I Open at the Close

I can't believe this course is already finished and I'll be in the classroom for my internship this month!

When we started the course and were told our final evaluation was to create a unit, I was honestly worried...six weeks didn't seem like enough time. Fortunately, I was wrong. Learning about Backwards Design made planning my unit easier, because I always had to have the end in mind to make sure the means were always justified. Working through each phase so intently has helped me see what it really takes to thoughtfully integrate subjects and construct authentic Social Studies units. Now that I have done that, I am not so nervous to create units in my own classroom.

I personally enjoyed and learned so much from our class trips to the North Carolina Museums of History and Art. The experiences made me seriously think like an educator and how I could use the resources offered from those places, and the community at large, with my own students. I loved seeing the features and exhibits and thinking about what I would want my students to see and interact with in and out of the classroom.

Looking at my previous posts related to Social Studies, I am beginning to pull different pieces together of my personal teaching philosophy. First, I am a planner who likes to know what and how I am going to present material to students. I know how to go with the flow, but I also know that failing to plan can be a plan for failure. Next, this course has increased my comfort level with the idea of integrating the curriculum. As my post on this topic says, I was not sure where to start. Now I know and the unit plan has helped me to see that it is not as challenging as I thought it would be. Another post was my point of view on history. As I look at that, I want my students to know that while biases exist, there are ways to learn about the same topic from different perspectives and that history is important from every side of the story. The post about reward systems had me investigate what I deem as appropriate rewards for students. While I do want to acknowledge students for a job well done, I do not want them to think they have to get something every time they do something.


The bottom line: This course has shown me where I have been and where I am going as a teacher. I see that as the program is winding down, I am becoming more cognizant of myself and the decisions I will be making as I enter the classroom. As it says on Harry's golden snitch, "I Open at the Close".