A Really Interesting Perspective

Twitter introduced me to this blogger, Marginal Revolution, and a recent blog post really got me thinking.

In his post, Cowen suggests that while creativity in the classroom is often stifled by teachers, there could be hope in the trend of personalized learning through resources like the Kahn Academy.

Which begs the following question: is online, personalized learning one of the directions that American education could be headed? And if so, what will the role of classroom teachers be in this new educational setting?

People tell me, in the way of career advice, "Oh CW, we always need good teachers." But I have to wonder, will that truly be the case much longer?

Pondering,
--CW

"What Teachers Make"

This is why I teach.

--CW

Role Models

I've come to the conclusion that when the going gets tough, the tough find role models that can provide that extra bit of incentive and support to achieve one's goals--and then they get going. Recently, I've been feeling kind of overwhelmed by life, particularly by the demands that my academic pursuits have been making on my time.

For those of you who have been around since the beginning, the fact that I am simultaneously pursuing both an undergraduate and graduate degree comes as no surprise. For those of you that know me personally, the fact that I am on an accelerated track for both degrees is also not new information. For anyone with a bit of common sense, the fact that I am struggling and under some pretty intense stress should not blow you out of the water.

As a result of this academic (and many-other-factors induced overload), I've been floundering a bit. For most of my life, I have been largely intrinsically motivated. I choose to do and pursue things that I am passionate about because accomplishing those acts makes ME happy. There was a substantial period in my life where I struggled with the lose-lose reality of pursuing not-quite-passions because I believed that they would make other people happy, and thereby make me happy; it turns out my theory was horribly wrong in that regard.

And I'll be honest: history and teaching do make me happy. In fact, they are two of the things in my life that I am most passionate about (if there is confusion on this point, I refer you to why I started the blog in the first place...); however, lately I've realized that my personal fulfillment in the pursuit of an undergraduate and graduate degree is hardly cutting it anymore. I feel as if sometimes my workload is isolating me from the relationships that will make my eventual achievement of these goals enjoyable. Sometimes I feel like Hermione Granger.

No...I'm not kidding. If you want a better understanding of why I identify with a fictional character, read this; maybe then you'll understand. To me, Hermione Granger is an inspiration of sorts; the girl who didn't let anything get in the way of her voracious academic pursuits; the girl who wasn't afraid to fight for her dreams and what she believed in; the girl who valued her friendships above all else; the girl that I grew up idolizing. Yes, Hermione Granger has been and always will be a role model to me as a still-trying-to-find-my-way, at times graceless, yet well intention-ed young adult. With some of the stuff that I have been dealing with in the past few months, having a role model like Hermione has provided me with a model of how to keep on in the face of adversity and challenge.

That's not to say that all of my role models exist in the fictional realm. I am so unbelievably blessed to have an extraordinarily high number of impressive and commendable individuals in my life after whom I can model my own actions and choices, as well as rely on for support. And since my life has kicked into high gear recently, that support has been indispensable. So I would like to say a thank you to a few people whom have remained steadfast in their support, compassion, love and inspiration in recent months. Your companionship and dignity with which you live your lives continues to amaze me, and makes everything that I am working towards that much richer.

To my mom: I love you and you are truly one of the strongest women and supporters that I know. I don't know where I would be without you in my life.

To my adopted grandfather and mentor: your kindness helped a very lost little girl find her voice and her way, and I look up to you in more ways than you will ever know. Thank you for taking this fellow Yank under your wing, and teaching by example that a little bit of compassion, humility, laughter and common sense can take you far in this world.

To my beautiful cousins and sister: each of you have inspired me in unique and varied ways to try and be the best person that I can be. Each of you are veritable fonts of strength, grace, compassion and fun, and I am constantly amazed and humbled by the women you have turned out to be.

To the three musketeers: it always comes back to you. You are the rocks at the center of everything I do, and I know that we can face anything together and come out stronger for it.

To the family that I have chosen: friendship does not even begin to cover what I have with each and every one of you. Celebrating life's little moments and pleasures with you, whether it is a rich cup of coffee, or one another's triumphs and achievements, has left an indelible print on my heart.

It is with and because of each of you that the stress becomes manageable and the rewards become richer and the memories become stronger. You are the true role models that are helping me get through the overwhelming stress that enable me to keep my head in the game, channel my inner Hermione Granger, and face each challenge head on with no fear and the sweet taste of satisfaction. Thank you, and I love all of you.

What Exactly Is Social Studies?

So I realized that in my last post, I may have jumped ahead of myself. If you were to create a taxonomy of social studies (the field in which I am earning my Masters), history would fall under the heading of social studies. That is to say that before one can discuss history education, one must consider the greater category that it falls in. In order to correct such a massive oversight, I offer the following. Enjoy!

Welcome everyone. Get ready, because critical thinking time begins now. Today's lesson will examine the following question: what exactly is social studies? There are a few things that I would like you to think about as we make our inquiries today. They are:

• What disciplines make up social studies?
• What is the "point" of social studies?
• Why do we teach social studies?
• How can we make learning social studies fun?
• Why is social studies relevant to your life?

To get you thinking, I present the following situation:

Your name is Harry Potter. You have been chosen and marked by the Dark Lord as his equal. Your mother died to protect you, and you have powers beyond your own that protect you as a result; these powers derive from love. You have twice faced Voldemort and and you know that a third meeting is imminent thanks to Sybill Trelawney's prophecy. You also know that there is a single remaining horcrux (remnant of his soul that binds Voldemort to the realm of the living) beside the one that exists within you. You have a choice to make. Sacrifice your life for the destruction of Voldemort, or let Voldemort reign once more?

How could an understanding of disciplines found within social studies allow you to turn the advantage in this situation? We will return to this question a little bit later.

If nothing else, I hope that at the end of today you take away this understanding: social studies is a series of interconnected disciplines that focus on human interactions with a variety of institutions, individuals, and places, and the study of these disciplines can provide individuals with the necessary skill sets to be informed and contributing citizens.


Now if you would, I ask that each of you take a moment to briefly consider what disciplines you believe would fall under the heading of "Social Studies". Some that come to mind for me, include but are not limited to: history, geography, human (cultural) geography, sociology, anthropology, archaeology, philosophy, political science, civics, religion, economics and psychology.

Have you ever previously considered just how diverse a field social studies actually is? If you were anything like me, you probably had a class that was called "Social Studies" in middle school but you never actually knew what they meant by that term. Did it mean history? Did it mean memorizing maps? Did it mean learning about other cultures? Was it ultimately a mixture of all of the above? Again, if you are anything like me, you would probably identify most with the latter of all those questions. But the question begs to be asked...why does this mixture of random subjects matter?

I posit this in response: social studies matters because it helps students  learn essential life skills that force them to think beyond the scope of their individual existences. We teach social studies because we aim to prepare our students for a global, interconnected and complex world that requires them to understand the dynamics of cause and effect, the value of grounding logically based arguments in evidence, thinking critically about sources of information, and understand how past actions and decisions can influence present and future circumstances and events. Earlier, I argued that a social studies education "can provide individuals with the necessary skill sets to be informed and contributing citizens," and I stand by that claim. An effective implementation of social studies curriculum can produce an informed and engaged citizenry that is prepared to meet and overcome the challenges that your students will face and be saddled with in their lifetime.

But while this all sounds well and good in theory, I am sure that many of you would be quick to point out that with many, if not all, of the disciplines that I have listed, your experiences have been overwhelmingly less than stimulating; and this is the part that returns to my previous post on teaching a "dead" subject.

Unfortunately, it is exceedingly easy to fall back on the standard method of teaching social studies. For those of you that have enjoyed J.K. Rowling's masterpiece that is Harry Potter, I invoke the image of Professor Binns' History of Magic class: dry descriptions of facts, individuals and events, in a monotone voice, in the face of death or other such trivial happenstances. Thus, the alternative becomes the critical question: how do we not become the Professor Binns of social studies? This is a question that pre-service and in-service teachers alike grapple with on a daily basis. How can we "hook" our students into caring about social studies?

To this end, I would like to return to my initial question and situation (re: Harry Potter). For a child of the 1990s, that situation alone would have made devoting my attention to the subsequent lesson worthwhile. For a child of today, Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games trilogy offers ample material in which to base a social studies lesson that will have many students hanging off their seats and eager to draw connections. There are many possible answers to the question I posed though; having a understanding of the past can better inform Harry about his present choices and the possible consequences; understanding the psychological condition of  Voldemort can help him better plan his strategy to victory; understanding the political machinations of the Death Eaters allows him to better understand how to dismantle their reign. I could go on and on, and regardless of how far fetched this may seem, there is a legitimate connection that can draw in students. It is the art of finding those connections that social studies teachers must focus on and make a priority.

As I continue down my teaching career path, this question will arise again and again. And when it does, I hope to be able to provide additional answers and suggestions along the way. Additionally, if you have ideas or comments regarding this topic, I would love to hear them. Dialogue on this topic is welcomed and encouraged.

If nothing else, I hope that I made even the tiniest bit of headway in convincing you that there is much more to social studies than you ever believed, and that it is indeed "a series of interconnected disciplines that focus on human interactions with a variety of institutions, individuals, and places, and the study of these disciplines can provide individuals with the necessary skill sets to be informed and contributing citizens."


--CW

How to Make History Come Alive, or the Dilemma of Teaching a "Dead" Subject

I once had a history teacher play a word association game with the class at the start of a new school year. The stem word: "history". There were many responses that dealt with famous events, famous people and famous places, but the word that stuck out most in my mind was the word "dusty".

When the student who tossed out "dusty" was asked to explain their reasoning, they presented the following train of thought:

"Well, whenever I think of history I think of an old man sitting in a dusty old library, poring over dusty old books, wearing a tweed coat, and glasses that sit half way down his nose...smudged with dirt and dust."--Anonymous

The picture this student painted was that of an antiquated, stale, decrepit..and dare I say it, "dead" subject.

Let me be the first to present a rebuttal: history is not dead.

In fact, I cannot thing of a subject that is more relevant to the on going interactions and decisions of our daily lives. Every thing we do, every decision we make is informed by past events. Whether we are talking in the context of a person, nation, or international community, the past is inseparable from our daily lives. I could provide numerous examples grounded in psychology, historiography, sociology, etc. to further my point, but I fear that we would be here much longer than I planned if I were to do that.

However, it is not this oversight that irks me the most about this student's assessment of history; rather, it is the fact that in some ways the student is right in his characterization of history. For centuries, the study of the social sciences was "an old man sitting in a dusty old library, poring over dusty old books, wearing a tweed coat, and glasses that sit half way down his nose...smudged with dirt and dust." Only is this starting to change now as the twenty-first century unfurls before us. We now have resources that can take those dusty old tomes of time and make them come alive for students. There have been major advancements made in digitizing history in the past two decades, and this trend has opened up a world of possibility for teachers and students alike. It is now just a matter of finding ways to use those resources in new and exciting ways.

This semester, I am taking a lab class called Teaching with Technology as part of my teacher education program. Each week, we play with a new set of teaching tools that help us create new ways of incorporating technology into our humanities classrooms. For this class, we each have websites chronicling the projects and thoughts that we have about incorporating technology into the classroom. If you're even slightly interested, you can follow my progress here.

My greatest challenge in the coming year will be to figure out how to make history come alive for my students, and I hope that you will join me here and revel in that journey. I'm excited to play and challenge myself and my own creativity. As always, if you have ideas of your own on this subject, feel free to chip in at any time. In doing so, you just might find your ideas memorialized in my lab's final project!

Explore, Dream, Discover--CW

A Bit of Background, Part 1

When I was little, I never knew how to answer the "CW, when you grow up, what do you want to be?" question. My answer was rarely ever the same, and my dreams were constantly evolving. When I was around the age of five, my answer was "nurse, doctor or teacher". By the age of ten, my answer was "lawyer, fashion designer or teacher". By the time I hit age fifteen,  my answer was "researcher, journalist or teacher....or maybe all three if I can swing it".

But as making a university choice became an ever-present reality, I was forced to narrow down just what I thought I might want to do with my life. The looming decision forced me to turn to introspection. Just what kind of work could I see myself doing and actually enjoying? What kind of degree would allow me to pursue a passion in my life? Heck, what exactly were my passions in life? And so I started thinking about what I had spent almost eighteen years of investing my life in; what came immediately to mind was my love for reading, tutoring, working with kids, and volunteering. How did I incorporate all of this into a potential career?

To me, teaching jumped out as the immediate natural conclusion. Better yet, teaching is an immediate way to affect change. Educators deal with the future of our nation on a daily basis, as the children and young adults that we work with are the citizens and leaders that will be responsible for combating the political, economic and social conditions that recent generations have created. Educators get to foster creativity, passion and the critical thinking skills necessary to analyze and create solutions for the future. Educators also get to witness daily triumphs of their students; these are the tangible moments that make the job worthwhile.

And yet there are many schools in which those daily triumphs are a rare occurrence for students and teachers alike. There are schools where students have been written off, unable to be helped by the system that is considered by many to be the cornerstone upon which our nation is built; and unfortunately, I agree. There are many students who are being failed by the current state of American education. But we're also at a pivotal moment in education; there is enormous potential for change. And it is within this constantly evolving environment that I want to make my career.

Educators, as a profession, are moving towards evidenced based teaching practices. This is a huge step in the right direction, in my opinion, because if you look at other established professional fields they conduct themselves based on practices that they KNOW will work. And as new literature and research becomes available, they modify their practices accordingly. It has taken the educational world a long time to reach this way of thinking, but I believe that it is truly for the better and that makes me excited about one of the life paths I plan on pursuing.

Ultimately, I plan to use this blog to discuss many of these practices and the research and literature behind them. I want to generate discussion because I know that for each study that claims there is positive evidence for employing certain practices, positive evidence of certain correlations etc. there is always a counterpoint. And whether you want to teach or not, these issues are relevant to every individual. One of the greatest things about American education is that it is compulsory and free; however, the system cannot be utilized to its fullest potential unless anyone who has benefited from (or maybe even more importantly, has been done a disservice by American public education) participates in the discourse.

I don't expect you to agree, but I hope that you do have an opinion.

The Life I've Chosen

About two years ago, I had that moment that most people can go a lifetime without feeling. It was that "So this is where my life has been heading all along..." moment--a moment of elated epiphany--that of course was followed by an overwhelming sense of "Oh sh*t. This is where my life is going. Now what am I going to do about it?"

How did I get to that moment, and what exactly was my realization, you ask? Well, let me introduce myself first and then we'll get to that.

My name is CW. I'm country girl at heart (read: reformed Yank), living in the great state of Virginia. I'm a university student working towards a bachelors degree in history and a masters degree in Secondary Education, and with all that oh-so-rare-and-spare free time that I have, I'm a volunteer EMT in a rural community just outside of where I go to school.

From the time I was old enough to have an opinion, I've shared it. From the time I was old enough to know what a goal was, I've had one. While the goal was always changing when I was younger (because god forbid a 7 year old actually have a set opinion on what she wants to do with her life), in recent years I've settled on wanting to shape America's future. I want to help people. I want to change a life.

Now you're probably thinking, "THIS is the goal that she settles on?! How on earth are wanting to save the world, and that pivotal epiphany she talked about one and the same?" Well, truthfully, it kind of just happened. And by kind of just happened, I mean one day I realized that everything I had ever truly been passionate about was related to affecting change and helping people. Go figure, that I found an outlet for that in becoming an educator and an EMS worker.

Education and EMS are a life I have chosen, and that I love. But in choosing two such fields, I have inevitably found myself being plagued with this impending sense of responsibility to humanity (read: this is my "Oh sh*t" moment). How do I ensure that my contribution to education and EMS are not solely for selfish purposes? How do I make what I do matter? How can I channel that enthusiasm that "sparkies" are so fondly known for into something productive and generative? And this blog became part of the answer to those questions.

When something takes over my interest I like to ask questions, I like to share my passion with others and I like to learn as much as possible about a given subject. Luckily for me, social media has taken a strong root in both EMS and education. I have found some great individuals and resources in both fields that have inspired my foray into EMS and education, and I have come to a point where would like to add my own knowledge, experience and questions to what is out there. I claim no expertise, no finality or even a semblance of brilliance in regards to my contributions; however, I hope that someone out there might find a morsel of meandering thought that is of value to them.

This blog is primarily about EMS and American education, but you can expect to learn a bit about me outside of those two realms of my life. As I said, this is the life I've chosen--in more ways than the two fields I see myself dedicating my life to. I've chosen the southern way (but darn if I give up fresh NE seafood and my Boston Red Sox), country livin', and the music to which I geek out. These will be making an appearance among my musings, and I hope you enjoy.