Entry 9

Another way to successfully teach social studies is by having the children do historical investigations themselves. In the article, First Graders Investigate the First Thanksgiving, the author talks about students doing research on the First Thanksgiving and relating it to the modern-day Thanksgiving. It was astounding to see what the children found and the conclusions they came up with. Keep in mind that this is only first graders—young children are fully capable of making sense of historical text when it is relevant to their lives. Teachers have the power to plant the seed for inquiry in the youngest of minds. For this entry, I drew a picture of a child detective. Reading this article reminds me of one of the readings we’ve done in class about junior detectives. Having students discover their own learning and making judgements for themselves opens doors for them to become more active and thoughtful. After all, students are curious little beings so why deny them of that by making them read textbooks? Allow them to be little detectives and have them explore.

Entry 8

In my opinion, there is no better to teach social studies than through activism. We learn best through hands-on experiences. By having students become young activists, we not only allow children to apply their learnings but also provide opportunities for them to make small changes in the world. We establish that foundation for them at a young age so that they can extend on it later on in the future. In the article, Black Ants and Buddhist: Learning through Activism, the author talks about numerous ways she incorporated activism in social studies lessons. This includes something as simple as asking adults about voting to visiting the mayor and writing letters to the assistant superintendent. She also encouraged parent involvement during this process. I was so amazed by how much the students did and learned. They were already making so many changes more than me, who is an adult. For this article, I decide to represent it with a photograph of the children protesting in Birmingham. We often think children are too young to make a difference, and we don’t realize that they can be the ones to have most impact. Pictures and videos of these young protests being hosed down and chased by police dogs turned the tide of public opinion on the civil rights movement. We don’t have to worry about how affective children activism is because it has already happened in the past, and it was definitely successful.

Picture link: https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-the-children-of-birmingham-changed-the-civil-rights-movement

Entry 7

I decide to represent the article, Walking and Talking Geography: A Small-World Approach, with a children’s book, Me on the Map by Joan Sweeney. This story revolves around a young girl who loves to create maps. She draws out maps, which show big locations such as her country and city, and then it gets more specific like her own bedroom. I chose this story because it fits well with the small world approach. We don’t always have to teach maps as looking at the globe or coloring the continents to children. We can have children do mapmaking of their personal environment for geographic knowledge. This story will motivate children to explore their local environment. It also raises awareness of physical and human characteristics that make up their world. A successful geography lesson accesses children’s prior knowledge and common experiences. When teaching maps, allow the students to work with their familiar environment, like their house and community. This small-world approach will allow students to have thoughtful and meaningful reflection of their own experience.