Students Traveling around the World in Social Studies

In class Tuesday, we had the opportunity to be history detectives! We were given a mystery bag filled with mysterious artifacts inside. My group was given 3 artifacts. Here was the first artifact: We first noticed that the item was in a different language. My group and I believed it was Russian, as we had seen the language before but were unable to read what it said. I was able to find an app where you can take a picture and it will translate it. We found out that this is a PhD Diploma from the Pedagogy of Sciences in Russia. It was given to Professor Smirnova in May of 1989. What my group found interesting was that the Diploma font was not typed, rather all handwritten. Below is the second artifact: Immediately, we knew it was a spoon of some sort, After conducting research, we found out it is a hand craved Russian spoon, known as a   Khokhloma.  These can be used as decoration or as a utensil. Dr. Smirnova told us about how these are commonly used at tra

ICivics is a non-profit organization who focus on promoting civics education to students. ICivics provides the students as well as teachers with free online games as well as lesson plans. Their overall goal is to turn students into active and knowledgable citizens. The game I played was "Making a Positive Change in your Community". When you first start, you are able to chose a character. From there, you can pick one of four issues to support. Those issues include: Helping out at the Shelter Stop bullying at your school Help your family Clean your local park I decided to choose helping out at my local shelter since I love animals. I had several tasks along the way. Some included feeding the animals, cleaning their cages, giving them water and building an additional shelter.  I wish I would have had time to incorporate this into my Community lesson plans. This would have been a great, interactive example of how students can be good citizens.  In addi

The Muscgoee Tribe is currently located in Modern Day Oklahoma. Previously, they settled in Tennessee, Alabama, Western Georgia, and Northern Florida. The word "Muscogee" comes from the meaning of "the Holly Leaf Confederacy", referring to the Holly Leaf which was used as medicine. Alternate Spellings include; Muskogee, Mvskoke and Maskoke The Muscogee speak the language of "Mvskoke". You can see the Image attached to see the difference in comparison to English The Muscogee Tribe are monothesitic therefore, they believe in one God. They believe Ibofanga (the one who is sitting above us) created all of humanity from the clay on the hill.  Traditional foods include polk salad, fried bread and cornbread. They also had a large diet of crops consisting of; corn, squash, melons, pumpkins, sweet potatoes.  Click HERE to see my presentation on the Muscogee Tribe and to Learn more!!

Pictured Above: The movement of the Indian Removal Act. When did the Indian Removal Act occur? The 1830 Indian Removal Act was put into place by President Andrew Jackson on May 28th,1830. Why did the Indian Removal Act happen? This Act was put into action in order for the President to move the Southern Native American tribes from the Mississippi River region. Eventually the Indians were moved to modern day Oklahoma. This was done in order to expand the United States territories without having the Indian Nations in the way of the Whites. What Indians were impacted? While many tribes were impacted, the main tribes were; Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chicasaw and Seminole Tribes. How much Land did the Indians lose? The Creek Indians alone lost roughly 22 MILLION acres of land in the South. Did the Tribes agree to listen to the Act? For the most part, yes. The Tribes did not want to fight the United States government in hopes that agreeing would allow the to keep some of

Today we will be going over the Five Themes of Geography . The First Theme of Geography is Location.  Location can be either Absolute or Relative . Absolute:  is a location that is specific.  Example: Coordinates on a Map, Longitude, Latitude. Relative:  A location that is relative Example: nearby, next door, a drive The Second Theme of Geography is Place. A Place  is an area which is defined by anything and everything within the area. Every place has it's own unique features which give them personality and make them stand out from the rest. Example: If your house is the place, it would include your room, front door, pool, ect. The Third Theme of Geography is Region. Region  is an area that is defined by shared characteristics. These characteristics can be physical, natural, human or cultural. Example: The Midwest The Fourth Theme of Geography is Movement. Movement  is the way people, goods, information and id

Did you know there are multiple ways to teach Geography?! Thanks to an Online Collaboration of Geography Educators around the world, we have access to a PowerPoint which discusses 103 different ways to Teach Geography!! While I will not be discussing all 103 today on my blog, you can click here   to see the entire PowerPoint! Today I will be discussing my 5 favorite methods out of the 103 ways! First is the Google Earth Trip . The Google Earth Trip incorporates technology into the lesson and the best part, Google Earth is FREE to use and students can access it at home! You can use Google Earth by having student pick (or assigning students) with a destination. As a class, you then will "fly" to that destination and explore! The Second method is Go Local. I enjoy this method because it gets students to be both active and outdoors. As a child, I always loved when we got the opportunity to go outside. This method has students walk five minutes in different di

For our 10th Destination, we will be discussing Group Processing What is Group Processing? According to Johnson and Johnson (1998, p.84), "a process which is an identifiable sequence of actions or events taking place over time aimed at achieving a given goal". What are the Purposes of Group Processing? Improving the quality of tasks and teamwork Increasing individuals accountability Focusing on each member’s responsibilities  Makes learning processing simpler Feedback from peers→ creates an "Error-free process” What are the Four Parts of Group Processing? Feedback Students give positive  feedback to their peers as well as receiving it Creates an error-free process Reflection Students examine feedback and reflect upon it Improvement Goal Students set individual and group goals based on feedback Usually based on social skills Celebration Students congratulate each other on their hard work Provides encouragement and motivation

Thinking Hats was created by  Edward de Bono in 1985. It is just one method that can be used for SIM or cooperative learning! Thinking Hats helps to promote powerful decision-making by having students look from a variety of perspectives without becoming overwhelmed. How do I use the Six Thinking Hats Model? Students can use this method when they are working together in a group to solve a problem or make a decision. White Hat-  Focus on the information that you currently have or that was given. Analyze past trends and look for missing pieces in your knowledge basis and attempt to fill them in. Look at the facts and objective information Red Hat- Use your intuition, emotion or gut-feeling. Also take into consideration how others would react emotionally. Black Hat-  Be the judge of the situation. Look at all possible negative outcomes defensively. Why wouldn't this decision work? Look at all the weaker parts of your plan in order to strengthen them. Make the plan TOUGH a

Above: Quick Simulation of SIM  Cooperative Learning is just one method educators can use when they are teaching. The benefits include; using different goals, tasks and rewards to promote learning.  Cooperative learn requires our students to work together in smaller groups. In these groups they are able to achieve goals together as well as rewards while having their own individual accountability.  What does the Cooperative Model aim at? Go beyond academics Inter-group acceptance Social Skills Group Skills Cooperative behavior and traits There are six phases of teacher action for Cooperative Learning: Clarify goals and establish set-   Teachers must let students know of the goals and expectations prior to the lesson and must pre-ass both academic and social goals. Present the Information-  The teacher must provide the information to the students either verbally or orally. Organize the students into teams/groups-  Teacher will explain how students should