A New Blogger has been Born!

When we first began our blogs at the beginning of this six-week semester, I was excited but thought that maybe I would just blog to fulfill the assignment for the class. After having been through the semester and having experienced blogging, I have to say that I think I will continue to use this very blog to record my experiences and reflections as I go through my internship and as I enter the career as a teacher with my own classroom. Blogging has made this semester interesting in many ways. Not only did it allow us to reflect on the readings and our experiences in the classroom, but it taught us the ins and outs of an excellent tool that we can use in our own classrooms. Class blogs are a great way for students to get acquainted with technology and using technology for reflecting, reporting, etc. Reflection is a necessary thing for all teachers to do and a blog like this is the perfect way to do that.

Before taking this course, I viewed social studies as one subject in and of itself, that would be taught separately. That is because I understand the importance of social studies and feel as if it should be given more weight in elementary classrooms. However, after having taken this course, I am left with the knowledge that social studies, in order to be given any weight at all, must be integrated into other subject areas. Interdisciplinary learning is important because it allows a teacher to not only teach two subjects together when there is not enough time in the day, but to also help his or her students make connections between the different subject areas and understand that it can all be integrated. When social studies is integrated, there is a higher probability that it will interest students who like math, science, reading, writing and the arts, rather than seeming boring. In addition, in this course I learned so many great ways to teach social studies such as going on fun field trips, having students role play, writing letters to elected officials, etc. This class taught me a lot that I will be able to take into my future classroom.