Curriculum Standard: 3rd grade Social Studies

5.) Integrate, connect and apply social studies into other subject areas and everyday life. (G,H, C) b. Compare and contrast various animals and their habitat from different countries.

Big Idea: Relationships between animals in other countries

Preparation:

1. Introduction that elephants can come from both Asia and Africa.
2. Ask students if they have ever seen an elephant? Ask students to describe what it looked like.
3. In whole group use KWL chart and discuss items the students know and want to know about elephants.
4. Read the book "Endangered Elephants", making sure to stop at specific pages on each elephant. List what students learned at the end
5. Discuss the features and characteristics of the Asian and African elephant.
6. As a whole group go through National Geographic for kids and navigate through the African elephant page.I would also use a interactive site like Africam.com to show real world examples.
7. In small groups the teacher will assign a specific country and the students are to discover a new animal and prepare informational text to present to the class.

Guidance:

1. Teacher incorporates a KWL chart in the lesson and the book "Endangered Elephants"
2. Teacher discusses the characteristics of two species of elephants.
3. Teacher provides instruction on presenting animals.

Application:

1. Students write about two different animals that they learned about from different presenters.
2. Students turn to the person next to them and talk about the two animals they wrote about.
   
   Assessments:
   1. Teacher will walk around assessing the students informally while they are discussing the two animals they chose to talk about.
   2. Teacher will have a rubric for the presentations. The presentations will be recorded and each student will be able to assess themselves ,as well as the teacher following the guidelines of the rubrics.
   

Conley's Ch 5: Understanding and Using Texts

This chapter begins by talking about students' knowledge and experiences with texts. Students who can relate their real life experiences to a text that is taught in the classroom can have a greater advantage to comprehending the information opposed to other students who are reading it for the first time. This is where the motivation from the teacher should take place, if a teacher wants to "really" teach something it will shine through onto the students.
I remember when I was in the eighth grade and my English teacher was showing a video on the Holocaust, I was extremely interested and knew what was going on in the video. I would say over half of the class was not quite as interested as I was considering they were not even paying attention. I feel that this video could have be beneficial for every student in the class, yet my teacher didn't seem to care if we watched it or not. His first problem was not showing any motivation in watching the video or learning about the Holocaust. Anywho...even if a student has prior knowledge of a subject it does not mean that he or she will be not be interested in learning new things and ideas. It is my job as a teacher to take different strategies and try to relate them to each student.
In this day and age technology is becoming the backbone in every classroom. I personally feel this is a great resource to have use of. However, one must be able to tell a credible site from one that is not. Last semester in clincials I was fortunate enough to visit a 7th grade literaure class. On one of the days that I was there, the students used the Promethean board for presentations. In every presentation the students used Wikipedia as the main resource. Wikipedia sometimes has a lot of information, but it can't be said that it is all true. I was taken back by a teacher allowing this site to be used. I feel that teachers' need to be knowledgeable about all resources that they plan to use in their classroom.
Overall, I feel that texts are important to teach from in the classroom, however, one book should not be the only text students are learning from. If I was to teach a lesson on Spain, and in my Social Studies textbook there is only half a chapter on Spain. I would want to integrate other books,digital texts and real life experiences to the lesson. My goal is to give my students a well rounded education.

Teacher Blog

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Ongoing Assessment Ch.4

Ongoing assessment is a tool that should be used in the classroom all the time. When someone hears the word "assessment", they automatically think of a spelling, math or other subjects area tests that are given on Fridays. Or even worse, I remember when I had to take a standardized test in middle school. I was so nervous that I was having trouble concentrating on the test. My nerves were so bad that the ticking of the clock was distracting me. I remember raising my hand and asking the teacher if she could take the batteries out of the clock. Wacko, right?? On that same day after the insanely ticking clock incident, all I could hear bubbles in the fish tank. OMG! I thought I was going to die. I couldn't comprehend anything I was reading, because all I heard was the bubbles in the fish tank. Needless to say, I have to have complete silence to get anything accomplished. Teachers need to be aware of the needs of their students in the classroom, so they can avoid incidents just like mine.
This chapter explains several types of assessments, the first one that Conley talks about in this chapter is Personal Assessment. Teachers should get to know the students on a personal level to be able to make connections with the students. My goal as a teacher is to help students make connections that relate to their own life. One of the best ways to get to know your students' is through conversations and asking students questions during class.
Content Assessments are used when teachers want to assess content reading and writing. A tool to determine how students understand class work and assignments is a content area literacy inventory. This assessment can be given to individual students as well as to the entire class to provide feedback for the teacher and allow them to see what students need help on.
A Portfolio is a creative and on-going assessment that students enjoy putting together. Portfolios provide visual work from the students that teachers can monitor the progression of work. One of the most important concepts of a portfolio is that it allows the student to evaluate his or her own work. Portfolios can range from personality portfolios to academic portfolios, and teachers can model the finished portfolios in parent teacher conferences or to show the student how well he or she has progressed through out the year. I feel that portfolios are creative ways that students can express themselves. I always loved making portfolios in elementary school, I could not wait to get home to show my mom what I had made. Teachers should always try to motivate students every way possible. This is why getting to know your students is crucial in the classroom.
This chapter shows that assessments should not only be state testing and standardized tests but also informative testing. State testing is helpful to see what courses should be offered for gifted and remedial students, as well as, pinpointing problems with learning and determining a students potential for learning.