Edu 358- Social Studies Blog!

I feel as though I should be blogging about the six language arts or literature circles! But no, this blog got a recent face lift and will now be tracking my adventure through social studies! Initially I was a little overwhelmed with the way the course will be set up. I like the idea of having 50 points to play with but it also made me nervous because that's a large chunk of my grade that I'm responsible for! The more I read over my options and considered what I'd like to do the more excited I became. I like that every student's experience will be a little different and more tailored to individual strengths and interests. This is an important idea to take into my own classroom one day. Sure, giving 1st or 2nd graders too many options can sometimes lead to chaos, letting students have a guiding role in their learning can often increase engagement and enjoyment in learning.
My goals as a learner over the semester are simply to gain more knowledge about social studies and exciting ways to translate that knowledge to my future students. It feels like it's been a while since I've had a quintessential "social studies" class, and the material is so vast and wide-spread. I'm excited to widen my understanding of the subject! As always, there's a lot of material to cover, but I'm confident we're going to have another great semester. :)