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Social Studies Teachers Chatboard

What kind of writing do you do on a daily basis?

by Kmcinnis

Nov 24, 2011

I am currently a freshman in college on my way to becoming a high school social studies teacher. My English comp teacher wants us to write a 4 plus page paper on what kind of writing is expected of us in our fields after graduation. I am finding NOTHING on google or any of the academic databases on it. we have to have an interview, a book and a jou...See More

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gggrrrrrrrrr...... Dear SS teacher,

Here we go again. Quite honestly, i cringed when I read your post. why??? because although u may have good intentions, u r coming off sounding like u r the grammar police! quite frankly, i get so tired of having to make sure i am perfect when i post something on this board. i have to be on my cues all day...this is my let ...See MoreDear SS teacher,

Here we go again. Quite honestly, i cringed when I read your post. why??? because although u may have good intentions, u r coming off sounding like u r the grammar police! quite frankly, i get so tired of having to make sure i am perfect when i post something on this board. i have to be on my cues all day...this is my let down my hair, and not care if i used a litte i. for goodness sake, while what u r saying is true... get over yourslef....geeezzzzz.. with all due respect, ur post makes me want to screammmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...... why do u feel the need to point out someone elsesesseseses mistakes? u r not the grammar police!!!!!!!!!!

On 12/04/11, SS teacher wrote: > Dear OP, > > Quite honestly, I cringed when I read your two > postings. You made more errors than the majority of my > high school students. Maybe the reason that your > teacher gave this assignment is because she is not > happy with her students' writing ability. Maybe she > wants you to realize just how much writng you are going > to be required to do. > > As a teacher, EVERY SINGLE thing that you write is > going to be judged at a higher level of expectation > when it comes to spelling, grammer, sentence structure, > punctuation, capitalization, and so forth. No matter > what you write, it needs to be perfect. This is part of > the job. This is not true only for English teachers, > but for ALL teachers. We have parents in our community > who will print out e-mails, correct them, and then send > them to the principal. While fellow teachers are > usually never 100% sure why a non- tenured teacher is > not renewed, it is pretty much a given that if they had > been putting out memos or e-mails with lousy writing, > that fact was used against them when the decision was > made. > > You are not a teacher yet. You have time to correct > this. Do not use the arguement that I was in a hurry or > it was just informal writing. You will have very little > time as a first year teacher. You will always be > rushed. The habits you have now will be the ones that > carry you through your hectic first year teaching. Make > a determination now that every single thing you write > will be read and reread. That you will add capitals and > punctuation. No more little i's for I or texting > shortcuts. >

Dec 14, 2011

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WM Wow, nice critique, you misspelled grammar "grammer". You should probably take your own advice.

On 12/04/11, SS teacher wrote: > Dear OP, > > Quite honestly, I cringed when I read your two > postings. You made more errors than the majority of my > high school students. Maybe the reason that your > teacher gave this assi...See More

Feb 27, 2013

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New Technology

by Dr. Scherz

Nov 25, 2011

Any social studies teachers who are interested in promoting meaningful online debate, you can now own your own uframe. This technology allows for voting, commentary, statistics, video, and much more. You select the subject question and monitor the discussion. Please contact me for more information. This is FREE.

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Social studies teaching strategy

by Mitch

Nov 26, 2011

Greetings! I am working on a teaching strategy I call "Hisstories." It is essentially historical fiction pieces that I write, which correspond to standards and contain embedded primary source links. It is difficult to explain in full, but all stories are free to use for educators and available on my website at: [link removed]!

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A class from a rural community available to skype with us?

by sk

Nov 27, 2011

Hi,

I'm a grade 3 teacher in Ontario. My students and I would like to skype chat with a third grade class from a rural community (we are studying urban and rural communities in social studies).

Any takers?

Thanks Sk

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Looking to Pursue Social Studies Education, Advice Needed

by Celia

Dec 4, 2011

I'm a college student currently majoring in history, and I am highly considering a career in social studies education. At my college to obtain certification, I can either get an undergraduate degree in Social Studies Education, or I can get an undergraduate degree in history and receive a master's in Education, both over the span of five years. The...See More

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Reality As an insider, let me just throw out some other things for consideration. RE: the master's degree. The current mood in education among the politicians who determine our salaries is that an M.Ed or M.A. is worthless. They claim to have " research" showing it does not make a teacher" any better". They are using this to justify hiring CHEAPER bodies t...See More

Dec 5, 2011

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Rubyt Taking extra coursework in Spanish would greatly benefit you! Especially if you ever plan on moving to bigger cities or more diverse states like California. There are so many Spanish speaking students and families in the education system that you will probably get hired over another candidate who does not speak Spanish.

I am currently in ...See More

Feb 22, 2012

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Scottish student teacher looking for experience in Australia

by Alex Rankin

Dec 5, 2011

Hi there,

I am a Scottish undergraduate Geography student and I want to be a teacher. I am planning to do a post graduate teaching course next year and myself and my husband (who is also wanting to be a teacher) would like to move to Australia in the next few years. I am coming to Melbourne and Sydney in June 2012 and would like to speak t...See More

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I need some facts on trains for speech.

by isaac

Dec 9, 2011

Do you think trains will be around forever? Why?

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Sara On 12/09/11, isaac wrote: > Do you think trains will be around forever? Why?

We have seen a decline in the number of trains in the U.S. and a tremendous rise in the number of airplanes, airlines and air passengers.

We have also seen a tremendous rise in the number of cars on the road.

overall, it seems that there are m...See More

Dec 11, 2011

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A LIFETIME'S LOG OF V COOL ACTIVITIES!

by Tolo Taylor

Dec 10, 2011

Hello, As a very experienced teacher of History, English, RS, Geography, Business Studies and Media (it was originally just History, but it seems like I have taught everything!), over the years I have made a log of every new lesson activity that I have ever used and developed. I have found this log to be extremely useful as before I plan a lesson, ...See More

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Suggestions

by Emma Rose

Dec 14, 2011

I will start internship in Social Studies in Jan. How does one teach this course without lecturing? My advisor has informed me that she is looking for a hands-on approach. Although I find history fasinating, I realize most students do not. Any suggestions on how I can make this internship a success?

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Sara On 12/16/11, Emma wrote: > Thank you, Sara. I will be teaching middle and high schoolers.I > am not sure of the exact topics as of yet. However, I do know it > is U.S. history. My advisor stated that she does not want her > interns lecturing. In her opinion, we should only teach about 15 > min. and the rest of the class should be stu...See MoreOn 12/16/11, Emma wrote: > Thank you, Sara. I will be teaching middle and high schoolers.I > am not sure of the exact topics as of yet. However, I do know it > is U.S. history. My advisor stated that she does not want her > interns lecturing. In her opinion, we should only teach about 15 > min. and the rest of the class should be student oriented. Is > this even possible? 15 min. really? I am a little worried.

Some days that can be possible but every day? I'd say no. In fact, I'd say if you do the same thing every class - if you would have students working in groups for half of every class - they will figure that out quickly and the worst thing for normal middle school classrooms is predictability. (special needs is different - there routine and predictability are often necessary) But if she means discussion, I intersperse discussion through the entire class.

Most college advisors have never taught outside of a college classroom - they don't know what they're talking about. It's like a doctor teaching medical students when the doctor has never seen a patient. Ask your advisor to give you a sample lesson plan of just such a lesson or better yet - a tape to watch. Ask her to view a tape of what she thinks is an excellent social studies class. (there are thousands on youtube - youtube is the best! Cadge clips from it, not just ideas. Student projects are there and the kids LOVE watching those)

It sounds just lovely to say - teach for 15 minutes, introduce the lesson and then have a "student-oriented" class for the rest of class. I'd say I treat a class as a community and we learn together.

Here's an example that I use often in 6th grade but I could tweak it to 7th or 8th or down to 5th. I don't use textbooks - ever. I could write a book as to why but I don't. I do give out a one-page handout that I've written and with an eye to being interesting. I ask for volunteers to read it aloud. Because it's written with an eye to being interesting - and often amusing - they're good for that handout. And then together - we explore the subject of the handout.

A handout might be the history of the English language. After reading it, I'll show the wonderful family tree of the world's languages on line. I'll usually give them a copy of that too because some see better what's right in front of them on paper than on the screen up front. They will exclaim over that - the quick ones first - "Hey, English came from German!" "Wow, Chinese and English had a common language ancestor!" (the cut-ups will start in- "Uh, what was English's great-grandmother?")

Or I might introduce a question. Or show them something on the Internet. But there is usually one concept that I am trying to get across that day. > Other examples - I start with asking them - when was writing invented - do you think? (of course we can easily look it up on the Internet but I want them to think. And some of them love to think. They'll guess and I'll write the guesses on the board. Then I might tell them when writing did develop but follow it up with - "What do you think the first writing we can find would say?"

Of course they're guessing and the cut-ups guess wildly but the cerebral ones will be reasoning - well, what would you write about in ancient Sumeria? And they like to guess.

And then in these wonderful days, I go on the Internet and show them an image of the cuneiform tablet that we think is the oldest one in existence and I tell them what's thought to be the translation of it.

If any were close (and some of the cerebral ones often are) there's joyous celebration but there's also a wonderful sense of wonder even from the cut-ups- "wow, the Sumerians were worried about money just like everybody is (the first cuneiform in existence basically says - "I sold you oil, you owe me money."

And they leave having enjoyed class and been exposed to worthy historical concepts. No textbook needed, no memorization of dates needed. Weak readers, strong readers, weak writers - it works for everybody and it works even for the ADHD kids cause they know every day class will be a mix of things and unpredictable but very entertaining. And very respectful of them and their thoughts and ideas. > > > >

Dec 18, 2011

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Kev 15 minutes actually doesn't seem too far off to me since thats about 33% of your time though I disagree at least partly with the breakdown. In my average I have 2 "teacher" days and 3 "student" days. I know it isn't PC to say so but there is simply information kids don't have that somebody needs to shove into their lil brains. Just about any textbo...See More

Dec 29, 2011

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Teacher's Websites

by JR

Dec 25, 2011

Can anyone recommend some good social studies teacher's websites?

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Erik S. Hi JR,

Have you checked out GoEd Online? There is a Social Studies section that is full of eBooks, interactive games, presentations, and more.

[link removed]

On 12/25/11, JR wrote: > Can anyone recommend some good social studies teacher's > websites?

Jan 10, 2012

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