Saturday, September 28, 2013

Practicing Cooperative Learning

Week 5

Class- Mon, 9/23/13


Today’s class focused on the design of our unit plan. Dr. Smirnova presented a lesson which included what we will need to know about unit plans when we go to fieldwork. Over the weekend, we were assigned to read chapter 8 and create a visual map about what we learned. Chapter 8 was about how to construct powerful and meaningful social studies units. In class, we shared our thoughts about visual mapping. Some students were on the fence about it, and other students enjoyed doing it. In my opinion, I enjoyed making the visual map because it helped me understand the chapter and assessing my knowledge in a creative way.
A unit plan is the largest segment of teaching. Teachers create unit plans because it helps students develop skills and attitude of values. We also discussed the 3 types of evaluation: significance, relevance, and coherence. There are also different types of unit plans which include: Descriptive, thinking-skills, theme, and problem solving. A unit plan distinguishes a main goal that is to be reached. Lesson plans contain objectives that students will do during the lesson. The wheel design and the column design are two different ways teachers can use in order to construct their units. We learned the difference between a convergent and divergent question. A convergent question has one definite answer. This can be asked through yes/no or 5 “W” questions. A divergent question is an open ended question that could have several responses.
Our units must contain 2 goals and 2 objectives. The structure of the unit plan includes: an introduction, goals, standards, objectives, subject matter, starting unit(3-5) activities, 6 lessons (3 full msmc, 3 brief), culminating project (2 projects), evaluation, resources, and reflection. Dr. Smirnova also mentioned we should take pictures throughout the time of our field work to look at the progress of how the students are learning from beginning to end. Today’s class was very helpful in the way that I have a clear understanding now of how our unit plan should be designed.


Class-Wed, 9/25/13

In social studies methods class today, we learned about cooperative learning. Cooperative learning is a method of teaching. This is when students learn together in groups. There are many benefactors that come out of cooperative learning. It is one of the most powerful and effective method of learning.We learned about the methods of cooperative learning which is known as PIGS. This stands for: Positive Interdependence, Individual Accountability, Group Processing, and Social Skills.


Positive interdependence means that all students in the group work positively together in order to help one another succeed. Individual accountability means that each student in the group is responsible and accountable for the role they play in the group and the work they have to do. Group processing means students reflect and process ideas together. Social skills promotes socialization between members in the group while they learn.
We had to choose one of the 4 benefits of cooperative learning. Once we choose our topic, we had to get into a group with other people who chose that topic as well. We were doing our own form of cooperative learning. I worked in a group with Liz, Tara, and Alex. We chose "Individual Accountability". The main goal that we came to for individual accountability in a group is that each member is individually responsible for accomplishing the goal set in the group. The teacher oversees the group and makes sure each member is contributing to the group. Individuals are tested orally, individually, and randomly. On Friday, we will be teaching our field work groups about our topic. 
Today's class was a good example of cooperative learning. I know in my group, first we learned individually by reading the information and taking down our own notes. We then came together and discussed the ideas we read and picked up on. We then compromise on what we would write about in our  Jigsaw charts. 

Class-Friday 9/27/13

         Today we continued our Jigsaw projects. We got back into our expert groups to discuss how we were going to teach our field work groups about our topic. Our topic was Individual Accountability. I suggested that we start off by pre-assessing the students' knowledge by asking them if they know what the word individual means. Then we would ask them if they know what accountability means. After that, I suggested we tell the students to put the two words together and see if they can give a general definition of individual accountability. Then we would go about teaching our lesson as to what we wrote in the google doc. To wrap up the lesson, we agreed on asking our group why they think individual accountability is effective in cooperative learning. 
        We returned back to our field work groups. I was the first one to present the lesson. I followed the steps as mentioned before. My group seemed fully engaged in my lesson. First, I handed them a handout I made on individual accountability. I pre-assessed their knowledge, gave a direct lesson, and added closure by asking the group if they had questions. I also made a quiz for my group to take. This is the link to my quiz. Then Caitlyn presented. Her topic was positive interdependence. Positive interdependence means that each individual in a group should be supporting their members positively. Each member makes sure they have enough effort for success. Caitlyn assessed our knowledge through a quiz. Rachel taught us about group processing. Group processing is when students come together as a group and collect their ideas. They go through processes together in order to achieve a set goal. Laura taught us about social skills in cooperative learning. Cooperative learning is important because it builds social skills. Students learn social skills such as listening, communicating, and understanding through their other group members. Anne taught us about cooperative learning lesson plans. This means that the teacher creates a lesson plan based on how students will learn cooperatively.
       I thought today's class was effective because I got to see how my other group mates teach. I learned both positive and negative ways of how to teach. It was interesting to see how many things actually go into cooperative learning. I enjoyed learning about these different methods. I saw how hard each of my group members worked in their research and teaching. I think everyone did a nice job. I hope to apply these cooperative learning methods to my teaching. 

this was my handout that I gave to my group members:

Individual Accountability Handout
Taught by: Brianna Croce

˜ What is Individual Accountability?
-Individual accountability means that when students participate in cooperative learning, they each carry a responsibility and role in the group. They are accountable for their own actions & work effort towards the group.

˜ Each individual group member has a goal when working in a group. Members should all have the same quality and quantity put in as an individual.

˜ What are the testing methods for Individual accountability?
1)   oral testing, 2) individualized testing, 3) randomized testing.

˜ How does the teacher oversees individual accountability?
-          Teacher watches the whole group, then checks for each members contributions to the group.

˜ How do students work together and still carry out individual accountability?
1) peer to peer teaching-students teach one another
2) peer to peer editing-one student edits another students work
3) one student checks group’s work.
˜ Overall goal: students learn together as a group, but independently achieve the tasks or goals set by the role they play in the group.
˜ Group discussion: As a group, come up with reasons why you think individual accountability in cooperative learning is effective.
˜ Testing your knowledge: please go online to my quiz link, and take the quiz on this topic.

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Constructing the Puzzle Pieces to Create Powerful & Meaningful Social Studies Units

Ch. 8 "How are Powerful & Meaningful SS Units Constructed?" 

Visual Mapping:

For this chapter, we had to construct a visual map to represent what we learned in the chapter. This is my visual map of what I read and learned from chapter 8. My "visual picture" in the middle is 4 puzzle pieces. They spell out the title of the chapter. I thought drawing a puzzle pieces would be appropriate because when teachers create units, there are different pieces of the unit that they have to put together like putting together a puzzle. Unit planning involves both the teacher and students. Thats why I put this at the top because these people are the focus of unit planning. I then branched of to the 3 evaluation criteria. The 3 main evaluation criteria that are used when planning social studies units include: significant, coherence, and relevance. Significance means that the criteria is important to the subject topic and to the students needs. Coherence is when students question and gain a skill of understanding for the topic. Relevance is when the topic is relatable to students and they can reflect on.
The next branch is about focus units. There are the descriptive-focused units, thinking skills-focused units, and conceptual and thinking skills-focused units.  Descriptive focus units focus on students gaining of knowledge they learned. Thinking-skill units focus on the skills that are to be learned and gained from the lesson. Conceptual and thinking skills have students focus om instructional strategies. 
The next branch contains the two types of units: theme units and issue & problem-solving units.  Integrated units are units that incorporate other school subjects with the main subject that is focused on. The chapter provided 16 steps in order to develop integrated units. This was another branch I included. These steps are:
1) Gathering ideas
2) research the topic
3.develop focus questions
4.incorporating special needs accommodations.
5. develop learning outcomes.
6. categorize learning outcomes
7. create an idea web
8. develop rationale and goal
9. begin KWL chart
10. develop learning objectives
11. develop assessment plan
12. develop lesson plans
13. integrating technology
14. implementing the unit
15. evaluate student learning
16. reflecting on the unit.

Friday, September 20, 2013

Making Our Own Discoveries with Artifact Bags

Today's Class- Friday, 9/20/13

     Today in class, we got to explore our classmate's artifact bags. Our individual assignments were to make our own artifact bag, incorporate items based on our unit, include a book, and a website. My group, group C, did our artifact bags based on our topic: "The Declaration of Independence". At the beginning of class, Dr. Smirnova told us to get in our groups and look at each other's artifact bags. We then had to teach our group about the contents of the bag. 

My Artifact Bag:
Contents:



-Tea Bag-I incorporated the tea bag because the Boston tea party was an event that led up to the signing of the Declaration. 
-Document-I incorporated a print out copy of the original Declaration of Independence document. 
-Picture of Independence Hall-I included this picture because this is the room where the document was signed. 
-My book: "What Was the Continental Congress?-This book gives a brief history of events that happened before the document was signed. It also explains the 5 W's of the event of the document signing. The book includes informational text, pictures, and questions. 
-My Website: This website, Congress for kids, is fun, interactive site for kids to read and learn about the Declaration of Independence. 






















Rachel's Bag: Rachel included a picture of all the signatures on the Declaration of Independence, a picture of the authors of the document signing it, and a picture of the Liberty Bell. Her book was called "Declaration of Independence". 

Laura's Bag- Laura included a picture of the signers signing the document, and included a Copy of the Declaration of Independence. 

Anne's Bag- Anne made a homemade ink pot and feather pen out of paper, wrote down the names of the authors of the , and colored in a Colonial Flag.

Caitlyns Bag: Caitlyn included a picture of the clothing worn during the time the Declaration was signed. She also included a book that was related to the Declaration.

-Reflection on Artifact bag project: I really enjoyed taking a look at everyone's artifacts. Although we all had similar or the same artifacts, it was interesting that we were all thinking alike. This means that when we picture what the Declaration of Independence was, we have the same ideas and visuals in our heads that help us to connect to this event in history. I also enjoyed hearing and seeing what other groups did for their artifact bags. I think all the groups got really creative. I think its great that people hand made artifacts and put a lot of effort into it. I think students would have a really fun time exploring with artifact bags.

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Social Studies in Action

Social Studies in Action:
 Assessing Students' Learning Video

This video provides an overview of different ways teachers assess their students' knowledge. The two teachers in this video, Ms. Gonzalez & Mr. Rubio, have come up with creative strategies and ways of assessing their students' prior knowledge.
                         
This is Ms. Gonzalez. She is teaching her students about needs and wants.She first makes an connection with her students by providing a diagnostic assessment before starting her lesson. She explains that bread provides nourishment to humans because they need to eat in order to survive. She then connects it to the lifestyle of plants . Plants start off as seeds then need water in sunlight in order to survive and gain their nutrients. So therefore plants need these specific items in order to live. Just like humans, there are certain things we need in order to live, and there are things we want, but dont need them.

-The strategies I observed from Ms. Gonzalez:

1) She makes good eye contact with her audience, and holds their attention by her attitude and facial expressions. 
2) She asks students to think and connect with the questions she is asking in the diagnostic assessment.
3) The assessment is authentic. This means that students are able to make a real-world connection to the topic she is presenting to them.
4) She allows students to work independently and spends time assisting them. She circles the room to make sure everyone is on the right track.
5) She clearly distinguishes the difference between needs and wants to her students. 
6) She used a chart for her students to provide visual learning.
7) Clearly distinguished the goals on how to complete the assignment. 
8)Ms. Gonzalez did not make it evident that to the students that she was assessing them. It was like she was having a general conversation with them.

                                                                                                             Mr.Rubio



This is Mr. Rubio, he is teaching a 4th grade Social Studies lesson. The lesson is on California missions. These are his strategies:
-Asking students: Who, What, Where, When, and Why?
-Lets students work in groups.
-Assigns roles to the groups.
-Makes students think critically.





1. Which of the methods and strategies you have read about or observed are most relevant to teaching social studies? Why?
-I think the diagnostic assessment that both teachers used was the most relevant to teaching social studies. In social studies, it is really important for students to remember facts they have learned so they can connect it with the new information they are learning. Ms. Gonzalez was able to provide her students with authentic assessment, and I think this is another important strategy to use when teaching social studies. Social studies is the study of how civilizations and societies function. Students making history every day  so it is important to connect their life events to what has happened in the past.  


2. What are some ways you can begin to incorporate these strategies/methods into your practice?
-I can start my lessons with a quick activity that would assess prior knowledge.
-Speak clearly with enthusiasm.
-Have students work together.
-Ask the 5 W's
-Create charts.

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Assessing my Knowledge

After reading each chapter in our text book,
We must assess what we have read by taking chapter tests on the Pearson website.

Here were my results for the past 4 tests I have taken:

















My reflection on these tests:
Chapter 1: I found this test to be fairly easy. It was an overview of chapter 1 and gave questions on meaningful social studies methods. Question #12 I found difficult because the choices seemed very similar. I was not sure how to answer this technology based questions because they seemed more like opinions than statements. 
Chapter 2: This test I found to be a little bit more challenging. The first question was difficult because I did not think the student in Mrs.Smith's class would cry over the topic/activity they were doing because she did not have prior knowledge. Also, the parts of the lesson planning (exploratory introduction, development,  and expansion) questions were difficult to answer. I had to re-read the chapter and the questions over a few times to see what would best fit the situations given.
Chapter 11:  This test was the easiest out of the 4 tests I took. The only thing I disagree with the Pearson company about this test was that many of the questions had "all of the above" as an option for several questions. It was repetitive and almost in a way gave out the answers because that was the correct selection for all of them.However, the questions were very straightforward and I was able to clearly understand how to help students interpret history by meeting proper standards.
Chapter 14: This self test was helpful to assess my knowledge about assessment and evaluations. I thought question #9 was tricky. I was not sure what the answer about this teacher could have been because their could have been more than one answer about her teaching skills given the situation.  

How do Teachers Create Tests?

Class-Wed, 9/18/13

    Today in class, we discussed different methods and guidelines on how to create assessment tests. For our homework assignment, We had to read Chapters 7,8,13 PDF articles. These articles provided tips and helpful ways in order to create multiple types of test questions. The articles gave the advantages and disadvantages of test questions such as: multiple choice, short response, matching column, and binary questions. In class we reviewed these points and made our own tests based on our readings.

Here are some examples from the PDF articles:

 This is an example of a good multiple choice question and a bad multiple choice question. The reason the first question is poor is because it contains a negative statement in the stem. Negative statements should be avoided when writing stems for multiple choice.




The is an example of a conclusion question. The first sentence is poor because the blank should not come in the beginning of a statement. The blanks should be at the end because it is a conclusion to the statement. 

This is a good example of a matching choice question. One side has statements/facts, the other side has the options to choose what best completes the match of the statement on the other side.

This is an example of a true and false (binary) based question. The first question is poor because the sentence is way too long. Binary questions should be short, but to the point statements.

What is traditional assessment?
Also known as "Authentic" assessment. Students make real-world connections with their assessments. This includes projects,essays, tests, 

Multiple choice questions include 3 things:
1)Stem
2)Alternatives 
3)Distractors.
Keep in mind: no negatives in the stems, give as much information in the stem, avoid giving clues to the right answer, check grammar, and avoid putting the choices:"all of the above or none of the above." 
Advantages- easier to grade, reliable, students can take guesses.
Disadvantages- longer to answer, difficult to recognize.
good for- declarative assessment, testing skills, knowledge, facts. 

Binary Choices:
Choose from 2 responses. Example, True/false questions.
advantage- short, easy scoring
disadvantage- guessing poorly.
keep in mind:avoid long statements/questions, clues to answer, have proposition. 

Matching Columns:
pairing facts & relationships together.
advantage- easy to score & construct. 



Tools to create tests:
1)google forms
2)quizlet
3)Sorative


This is the test I created.

















Today's class was really helpful to me. I have never learned in any of my other education classes about how to make a test. I did not know there were so many ideas and facts to keep in mind when creating questions. Now I know the effective ways in order to design certain questions. I will keep these thoughts in mind when I am creating tests for my students. 

Monday, September 16, 2013

Building Social Studies Houses of Learning

Today's class- Monday, Sept 16,2013

Today in class, we partnered up with our field work groups in order to discuss what activities we will be incorporating into our unit. Our group is assigned the topic "The Declaration of Independence". 

These are some of the activities we are thinking of doing with our group:
1) Have an artifact bag as an opening activity
2)Have students create a Voki of Thomas Jefferson, one of the leading authors of the document. 
3)Let students create their own declaration of Independence as a small group. 
We will be creating our own document as Group C to show students an example. 
4) As a final assessment, We will have students create a graphic organizer based on what they have learned about the declaration of Independence. 

As a diagnostic assessment, Dr.Smirnova made us create houses and think about where we would put standards, instruction, assessment, and learning as the building structures of the house. This is what our group came up with:

(for assessment the continuation of it is "comes off of instruction to help students do their work and make progress with it)

Today, I learned that teachers need to have validity with their assessments. This means that as a teacher, you are asking "is it true as to what I want to assess, is it valid?" Assessments are reliable when the results are consistent. Also, evaluation is interpreting all the measures you used in order to assess the students and then you can look at the grade for evidence. 
It was interesting to hear how other groups had their houses built and where they put certain categories. Dr.Smirnova told us that our group was on the right track with the structure. I really enjoyed doing this activity in class because it made me think and I was also able to debate/discuss it with other members in my group. 

Sunday, September 15, 2013

"Being Russian Culture Historians"

Class- September 11th & 13th

Wed, 9/11/13-
          We started off class by asking: "What does it mean to be an historian?". An historian is an expert on history and research. They dig in the past to explore documents, discover new things, and interpret their findings. For students, it is like stepping into the shoes of a historian. They research and apply their knowledge about topics just like historians would. When studying social studies, students create a hypothesis. A hypothesis is an educated guess. These educated guesses will help students predict and support the evidence they find. Students become "history detectives". 
              Dr. Smirnova presented the class 4 bags. These 4 bags are called "artifact bags". Inside these artifact bags, contain ancient artifacts from the past. Students look in the artifact bags and try to predict and research about what their artifacts are. While looking at the artifacts, the students answer the questions: "Who/What", "When", "Where", "How", and "Why". 
               We paired up into our field work groups. I am in group C with Laura, Caitlyn, Rachel, and Anne. Rachel picked out a gold bag. Inside the bag we made these discoveries and researched about them:
 Spoon-Khokhloma Folk Art from Russia.
 Red & Gold book=Russian award


Blue & white porcelain figure- Russian Firebird. A napkin holder













During our research, we used the technology software, google docs. Google docs allows you to write in a document and let others write in it on different computers on the same document at any time. Everyone in the group wrote an idea or fact down and this is the document we created together as the result of our discoveries:


Who/What- In  class today, we got into our field work groups. We picked out an artifact bag. It was gold and filled with 3 items. The first item we pulled out was a red and gold Russian diploma/award. The second item was a gold,black, and red spoon it was  Khokhloma folk art.  The third item was a  blue and white Gzhel of a firebird from Russia.


When-  The khokhloma were first created in the second half of the seventeenth century and named after a trade settlement that was known for trading handmade goods. During the fourteenth century russian pottery became associated with the town of Gzhel [southeast of Moscow] and was named after that town.


How - The spoon was made when soft,carved wood is coated with clay mortar, linseed oil, tin, and paint before being baked in a kiln to harden. The pieces of of Gzhel pottery are made of  clay and fired to make the pottery hard. the color depends on the clay used, and ranges from brown to white, the latter being the most popular. The pottery is then covered in a white base glaze and then decorated in a single glaze pattern of either blue, green, yellow, or brown. this style is called Maiolica.


Where- All of the items from our artifact bag came from Russia and were possessions from the professor.


Why- The fire bird statue was given to the professor’s husband from her brother. Her brother gave it to her husband saying that he  was passing on something precious that needed to be protected. The khokhloma is an ornamental piece. the pieces in general are best known by their coloring; red, black, and gold. The red and gold book was an award given to Dr. Smirnova for science.


Connection- customs, cultures, traditions, and valuable possessions.

Conclusion- We want to be historians to explore Russian customs, culture, and traditions. Students develop skills of investigation and research.  


I really enjoyed doing the artifact bag activity. It was so interesting to learn about the connections each item held with Dr.Smirnova. It was great to hear about what Dr. Smirnova had to say about each item, such as where they are from or how she got them. Russian culture is so interesting and I want to learn more about it! It was nice too see how they are such sentimental values to our Professor.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Friday, Sept. 13th-
  In today's class, each group presented their research on their artifact bags.
These were their results:

The document is Dr. Smirnova's birth-certificate. The black box is a Russian jewelry box. Inside of the jewelry box is an American flag pin. This symbolizes Dr.Smirnova's journey to the USA. The wooden doll is called a Russian nesting doll. It is a popular souvenir in Russia. The photograph is one of Dr. Smirnova's relatives.



this is my groups artifacts. See the description of these artifacts above.




                                                                                   The doll is a handmade Russian craft. It is also a popular souvenir. The blue and white plate is also a valuable of Dr.Smirnova. The blue book is an award she won. 



The book is an award that Dr.Smirnova won in Russia. The doll is another homemade doll. The photograph is when Dr.Smirnova came to America and was at a camp site. 







Today's class was really interesting to me. I loved seeing all of Dr.Smirnova's possessions and the connections she makes to all them. I enjoyed listening to each group and how they made their discoveries on the artifacts. I cant wait to do the artifact bag with my group when we go to fieldwork!

Assessing our students in order to help them achieve their goals.

How can we help assess our students in order to help them reach their goals?

In order to answer this question, the answers are presented in Chapter 14. Chapter 14 gives an overview of the different types of assessment, examples of the assessments, and ways that teachers can use these assessments to help their students. 

What is Assessment? "The process of observing, collecting, recording, and documenting work students do and how they do it."

Evaluation is a way teachers can see how they can meet the needs of their student and if they are met. 

Here are examples different Methods/Modes of assessment-
1) Checklists- a list of desired behaviors for students during a lesson.
2)Individual portfolios- samples of students work.
3)Interviews- questions and answers between teacher & student on the topic.
4)Classroom Websites- website designated & designed to post assignments about class
5)Journals-logs that students add their reflections about assignments.
6)Quality circles-small groups of students have discussions about the lessons.
7)Self-evaluations-report that allows students to reflect on their progress. 
8)Letter to-student writes a letter to someone telling them about their work.
9)the self study-when students get into groups and reflect on each other's work.

For a Homework assignment, I filled out a graphic organizer about assessments:


The things I learned from the readings:
Three significant things I have learned from the reading material:
1)      Different types of assessment, I didn’t know there were several different types!
2)      The examples of assessments you can use when teaching Social Studies.
3)      The different types of Rubrics there are.


                  I could name even more elements that I learned from the reading material. Primary, I learned the most from the different types of assessment there are. I had no idea there was such a wide range of assessment teachers could use. Now I am filled with different ways I can assess my students. I will use these assessments in my classroom because I want to assess my students’ knowledge through a wide range of activities. The different examples of assessment gave me plenty of ideas I can use when working with students who are learning Social Studies. I think these examples, such as the journals, and self-evaluations, are really creative and help foster students’ thinking and creativity. Lastly, I have learned how to make a rubric, but never knew there were different types of rubrics. I will use different rubrics in order to switch up my grading material and guidelines so my students will keep their interest in what they are getting graded on. I think that authentic assessment is really special for students because they are making real world connections through activities. I know this really engages and excites students because even as a college student I can say I learn best by authentic assessment! I enjoy learning about the world and community around me so I stay informed and make a difference as a global citizen. 



Saturday, September 14, 2013

"Teaching Others is Learning Twice"

Class-Monday, Sept 9-

    This week, we are discussing Chapters 1,2,and 11 of our textbook in class. Our
assignment over the weekend was to read these chapters and be ready to discuss them in class. Chapter 1 was called "What is Powerful and Meaningful Social Studies?" and Chapter 2 was called "How do Students Engage in Powerful and Meaningful Social Studies?" These two chapters combined elements that will help teachers make social studies meaningful and valuable for their students.
        In class we asked "What is Social Studies?". Social Studies is the body of integrative concepts, skills, generalizations, and theories in the Social Studies field. In order for teachers to make Social Studies meaningful and powerful they must keep in mind 5 tips. These 5 tips are: meaningful, integrative, value-based, challenging, and active. In class, we discussed what we mean by these methods. Meaningful means the teacher makes their students have a connection with Social Studies to the real world situations, family, and community. Integrative means that the teacher incorporates more than one skill or subject while teaching Social Studies. Value-based is when students' democratic values and social responsibility are strengthened through learning Social Studies. Challenging means that the teacher should allow their students to be challenged to bring out their thinking skills. Active learning is when students are physically doing things like role-play or using manipulatives to connect to Social Studies.
       Dr.Smirnova made us do a short and fun activity. We had to guess the percentages of how we think people learn:

My guesses were: reading 45%, hearing 50%, seeing 65%, see&hearing 70-75%, discuss 60%, do things 80%, and teach others 85%
The real results were on the learning pyramid were:
I got close to the results in the teaching others, practice by doing, and discussion group. 

Dr. Smirnova told us: "teaching others is learning twice"


We then learned about the structure of knowledge created by Jerome Bruner. Facts are content that is going to be taught. Concepts help students show connections. Generalizations are the group of different facts, understanding concepts, and making generalizations about what is being taught. Metacognition is the highest level of thinking. Metacognition is thinking about one's own thinking and thought process. It also helps regulate behavior.






We also discussed educational philosophies. Perennialism/essentialism is the behaviorist theory. Progressivism is the constructivist and cognitive theory. Existentialism is humanism and learning styles. Re-Constructionism  is the social cognitive theory. 



Chapter 2-The basis of chapter 2 teaches different standards that are taught towards different grade levels. The 10 themes of Social Studies Standards include: culture, time/continuity/and change, people/places/and environment, individuals/groups/and institutions, power/authority/and governance, production/distribution/and consumption, science/technology/and society.

Conclusion- Today's class was really interesting. I learned new things about the structure of knowledge and educational philosophies. Dr. Smirnova's presentation of these slides helped me visually to better understand the theories. I hope to use these theories and apply them in my classroom.