The educational focus of this blog will the be disciplines of social Studies and the arts. Truth be told, I really love many aspects of social studies and the arts. My favorite type of novel to read is historical fiction. I love art also. The picture I have included in this blog is a picture of me in front of my daughter's bedroom wall. I spent hours painting the mural on her wall. It was very cathartic during a time when I had lots of stress. In my formative adult years, however, I chose not to focus on these topics. While I enjoyed most of the social sciences (except geography) I did not see them as a means to developing economic prosperity. Plus, I was good with math -- a more financially rewarded discipline. So, I ended up choosing a career in accounting -- one that offered monetary, but not personal rewards.

So, considering my history, I hope to teach social studies and the arts to students in a way that not only helps them develop a love for the disciplines, but also so that any students who are naturally drawn to the subjects will understand their real-world applications and not shy away from careers in those fields.

I took some time to think about how to accomplish this goal and have developed a list of attributes that a meaningful, well-planned social studies lesson should have.

1. A good social studies lesson should include content from at least one other educational discipline. Because social studies is the study of people, it involves all of the disciplines -- math, science, language arts, the performing arts, and athletics. An integrated lesson helps students see how the disciplines tie together and thus, how useful it is to learn social studies.

2. A well-planned social studies lesson should consider the cultural differences of the students I am teaching. In order to plan well and to allow all children to access the material, I need to consider that I cannot simply teach social studies from an American perspective. I may have immigrants in my classroom who either have different perspectives or who do not prior experience with some of the topics I will cover.

3. In order to plan effective social studies lessons, I need to "hook" the learners with interesting props, questions or statements from the beginning. My goal is to get the students to be intrinsically motivated to learn what I am teaching.

4. A well-planned social studies less allows students to construct knowledge from their prior experiences, the experiences I provide, and the readings I assign. It will not help the students for me to drone on about a topic, telling them everything I know.

5. A well-planned social studies lesson assesses and evaluates the students in a number of ways. The lesson includes both formative and summative assessment. The lesson includes assessment and evaluation of students with regard to their understanding of major concepts, specific facts, and their demonstration of skills (such as map-reading and writing an essay).

6. Lastly, the well-planned social studies lesson covers multiple social sciences. In order for children to gain a true understanding of the history of a nation, they must also understand the nation's geographical makeup, the makeup and origin of its people, the economic systems and economic challenges of the people and more.

I have some social studies lessons to develop for this course. It looks like I have a lot of work to do to make them well-planned and meaningful. I'd better get to work.

Actually,

Aricka