Remembering, Analyzing

1. Would the reasons behind the United States' entry into the War of 1812 be considered a well-defined problem or an ill-defined problem? (Remembering).

2. Social studies allows for a high level of thinking and creativity.  How could you use divergent thinking strategies when looking at, say, the Reagan administration's Cold War policy?  Think about how you could use this starting point to branch out to possible solutions.  (Analyze).

Constructivism

Talking about authentic activities always gets me excited because we can all remember one authentic task that stands out in our memory.  I remember in high school U.S. government class, we had a big team debate at the end of the semester that placed four people in teams of two, one team is pro and the other is against.  Topics ranged from abortion to capital punishment to the Second Amendment right to bear arms.  I was PRO capital punishment with a friend and we had some fun with it and it definitely taught me some real world skills that I needed for college: TEAMWORK.

History classes are often thought of as boring, so I feel like authentic tasks would be my go-to, sure fire way of motivating my students to really love what they're doing.  For me, as a future high school social studies teacher, utilizing authentic activities is key because they will be graduating soon and moving on to the real world.  They NEED to learn how to be patient, work in teams, build "people skills" as my mom would say, and become more self-directed.

That being said, my authentic task would probably fall under a project-based learning task.  Ormrod defines this as, "Classroom activity in which students acquire new knowledge and skills while working on a complex, multifaceted project that yields a concrete end product" (Ormrod 231).  It's no denying that I am a huge patriot and supporter of the men and women in our military; they do what only a few can do.  Going along with my love for student autonomy, I would give my students maybe two or three options.

1. Interview a member of their family who served in the military and tell their story either through a video interview or write an essay.  If that family member is deceased then they could do a research project on them.
2. Send them out into the community to find war veterans to interview.  As the teacher, it would be my responsibility to figure out where these men and women are and if they will be willing to cooperate with a student for an interview.  The older vets absolutely LOVE recognition and are thrilled to have someone talk to them.
3. It's always important to have a "Plan C" if the above two don't get the job done.  If the above two do not work then I would assign them to, maybe, write to a historical figure and the student could act as the secretary of state.  They would advise the president on what the proper course of action should be.  Something along those lines, I'm just shooting out ideas here!

I know this is a hypothetical scenario and a perfect world example, but I would hope my students would react positively to it.  I hope they will realize the positive impact they had on that veteran just by simply having a conversation.  Who knows, maybe they will love it and may not seem like work at all!  Students, especially high school age, are often opposed to writing papers so I hope that they will avoid option 3 and go for the first two!  Upon completion of the activity, they will have done many things: serve their community, learn FAR more than a textbook could explain, have a new understanding for veterans, and build interview skills that will help them later on in life.

I see several obstacles with this assignment.  One, finding enough veterans in the community who want to be interviewed.  Two, the technical side of things.  How will they record the interview?  With the student's own camera or having to use school equipment which may be short or non-existent?  Three, many students won't know how to be respectful and know what questions to ask.  Four, how will I know as a teacher if I am putting too much work on a young kid?  They have other commitments and lives as well.  I will have to approve each and every interview between student and veteran.  The list could go on and on!  But I wholeheartedly believe the positive aspects of this project outweigh the negative.

Behavioral and Social Cognitive Views of Learning

According to Ormrod, behaviorism is defined as, "Theoretical perspective in which learning and behavior are described and explained in terms of stimulus-response relationships" (Ormrod 285).  She lists five perspectives that are the backbone of any behaviorist teacher.

• "People's behaviors are largely the result of their experience with environmental stimuli" (286).
• I like this because it can involve changing the environment that your students are in to help them behave in the way you want and to learn.
• "Learning involves a behavior change" (286).
• This means we can only see physical changes in behavior, not mental changes.  We cannot observe if the student has learned anything until they, maybe, take a test or quiz or something.
• "Learning involves forming associations among stimuli and responses" (286).
• Learning involves observable events: X leads to Y.
• "Learning is most likely to take place when stimuli and responses occur close together in time" (287).
• I understood this as one thing leading immediately to the next.  If I have a class that is rowdy and won't calm down, I could use something more drastic like smacking the podium with a mallet.  I remember a teacher doing that in a class in high school and each time she would grab the mallet, we would all shut up because we FEARED the noise it made.  Plus, we feared her in general.
• "Many species of animals, including human beings, learn in similar ways" (287).
• Much research has been done that shows that animal behavior is helpful in understanding human behavior tendencies.  Hmm, I like to think of myself as higher than some lab animal personally.

In my class, I would define successful mastery of my lesson objectives through the following ways.  I would need to design an assignment that allows me to judge their behavior in class.  A type of pop quiz would be a good way (well for me) to start a class off to see how much they remember from the last class.  I would look around the class to see their behaviors and actions.  If I notice a lot of head turning and upset faces, I know that they aren't doing their work.  If they aren't really confident in their answers then I know they don't understand the material either.  For those that do well, I would positively reinforce them with rewards.  For those who did not do so well, I could maybe move them to the front of the room, away from their peers so they don't feel distracted and cause problems.