You will be assigned journal entries for some visits to your lab site. Try to keep each entry to 1-2 double-spaced pages. Each entry should address the following questions:
1. What did I observe?
2. What did I do?
3. What was most surprising
or different from my expectations?
4. Reexamine your
initial thinking about social studies teaching. How does what I observed/
did/read this week change my thinking about:
a. The work of a teacher
b. Students and learning
c. Why social studies should be taught
d. The most important content and activities to include in social studies
instruction
e. Improving social studies instruction
Use specific examples whenever possible. Tie observations to course discussions and readings. The Evaluation Rubric for Reflective Professional Practice will be used to assess the quality of your journal reflections.
For your first visit, focus particularly
on describing the class. What goals does the teacher seem to be seeking?
What kinds of activities are being used? How are the students responding?
Do some students stand out? If so, why? How might you teach the same
class and topic? Begin to design a seating chart so that you learn student
names.