Artifact Bags

        Recently, we used artifact bags in class to expand on our unit topics. My topic was the thirteen colonies, so I made my artifact bag on the Massachusetts Colony. I included items that would help the examiner determine that these items all came from the Massachusetts Colony. I included a picture of a church, furs, fishing hooks, a photo of John Winthrop, and John Winthrop's signature. Unfortunately, I did not have the resources to make my artifact authentic, so they were all on printer paper. I wish that I had the time to find ways to make my artifacts more authentic. Many of my artifacts would not have been difficult to do.

        I liked using the artifact bag activity and I could definitely see myself using in in my future classroom. It allows students to explore social studies in a hands on way. I could use this activity to explore certain social studies topics or I could use it as a get to know the students activity at the beginning of the year. I could have each of the students make an artifact bag that they feel represents themselves and we could go through each bag and guess who it is. This would be a fun way for me to get to know my students and a fun way for them to get to know each other.

Using Current Events in the Classroom

Recently in class, we were given the task of designing a current events lesson plan to share with our colleagues. As each pair presents their lesson, I am learning more and more ways to utilize current events in the classroom. It doesn't have to simply be reading an article and writing a reflection paper. There are so many other ways to allow students to explore the events that are happening in their world.

Through each activity, I am noticing the benefits of using current events. These activities give social studies meaning. These are real life articles that are pulled from the students current world. Often this fact alone sparks more student interest, than if they were learning about a past time period that does not directly affect the students' lives now. By using current events, we are making social studies relevant.

Using current events also opens up many opportunities to link social studies to other subjects and disciplines. There are ways to incorporate English, science, and math into these lessons. I can definitely see myself using current events in my future classroom. I feel it is a great opportunity for students to connect more to social studies, through meaningful experiences! 

Inquiry Design Model

I enjoyed exploring the 3C Teachers website and the inquiry model they have designed. I thought the template was easy to follow and did a good job of specifying all of the necessary elements to create a good inquiry lesson. It is a great starting point for teachers as they design lessons.

I like the way the model builds up to the main question through the use of smaller less difficult questions. This is a great way to encourage students to think about the process they went through to get to their final answer. I also liked that for each supporting question, there were formative assessments and sources to go along with each one. Everything has a purpose and everything is guiding the student toward that final lesson takeaway, the compelling question.

I wish I had seen this model before I created my inquiry lesson for fieldwork. This would have been an extremely useful resource as I designed my lesson.

Jigsaw Method of Learning

        In class, we have practiced using the jigsaw method of learning. In order to accomplish this, each of us was included in two different groups. The first group we were in was our base group. Within this group, we were each assigned a number that corresponded to a topic that we were responsible for researching. The second group we were a part of consisted of all the other people with the same number and topic as us. This group was called the expert group.

        In our expert groups, we worked together to research our topic and be ready to report back to our base groups on what we learned. After we felt we had enough information, we left our expert groups to share our findings with our base groups. Now each member of our base groups had new information to share.


        I liked this method of learning because it allowed each of us to become extremely familiar with our topic, and then get a taste of what everyone else researched. The problem I had with this method was remembering all of the information our other experts in our base groups shared with us. It was a lot to take in, and since I didn't spend a lot of time learning it, it was harder to remember. Overall though, I liked this method and I could absolutely see myself using it in the classroom!

Bloom's Taxonomy

According to Bloom's Taxonomy, human thinking can be broken down into the following six categories:

1) Knowledge: The lowest level of thinking. It involves remembering, or recalling information. 

To elicit this type of thinking, teacher will often use phases such as, how many, when, where, list, define, and identify.

2) Comprehension: The second level of thinking. It involves grasping or understanding the meaning of informational materials.

To elicit this type of thinking teachers will often use phrases such as, describe, explain, estimate, predict, and interpret.

3) Application: The third level of thinking. It involves applying previously learned information to new and unfamiliar situations.

To elicit this type of thinking, teachers will often use words such as, demonstrate, apply, illustrate, show, and examine.

4) Analysis: The fourth level of thinking. It involves breaking down information into parts and trying to understand the organizational structure of information.

To elicit this type of thinking, teachers will often use words such as, analyze, compare, explain, separate, and classify.

5) Synthesis: The fifth level of thinking. It involves applying prior knowledge and skills to combine elements into a pattern that was not clearly there before.

To elicit this type of thinking, teacher will often use words such as, combine, rearrange, substitute, create, and design.

6) Evaluation: The sixth and highest level of thinking. It involves judging or deciding according to some sort of criteria, without real right or wrong answers.

To elicit this level of thinking, teachers will often use words such as, assess, decide, measure, select, conclude, compare, and summarize.

Designing A Pre-Test and Post-Test

          Before we began teaching our lesson to our class of  5th graders, my group was responsible for creating a pre-test to asses our students prior knowledge on our topic. Before we could start brainstorming questions, we each had to take some time to familiarize ourselves with our topic. We were responsible for teaching about the original 13 colonies. Coming up with questions was more difficult than I expected it to be. We had to make sure our questions were clear in what they were asking. This proved to be harder than expected because in our heads we knew what we were asking and the response we were aiming for, but sometimes that didn't always translate in the way we were asking our questions. We made sure that if a random person were to read our question, they would be absolutely positive about the type of answer we were looking for. We also wanted to make sure that students had the opportunity to try different types of questions such as, multiple choice, true/false, fill-in-the-blank, and short answer.

          Designing the post-test was equally as hard with the same challenges in choosing questions. However, now, there was almost more pressure because we had taught our lesson. If students still couldn't answer our questions correctly, it was because we were not clear in something we taught. This post test became more of a reflection of our teaching, so we were even more careful as we designed our questions.

          I felt that my group did a good job of equally contributing question ideas. We worked well together to come up with clear questions that would do a good job of testing our students understanding and prior knowledge. Overall, I enjoyed the opportunity of creating pre and post-tests. I learned useful skills that I will most definitely put to use in my future career!