Chapter 10- economics

 Schools throughout America are facing economic problems. There is an issue with money in the schools,  a lot of school districts are facing budget cuts. People are worried that with the budget cuts are gonna result in less improvement in the achievement of students. Class sizes are increasing and support services are decreasing and due to that, it is resulting in negative effects on students in poverty, second language learners and students who live in rural areas. As the number of students are increasing, the stress is increasing because of the economy. As a teacher, you can determine the stress of your students by seeing if they are having trouble focusing, depression, sensitivity, agitation, and withdrawal. 

Macroeconomics: The larger state of the economy, region, a nation and the world. 

Microeconomics: How people and businesses are affected by economy. Taxation is involved in microeconomics and how governmental policies are affected.

Everyone is affected by economics and when teaching economics, it crucial that that each and every student is actively engaged and that the material being taught is not too hard or too easy. The economics that is being taught should also relate to the economic state of their setting and community. "Hooks" can be used when teaching economics that are hard. "Hooks" can increase engagement! You can use humorous economic songs or something that could possibly increase your students. Other examples of "hooks" include; charts, pictures, and graphs. Teaching economics can make students make wiser choices regarding to what they NEED and what they WANT.  

Students should understand: 

• The definition of scarcity 

• Opportunity cost 

• That they are responsible for the choices that they make. 

• The resources that are available. 

• That they should do research on how to make good economic choices. 

Topics that we as teachers can include are: 

• Earth Day 

• Endangered species 

• Global warming 

• Recycling 

• Reducing  

• Reusing 

We should talk about entrepreneurs because our students should be educated on how products are made.

What do you think about technology in the classroom?

Chapter 9 

 Incorporating technology into social studies can be fun and eventful but it can be scary. Technology can result in students becoming more motivated and it can act as a tool for students when presenting and more! Technology is constantly changing and evolving as time goes on. It is important as a teacher to be educated on technology because it is becoming a big part of teaching. Teacher's must find reliable sources on the internet because the information on the web is not always true. A teacher can tell that if a website is reliable or not by looking at who the publisher of the website is. A website is reliable if it ends in "edu", "gov", or ".com".  For research, teachers can use Search engine. Search engine contains a lot of websites that can be used as reliable research tools for teachers. 

Classrooms used to contain chalkboards and now due to the increase of technology usage and advances in technology, now there are computers, projectors , Promethean Boards and smartboards. One of the pros of using a Smartboard is that it allows teachers to have access to a lot of resources. A Promethean Board is used by projecting a computer!

M5 Geography poem 🌎

                                                                   HUG THE EARTH

Walking along feeling free 
Feeling the Earth here with me 
And I love her. She loves me 
I hug the Earth, the Earth hugs me. 
She's our friend, 
We'd like to be together forever. 
The Earth is our garden 
It's a beautiful place 
For all living creatures 
For all the human race, 
Helping Mother Earth 
We can peacefully roam, 
We all deserve a place 
We can call our home. 
Food is a treasure from soil and the sea. 
Clean fresh air from the plants and the trees 
The warmth of the sun giving life each day 
Turns water into rain, it’s nature's way. 
And I would like to thank you, Mother Earth, 
I like to see you dressed in green and blue  
I want to be by you.

Lorraine Bayes

This poem is about earth. Us humans live on earth and it is made up of humans, wildlife, plants and many of other things. Earth is our home and on earth we walk around and live our daily lives. Without it makes me wonder, where would we be? Would we be here today? On earth, our food comes from the soils and everything on earth affects one another. If we did not have plants and trees, we would not be able to breath. If we did not have soil, we would not have food! 

Let's talk economics

 Skype: 

Skype can be useful when teaching economics because you can video chat with people all around the world. In the video on eclass, it made me realize how beneficial using Skype can be. Teachers and students can connect with all different kinds of people and it can act as a virtual field trip all around the world! I found it AMAZING easy it is to talk to people. I loved how the classroom in the video sponsored someone from across the work and they were able to video chat with them. Using skype makes global learning possible. 

Skype in the classroom!

 

Do you know what economics is? 

Economics is about scarcity, how to use resources, production of good and services, and the growth within production and welfare.

Let's talk about the concepts of assessment!

    Curriculum that teachers teach to their students should have three elements. The elements include; outcomes, assessment and instruction. The outcomes are the results that students show and with the outcomes, teachers can determine goals for their students. Teachers will then will assess their students based on the outcomes. Instruction involves making objectives that will result in the students achieving the goal. Assessments are important because they can figure out if the students are meeting the goal. 

Purposes of assessment: 

-Assessments can help teachers figure of what their students do know and what they don't know.  

-Teachers can determine if their instruction was effective or not. 

- Students with see their quality of learning. 

- Gives feedback on the performance of the students. 

Assessment is one step of evaluation of student learning. Assessment allows teachers to create effective instruction because it gives teachers knowledge on their students learning, understanding and performance. After the assessments are completed, grading then occurs. The teacher looks at their students performance and then grades them by giving them either letter grades, percentages, or a word description such as; good job, excellent, fair or poor. Report cards are used and the grades within them can prevent students from being able to graduate,  participate in activities and can even prevent students from receiving scholarships. 

Formative assessment:  Formative assessment is ongoing and teachers use it because it allows them to receive information about their students progress towards a set goal. Formative assessment should be used while learning is happening. 

Summative assessment:  Summative assessment is only done once and it can help teachers determine the level of the students and if they reached the goal or not. Summative assessment should only be used at the end of learning. 

Pretests: Pretests are taken before direct instruction to test students prior knowledge on the goals, outcomes and objectives. 

Posttests: Posttests is a summative assessment that should consist of questions retaining to the goals, outcome and objectives. 

Authentic assessments:  Authentic assessments asks students to provide their knowledge and how they would use it in their life. Examples of Authentic assessments are; rubrics, portfolios and peer assessment.

Activities to teach Geography!

 Hello everyone! Today I learned a bunch of different activities I can use when I become a teacher! Keep on reading, and you can learn some activities you can use in your classroom when teaching Geography! 

                                                                   Adopt a webcam!

                                                               

The first activity that stood out to me and that I really liked was, idea 53. Idea 53 talks about the activity Adopt a webcam. With Adopt a webcam, you can visit a certain location as often as you would like to and it allows the students to become education on seasons. I think that this activity is a great way to teach geography because it allows the students to see that over time, seasons will change and that places will look different when it is a certain season! It will also show the students that places all the around the world can look differently during a certain season. For example, it can be winter near us and it can be cold and snowing, but such as California probably won't be experiencing the same things as we are. If I were a student, I would love this activity because I personally love when the seasons change. 

                                                                        Darts!

                                                                

The second activity that stood out to me was darts. I really liked the idea of incorporating this activity into the classroom because I think that it would be fun for the students, considering that it is a game. When creating this activity, you can create questions based on a given topic to quiz your students. I feel like this activity will be effective when teaching geography because it is fun and the kids will definitely want to participate😀

                                                             A shower curtain
                                                                     

The last activity that I liked was the shower curtain! As you can see in the picture above, you and your students can create a map on a shower curtain! I really like this idea because this activity allows students to be creative and artistic! I think that they will really like this activity because because they can use markers and art supplies to be creative! This activity will also give students a little bit of break from sitting at their desks and doing independent work. 

If you would like to learn about more fun activities to teach geography, click the link below! 

Fun activities to teach geography!

                                                           

Learning to Teach History🌎

 

After looking at these paintings, I am left confused and unsure of what is happening and the information behind them. I don't know what artist created them or the history of them. On the third picture, I can infer that they are having Thanksgiving dinner due to the fact that the old lady who could maybe be a grandma, is serving a Turkey. In the first picture, I feel as if the man that is standing is up, is standing up for what he believes in and maybe the people around him don't agree with him. I think that the others don't agree with him because they are all sitting down and just staring at him in a not so nice way, as if they were shocked or stunned in what he is standing for. In the second picture, I believe that the painting has something to do with religion because the first thing that my eyes were drawn to was the woman who seems to be praying. In the picture to the right I don't really know the meaning behind it or if they is any, but it seems as if the child's parents were putting him or her to bed.