Analysis Of Projects

Analysis of Projects: The Positives Keith Benson Throughout this semester in Civics, Citizenship and Social Education, the themes of democracy, citizenship and ideas of “American-ism” remained central to our lessons. The idea that classrooms can be democratic spaces that teach and cultivate active citizenship was truly revolutionary to me, and I am sure others in the class. And, the realization that there is no homogenous concept of what it means to be an American was also enlightening. But as future and current social studies educators, by taking this class, we’ve been made cognizant of the fact that with all the more modern, contemporary methods to address citizenship, democracy and American-ness, very little is actually employed in the classroom. And as much as lecture, textbook driven instruction and rote memorization is demeaned, it is still the most common method of instruction employed by social studies teachers. Knowing this, and as a change of pace for our students, Colleen, Jennifer and myself decided to put our learned information from the Civic, Citizenship and Social Education class to work by teaching lessons that address the aforementioned topics. For my section of the analysis, I will be addressing the positives that resulted from teaching in a more democratic, discussion based fashion, that focused on real-time issues. Teaching a diverse student demographic in New Jersey, from the cities of Atlantic City, Camden and Edison, the lessons centered around democracy, American-ness, and citizenship were topics of discussion that were generally foreign to our students. While most of our students at the start of these lessons collectively assumed teacher lecture and

student note-taking would information was transferred from teacher to student, most were surprised when they realized that they would be doing the teaching. Socratic method was the technique most commonly employed during our class discussions, which was prefaced by the assurance to students that their were no wrong answers and that they could speak freely. While apprehensive at the outset, students generally jumped at the opportunity to speak to the entire class about their experiences and viewpoints, especially in relation to the Pledge of Allegiance, First and Fourth Amendment seminars and my “Our Country, Our Truck” lesson. In teaching the Political Spectrum lesson, students were able to visibly see where one another stood in terms of their beliefs on issues, and the students themselves saw that their opinions and views are valid even in the seemingly abstract world of politics. While we all did have the “quiet student” who still chose not to participate verbally, it seemed they were engaged and interested in others’ thoughts nonetheless. Colleen lessons on Puerto Rico employed group work and project based learning that gave students a differentiated form of instruction that helped students work together and use their learned information to produce something creative. In conclusion, the lessons Colleen, Jen and I taught our students weren’t lessons commonly taught in our students’ prior social studies classes. But what they received from the lessons, and the varying methods in which they were delivered, was a growing curiosity about democracy, American-ness and citizenship; ideas our students otherwise probably would not have considered. Furthermore, students learned they can work together as a group, they can speak freely about their opinions, or produce something creative, all while learning. But most importantly, we teachers learned wonderful new

lessons to teach in our class and ways to teach them from other professionals in our fields and you Dr. Rubin as well. This was truly a rewarding experience by all.