Technology - eep!

We live in a world where technology seems to move by the minute.  Every few weeks, something requires me to create an account at some website or other in order to access information, share my ideas, or otherwise make the most of the internet.  So it really only makes sense that future teachers create professional learning networks to help with learning how to teach.  At one level, it helps me to learn what technology is available.  I knew little about blogging and had never used RSS feeds or Twitter until this semester.  Now, I easily recognize the value of these sites in bringing technology into the classroom (although I am not completely sold on Twitter yet; we'll see how it goes).  Twitter and professional blogs have also swelled my list of useful websites to help with preparing extraordinary lessons or simply preparing ordinary graphic organizers.  At another level, my PLN has helped me to see "through the eyes of a teacher," so-to-speak.  Some of the professional blogs that I follow offer insight into teachers' lives, rookie mistakes, and simply the joys involved in teaching adolescents.  I look forward to one day having my own blog that qualifies as a "professional" viewpoint!  I thoroughly enjoy blogging and only wish I had more time to do so.  Timing has been my only noticeable problem so far, as I never seem to quite meet that 5pm on Saturday deadline for weekly posts.

I have subscribed to a variety of professional blogs:

• History Tech is one of my favorite blogs that I am reading.  Glen Wiebe posts a few times a week with links to websites that help with teaching history.  He also reviews the sites so that teachers can enter them with an expectation of what they will be able to do.
• Outside the Cave shares various thoughts from the perspective of Stephen Lazar, a social studies and English teacher in the Bronx.  He talks about what works, what does not work, and various difficulties related to teaching in an inner-city school.  His posts are sometimes heavily opinionated, but they also contain some deep insights that reflect true challenges in schools.
• So You Want to Teach is the blog of an experienced band teacher who is currently working with two first year teachers.  Through this interaction, he has reflected on what skills he sees as successful in teaching and what "rookie mistakes" he observes, especially in classroom management.
• The Scholastic Scribe still confuses me a bit.  Melissa posts often, but posts frequently relate to subjects other than education.  To that extent, I think it is an entertaining blog to read but not necessarily helpful as part of a PLN.
• Tween Teacher was a cute little blog that posted some intriguing thoughts about teaching and working with middle school students.  A few of Heather Wolpert-Gawron's posts leave me still pondering her questions a month later.  Unfortunately, she has not posted much in the past month.

I am also following 5 professional Twitter accounts:

• glennw98
• jdthomas7
• mooresclassroom
• mr_johansson
• TheSwish

Variety: A Heavy Word

Variety: A social studies teacher's biggest goal, help, and trouble all in one word.  Sound simplistic?  Well, I can think of many different ways just off the top of my head in which variety is important to middle school social studies classrooms.  Variety comes in many forms in this kind of classroom.  A variety of students fill the desks, with a diverse set of backgrounds.  They come to learn a subject that seems to run the gamet of topics, from history to economics to psychology and more.  To add further variety, students learn the many of the other "core" classroom subjects within social studies lessons (historical responses to Darwin's theory of evolution and Uncle Tom's Cabin as an influence in abolitionism, to name a few).  I see the biggest impact of the word "variety" as three roles:

First, teachers strive to achieve variety in intentional lessons and assessments.  This helps to address students' varied learning needs and strengths.  For example, some students prefer to listen to teachers speak, while others prefer small group discussion as ways to learn and explore new information.  Vonny, a physics teacher, surveyed students to find that student preferences include all types of learning and review, suggesting the value in many different methods.  Similarly, assessing student learning through a variety of methods (tests, essays, presentations, various performance assessments, informal assessments, etc.) help to ensure that each student can faces an assessment that meets their strengths.  Some students are excellent at memorizing facts but not at creating something new from the material, while others can write excellent essays but find multiple choice tests tricky.

Another way variety fits in the middle school classroom is in Social Studies' natural tendency to include variety.  I know my middle school social studies classes included units on geography in addition to history.  It only makes sense that the teacher would use different methods to teach the fifty states than he would use to teach the creation of the U.S. Constitution.  If I remember correctly, the former involved more memorization, while the latter involved the creation of a class constitution.  This variety also increases motivation, as it is easier to sit through the "less interesting" material when there is hope of a more interesting subject or sub-subject to come.

Finally, has the potential to create problems when students change schools.  Since standards in MN currently apply to ranges of grade levels, different schools and districts may decide when to teach each subject or topic.  This means that a student coming from outside the district may have already learned some topics planned for the upcoming year and missed some topics that the district teaches in younger grades.  My school had that problem because its middle school attracted students from a wide variety of parochial and public schools in the East Metro area of the Twin Cities.  Some students learned Geography in sixth grade, while my school focused almost exclusively on Minnesota history prior to middle school.  How can a school/teacher catch a newcomer up on prior knowledge and include the student in regular lessons without overwhelming or boring said student?

This has been a very long ramble, and it seems fairly unusual.  Why, after all, would I choose variety as such an important concept to discuss?  Well, probably because it created my love of social sciences years ago and frightens me now.  I loved the ways in which social studies allowed me to learn about history, today, math (economics), science (psychology), literature, and more.  My families took me to many museums, which emphasize the many different ways in which social sciences play an active role in many aspects of life.  On the other hand, variety means that I as a teacher will need to be constantly on my toes.  I'll need to pay constant attention to my students needs and simultaneously act upon these observations.  So, in spite of the many details of social studies, one generalization currently stares me in the face: Variety is essential.

Banned

In the wake of Banned Books Week, it seems necessary to zero in on the concept of banning or otherwise forbidding the use of certain texts.  To be honest, I have mixed feelings on the subject.  I understand that parents may not want their children to read certain texts.  On the other hand, many banned books contribute to literacy and understanding of difficult subjects.  For example, the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, number one on the ALA list of most banned books of the past decade, motivated many children to love reading beyond texts required for school.

You may wonder why I bring up the subject of banned books in a blog focused on teaching middle school social studies.  In response, I'll name another book on the aforementioned list.  My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier tells about the difficulties families experienced during the American Revolution.  The narrator, Tim, must decide whether to support the British with his father or to join the rebel troops like his brother.  I remember reading this book in middle school class and can easily see myself encouraging students to read the book.  For that matter, a carefully selected chapter from the text could make an excellent reading assignment in a social studies class to help students better understand the human story of the American Revolution.  Unfortunately, this book has been banned in some communities.  Students lose this opportunity to discuss the book.

Books are not the only texts subject to disapproval.  Social studies teachers use many primary sources.  If authorities ban Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe (another book with potential use in a social studies classroom), they may discourage speeches central to the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates and other speeches that include similar "issues."  In a geography classroom, a teacher may wish to use the Guns, Germs, and Steel videos to discuss the history behind different cultural interactions and the values inherent in some "primitive" cultures.  On the other hand, many parents and authorities may dislike the videos, citing the violence and clothing as inappropriate for middle school students.

So this leaves me with a dilemma.  Should a teacher intentionally censor history, geography, and other social studies classes to appease parents?  Or should a middle school teacher use controversial texts and other resources because careful reflection suggested that the students are developmentally ready for the ensuing discussion?  As much as I would love to achieve a clear conclusion, said conclusion escapes me.  Therefore, I must ask readers to continue the discussion: how do you think a teacher should approach controversial texts?

Those Ever-Popular Learning Centers

Maybe it was just the schools that I attended, but I feel like my teachers tried different variations of learning centers more often than almost any other teaching strategy except lecture.  Sometimes, they worked.  We learned information in an interesting and interactive way that helped us to remember.  At other times, teachers seemed to use learning centers as a way to give themselves breaks from active teaching.  Poorly-planned activities merely gave students the opportunity to socialize while writing down the answers to a few easy questions.  In short, learning centers (a teaching strategy that rotates groups of students around the classroom to learn through a variety of distinct activities) can be effective when, and only when, used to the full extent of their potential.

Learning centers can be a useful way of teaching large amounts of information in an interactive way at many age levels, including middle school.  In fact, they they address multiple developmental domains specific to the middle school age.  Intellectually, middle school students need to actively learn information that they find interesting and favor interaction with peers.  Learning centers guide students through active discovery of information in an interesting and interactive way.  In the social domain, middle school students need to develop positive interaction with peers, a key element of learning center activities.  Finally, learning centers allow for middle school students to explore a variety of moral viewpoints, an important element of moral development.  These qualities can help at many age levels, but they are particularly important for young adolescents.

In social studies classes, learning centers are an appropriate method of exploring primary sources or learning information from a variety of perspectives.  The New York Education Department describes a learning center activity involving analysis of images from World War I to learn about the war itself.  This activity lacks the variety of some learning centers, but it contains the important elements of student discussion, physical movement, and student discovery.  In addition, teachers may change the level of difficulty by altering the specific tasks expected of students.  Another option in learning activities involves a brief introduction to a variety of subjects.  The Montgomery County Public School District has an excellent video of a social studies learning station activity.  Students encounter a variety of elements of world history through watching videos, listening to tapes, writing their names in Arabic, looking at maps, and other tasks.  Although the video intentionally only included images of actively engaged students, it is an excellent example of a learning center activity that includes variety in subjects and methods to help students learn.

Of course, learning centers can cause potential classroom management problems.  With a classroom filled with student discussion, students can easily discuss other subjects and switch to the assignment when the teacher walks by.  Teachers can combat this temptation by walking among students and helping where necessary.  It also helps to hold students accountable for participation in the lesson through clear directions and asking students to turn something in at the end of the lesson.  For example, students in the aforementioned video worked on a worksheet that asked questions pertaining to each station.

As a visual learner who long ago became tired of lectures, I enjoy participating in learning centers.  They involve movement, variety, and often excellent activities beyond lecture with PowerPoint.  The biggest problem that worries me is that of potential classroom management difficulties.  How exactly can a teacher know that students remain on task?  Moreover, how should a teacher develop a worksheet or other method of accountability that ensures student participation without limiting conversation or becoming busywork?  Feel free to comment with a response to these questions or any other thoughts.

Vocabulary: "Democracy" does not cut it

Altogether too often, social studies teachers assume that working with students on vocabulary is unnecessary in social studies classes.  As long as students know how the textbook defines the bold-faced words, they have the vocabulary knowledge necessary to pass the course, right?  Wrong.  Students, especially middle school students, need guidance in learning vocabulary.  This even occurs in the social studies classroom.  From what I have learned so far, there are two central needs for vocabulary instruction in the social studies classroom:
1. Students who lack a foundational knowledge of vocabulary in the English language need assistance to understand the basic elements of the text.
2. Social studies requires knowledge of subject-specific vocabulary that may not have entered conversations for even students who are strong in English.

So now that we have clarified the importance of vocabulary instruction in the middle school classroom, how should a teacher approach this instruction?  Well, there is no specific "best" method, but several parameters can help to improve the quality of vocabulary instruction.
1. Include a limited number of words each week.  Students will not retain what they learn if they simply copy definitions of a long list of vocabulary words.
2. Repeat the vocabulary words and have students use them in the appropriate context.  Students will only truly "own" words after repetition and use.
3. Encourage morphological awareness: the recognition that words contain different morphemes (units containing meaning.  If students work with the meanings of various prefixes, roots, and suffixes, they can learn a variety of words without relearning each time variations containing the same morphemes come up in class.  Vocabulogic posted a quality description of morphological awareness that I strongly recommend.  It is clear, concise, and relevant.
4. As much as possible, select words that will be in use repeatedly in the social studies class and other classes.  For example, "interpretation" is important for a social studies class and many other classes.  While, as the title suggests, "democracy" is not the only vocabulary word that matters, it is a more relevant choice for students to learn well than "demography", a highly specific term that probably matters little to the class as a whole.
5. Make vocabulary instruction relevant and interesting.  Students who find motivation to participate in vocabulary lessons will more easily learn and remember words.

There are a variety of teaching strategies that help meet these suggestions.  One that I found interesting is in the use of vocabulary shapes.  Teachers place morphemes at different corners of shapes, and students think of other words using those morphemes to predict what the morphemes mean.  From there, the class guesses the definition of the whole word.  For example, the word "prejudice" would go into a triangle as "pre", "jud" and "ice".  Students may recognize words like "predict" and "pre-test" for "pre" and "judge" for "jud".  From there, they can develop a meaning relating to judging people or things before knowing them.

Of course, discussion of vocabulary instruction could easily continue for hours.  And vocabulary barely breaches the tip of everything there is to talk about regarding comprehension.  Since I cannot continue forever, I leave you with a question that I have pondered for a few days now.  How much of the vocabulary that students encounter in social studies classes needs to become a part of instruction?  Primary sources can include many challenges.  For that matter, there are plenty of words in the United States Constitution that I cannot define without a dictionary.  How can a teacher remain selective about words without constantly referring students to dictionaries when they express interest in words from assigned readings?  Any thoughts on the subject are more than welcome.

"That" Teacher

Hopefully, most of us had at least one teacher in middle school who was "that" teacher.  By this, I reference the teacher that we loved and learned from.  We looked forward for his or her next lesson for the sake of learning rather than as a means to achieve a grade.  No teacher can be "that" teacher for every student, as students have unique interests, personalities, and learning styles.  However, some qualities help teachers to be effective when working with middle school students.  I am certainly not an expert, but here are a few qualities that I see as important for effective middle school teachers:

Knowledge: Effective middle school teachers have a strong foundational knowledge of the subject they teach as well as academic knowledge about teaching middle school students.  Teachers who truly know the subjects they teach can more successfully share this information with students.  In addition, knowing more about a subject than the syllabus requires allows a teacher to include special focus on elements that classes find interesting.  Academic knowledge about teaching incorporates psychological information about adolescence and teaching strategies.  College Professors share this information because it matters, so teachers should use this knowledge as a foundation for planning lessons, classroom management procedures, and more.  In addition, effective teachers seek to continue adding to both categories of knowledge through classes and familiarity with current research as long as they continue to teach.

Leader: An effective teacher needs the confidence and authority to lead a class.  This includes classroom management aspects, as teachers with leadership and good classroom management (although there is little distinction between the two) can maximize class time and thus help students to learn.  It also includes the simple confidence to work with a class of students without losing focus.  Finally, a teacher who is also a quality leader leads by example, encouraging students to behave well, work hard on schoolwork, and make intentional decisions.

Passion: Many teachers are passionate about the subjects that they teach.  Effective middle school teachers are passionate about teaching the subjects to middle school students.  This shows in their genuine concern for their students.  Effective teachers respond to students' academic, emotional, and other needs.  When necessary, this means that effective teachers have the flexibility to diverge from previously planned lessons or schedules in order to accommodate for students' needs.  Rhoda C. Sommers discusses this passion by describing effective teachers as "real" teachers.

At this point in time, I do not have the characteristics necessary to be "that" teacher.  I lack the academic knowledge, which I hope to gain throughout the course of this semester and in future education classes.  I also do not know whether I have the confidence to be a leader in a classroom of students.  Work in a middle school as part of this class should help me to develop this confidence.  I will know that I have achieved the type of confidence necessary for leadership when I can place more emphasis on students than on my specific actions.  This does not imply forgetting to act appropriately or utilize important classroom management techniques.  Rather, it means that the "spotlight" feeling will diminish in favor of concern for student achievement.

What do I have now?  Passion.  I love social studies and have thoroughly enjoyed every opportunity I have had to teach.  Moreover, I have seriously considered teaching in a middle school because of the unique challenges and opportunities that the young adolescents bring to class.  That is a short list compared with the laundry list of ways I have yet to learn and develop, but I truly believe in lifelong learning.  I can only be "that" teacher for a student if I continue to work on these qualities long after college graduation.

She Said What?!

Some people create blogs to publish opinions and stir discussion on hot-button issues.  Readers of such blogs find posts shocking.  At times, these types of blogs can even cause trouble for the writers.  I created a blog as an assignment for a college course.  Since this blog has an educational purpose, my goal is to foster constructive discussion rather than to shock readers.  Because of this, I have constructed a list (yes, it is part of an assignment) of four general guidelines for blog posts by myself and my classmates.

1. Think about who will read a post before publishing.  Since this is an educational blog, this includes classmates, professors, and potential employers.  Essentially, I am publishing my homework assignments for everyone to read.  I would not swear or make inappropriate comments on a regular class assignment.  The same should hold true for blog posts.

2. Try to avoid generalizations about large groups.  I read this suggestion on guidelines from Arapahoe High School, and it makes quite a bit of sense to me.  In the particular situation of this blog, I will discuss middle schools and middle school students.  Each school and each student is unique, meaning that I should never assign a particular characteristic to all members of the groups.

3. Cite Sources!  Why is this in bold?  Because I think it is critically important to blogging and writing in general.  I hope that someone who uses my writing in their own work acknowledges my efforts.  I should do the same for other writers and bloggers.  Besides, as the website I already mentioned suggests, citing sources gives credibility to an argument.  It shows that I made an informed statement and that wiser individuals agree.

4. When posting or commenting on a post, respect other people.  Respect their ideas and value as human beings.  In other words, be civil.  If I do disagree with a person's opinion, I should phrase it as disagreement with the opinion (not the person) and provide logical evidence for my opinion.

As I am not an expert by any means, I leave you with one final link.  I think that the International School of Bangkok provides an excellent and succinct list of guidelines for posts on educational blogs.  There's no trick.  From what I can tell, simple maturity and common sense go a long way.