From TEACHING to STUDENT LEARNING

When I began my new journey into teaching middle school (5th -8th grade) social studies I was scared out of my mind.  After 14 years of only teaching 1st grade I just knew I would fail miserably.  After some crying and eating I decided to make lemonade.

I began studying for hours and hours to refresh my mind on topics that I hadn't seen in more than 20 years or in some cases not at all.  I spent hours preparing for lessons in which I would do most of the talking.  That had to be the right way to do this, right?  I mean after all that is how I was taught.

Well, it didn't take long for me to get bored with this and I realized that if I was bored then HOLY MOLY they must be VERY bored.

So, what did I do???

I changed my method of delivery.  People, in general, only get out what they put in.  They are only responsible when they are made to be responsible.  

With this in mind, I put the learning in their laps.  Here are some example of what I did and some great WEBSITES that are my NEW BEST FRIENDS.

 My 7th graders needed to know about some of the majors rivers in the world.  They had to know why they are important to people and the growth of the people in the area of the river.  
 Rather than stand at the front of the room and tell them why or create a in depth power point to show them why I did a couple of simple things.

1.  I Googled each river and found the MOST WONDERFUL website.  http://www.ducksters.com
2.  I printed information from Ducksters that I knew my students would be able to use.  I also printed information from other sites, but Ducksters has by far been the most helpful.
3.  I copied the information and made packets for students so that I could put students into groups and let them "research" the rivers. Each group studied one river.  I had 4 groups.

That is the ONLY WORK I did!!!  They got into groups, found what was important to answer the questions of what they needed to learn, and then shared it with the class.  I provided a flippable for them to complete to help them study and they worked on that in their groups too.  

ALL I DID WAS walk around the room, sit and talk to the groups one at a time about what they were learning and laugh at some of their discoveries.  THE LEARNING WAS AMAZING!!

 My 5th graders needed to know about some of the contributors to the Revolutionary War.  They had to know why they were important to war.

 Rather than stand at the front of the room and tell them why or create a in depth power point to show them why I did a couple of simple things.

1.  I Googled each contributor and found the MOST WONDERFUL website.  http://www.ducksters.com
2.  I printed information from Ducksters that I knew my students would be able to use.  I also printed information from other sites, but Ducksters has by far been the most helpful.  I really love biography.com and historychannel.com

3.  I copied the information and made packets for students so that I could put students into groups and let them "research" the Revolutionary War Contributors.  Each group studied one contributor.  I had 5 groups.

That is the ONLY WORK I did!!!  They got into groups, found what was important to answer the questions of what they needed to learn, and then shared it with the class.  I provided a flippable for them to complete to help them study and they worked on that in their groups too.  

ALL I DID WAS walk around the room, sit and talk to the groups one at a time about what they were learning and laugh at some of their discoveries.  THE LEARNING WAS AMAZING!!

As you can see, I did the SAME thing for both grades.  I've done this with all of my students.  Of course, I read the information and gain the knowledge for myself.  The only thing different is that I've put the learning on them and therefore made it more meaningful.  I am in love with this method of delivery of information and will try variations of it to keep them from getting bored.  As I find variations that I have tried I'll share them with all of you.

If you teach Social Studies or Science you MUST go to 

www.ducksters.com