What is history?

What is History?  

understanding of past to plan for future

Why study history? 

"because we virtually must, gain access to the laboratory of the human experience." -Peter N. Stearns

Questions teachers should ask?  

1) What are the big ideas I need to teach?- find answers on common core

2) How can the study of history pique students' interests?

3) How can I encourage students to ask important questions about what happened in the past?

4) What inaccurate conceptions do my students hold that keep them from completely understanding the objectives? 

5) How can I help students understand the past? 

Benefits of studying History?

 1) Important to be culturally aware

"Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it." -George Santayana 

Do Now or Do Never?

        DO NOW! 

Teachers should use Do Now's activate student prior knowledge and engage their students for the upcoming lesson.  An interesting "hook" can be just what a student needs to succeed in class!  A "Do Now" can get students thinking and get creativity flowing!  

How did my teacher get us thinking and exploring?

The artifact bag!    

Unwrapping the Mystery 

In the artifact bag was something that appears as a passport, a picture, a spoon, a doll, and an American flag pin.  

What did we find out?

A matryoshka doll has a Russian origin.  

Pictures of Dr. Smirnova's relatives.

It wasn't a passport it was a badge from working at a university.

Our teacher left Russia to teach in America!  

Benefits of the Artifact Bag

Students get sense of history that you can't get through pictures.

It makes students want to explore more! 

HAVE STUDENTS BECOME HISTORIAN!

The Brilliant Biz-world! Hudson Hype Production!

Bizmovie gives students a chance to make animated movies and introduces students to business and economics.  In my class, we broke up into two groups.  Each group was responsible for starting and running a production.  Bizmovie engages students and helps students learn through a real-world scenario.  Also, Bizmovie reinforces 21st century learning techniques like learning with technology and cooperative learning.  

This is the group and I beginning to plan our production!  

This is Barbara and I watching the commercial!  

The group and I watching our catchy commercial!  

The Commercial! 

THE FINAL PRODUCTION!

Teaching Economics

What is economics?

People usually only associate the word money to economics but there is so much more to the term!  When my group and I were told to come up with a definition we said economics is the production, and distribution of goods.  We also said that is was the study of money and revenue.      

  How can you teach children about economics?

We were also asked how to teach economics.  We said that teachers need to engage their students in the study of economics.  Teachers need to make the term real life.  BizMovie was a great way to teach economics because students became a part of a business.  Instead of just learning the terms like business, scarcity, and revenue, students got to become a part of it!  Another way for students to understand economics is through books!

This book is for 1st grade students.  In this book, a boy named Benny received five pennies.  He had to go out to buy his family gifts but didn't buy items that were too much money.  I could use this book in the classroom and show students how to spend and save money!  

 

A tid bit on Teaching: Tips on how to use the Artifact bag!

I thought I'd give a different approach to a blog! Enjoy!

The Terrific Tweeting Teachers

Social networks allow great opportunities for learning.  Websites like Facebook and Twitter shouldn't only be for entertainment purposes and teachers should consider using them in their classrooms.  Twitter can be used for communication between teachers and students.  Some teachers use Twitter to make announcements, such as class cancelations or assignments.  Teachers and students can also communicate with each other and discuss homework assignments.  Students can also ask the professor any questions on homework they might have.  I always think about becoming a teacher and which methods I would use with my future classroom.  I think that using social networks is an excellent way to teach and I never considered using it in my classroom until now!  Furthermore, students that often blurt out in class can tweet what they have to say instead of disrupting the class.  I don't think this is a good idea because students will not respect the rules and they will tweet their friends and lose focus on the lesson. Twitter can also be used for to recap previous lessons. 

Twitter can create connections between teachers and students.  Teachers request books and tools to bring into the next class.  Teachers can also get their students to to connect with professionals in topics they are learning.  If I used Twitter in the classroom, I would have my students reflect on what we're learning in the class. 

If we teach today as we taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow." -John Dewey 

New Beginnings!

Gone are the days where a teacher closes their door to only interact with the students in their classroom.  The technology of the 21st century enables both teachers and students to get in touch with other classrooms around the world.  The name of my blog is 21st Century Connected Classrooms because I believe that interaction outside of a single classroom is a great way for student's to feel like a part of something.  It gives their learning a purpose and engages them to further explore a topic. 

If you watch the clip I posted above, you will see an example of a connected classroom.  At Lytton Elementary School, teachers decided to try a new learning style.  They did this because their school was geographically isolated.  It is a great opportunity for students to get to see different teaching methods.  Connecting classrooms can't be done without technology!  Technology enables students to learn beyond the walls of a classroom which is beneficial to students.  Technology engages students to want to learn.  I'm positive and excited that this class will open my mind to teaching with technology.