Social Studies Philosophy Statement

·        I want to design a positive learning environment that fosters critical thinking and encourages students to ask questions, so that they can obtain meaningful and purposeful instruction.

·        I will encourage purposeful discussions while fostering respect for other’s viewpoints.

·        I will create purposeful activities so my students can deepen their understanding of the past, present, and future.

·        I will encourage the use of multiple instructional tools: textbooks, newspapers, internet, SMART board and etc… to support a highly collaborative, interactive, and safe classroom.

·        I will inspire learning.

This course has helped me to develop an understanding of how to teach social studies, so that students receive purposeful and meaningful instruction. I learned that social studies instruction does not have to be boring. In fact by designing a highly collaborative and interactive classroom that includes a wide range of instructional tools, social studies can be exciting for students.

The assignments and especially the field work for this course helped to shape my views about teaching social studies. I was able to see firsthand how highly collaborative and interactive lessons added to students learning. Designing lessons that encouraged students to work together and that incorporated technology was an amazing learning experience for me. The students had fun and really enjoyed learning and that is exactly how it should be. When students are motivated to learn they will deepen their understanding of the topic and mostly importantly, they will have fun.

Dr. Smirnova has taught me to appreciate social studies and everything that it has to offer. From taking this course, I definitely learned many skills that will help me become a better educator. I especially learned a lot about cooperative learning and how to design activities that are fun for students. This course increased my interest in teaching social studies because Dr. Smirnova taught so many great ways to engage students.  As a future educator, I promise to follow my philosophy statements, so that I can create a classroom that inspires learning. Most importantly, I promise to make social studies fun and interesting for students.