Over these four weeks of classes I have felt my notions about the social studies curriculum (as well as all subject curriculum) morph and shape and develop into something real and full. Although I have been in bank street for a year already, I have not really taken many of the lesson planning courses yet. I am so happy that this course was my introduction. I felt at times that the course work was a full-time activity--but I feel that throughout the course I maintained a positive perspective about the work I was doing. I felt that all the work I put in was helping to change me as a teacher. The lesson planning and revising, and revising, and revising was at times frustrating and at times rewarding but throughout it was consistently a positive learning experience.
With that said, I feel that the construction of my lessons will be richer because of the work I put into the three lessons in this unit. I project that my future lesson plans will include aspects of the lesson plans we worked on for the past few weeks. I know more about incorporating discussion into various parts of the lesson. I have a better understanding of the importance of creating activities that access the lesson in a directly personal way, and I feel that I have developed a skill (though I still need some work) on developing leading questions to guide our study. The learning I value the most from this experience is my still expanding understanding of working with broad topics and specific examples. The planning, the conversations, and the readings for this course have truly helped me to gain an appreciation for not only why this system provides a stronger unit plan but how to make it happen.
My challenge at this point is to continue to develop as a planner. Now that I know in what direction I am headed, I have to continue to make real steps to solidify and expand what I have learned. Most importantly, I have to apply it to my work. I know that my work is at a point at which I will need to continue to revise and revise my ideas. Still, I feel so confident that the process that I have begun will lead me closer to perfecting a plan that works for me and for my students. I came into this course with very little understanding of what a social studies curriculum was supposed to look like. I feel that as of now, I have a basic understanding of the curriculum standards, and a strong base of ideas and skills to help me develop a social studies curriculum that is rich in scope.

Week 2 Monday Post

I feel that this past week, although incredibly busy has been a wonderfully productive one. I feel that I reached some of my goals from last week in speaking to some of my classmates as well as looking through their work on the class blog. I am starting to gain more of an appreciation for what can be done using this technology, and thinking about ways to work it into my curriculum planning. I love reading what classmates have to write, and though I am not always able to think of comments, I do love to read the comments written my my peers. All in all, this is a great experience for me as a learner completely new to online course work.
For this week, my main goal is to speak to KK and classmates about our curriculum unit. After some conversation and practice, I am finally gaining an appreciation of what a realistic and productive lesson plan would look like (for a K class).
To be honest, I was nervous going into this course having had no experience with online course work or social studies curriculum planning. As I state in my last blog, I had no idea of what social studies looks like in terms of planning a unit. I can truly look back on this week and feel a great sense of accomplishment simply because I understand much more than I did when I began (I still have a ways to go).

Week 1 Monday post

When I think of "Social Studies," I find myself thrown back into junior high school learning about civilizations around the world by reading a dry text book. I remember taking the book at home to read chapters for homework, and the innevitable test at the end of the lesson about the various facts memorized. All in all, I feel that my personal experience with the social studies curriculum has been rather dry and limited. In addition, I feel that as a teacher, this is one area in which I have not yet had time to develope.
Because I have been working in very early education in for the last two years, I feel that I have minimal expireince with teaching social studies or developing a social studies curriculum. At the same time, I have incorporated some remote social studies activites such as neighborhood tours and interviews with parents about their work place.
I have many goals for this course. I plan on teaching elementary grades in the future and am looking forward to learning just what it means to integrate a social studies curriculum. As of yet, I have never used a social studies curriculum so my goal for this week is to learn more about what a social studies curriculum looks like, and how to use a social studies curriculum to include all members of the class while drawing interest on a particular focus at a time.
My primary goal for this week is to build some foundational knowledge of what social studies can be. I hope to gain appreciation for the ability of the curriculum to be engaging and interesting for all students involved. I see the skill that I am hoping to aquire as just this--to be able to view social studies as a tool or an entry point at which all students can feel welcome to share their own life experiences, while learning about the world around them.
Because I have such limited experience, I hope to rely somewhat on my peers for my education in this course. I hope to bounce ideas, read about varying view points, and discuss our own learning process throughout the duration of this course. I see this forum as a type of ongoing conversation which will enhance my own understanding of the matirial as well as help me to express certain points I feel are worthy of the attention of the others in this course.