Larson & Keiper, Chapter Three
Loved the organization of this chapter. Understanding the broader scope of the course before dealing with lesson plans and shorter-term goals is something I need to pay much closer attention to as a future teacher educator of social studies. When teaching a very generalized course like Western Civilization 101, one needs to fully grasp the broader goals that need to be obtained by the end of the course and also understand just how much can be done without overtaxing cognitive load or creating far too broad a survey that creates more confusion and a much stronger stress on short-term memorization for exams than truly grasping the key concepts of historical thinking. For example, being able to trace the apparatus of the state from post Napoleonic restoration of absolutist monarchies thanks to the help of the Hapsburgs, Prussia, Russia and independent German duchies all lobbying for the restoration of their property and aristocratic dominance which ultimately led to internal revolts, broader demands by the former peasantry and evolved into a remarkably middle-class European society in which both the left and right were centrist parties in the late 20th century framework of the European Union in which neo-liberalism and the embracing of global trade were seen as principles of obvious progression despite hundreds of years of war over these same very ideas.
I liked the emphasis on constant self-improvement as a teacher and constantly adjusting and updating lesson plans by calling their effectiveness into question via self-assessment and self-criticism. Success as a teacher requires constant adaptation and updating to a changing classroom audience and one of the great talents of effective teachers is reading their audience and what they are interested in learning via getting to know them the first two months in class (Allitt, 2010).
For example, with some students the integration of pop culture on some level plays a tremendous role in getting them to find commonality with the content. While the obvious can be used, for example Bob Dylan to talk about the Civil Rights movement of the early 1960's or James Brown to emphasize the new "black pride" movement after the assassination of MLK Jr in April of 1968; even a simple use of a Taylor Swift song to explore the German Romantic movement of the 19th century could be a breakthrough moment. For example, One of her songs about lost love could show the roots of popular poetry that was emerging in this period as the emphasis moved away from general to very personal poetry based on personal experience.
This reflection can also be applied to seeing new opportunities while teaching the class and then immediately adjusting the broader scope and end goal of the course in order to fit with new discoveries in content material or personal routes your students find interesting or meaningful in their own lives.
The key to take away from the chapter beyond lesson plans and broader goals is the adaptability to adjust to the moment and take advantage of the moment in teaching. Too rigid of structure can destroy any sense of spontaneity and thus limit curiosity in the classroom. This adaptability requires a master content specialist who also has interpersonal skills. Many teachers can't adapt because they simply don't have enough knowledge of a specific subject to be flexibile and thus rely exclusively on lesson plans to cover for their lack of knowledge. I had a German teacher like this in high school who could barely speak the language so she just assigned a bunch of written grammar work that didn't expose her lack of oral abilities in the classroom. The issue is very complex, but the chapter was very thought provoking on many levels and got me interested in looking much more aggressively into lesson plan strategies!
I liked the emphasis on constant self-improvement as a teacher and constantly adjusting and updating lesson plans by calling their effectiveness into question via self-assessment and self-criticism. Success as a teacher requires constant adaptation and updating to a changing classroom audience and one of the great talents of effective teachers is reading their audience and what they are interested in learning via getting to know them the first two months in class (Allitt, 2010).
For example, with some students the integration of pop culture on some level plays a tremendous role in getting them to find commonality with the content. While the obvious can be used, for example Bob Dylan to talk about the Civil Rights movement of the early 1960's or James Brown to emphasize the new "black pride" movement after the assassination of MLK Jr in April of 1968; even a simple use of a Taylor Swift song to explore the German Romantic movement of the 19th century could be a breakthrough moment. For example, One of her songs about lost love could show the roots of popular poetry that was emerging in this period as the emphasis moved away from general to very personal poetry based on personal experience.
This reflection can also be applied to seeing new opportunities while teaching the class and then immediately adjusting the broader scope and end goal of the course in order to fit with new discoveries in content material or personal routes your students find interesting or meaningful in their own lives.
The key to take away from the chapter beyond lesson plans and broader goals is the adaptability to adjust to the moment and take advantage of the moment in teaching. Too rigid of structure can destroy any sense of spontaneity and thus limit curiosity in the classroom. This adaptability requires a master content specialist who also has interpersonal skills. Many teachers can't adapt because they simply don't have enough knowledge of a specific subject to be flexibile and thus rely exclusively on lesson plans to cover for their lack of knowledge. I had a German teacher like this in high school who could barely speak the language so she just assigned a bunch of written grammar work that didn't expose her lack of oral abilities in the classroom. The issue is very complex, but the chapter was very thought provoking on many levels and got me interested in looking much more aggressively into lesson plan strategies!
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