History never looks like history when you are living through it.
-John W. Gardner (Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare under Lyndon B. Johnson.)
Goals and Teaching Methods
In my classroom, history will shift from being not simply an event that occurred in the past, but one that guides the future. I will make the past real for students so that their interest goes beyond the classroom walls and beyond the high school years. I will build a foundation of informed citizens, by integrating current events and problems relevant to their lives into the classroom. I want students to become actively involved and impassioned about at least one issue that is current and relevant to today.
To promote students becoming informed decision makers, I will incorporate a year-long project. Students will choose any current event genre that they find interesting, such as human rights. They will then investigate a few refined topics, such as gay rights, free speech, censorship, etc. After this initial investigation, students will choose one topic for their year-long project. Throughout the year, they will collect relevant articles to their topic and provide a short summary to one article every two weeks on the class wiki. Every student will be required to respond to a few other students posted summaries. If technology is not easily assessable, this will be completed in a journal. By the end of the year, students will have all the components necessary for their final papers on their researched topic. As a culminating project, students will present their research to their classmates, other teachers, and family members. The goal is to get the students interested in the topic and to encourage them to get others interested as well.
I want students to think critically, to be able to see things from multiple perspectives, and to question what they are told rather than to take it at face value. I want students to recognize that what one author or historian writes about a topic is not always fact, regardless of their credentials. This goal will be attained through the year-long project, but also within the classroom walls. I will encourage students to question what they read by always providing multiple accounts and interpretations of the same events in history. Through primary and secondary written accounts, different text-books, and even movie clips, I will have students analyze the similarities and differences of what they have seen or read. It is crucial to the discipline that students recognize that not all historical accounts are accurate, and that as new evidence emerges, history does change! When students learn about different ideas and customs, it is based upon the ideas of the observer or the researcher, and to gain a full picture requires an investigation of multiple opinions.
Lastly, I want students to see that the past is more than just names and dates in a book, history is about real people, beliefs, and cultures that have shaped the way the world is today. I want students to look at various cultures and realize that they are not much different than themselves, their ideas and beliefs are valid, and that no culture is better or worse, just different. I will promote justice, fairness, and respect in my classroom. In order to attain this goal, I feel the culture of the classroom is critical. I will know my students and I want them to know me. I will form a family relationship within the classroom walls in which all students feel safe and welcomed. I plan on facilitating this type of atmosphere throughout the year. At the beginning of the year, I will write my students a letter about myself, telling them where I have been and where I want to go. I will expect them to write me a letter in return. I will then foster relationships amongst the students through collaborative group work, pair-share exercises, and an online social network.
I believe that discovery learning and project based learning allows students to become creative and engaged with the Social Studies subject. Through projects that immerse students deeply into the subject matter, collaboration within groups, and culminating assessment performances shown to a real audience, students will become excited about the material and almost learn by accident. Focusing students on engaging projects makes learning enjoyable for everyone involved.
Fostering an Inclusive Learning Environment
I strongly believe that all students can learn and want to learn. As an educator, I believe it is my responsibility to hold high expectations for students and assist them with overcoming challenges to help them be more successful. However, I am not naive in realizing that all students do not learn at the same pace or in the same way. Therefore, differentiation of instruction is key to a successful learning environment.
My experience in the classroom has shown me that differentiating instruction is beneficial for learning disabled students and at-risk students. A student in my classroom was at-risk of failing because he was disengaged with school almost entirely. He did not complete homework and spent very little time engaging within the classroom. After a few weeks of observation and interaction with this student, it became evident he struggled with writing but expressed himself well through drawing. By allowing this student to complete longer writing assignments through art, he became more focused and engaged with his work. In time, I believe that introducing smaller writing components to his artwork would have engaged him deeply with the subject matter and progressed his writing at an appropriate pace.
Since the majority of the classroom time will be student-centered, both weak and strong students will benefit. Group assignments will be tailored to the specific instructional needs of students, and the groups will be hand-selected. For example, a project based learning unit on WWII may be in the form of a “dinner party.” In groups, students will be given a list of key figures during WWII and need to design a seating template and write why they sat certain people next to one another. Other elements of the project would include the creation of a menu and a scripted dialogue amongst the dinner guests. By allowing for such a wide range of skills to be utilized and inviting a creative atmosphere, differentiation of learning is possible.
Assessment of Student Learning
To ensure that my students are actively learning and engaging in the class, I will incorporate both informal and formal testing practices. Through exit slips after lessons, reflective and affective reading and writing assignments both in and out of class, project-based learning techniques with reflective assignments, a final portfolio for the year, and the culminating year-long project, I will assess student growth and development throughout the year primarily with rubrics. Although the depth of instructional practices will prepare students for the Regents, in order to curb their anxieties, I will also incorporate multiple choice tests into my assessment repertoire.
I believe that authentic assessment is the glue that holds discovery and project based learning together. Students work should be scaffolded throughout each unit and the final assessment should allow students to show their growth through each of the performances of understanding. Since the assessments will be based upon a culminating performance or portfolio piece, rubrics will be the prominent assessment tool. I believe that providing students with a rubric up front will give them greater direction and a guidance throughout the unit. Rubrics will allow me to assess for a deep understanding and engagement with subject matter and important concepts and themes, while allowing students to be creative with their presentations. Creativity spawns excitement and engagement with the material, which are important characteristics for a positive classroom culture.
Collaboration with Parents and Colleagues
To attain the type of classroom culture described above, support from family members and colleagues is essential and an intricate part of the learning environment. With support at home and in school, students have a better opportunity to become successful learners. Through collaboration, I will be able to reflect in depth on my teaching and ultimately strive to become a better educator for my students.
Within the first few weeks of a new school year, I will attempt to make contact with all of my student’s parents or guardians through a phone call. Although this is a time consuming activity, I believe it is a crucial step and this initial communication is key to fostering positive relationships. Through this initial conversation, I will determine what is the best way to keep in touch with the student’s parents or guardians throughout the school year and provide many opportunities to meet in person, either at a school function or otherwise. Throughout the year, I will keep the parents or guardians informed about what is going on within the classroom through a monthly calendar that I will post online or send through the postal service. This will ensure that parents or guardians feel as if they are a part of the learning community as well.
Collaboration and collegiality are essential to learning, teaching, and life in a democracy. Communication and collaboration are essential because there are so many strategies and ideas that can be shared amongst colleagues. Colleagues are important for my personal development as a teacher and a learner and those relationships are built on positive interactions and genuine care. Teaching is an act of learning, and relationships within my school and teachers at other schools, will help me grow as a professional. In making these connections I will have a network of support to always be able to reflect and better my teaching strategies.
With a deep knowledge in my subject area I will facilitate and foster student learning using a variety of authentic learning practices. I will promote reflective thinking for my students as well as for myself throughout my teaching career. I will encourage my students to become life-long learners, as I too will learn something new within each classroom I enter. I will foster collaboration between my students and I myself will collaborate with other teachers both in and outside of my discipline. And more importantly, I will help develop a culture of trust, mutual respect, positivity, and authentic learning in my classroom.
-Michelle Hochmuth
