1. What do you think of when you hear the words "social studies"?

When I hear the words social studies, I think I feel a stomach ache coming on! I smell books and remember crinkly maps. Please dont make us read silently for the next hour! Ok, maybe I dont feel that way now, but definitely in the elementary years. Social Studies was not an exciting class for me. The teachers did not teach this subject with enthusiasm and I cannot remember a student who ever loved it. 2. Describe your elementary school. I attended Gardnerville Elementary School in Gardnerville, NV, and live right down the street from the school now. When I attended it was not huge. There were maybe 2 to 3 classes per grade level and no more than 25 students per class. The socio-economic makeup of the families who attended the school did not seem to vary greatly. There were some children who had less than others, but it did not seem as prominent as I am assuming it is today. I do not remember a need for ESL/ELL teachers back then. Special needs students were not included in the regular classroom. 3. What do you remember from your elementary school social studies experiences? Did we read from text books? Oh boy, did we! The entire class read silently. I do remember trying to take notes. There were always questions to answer at the end of the chapter. I would have to go back constantly to try and find those answers. Sometimes I would just give up. It was all just a blur of information. I do not really remember field trips. There must have been one or two, but I cannot remember it. As far as projects, I know that we must have done something in class, but it obviously did not make an impact. I cannot remember doing one. It was a while back though, so maybe it is just my memory. 4. Share a little about yourself. Hello everyone. I have been striving for my B.A. in Elementary Education since 2009. With all this chipping away I plan on student teaching Spring 2015! I am 41 years old with 3 children- if you want to call them that- they are 22, 20, and 1. Yes, 1. I was not done with that stage of my life and decided to have another. I will be a grandmother in March, so the whole family dynamic is somewhat unique! I love the different stages that children grow through and cant wait to teach in order to be part of the learning experience. I hope to teach K-3. My main motivation to become a teacher was the Kindergarten age group. 5. What do you want to learn or improve in this class? I would like to learn what I didnt in elementary school and how to teach it well. I did not have the best experience with Social Studies and I believe it was because of how it was taught. I know that teachers prepare lesson plans a lot differently than they did when I was in school (maybe there were no lesson plans.) Students now have many more options and opportunities for learning, as well as resources that did not exist for my time.

6. Please update your WebCampus profile with your email address and a photo of yourself. Done