Social Studies Instruction in Clinicals

Social studies instruction takes place after physical education and is done in small groups. I have not actually seen social studies instruction happen, but my cooperating teacher and I have talked about it a lot because I will be teaching a social studies lesson. My cooperating teacher explained that she tries to do social studies instruction at least two-three days a week because from her past teaching experiences in Texas, she incorporates science with social studies. The teaching strategy she uses are called, “Mind Missions” which have students read a passage on a topic and then apply their knowledge by doing an activity or responding in some way. For example, my cooperating teacher explained students read a factual passage on the State of Liberty and the way it was constructed and why, then students broke into small groups and had to recreate an actual model of something that symbolized the State of Liberty and the history of the symbol. My teacher reads the passage aloud with students and gives guidelines to their small group activity, and then students break off into small groups to work together o their activity. After students are finished, the class gathers as a large group again to share their activities. My cooperating teacher supports students by observing small groups and gathering permanent documents of student’s work. I think students are highly engaged and are curious and motivated to apply their learning in the activity. Also, I think students like working in small groups and sharing ideas to create something together. I have talked with some of my students, who share their experiences about some of the social studies activities they have done, like the President’s stories they created together after studying each Presidents biography and the requirements and job of the President. Many of the students could recall a lot of information they learned, factual information, President’s names,, and were excited to tell me what they used in their stories. I think using “Mind Mission” lessons allows children to think creatively and work together to apply what they have learned to create something that exemplifies their knowledge and response to the information they have gotten. I really like that children take control of the activity, while the teacher gives guidelines and then observes students working in groups. Also, I like that using this teaching practice allows the teacher to incorporate literacy, science, and math in social studies lessons. I have never seen social studies instruction in any of my other clinicals, so this kind of teaching practice for social studies is new to me because what I do know of social studies instruction is that I just have seen students reading from a textbook. Also, this kind of teaching practice is somewhat similar to what I am learning in my social studies class this semester because when making workjobs, students are able to use these activities to practice and apply what they know to review and engage in the information. I actually think that if I could suggest to my cooperating teacher to use workjobs in her classroom for assessment and for extension to activities that it would help support student’s knowledge of what they are learning in social studies instruction. From what I have seen in my clinical classroom this semester, I really like the teaching practice that my cooperating teacher uses and I think I would use these strategies to incorporate social studies instruction in my future classroom. Also, I think as a future teacher if I were to use this teaching practice I would use workjobs to support my student’s knowledge and extend what they have learned in our activities to practice their skills. I think the workjobs would be a great tool for assessment and I think it would provide children with activities to use during free choice time.

Here are two activities I found that I thought were great for using with the teaching practice that my cooperating teacher uses in her classroom and thought these activities use great materials to support children's engagement and application of instruction. These might be great ideas for my future social studies lessons that I will have to implement in my clinical classes.

 This activity would be great for children to do in small groups so that the could talk about what should be included in each level and how they want to set up each level of their globe from Earth to their city.

Social Studies Community Cups

This activity has students create geographic 2-d art after studying different forms of art that are seen in structure around the world, and in groups they must come up with a way to use multiple shapes, lines, and colors to create their own 2-d art. Rulers are required to measure and create symmetry.

Social Studies, Art, and Math

Here are two workjobs I found that I thought were very good at extending the topic and details provided and help support children knowledge on the topic. I think these are great examples of workjobs that I would include in my future classroom.

This workjob asks students to properly match the great inventors with their corresponding invention and date of invention.

Great Inventors Timeline

This workjob has students matching the facts and resources of the ecosystem with the picture of the ecosystem. This challenges students to recall information and identify facts about certain ecosystems. 

Ecosystems

Workjobs for Social Studies

A workjob is an independent activity that students can do during free time or as an extension to what they learned in a lesson or unit. I have made three workjobs for Social Studies, each at different levels and with different Social Studies strands.

Workjob for Economics for Kindergarten level. Title is, "Wants and Needs". Students match the words, "want" and "need" to pictures on the board to categorize them as either a want or need. Students can use the description provided of these words to help identify which pictures are a want or need. Pictures are labeled to explain the picture and I also included a text for students to use to look at different kinds of wants or needs. There is a picture answer key provided to have students check when their done.

Rationale: I chose this topic for this workjob at this level because students are introduced to the different types of goods and services we use daily and are identifying the difference between what they really need and cannot live without and what they want but can live without. This lesson helps young students start to think about different kinds of goods that are supplied and demanded in our world and how trade works. The text used helps students think about choices and how we much choose between what we need and what we want.

 

Workjob for Geography 1st grade. Title is, "How Do I Get Home?" Students use the school bus on the map to move around different place on the map to get home. Students use the compass and directions that are next to the school to know what direction they move. Students can open up and look inside locations, ex. library, post office, and home. I included two texts if students needed to use to help them look at the map and use the compass, which is instructed on workjob, but they can also use these texts to read independently or when they have finished the workjob.

 Social Studies Standard: ISBE: 17.A.1b   Identify the characteristics and purposes of geographic representations including maps, globes, graphs, photographs, software, digital images and be able to locate specific places using each.

Rationale: I chose to do a mapping from school to home because I felt it was something that many students could connect with on a daily basis. Also, I felt that for the age level, the type of map is easier to understand and is engaging and interactive. I felt that it is important for students to understand how to use a compass and practice using directions to get from one place to another. Also, I felt that this activity provided students with an introduction in seeing how maps and compasses are used and how to set a map up and what it looks like close up or with detailed locations.

 

Workjob based on History, for second grade. The topic is Important People in Black History. Students have to use the matching cards to match the person's picture to their description and place it on the board. The workjob also includes an answer key for students to check once their done, and I included books for them to read about each person which I included in the workjob to help them learn more about these people and also can assist them in matching the descriptions.

Social Studies Standard: ISBE: 16.B.1 (W) Explain the contributions of individuals and groups who are featured in biographies, legends, folklore and traditions.

Rationale: I chose the topic for History at this level because I felt that it was important for students at this age to be able to identify and match descriptions of important people in Black History. I believe this workjob will help students review the biographies they have learned and support them in provided important details of important people in our history. Also, I felt that including texts with this workjob would encourage students to find out more about these people and read about other things these people did throughout their life.