Digital Primary Sources

I believe that Digital Primary Sources are excellent tools to use in the classroom. It is important, however, for instructors to recognize the prep time required for sorting through and selecting appropriate sources that effectively advance the lesson objective. Taking the time now to familiarize oneself with the various online teaching resources for digital primary sources, such as DHR and the National Archives' Teaching with Documents section, will be a tremendous time-saver down the road. The Delicious website will certainly help keep teachers organized and make their favorite digital resources easily accessible by their students.

One of the beauties of primary sources is that they can be incorporated in almost any part of a lesson. Images and music are great hooks for initiatory sets, completing a digital source analysis worksheet of a journalist's account of the Vietnam War would be a great strategy for groupwork, and replying to a letter from a Civil War soldier would make for an engaging assessment. The biggest challenges teachers will face in incorporating primary source documents will not be in helping students navigate the websites, as today's students are generally familar with this technology, but in helping students navigate the meaning and purpose of the documents they are using. However, now that we have more accessibilty than ever to these documents, students will become more comfortable and therefore more successfull at decoding and comprehending the words and images of the past.

A Tolerant Classroom

Having a tolerant classroom is more than just a good idea. It is essential. If students feel unsafe, judged, or looked down upon for any reason in a classroom it is going to limit her or his desire and ability to learn. Rather than being able to focus on the material being presented, a student who feels insecure in an intolerant environment will either be focusing on how to make themselves as inconspicuous as possible or how to put up an abrasive defense in order to protect his or her self. These types of responses will lead to negative outcomes for everyone in the class and only add to the tension and uneasiness present in the room. High school students struggle enough with insecurity and identity issues as it is. As a teacher, it is my job to make sure that I create an environment where students feel comfortable in their own skin and that as many barriers to their learning as possible are removed.

Don't misunderstand me. Students will not always have to agree in my classroom. That is the last thing I think a teacher should want. Instead I will encourage my students to respectfully disagree and hear out each others reasoning behind his or her perspective. Not only that, but students may hear things in my class that they have never heard before that challenge or contradict the way they typically think. The goal of this will not be to change the students' minds, but rather to help them think critically about issues and to stretch them to consider multiple view points.

In order to create a tolerant classroom, I will adopt some of the suggestions that the TCI approach offers such as greeting students at the door every day they come into my classroom, explaining and modeling my expectations for classroom behavior, and helping the students get to know each other through icebreakers and team building activities. Furthermore, I will be intentional about how I form my groups when it is time for students to do groupwork. On occasion it may be okay to let students decide who they want to work with, but normally I will try to create groups of mixed ability and background together in order to continue fostering cooperative and friendly relationships among my students.

As a 21st Century Teacher, it is my job to prepare students for interaction in a global society. If students cannot "tolerate differences, respect ideas, and appreciate diversity" in my classroom, then how can they be expected to do so in society? (Bower, Lobdell & Owens, 2004). If students cannot learn to work cooperatively for group assignments in my classroom, will they be prepared to engage in group work in their future jobs? Not only that, but if students are not taught to appreciate to diversity, then I feel that they are simply missing out on a fascinating aspect of human life. Ultimately, creating a tolerant classroom may not be the easiest part of my job description (especially depending on the demographics of the school), but it is arguably one of the most important.

My Social Studies Autobiography

The next leg of my journey to become a social studies teacher begins here and now in this first assignment of EDU 654. For all practical purposes, one could say that this is the official start of my journey in teaching. Doing so, however, would fail to give credit to all the experiences that have led me to this point would be short-sighted and illogical. While I did not consider becoming a teacher until college, I fell in love with history at an early age as I listened to stories about my family’s history. Then, starting in the eighth grade, I had a series of outstanding social studies teachers whose passion for their content grabbed my attention and nurtured my own interest in the subject. Because it was the subject I enjoyed the most and did the best in during high school, I pursued a history major at Carolina. I was not exposed to European or World History in high school and therefore I maintained a stronger interest in U.S. History throughout undergrad. It should come as no surprise then that I want to teach U.S. History or Civics.

That is the abridged version of my “why history?” narrative. So far as the “why teaching?” journey, I have to credit my faith and my experience volunteering with a vulnerable population for bringing me to this point. As I volunteered with the Christian Appalachian Project last year I realized that I wanted a career in which I could directly serve others. I believe we are put here to help one another along the way, and I feel I can best do this through teaching.

I really hope to pass along my value of service to others and the community to my students. The social studies classroom is a great place to model and encourage that value particularly as we teach about the leaders of the American Revolution, Jane Adams’ work for immigrants, and the Civil Rights movement (among others). We can also teach and model civic activity in a way that students will want to participate in their civic responsibilities on their own. This leads me to the two essential characteristics of a social studies teacher: modeling civic activity (staying informed, voting, serving the community, etc.) and making material relevant and engaging for students. If we do not practice civic engagement ourselves, how then are our students to believe that they should be participating in our democracy? History can often be viewed as too factual and boring. If a social studies teacher cannot show his or her students why the material matters and is relevant, then the teacher has little reason to hope that her students will engage with and maintain an understanding of the material. I am anxious about being able to relate every topic to my students. It’s a good thing we have a methods class to help us get to that point!

This methods class is another stepping stone in my journey to teacher-hood. Actually, I suppose it is more like a bridge than a stepping stone. At the end of this methods course I expect to have crossed a significant divide. I will pass, from the realm of knowing teaching theories to the realm of practicing teaching theories, from the realm of knowing content to them realm of conveying content, and from the realm of simply wanting to help students to the realm of actually knowing how to help students.

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