I can't believe my journey in Social Studies Methods is coming to an end. Through stressful, sleepless nights, numerous blog posts, a plethora of presentations, and countless pluses and wishes, I have learned so much. Out of all of my methods classes, this has truly been the most helpful. I feel that I have grown so much as a teacher and will never forget the experience I had both in the class and in the fieldwork sessions. This class pushed me out of my comfort zone and I will be forever grateful. I became confident in front of a classroom of students, and watched lesson plans I helped create, come to life. It was really an amazing experience to teach a class and see the lesson plans and activities unfold. This class taught me the importance of working in groups, and using your peers/colleagues as resources. Through this class I learned extensive ways to create the three types of lesson plans. I had not known the elements of direct, inquiry, and cooperative lessons. I had not been knowledgable about Bloom's Taxonomy, the JigSaw method, 5 themes of geography, pedagogical content knowledge, the list goes on and on. I was given resources and tools that will be an immense help in my future endeavors. This class was definitely the most difficult and stressful class that I have ever taken, but it was all worth it in the end! Thank you for the experience Dr. Smirnova!
Jennifer,
ReplyDeleteI really liked this blog post and have to agree with all that you stated in it. Though the class was filled with a lot of work it was definitely the most helpful methods class. I too feel that I came out with more knowledge than I had before starting the class. Overall the course was informative and interesting and I enjoyed working with you throughout multiple lessons.