Interconnections of Learning, Teaching, and Thinking Effective practice requires that the practitioner has the schema to understand the material in order to deliver instruction, so others may learn. This course had me reflect on my own learning, teaching, and thinking about social studies and digital literacy and how this would translate to the students I teach. Throughout the course my thinking has evolved and deepened as I participated in all the challenges that were placed in front of me. The interactive format had me experience the hands on use of the resources and then connect this to my classroom practice. I am very excited to take what I have learned and apply this to my classes.
When I first started this course my thinking shifted from learning in isolation to going more for depth in understanding. As the course proceeded and my depth of understanding increased I started to feel a sense of disequilibrium. However, when a sense of equilibrium started to settle in with my thinking I started to recognize the interconnections of what I was learning and thinking and how this could translate to my practice. This happened throughout the course, however, one example is when we used Google Maps https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=zae6cFrQcwHA.kwePlMSPGN3s&vps=2&ie=UTF8&hl=en&oe= to locate our homes and provide a picture and brief description, this connected geography, language arts, and digital technology. When thinking about my classroom practice and how I would use this, I thought of my module on Immigration. The students could place markers on the family’s home of origin and where they living right now. This sense of interconnections continued throughout the course as I searched, reviewed, and analyzed many primary sources delivered through digital technology.
In order to review and analyze primary sources we first had to learn the techniques for searching the various digital resources. The first step was scaffold preliminary searches in this course. In the Guided Tour activity we looked at a digital collections and then were instructed to select two individual collections to go for depth. The next step involved providing explicit evidence of searching proficiency for digital resources. In the activity Searching for a Photo or Map, I chose the Civil War Collectionhttps://www.loc.gov/collections/civil-war-maps/about-this-collection/, where I retold specific details of my protocol for searching primary sources, noting what I found and how we located it. While this demonstrated effective searching procedures it is important to connect the search for resources with how primary sources are reviewed, analyzed, and how this could be translated to instructional practice. I searched and reviewed a plethora of primary sources in this course in various formats (e g., manuscripts, photos, newspapers, maps etc...). The focus was to find, review, analyze, and translate the primary resources to classroom practice. Once comfortable with the search process and review of the resources, the next step would be to analyze the individual primary source. This was first accomplished in the activity Student Primary Source Form where I investigated a photo of a family during the depression titled, Migrant agricultural worker's family. Seven hungry children. Mother aged thirty-two. Father is native Californian. Nipomo, California, http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/cph.3b06165/.This analysis tool is located on the LOC, to assist students in analyzing primary sources by focusing on; what you observe, reflections, what question do you have, and what would you like to investigate further. Once I was able to find, review and analyze the primary source the next step was to connects this to your teaching practice. One activity that I showed the interconnections of primary sources involved viewing the film titled San Francisco earthquake and fire, April 18, 1906. If I were to use this primary source in my classroom with preservice teachers, I would first have the students view the film and then utilize an analysis form/ questions retrieved from Mary Johnson’s 2011 article, Sound and Film as Primary Sourceshttps://www2.uwstout.edu/content/profdev/digitalclassroom/six/Sound-Film.pdf. Johnson contends that that three questions could be asked before, during, or after the viewing the film. They are as follows:
What do you see or hear?
What do you think you know?
What do you want to know? (p.34).
Once the have student’s completed the analysis on the film, I would have them go to the Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco http://www.sfmuseum.org/. There they would click on the Great Fire and Earthquake, and select the link titled Eyewitness Reports, http://www.sfmuseum.org/1906/ew.html. The students would take the questions that they had after viewing the film, to see if they could be answered from reading the eyewitness reports. The most exciting thing about what I have learned in this course and how I would use it occurs when I connect all that I have learned translating that to my practice.
I am in the process of creating modules for a Social Studies course for preservice teachers and it is really exciting to connect all the pieces and create this module. One for this module would be on the Industrial Revolution. I choose the Primary Source Set titled: The Industrial Revolution in the United States on the teacher’s page http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/primarysourcesets/industrial-revolution/. The teacher page provides historical background, teaching suggestions (e g., timelines or cause and effect), additional resources, and citations for sources, http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/primarysourcesets/industrialrevolution/pdf/teacher_guide.pdf. In addition, there is analysis tools for the sources that teachers can use. Further, there is free eBook resource on this topic that can be used on iPads, iPhones or Macs: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/industrial-revolution-in-united/id988992081. These discovery set has a teacher resources, interactive tools (highlights, note taking, and zoom-in features. Furthermore, this set has music, photos, maps, and political cartoons.
Effective practice requires that the practitioner has the schema to understand the material in order to deliver instruction, so others may learn. This course had me reflect on my own learning, teaching, and thinking about social studies and digital literacy and how this would translate to the students I teach. Throughout the course my thinking has evolved and deepened as I participated in all the challenges that were placed in front of me. The interactive format had me experience the hands on use of the resources and then connect this to my classroom practice. I am very excited to take what I have learned and apply this to my classes.
When I first started this course my thinking shifted from learning in isolation to going more for depth in understanding. As the course proceeded and my depth of understanding increased I started to feel a sense of disequilibrium. However, when a sense of equilibrium started to settle in with my thinking I started to recognize the interconnections of what I was learning and thinking and how this could translate to my practice. This happened throughout the course, however, one example is when we used Google Maps https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=zae6cFrQcwHA.kwePlMSPGN3s&vps=2&ie=UTF8&hl=en&oe= to locate our homes and provide a picture and brief description, this connected geography, language arts, and digital technology. When thinking about my classroom practice and how I would use this, I thought of my module on Immigration. The students could place markers on the family’s home of origin and where they living right now. This sense of interconnections continued throughout the course as I searched, reviewed, and analyzed many primary sources delivered through digital technology.
In order to review and analyze primary sources we first had to learn the techniques for searching the various digital resources. The first step was scaffold preliminary searches in this course. In the Guided Tour activity we looked at a digital collections and then were instructed to select two individual collections to go for depth. The next step involved providing explicit evidence of searching proficiency for digital resources. In the activity Searching for a Photo or Map, I chose the Civil War Collection https://www.loc.gov/collections/civil-war-maps/about-this-collection/, where I retold specific details of my protocol for searching primary sources, noting what I found and how we located it. While this demonstrated effective searching procedures it is important to connect the search for resources with how primary sources are reviewed, analyzed, and how this could be translated to instructional practice.
I searched and reviewed a plethora of primary sources in this course in various formats (e g., manuscripts, photos, newspapers, maps etc...). The focus was to find, review, analyze, and translate the primary resources to classroom practice. Once comfortable with the search process and review of the resources, the next step would be to analyze the individual primary source. This was first accomplished in the activity Student Primary Source Form where I investigated a photo of a family during the depression titled, Migrant agricultural worker's family. Seven hungry children. Mother aged thirty-two. Father is native Californian. Nipomo, California, http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/cph.3b06165/.This analysis tool is located on the LOC, to assist students in analyzing primary sources by focusing on; what you observe, reflections, what question do you have, and what would you like to investigate further. Once I was able to find, review and analyze the primary source the next step was to connects this to your teaching practice.
One activity that I showed the interconnections of primary sources involved viewing the film titled San Francisco earthquake and fire, April 18, 1906. If I were to use this primary source in my classroom with preservice teachers, I would first have the students view the film and then utilize an analysis form/ questions retrieved from Mary Johnson’s 2011 article, Sound and Film as Primary Sources https://www2.uwstout.edu/content/profdev/digitalclassroom/six/Sound-Film.pdf. Johnson contends that that three questions could be asked before, during, or after the viewing the film. They are as follows:
- What do you see or hear?
- What do you think you know?
- What do you want to know? (p.34).
Once the have student’s completed the analysis on the film, I would have them go to the Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco http://www.sfmuseum.org/. There they would click on the Great Fire and Earthquake, and select the link titled Eyewitness Reports, http://www.sfmuseum.org/1906/ew.html. The students would take the questions that they had after viewing the film, to see if they could be answered from reading the eyewitness reports. The most exciting thing about what I have learned in this course and how I would use it occurs when I connect all that I have learned translating that to my practice.I am in the process of creating modules for a Social Studies course for preservice teachers and it is really exciting to connect all the pieces and create this module. One for this module would be on the Industrial Revolution. I choose the Primary Source Set titled: The Industrial Revolution in the United States on the teacher’s page http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/primarysourcesets/industrial-revolution/. The teacher page provides historical background, teaching suggestions (e g., timelines or cause and effect), additional resources, and citations for sources, http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/primarysourcesets/industrialrevolution/pdf/teacher_guide.pdf. In addition, there is analysis tools for the sources that teachers can use. Further, there is free eBook resource on this topic that can be used on iPads, iPhones or Macs: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/industrial-revolution-in-united/id988992081. These discovery set has a teacher resources, interactive tools (highlights, note taking, and zoom-in features. Furthermore, this set has music, photos, maps, and political cartoons.