I found the second article, Teaching for Historical Literacy, pretty interesting. The atmosphere Reif has going in his classroom sounds intriguing. After hearing some of the activities he does along with the rate of success he has, it gave me a desire to create an atmosphere like this for my own students. He is clearly going above and beyond the typical textbook and chapter tests. There is no doubt that these kids are developing a deep understanding of our nations past, and I think all of that is OUTSTANDING!
That said, I could not stop myself from thinking..."where is this teacher finding the time and resources to put it all together." I envy a teacher that has that type of intensity in their classroom. I value the content, and want my students to be interested and involved in the learning of our history. However, with the lack of planning time, cut in resources, and all of the other subjects I need to cover, I feel as though I BARELY skim the surface sometimes.
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I totally agree with your last paragraph! I would LOVE to have the time and resources to do such in-depth lessons and units with my kids.
ReplyDeleteI completely thought and "blogged" your last paragraph...who has this kind of time? We are constantly being taught new methods of teaching and they all sound wonderful! However, I agree with you...with budget cuts and a lack of resources, how is it done? Not to mention a lack of planning time...don't get me started! I'm glad we're all in the same boat so I don't feel totally helpless! :)
ReplyDeleteHi Sara
ReplyDeleteYou obviously hit a nerve about the lack of time, both for preparation and instruction. I feel like my students are being cheated. Social Studies was always my favorite subject in school, but I rarely have kids say that today. Because we have to cram lessons in between all of the things that are considered more important, I think kids are not learning the important things that they need to know to understand our nation's history. It is so sad...!
ReplyDeleteAGREED!
ReplyDelete