Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Standard 1


Karen Donohoe
Standard 2
April 28, 2015
           
Standard 1        Advocacy for Social Justice

1)    Educators who embrace a social justice perspective are attentive to inequalities associated with race, social class, gender, language, and other social categories. 

2)    They consciously look for alternatives to established educational practices that support the learning, development, and academic achievement of children whose backgrounds place them outside of the dominant culture.

3)    They employ multicultural, anti-racist, anti-bias educational practices that foster deep engagement in learning and high academic achievement among all of the nation’s children.

            This standard is important because of its focus on applying teaching strategies with attention to students’ different background. This standard stresses the importance of recognizing that not every student is the same and that all people are different in different ways and teaching students about differences in race, gender, class, and language. It is important to educate students on these topics because in the diverse urban setting that they live in they should be education about social justice. Educators need to pay attention to what they are teaching when teaching to students of non-dominant cultures.
             It is important for educators to supply diverse material for the students so that they can educate themselves or feel comfortable in the classroom. This is often done through literature within the classroom. Educators can choose a read aloud or small group readings that educate students on other cultures as well as making the resources available to each students’ needs or preference.
            I found an article online that focuses on the lack of social justice through teaching of history and it says, “Traditional materials invite children into Columbus’s thoughts and dreams; he gets to speak, claim land, and rename the ancient homelands of Native Americans, who appear to have no rights. Implicit in many traditional accounts of history is the notion that children should disregard the lives of women, working people, and especially people of color—they’re led to view history and current events from the standpoint of the dominant groups. By contrast, a social justice curriculum must strive to include the lives of all those in our society, especially the marginalized and dominated.”(Intro, xi) History is the easiest way to incorporate social justice into the classroom. It provides real examples of racism and discrimination, and is a great way to get an engaged, safe conversation going with your classroom about social justice. This quote highlights the racism within the education system that was happening not even ten years ago within history textbooks. These books taught students that the white people that came to America were good, pure and saved the world, lacking to tell the many other sides of history. This article states the same importance of this standard, educating all students, majority or minority, is important to a well rounded classroom as well as a well rounded education.
            Artifact 1A is a copy of a lesson plan where I taught a lesson on North America. I knew that five out of the twenty students were new to the country and that none of the other students had had a social studies class before. This worked out to my advantage because I was starting with no prior knowledge what so ever. I was able to teach the simplicity of North America being formed by four different countries and work on the students identifying those countries. There was a minority of students who were not born in this country but the rest of the students where not able to find themselves on a map of the United States so all students were starting at the same knowledge level of North America. In this lesson I met standard 1.2 through my attention to the students who were not from this country. I spent time with them previewing the material and vocabulary before I taught the lesson to the entire class. I was able to preview the material providing these students who are level one English Language Learners (ELL) the language skills to be able to participate in the lesson. An alternative strategy that I used for these students was to make a game out of finding countries on a blow up globe. Through my attention to the minority students I did not ignore the majority. I previewed the material with the ELL’s because the language was not there for them to be able to participate in the lesson, where as the language was there for the other students. I did similar activities during the whole class lesson that I did with the ELL’s insuring that all students would comprehend the material.
            I believe that this is a standard that I have not had a lot of practice in. I understand the importance of social justice within all classrooms and plan to practice this within my own classroom one day. I plan to have a wide variety of literature within my classroom that reflects each student in a variety of domains. I also intend to teach the importance of social justice through social studies. I want the students to be able to learn life skills and life knowledge through their knowledge of the past. History is such a powerful subject that students can learn from. It is important for students to learn the mistakes of the past in order to prevent them from happening in the future.
           
Introduction: Creating Classrooms for equity and social Justice. Introduction.

Artifact 1A
Karen Donohoe
S.S. North American Map
April 17, 2015
Objective: Students will be able to identify the countries in North America when given a blank map of North America.
MA Curriculum Frameworks:  History/Social Studies (grade 4)
4.9- Regions of the Unites States: On a map of North America, locate the current boundaries of the United Sates (including Alaska and Hawaii)…
4.17- Canada: On a map of North America locate Canada…
4.23- Mexico: On a map of North America, locate Mexico…
Accommodation/Differentiation
-Each table group that has a level one ELL also has a native Spanish speaker in the group so they can translate if needed. Students will be working on the “we do” puzzle in their table groups.
-I have already previewed a labeled map of North America with the level one ELL’s in their map books. I have named countries and they had to point to where they were on the map of North America.
-While students will have time to work on their S.S. projects in the morning I will work with the level ones on the rug. I will do a mini lesson with them so they will be prepared for the whole class lesson in the afternoon.
-We will start with looking at a labeled map of North America and I will have the students find countries that I say out loud.
-The students will each be given a puzzle of North America that they will put together using the map in their map books as reference.
-We will then play a game with the globe ball. We will take turns naming countries in North America and throw the ball to a friend who has to then find the country that was named.
-IEP / ELL students have already seen and colored a labeled map of North America.
-I will be using manipulative to help students who need a visual. (Puzzle)
-Word banks will be used to help ELLs.
Vocabulary:
 -Country: An area of land that is controlled by its own government.
-Continent: a large piece of land that makes up our globe.
-Ocean: A large body of salt water.
-Tropic of Cancer: The horizontal line north of the equator
-Arctic Circle: imaginary circle drawn around the North Pole, parallel to the equator, above the tropic of cancer.
-Equator: imaginary line splitting the world into northern and southern hemispheres.
Procedure:
1.     Students will come back from the bathroom and come to their seats
2.    I will project the objective on the board we will read it as a class.
3.    I will define vocabulary for the students on the smart board. (Country, continent, ocean, tropic of cancer, arctic circle)
4.     I will show a blank map of North America and label it. Showing the students where the countries in North America are located.
5.    I will give each table North America puzzle pieces that they need to label and put together. Students will have t15 minutes to do this.
6.    When students are done they will complete the North American Map Activity worksheet INDEPENDENTLY.
7.    Instruct students that when they are done with their activity they can fill out the blank map worksheet that will be on the rug.
8.    Students will be able to show what they have learned by filling out a blank map of North America using a word bank. (Assessment)

WORD BANK                               
CANADA
UNITED STATES
GREENLAND
MEXICO
GUATAMALA
EL SALVADOR
COSTA RICA
PANAMA
BELIZE
HUNDORUS
NICUAGUA
CUBA
JAMAICA
HAITI
PUERTO RICO
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
BAHAMAS






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