From Students to Citizens: My Teaching Philosophy

                Throughout my own schooling, social studies was a subject that never received the attention it deserved.  We learned all about history by listening to lectures and then answering the questions at the end of our textbook.  It was dry and, quite frankly, boring.  This negative attitude developed towards the subject due to the teaching methods associated with it lasted with me until I entered my social studies methods course as a twenty-two year old college student.  From the very beginning of this class, I learned that social studies must be taught in a meaningful, integrative, challenging, active, and value-based way.  Teachers must build upon their students’ prior experiences in order to create challenging learning experiences that allow them to “make meaningful connections and expand their experiences and viewpoints”(Sunal, 2011, p. 8).  It is a teacher’s responsibility to carefully select and plan lessons that challenge students and create meaningful contexts.  We must provide appropriate support and take the lead when necessary, but students must be given chances at “leadership in investigating ideas and issues”(Sunal, 2011, p. 8).  Making students active and engaged in a lesson is critical in providing adequate social studies instruction.

            When teaching social studies, an overarching goal should be helping students to develop the skills and traits necessary to be successful in school and life.  According to Sunal (2011), social studies is about more than teaching students about history, current events, and how it all connects to the present; it “is committed to fostering human and civil behaviors and active, responsible participation in the communities in which people live and work”(p. 204).  Due to my agreement with this viewpoint, I am adamant about using cooperative learning in my social studies lessons.  Cooperative learning helps students develop these democratic skills by bringing them together for repeated face-to-face interactions with a diverse range of peers.  By following the PIGS elements of cooperative learning, they learn how to support each other, share ideas, actively listen, and work together to achieve a common goal.  Children learn to “pull their weight” by fulfilling the given responsibilities, especially because cooperative learning makes each group member individually accountable.  They become responsible for not only their own learning, but the rest of their group’s.  Working collaboratively also helps them to develop effective communication skills, methods to resolve conflicts, and appreciation for others.  Not only do they recognize the positives of their members, but they also are able to reflect on what each person did not perform as well on.  Using this approach to learning fosters the growth of students as citizens, while also allowing them to construct their own knowledge through experience in meaningful contexts. 

            As previously stated, social studies should be taught by building on students’ prior experiences.  Due to my agreement with this, I believe in taking a constructivist approach to teaching and learning.  Constructivism argues that we develop knowledge and meaning through interactions between experiences and ideas.  As Sunal (2011) states, “meaningful social studies learning is a process of integrating and building various social studies ideas by adding, modifying, and connecting relationships to ideas.  Making relationships also includes the abilities to explain, predict, and apply social studies information to many events.  Learning social studies depends on the prior knowledge the learner brings to a situation, whether the learner’s attention is focused on the ideas being represented, and the mental and physical actions of learners as they interact with events, people, and objects during instruction”(p. 31). It is critical to follow this approach in the classroom, instead of the traditional strategies that are focused on memorization and recall.  Students shouldn’t just be able to spew out random facts; they should be able to connect ideas and explain relationships.  Constructing one’s own knowledge and developing the skills social studies is meant to teach will enable them to decide “how to be involved with social events in ways that are consistent with their values and culture” (Sunal, 2011, p. 31).   Social studies isn’t just something we need to get through school, therefore it is critical to provide students with opportunities for learning how to build upon prior knowledge and experiences.  Social studies learning can be generalized across all areas of life.

            In order to create powerful, meaning-based learning experiences, I believe that students must be assessed in ways other than the traditional methods.  In my future classrooms, students will be given the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge by creating a variety of projects.  Students can reenact various parts of history, or even a current event, by creating skits with small groups.  They can write simulated letters, create journals from the viewpoint of important figures, write poetry, build portfolios, or give oral presentations.  While tests are necessary, they will hold a small portion of my assessment techniques.  Allowing students to construct their own knowledge and display it in their own ways enables them to increase their understanding of the topic.  If I am providing a meaningful learning context, it is necessary that they demonstrate their learning through meaningful methods as well.  As students work their way through the various lessons, I will of course check that students are constructing the ideas and skills stated in my objectives.  I would use quality circles as a way to have students evaluate their learning both during and after the lesson.  Students will be encouraged to take an active role in not only constructing their own learning, but helping others to do the same. 

            Overall, I believe that social studies must be connected to the larger picture of life.  Students must be given the opportunity to build upon prior knowledge and generalize it to situations outside of the classroom.  In my future classroom, I will constantly create meaningful learning situations that are most suited to the needs of my students.  I will be fostering the growth of my class as not just students, but citizens.