Becca Farrell

Teaching Philosophy

Teaching powerful social studies is crucial starting at a young age. I believe that elementary social studies curricula should focus more on the students thinking processes and less on specific facts and dates. I think that educators should urge students to be responsible citizens and create an emphasis on lessons that help them to become aware of the world around them. I create lessons that force students to critically think and form their own opinions. I believe that formation of learning comes when students critically think to form their own opinions about the topics. When we teach social studies effectively we are creating responsible, democratic citizens. Elementary school is where students get a foundation in civic duty, responsibility, and democracy. Powerful social studies instruction allows children to become aware of the past, present, and cultures around the world. I am a teacher who tries to have a balance of methods for my students. I believe that in order to be an effective teacher, there should be a balance between literature, simulation, inquiry, case-study, and discussion. A balance in teaching methods provides benefits for all students, since everyone has different learning preferences. Even though I try to incorporate all of these techniques, I believe that inquiry and literature are very effective ways to teach powerful social studies. Inquiry learning allows students to discover knowledge on their own. When students formulate their own knowledge, it sticks with them for a longer time. This is a memorable technique to use in the class. Literature can provide multiple perspectives for students. I make sure to carefully choose what literature to include and provide thought provoking activities to make this meaningful. Examples of activities can include: finding bias within books, readers theater, and class discussion after read-alouds. One of the main benefits of literature is that this method is integrative. I believe that I am a powerful, engaging, and open-minded social studies teacher. As a social studies teacher, it is my responsibility to provide unbiased instruction to my students. Even though there are many controversial topics in social studies, I have an obligation to present both sides on issues regardless of my own beliefs. Controversial issues can be difficult to teach in the elementary grades; however, I believe that some controversial topics only need to be addressed if they have become an issue in class or if the students bring them up. These issues can be presented in an appropriate way depending on the age of the students. As a teacher, I provide students with facts instead of my own beliefs. Social studies can be way more than providing facts and dates. My idea of an effective social studies classroom has communication between students and teachers. The teacher provides students with many opportunities to formulate their own opinions and provides reinforcement and support when necessary. Social studies can be an exciting and memorable time in the classroom, and I believe that I create a fun and engaging learning environment for my students.

Becca Farrell Scenario The issue that has come up at George Washington Elementary School is something that needs to be addressed. The issue at hand has created a divide in the students, which affects student learning. Creating a community of learners is the responsibility of the teacher, so I would address this issue immediately. There are many possible activities that could be done to get rid of the divide in the class. One way to address this issue would be to create class discussions and activities to get to know the background of each of the students. Students could each share their background and present this to the class. This presentation could include information about their religion, where they were born, families, and interests. This activity would allow students to realize that even though we are all different, we also all have similarities. Getting to know each other creates a community where students can feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and ideas without feeling judged. This activity helps deal with the issue, but still teaches about the social studies discipline of culture. Incorporating lessons that address this issue and still teach the standards would be beneficial for everyone involved. Teaching about the history of different religions and creating projects where students have to find the similarities in religions would be powerful for the students. This still teaches to history standards, but allows for them to realize the similarities they share with their classmates. Teaching about origins of immigration and the benefits immigrants have provided would be a way to incorporate the history of immigration into the class. Teaching

about how to be a good citizen is a civic standard. Understanding the responsibility we have to be open-minded and the responsibilities we have to treat other with respect would help alleviate this issue. Finding literature that promotes classroom community and addresses the issues at hand would provide students the opportunity to view things differently. These activities would provide the class a chance to get to know each other for who they are instead of having pre-conceived notions.