Well, it's been nearly a year since I've updated. Sorry, dear readers!* In the past year, I've been teaching 6th grade social studies (ancient history!), editing and publishing our school yearbook, creating the first student newspaper, film festival, and maybe literary magazine, and teaching drop-in media literacy lessons to 4th graders.
It looks pretty good on paper, but in reality I'm so exhausted after school I plop down on the couch, heat up some Trader Joe's concoction, and watch TV. I learn something new everyday... and get frustrated by something new everyday.
My mind has been far more occupied with social studies lately than it has with media literacy. Teaching social studies-- in a way that would excite a kid like me--has been a wonderful challenge (or a challenging wonder!). Growing up, history always seemed pretty bland to me. Teachers taught it as a chronology of hard facts to memorize. I was like "who cares?" As I study history now as an adult, it doesn't seem like a series of facts anymore. It's more like a bunch of mysteries constantly being solved (and disputed), and all these conflicting narratives from different perspectives. I am trying my best to teach social studies with that mindset, but it's easier said than done, especially when even the best textbooks are all about facts. Why does content dictate our national social studies curriculum? Content seems so arbitrary to me. Why not humanities skills--different kinds of research, evaluating sources, close reading, factual writing? That all seems more important than remembering the details of a famous battle.
I want to blog on HuffPost about that, but I don't consider myself anywhere close to an expert (obviously). And we all know how angry HuffPost readers can get. I need to continue thinking about this... If anyone out there is reading this, send me your thoughts!
* This is a joke because I have no readers. I'm not sure my mom even knows I have a website.
It looks pretty good on paper, but in reality I'm so exhausted after school I plop down on the couch, heat up some Trader Joe's concoction, and watch TV. I learn something new everyday... and get frustrated by something new everyday.
My mind has been far more occupied with social studies lately than it has with media literacy. Teaching social studies-- in a way that would excite a kid like me--has been a wonderful challenge (or a challenging wonder!). Growing up, history always seemed pretty bland to me. Teachers taught it as a chronology of hard facts to memorize. I was like "who cares?" As I study history now as an adult, it doesn't seem like a series of facts anymore. It's more like a bunch of mysteries constantly being solved (and disputed), and all these conflicting narratives from different perspectives. I am trying my best to teach social studies with that mindset, but it's easier said than done, especially when even the best textbooks are all about facts. Why does content dictate our national social studies curriculum? Content seems so arbitrary to me. Why not humanities skills--different kinds of research, evaluating sources, close reading, factual writing? That all seems more important than remembering the details of a famous battle.
I want to blog on HuffPost about that, but I don't consider myself anywhere close to an expert (obviously). And we all know how angry HuffPost readers can get. I need to continue thinking about this... If anyone out there is reading this, send me your thoughts!
* This is a joke because I have no readers. I'm not sure my mom even knows I have a website.
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