The goal of this course: Teaching Social Studies K-8, is to provide the knowledge, skills, and dispositions required to be a successful teacher of social studies at the elementary level. This course was designed using the National Standards for Social Studies Teacher Standards. By combining coursework with classroom observations, students will obtain practical applications that will deepen their knowledge of social studies for this age level.
Mini-Lesson
In this project, we had to write and teach a mini-lesson about a social studies topic. We had to design the lesson plan and I chose to base mine on the Common Core State Standard of ELA-Literacy.W.4.3 which is writing narratives to develop actual events using descriptive details and clear sequencing. This was the perfect topic to base my mini-lesson around because I taught this lesson with a student who I was tutoring in writing and developing her “small moment” story. I was going in twice a week to tutor her so I was able to combine both an English and a social studies lesson within this mini-lesson.
At first, I was nervous about this project because I didn’t know how I was going to teach a social studies lesson within my fieldwork but I had to think creatively. Not only did my student learn more about writing but she also ended up learning a little bit more about history! The book I used to share with her as a mentor text was “The story of Ruby Bridges”. It was a narrative about a young student of color going to an all-white school for the first time ever and telling her story. I chose this because it fits in so well with the personal narrative unit and tells her unique “small moment” story while having lots of details and a well-sequenced order. I think it was a great mentor text. I’m glad I was pushed to figure out a way to fit social studies into my lesson because I think it made me a better teacher and gave me a new perspective on interdisciplinary and including multiple subjects in one lesson that I can carry with me throughout my future placements.
