was no one should, so I set a goal to one day become a history teacher.
After graduation I had the opportunity to work for an accountant and to say the least it was dull. At this time I also started substitute teaching and that experience really opened my eyes. For me there is no comparison between the two. Being inside a classroom just energized me, brought by the excitement of the students and the passion from the other teachers to make a positive influence made me realize this is something that I could do for the rest of my working life.
Social Studies education has always been my favorite school subject. When watching the news at home and programs in my Social Studies classes, I would always ask why? When I would ask the question to one of my teachers and feel I did not receive an adequate response, I would go home and research the information myself. The good thing about this for me is that these questions led me to ask more questions and each question I would ask would give me more interest to uncover the past and form my own opinions.
During my high school years in my history classes, I would try to refute some of the information that I would read about in those general history text books. The one quote I hear remembering which I always take with me is, "history is written by the winners." That quote sparked my interests once again to uncover the past through different points of view. That is history to me. There is not one point of view. As it was said in class, the American Revolution is viewed differently from the colonists side than from the British side.
On the teaching aspect, I have always enjoyed working with children and trying to give them the interest to do what I used to do; uncover the past. I would want the students to question what they read and hopefully through these questions can spark meaningful class discussions. Those class discussions in which students are actively involved is why I am drawn to history/Social Studies education. I would want even the least interested student to learn something from a different viewpoint that would maybe spark that person's interest to do his or her own research. In a history class, nothing should be set in stone.
I apologize for my tardiness in replying. I was home this weekend for my birthday and did not have frequent access to the Internet.
Justin Willias
I have always like learning about the past. I always wanted to hear stories from my family. Even in school, my favorite classes were always social studies. Learning about places and people that came before us was fascinating to me. trying to understand them and their lives was intriguing.
Although, at that time I didn't want to be a teacher. I didn't want anything to do with school once I graduated. After a few years in the working world in different jobs, I decided it was time to go to college and get a career. When I though of what I wanted to study, I kept coming back to history. So I majored in history and started taking classes.
When I started to think of what I wanted to do with a history degree, I surprised myself with an urge to teach. I felt I wanted to teach everything I had learned and learn even more history. I remembered the social studies teachers that loved what they did and how the enthusiasm was catching. I realized that is what I want to be like. I wanted students to like social studies class like I did.
I chose history because growing up the museum was always my favorite place to go. being caught up in the past and imagining a previous time and world is fascinating. In high school history class always seemed like the only place that can show me other worlds and history class was the only time i really ever payed attention in school. History is a fascinating topic; it combines sociology, psychology, geography, politics, literature, art, and film. history never runs out of topics to talk about and its influence is incredible. People make decisions based on acquired knowledge, it is a psychological fact, so people who know history grow to be beneficial citizens of society. People who teach history, i feel, have one of the most important and respectable jobs around
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