Americentrism: Not only a problem for Petrolheads...

         There is a strong emphasis on American history, American government, American economics, and American sociology in the American public school system, but is it too much?  Public school districts start teaching American history as early as 1st and 2nd grade and they continue teaching often until 11th or 12th grade.  Often times students will only get on grading period worth of world history and often that is only ancient European history  I will not argue the importance of teaching this the American way of life to students, but is this encouraging Americentrism.  I don't mean strong American nationalism, I mean ethnocentrism and xenophobia toward any other culture.   Should we be teaching East Asian, African, Australian, and European History at the same time to the same extent as American history?  I don't know the answer to this question, but I do know we are living in increasingly globalized world.  Many people say China, India and Brazil may be the new world superpowers within in the next one hundred years.  If this is case are we as teachers responsible for educating the American youth about these cultures as well as our own?  I think so.

Have we lost our way?

Like all preservice teachers, the idea that middle school students cannot possibly listen to a forty-five minute lecture has been continually hammered into my head since my first day of class.  I would agree wholeheartedly that middle school students cannot listen to a traditional, overhead projector style fact filled lecture, but I don't think we should abandoned lecture entirely.  The modern interpretation of middle school education is more similar to elementary education then it is to high school and I don't know if that is the right approach.  I think that middle school should be a time to transition between the two opposing teaching styles.  I think that instead of emphasizing on activities and a hands on approaches to learning supplemented with lectures and presentations, I think that middle school teachers should be consciously aware of what their students are capable of learning and focus on teaching at the highest level possible.  Activities and hands on approaches should be used as aids, not as the focus of a lesson.  Activities can be used to illustrate points and to make connections to learning, but if the only focus of the lesson is the activity, valuable connections will be lost.  Limiting a lesson to ten minutes of teacher lecture is a slippery slope that new teachers should avoid, because it can seriously cripple a lesson.  The most important parts of activity driven lessons are the briefing and debriefing otherwise valuable learning and long hours of planning are completely wasted.

Alignment: What is Important?

Social studies education to tends to be taught from a historical perspective that focus on facts and figues, and names and dates.  Though this information IS very important, the chances that students will retain information taught in this way is very unlikely.  It is far more likely that students will recall patterns, social implications, and associations with current events if that becomes the focus of teaching.  Instead of saying there was a Native American uprising in August of 1862, known as the Dakota War and there were intense battles between Dakota Indians and Minnesota militia for several months.  History teachers need to focus on the implications of events for future generations of Minnesotans.  The Dakota War of 1862 was a defining moment in Minnesota and federal government policy regarding Native Americans, because it caused tension and distrust between both groups of people.  The locations of current reservations, the names of streets, towns, and parks all come from this time period.  Basically, history taught as a series static events that took place hundreds of years ago simply isn't interesting to many kids.  Kids need to be taught that everything is interconnected and that events in history aren't separate from things today.  Making connections should be the MOST important aspect of every lesson taught in a history classroom.

Grinding Gears

        Natalie Monroe has been in the news a lot recently for alleged teacher misconduct.   This alleged misconduct took place on her blog where she anonymously referred to some of her students as being "lazy whiners" who were often quite "annoying."  According to an article by Patrik Jonsonn published on the Christian Science Monitor's website, Monroe wrote all of these things anonymously and didn't refer to any students by name.  Teacher's and others who support Monroe argue that she should be allowed to vent by blogging about what life is actually like in a classroom.  By doing this she can give a better perspective to those who have never actually sat at a teachers desk.  Those apposed to Monroe's actions feel that it is unprofessional and degrading to students.
       As a future teacher I'd like to be able to think there is place where I could go to vent my frustrations, but I also understand there is a fine line to toe when it comes to discussing matters within a classroom.  I think teachers should be allowed the same courtesies as other professionals.  Doctors for example take a Hippocratic oath to do no harm and a sworn to maintain a level of doctor patient confidentiality, but on the other hand, how would doctors ever become better if they weren't allowed to study previous cases or discuss current cases with their peers?  I think educators should be able to take these same liberties.  If certain students are causing problems in the classroom or are refusing to do their school work, teachers can very quickly run out of ideas on how to motivate them.  How else other than peer resources can teacher learn new strategies or ideas to deal problem students?  A teacher should be able to discuss matters of classroom management in a public forum, but at the same time that teacher needs to know, as state by Jonsonn, that sooner or later someone, probably a parent or administrator, is going to find his or her blog.  Teacher blogs need to be written as if the administration is reading every post.  Singling students out is inappropriate and teachers need to take a positive approach to blogging.  Blogging can be a useful tool, but it can also be a dangerous.

The Check Engine Light is On!

     In the spring of 2010, the state of Texas was going through the common practice of curriculum revision for Social Studies in the state's public schools.  Instead of simply deciding to update the curriculum to include events and ideas that have changed since the last revision, the Texas Board of Education made changes that were clearly more political than educational.  For example, the Board had qualms with the theory of Evolution and made it mandatory that creationism be taught as well.  The Board also decided that a larger emphasis on capitalism had to be made.   These changes are very political and in my opinion really  have no place in a high school.  That being said, as teachers our main goal should be to provide information and let students choose the opinion they see fit.  The problem I have is that creationism is a religious doctrine and the United States Constitution clearly states that church and state be must be separated.  Constitutionality aside, history should be about history, and economics should be about economics, but if I had to guess I'd say that politicians will be politicians and they will never understand the true impact of their decisions.

Here is a New York Times article related to the subject for your reading pleasure.
  

The Shop Manual (Vocabulary in the Classroom)

A quick google search will reveal many suggestions for teaching vocabulary in the classroom.  I found one useful page complied by Mrs. G that includes lots of different teachers idea's for activities to do help increase vocabulary.  This can be found on the ProTeacher website at the URL http://www.proteacher.org/c/694_Vocabulary_Lesson_Ideas.html.  I found this page to have lots of games that could be modified to be used in any classroom from ELL to Social Studies.  Most of these games are very simply aimed at repeating vocabulary words enough times that students become 100% familiar with them.

Nuts and Bolts

        There are many rules that should be considered when starting a class blog/wiki, but the longer and more specific the rule list is, the less likely students will actually read and follow the rules.  Rules for blogging should always apply and should can be used universally.  That being said, as an instructor and moderator of a blog/wiki, the best bet is to start with a set of rules like the ones below and modify the rules if problems arise.


1.  One must use proper spelling and grammer.
      It may be the internet, but that doesn't mean you can slack off.  An educational blog IS, after all, still academic.

2.  One must be respectful.
     Everything on the internet is traceable and disrespectful comments can come back to haunt you.  Everyone is entitled to their opinions, but if you disagree do so respectfully.


3.  One must cite any sources used.
     Give the author credit, if not it's plagiarism. Remember unless you can cite a specific source, it is still opinion.  


4.   One must think before one posts.
     Read and reread to make sure what you've written is what you mean.  Will other readers understand what you wrote? Is what you wrote appropriate?  Will others take offense to what you've written? If everyone asked these questions before posting, the internet would be a far nicer place.