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=ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS=

Social Studies 1. Why would you like to teach Social Studies? 2. What are the three to five key elements that distinguishes a Social Studies classroom from other subjects? 3. To what extent does the Social Studies teacher need to wear many hats?

Teaching in Today's Society 4. What are some key phrases and/or metaphors that you can use to describe the modern teacher? 5. What are some misconceptions about the modern classroom? 6. How different is the modern student to when you were a student?

Challenges 7. How can a teacher effectively teach the entire student body? 8. What's the best method of assessing a student's progress? 9. What is the best classroom management technique?

Challenges in the Social Studies Classroom 10. What's the best way to teach a controversial issue? 11. To what extent is Social Studies about learning dates and events? 12. How does high stakes testing (be it the SOL or an AP exam) help or hinder the Social Studies classroom?

=SETTING UP YOUR STUDENT PAGE= Please set up your student page with: 1. The answers to the 12 questions above (you may copy and paste them to your student page already set up for you) 2. Resume Rough Draft 3. Lesson Plan 4. Notes from this class

=SETTING UP YOUR WIKI=

careerswitcherssocial.wikispaces.com
WELCOME FUTURE SOCIAL STUDIES TEACHERS

As you have seen the POWER OF THE WIKI in class, I would like you to do a couple of things. But first let me run through the Cardinal Rules of Wiki-usage:

RULE 1: Always save your items in a second spot. If you haven't saved a text to a second location yet and you accidentally deleted a passage, remember if you are in the editing screen still and you haven't saved yet, you can press "cancel". This, at least, will get you back to where you started. RULE 2: If you are organizer, you have the power to invite members, as well as limit their access (for example, if you don't wish parents to have EDITING rights, but allow them to view material, you can just give them the address and not make them a member. This limitation protects the material from accidental and purposeful deletion. RULE 3: KNOW THY WIKI. Play around, learn the ropes before you pass the wiki on to members. Don't forget the Manage Wiki on the side allows for you to do a great deal. Also don't forget the power of the Discussion. For example, you may have students have individual pages (see 1 and 2 below) and use the Discussion tab as a way to make comment on their notes (your "red pen" of sorts). Also the Notify me tab will allow for changes on the page to go directly to your email's inbox. If the student has this capability as well, it means you (and the student) won't even need to sign in to Wikispaces to see the discussion points. All in all, there is plenty of potential with this wicked wiki tool. Now for the suggested assignment:

1. Create a "New Page" to use as a comment page/notetaking page. I have put up a student's page for you to look at from Summer 09 session to the most recent cohort. The "New Page" is extremely useful if you are doing a lot of computerized assignments and you don't want students to constantly be handing their notebooks into you. When they use your wiki....they are doing a "virtual turning in" of homework.

The notes in this way can have: a. all of the textual items you want there (students simply Copy and Paste), b. student commentaries, reactions, and answers to your questions.

2. Let's give it a try, shall we? -Copy a page discussed in class (let's use "Motivation": discussed in class 2) -Open your page, press EDIT in the far right hand corner, and paste the article -Read the article - IN A DIFFERENT COLOUR, make commentary about the article at the end of the article. (the T icon next to the B, I, and U icons will change colour) (Different colours make it easier for the teacher to find the bits that the student has contributed in the notes). -Mark up the article with changing colours, using bold, italicized, or underline function to focus on particular passages, points for discussion, links to comments you'll make in writing. For a student, this "messy virtual notebook" may be the basis for discussions, essays, or just plain memorizing of facts. The way a student uses the technological tools (in this case B, I, U, and T above) is an important step to getting students to interact with the material in a method that is meaningful for them. Therefore, do not grade for neatness; rather grade for interactiveness. They are students on a journey. Did they take that first step, or are they standing still afraid to sojourn into the world of academia? The tools can help you assess this.

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3. Great, you've got the hang of it...now, let's make it useful for YOU (see, student centered education at its best). I'd like you to make your own wiki on one of the following topics. ====== (At this point, you don't need to add content...but go ahead and create new pages, and name them...you can add the lesson plans you have more time to create them. Ultimately, if you do this in real teaching life, you are creating a transparent lesson plan for whomever you wish to let see it: e.g. student, administration, parent, colleagues, and of course, yourself, when you pull items for the actual implementation of the lesson. Remember RULE ONE above.) 4. Please contribute to the class and increase our overall resources by donating one or two useful sites to the Useful Sites link. The chain icon above is the "Link" icon. If you've made an error, the broken chain icon above is the "unlink" icon. Remember to put the link under a subheading. Thank you for your support. Good luck and Enjoy
 * The lesson plan you are creating for your presenation. Call the wiki the UNIT NAME (e.g. Documents of the Founding of America) and make the lesson plan one of the items on the sidebar (e.g. Declaration of Independence). Link your lesson plan to the new page. Now, add other pages, titling them other lessons in that same unit (e.g. Articles of Confederation, Constitution, Bill of Rights).
 * Your Curriculum Vitae (for your certain job-gaining interview which is just around the corner)....obviously the segments of the CV will be the items on the side bar....but spice it up, and add lesson plans, links, and an in action photo of you teaching (dress up, pass your digital camera on to you career switcher colleague, and post it on your CV wiki for the hiring principal to oooo and ahhhh at)

EDM