Teaching Portfolio Analysis
In this portfolio, I have documented my first experiences not only teaching social studies, but also teaching an eighth grade inclusion class in an urban middle school. Although these lesson plans might not as good as my lesson plans of the future will be, I feel they reflect a great deal of work and dedication that came through creating my first unit for a classroom. With time limitations, I had to base my unit plan on a chapter in the book that was meant to be an introduction to the studying of world history, including the basics of geography, anthropology, archaeology, and history, for these eighth grade students. I tried to incorporate as many visual aids and supplemental exercises to the material outlined by my cooperating teacher as I could, which allowed me to show my creativity. However, in the days after the conclusion of my unit, I was able to produce even more engaging activities and colorful lessons than my original lessons for my unit plan because the material lent itself to this involvement, such as the study of Ancient Egypt. I believe that I worked with the Chapter 1 material as well as I could, and the students were responsive to my mixed approach of direct teaching and student-centered discussions and exercises. I enjoyed organizing visual aids and activities for the students, which I hope shows in my attention to their details in my lesson plans. I was astonished and pleased that the unit test I prepared wa...
...n the beginning of the movie, as he was when he was reunited with his mother at the end. The way that the book Night showed how much Wiesel changed was much more powerful than the depiction found in Life is Beautiful. The Holocaust changed everyone who was involved, especially the Jews. Night really captures how much it affected people.
The Holocaust was the mass murder of Jews during the period of 1941 to 1945 under the German Nazi regime. More than six million European Jews were murdered out of a nine million Jewish population. Out of those who had survived was Elie Wiesel, who is the author of a literary memoir called Night. Night was written in the mid 1950’s after Wiesel had promised himself ten years before the making of this book to stay silent about his suffering and undergoing of the Holocaust. The story begins in Transylvania and then follows his journey through a number of concentration camps in Europe. The protagonist, Eliezer or Elie, battles with Nazi persecution and his faith in God and humanity. Wiesel’s devotion in writing Night was to not stay quiet and bear witness; on the contrary, it was too aware and to enlighten others of this tragedy in hopes of preventing an event like this from ever happening again.
Michael Jordan in my opinion, was the greatest basketball player that ever lived. He holds more records than just about everyone that ever played this sport. Some of those records included: being the all-time leading scorer in the Chicago Bulls history, most seasons in which he lead the league in scoring, which was ten, and most consecutive seasons in which he lead the league in scoring, which was seven seasons.
In the memoir "Night," Elie Wiesel shares the most horrific and dehumanizing experience of his life as he tells of his survival of the Holocaust. The memoir follows the changes and challenges of the young Jewish teenager and his community during the Holocaust. In 1941, Elie is a young naïve boy whose sole focus is his religious studies; his father is a well-respected pillar of the community. Adolf Hitler’s desire to eradicate the Jewish race brings about the Holocaust which changes everything. What seems so important before the Holocaust no longer seems to matter. The dehumanization of the Holocaust strips the basic fundaments of life away changing everything in its path, including the relationship of a young
...ntinuing story: Developing a culturally sensitive, integrated curriculum in college and elementary classrooms. The Social Studies, 91 no.4 151-8.
Richard’s purpose is to remind Christians about the importance of loving neighbor and to teach how Christians can help the poor with their hearts and minds. He relates an important commandment in the Bible, “Love your neighbor,” with the economics by using the concept of “consequence of action.” He promotes the Christians to live a life which God is expecting for them to live by learning about the economics. He wants the Christians to stop justifying ourselves that we love each other when we are not, and he wants us to truly understand God’s intention of putting “love your neighbor” as one of the important commandments. As we study economics, it is important to understand that we should not focus on worldly issues and that we should not forget about God’s commandments. Moreover, this article teaches the Christians that we don’t need to be afraid to study economics because we can use the economics to obey God’s
Growing diversity within the public school has policymakers, curriculum specialists, administrators, and teachers seeking ways to reduce the achievement gap that plaques learners from culturally different backgrounds while continually working to provide multicultural curriculum and activities that promotes social acceptance, reduces racism, and cultural differences. Schools should recognize that they can serve as a significant force in countering discrimination and the various “-isms” that affect people from culturally diverse backgrounds, women, and the disabled (Manning & Baruth, 2009). The purpose of this paper is to discuss ways in which teachers can collaborate with administrators to revise the instructional approach to address the diversified cultural learning needs of the class. Further...
Geneva Gay (2002) combines these two concepts of sociocultural consciousness and culturally responsive teaching in Restructuring Attitudes and Beliefs. Gay refers to culturally responsive teaching as a way of addressing “universal marginality, powerlessness, and disadvantages” within the classroom by taking a critical view of the curriculum (p.1). Culturally responsive teaching starts with the teacher’s identity and an awareness of their own ideologies and theories that influence how they act as a median between the student and curriculum. Similar to understanding their own identity, the sociocultural consciousness is how the teacher views the students’ identities in their community. Gay explains these relationship by saying, ”teachers’ instructional behaviors are strongly influenced by their attitudes and beliefs about various dimensions of student diversity” (p.3). The historical context of the community allows the teacher to use their individual students’ background as resources for scaffolding entire class’s curriculum and help meet the needs of the individual students. Assuming the role of public education is to act as an equalizer, culturally responsive teaching is a means of creating
Specific Purpose: To persuade the audience that Michael Jordan even now in the present is still the greatest player ever to play in the NBA.
I’m a firm believer in maximizing the educational experience through effective classroom design to maintain conflict prevention, increasing time on task and being an added tool for content material; but now I also believe effective classroom design can be used effectively to build a inclusive arena for students to learn in. By consciously focusing on improving the inclusiveness of culture into my design of the classroom, student’s can develop a stronger link to the classroom and school community. This can allow students who may have felt culturally excluded from their environment to develop a stronger connection to their learning and improve their performance not only as academic learners but as members of their school
Diversity and inclusion are two topics that are becoming increasingly important in classrooms. There is becoming a larger push to include students of all abilities in regular classroom activities. As schools become more diverse, teachers change their curriculum to fit the wider variety of individuals. Both Klotz in Culturally Competent Schools: Guidelines for Secondary School Principals and Page and Marlowe in Rejecting Instruction That Disables address the topic of diversity and the importance of inclusion in education.
There are many factors that play a role in the learning process for every human being. Race, religion, language, socioeconomics, gender, family structure, and disabilities can all affect the ways in which we learn. Educators must take special measures in the delivery of classroom instruction to celebrate the learning and cultural differences of each of their students. As communities and schools continue to grow in diversity, teachers are searching for effective educational programs to accommodate the various learning styles of each student while promoting acceptance of cultural differences throughout the classroom. It no longer suffices to plan educational experiences only for middle-or upper class white learners and then expect students of other social classes and cultures to change perspectives on motivation and competition, learning styles, and attitudes and values that their homes and families have instilled in them (Manning & Baruth, 2009).
Teacher Interview summary: I had the pleasure of interviewing the 3rd grade social studies teacher Mr. Columbie. As I observed Mr. Columbie on a weekly basis, I would constantly ask him questions on how he taught social studies in his classroom and what strategies he uses. Mr. Columbie informed me that he teaches social studies in his classroom once a week, but now that the students are preparing for the FSA test he has not been teaching social studies. He explained that the schools main focus is that every teacher is teaching and building students math and reading skills. He also explained to me that he can get in trouble with the principle if he were to teach a full social studies lesson in his classroom. He told me that for social studies he is giving his students reading passages and the students are answering comprehension questions at the end of the reading.
Christianity and Wealth 'Jesus said to the rich young man, "Go, sell all that you have and
When most people think of social studies, they think of history or government, including myself, until now. After my first semester of college studying social studies education I realize it is so much more than history and government; or even geography, economics, and sociology. Social studies is the study of us— humans that is— and social studies education is becoming increasingly important in today’s world, more so than most realize. As a future social studies teacher, I now realize that importance. Before understanding social studies education, it is important to discuss what social studies is, how and why we should teach it, and lastly why I make a good candidate to be a social studies teacher.