Statement of Faith
Personal worldview has affected the choices made in relation to the content and pedagogy within the unit. I decided to create a unit on the branches of the government. The students should know how the government works within the United States, so that they can be active and knowledgeable citizens. My worldview is that the scholars should recognize how the government works, and how it is a system in place to benefit and help them, the people. When they recognize an area that needs change, they can come together as citizens to highlight this area to their government and bring healing to that area. In result, the scholars can be agents of change in the world
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Throughout time, how government has been taught within the classroom has changed, along with its worldviews. At the core of the traditional social studies view, teachers would lecture about the government history through the eyes of the dominant culture (Oakes, et. al., 2013). However, tradition is making way for new pedagogy. With new pedagogy, such as the Inquiry Design Model (IDM), teachers are asking their students to wrestle with and apply what they are learning (Craps & Thacker, 2016). Having more than head knowledge resonates with a Christian practices. As a Christian, I am to do more with the Word than listen to it, but I am to be a doer of the Word. Only when I embody God’s love and truth can myself and others be affected. Like the knowledge of the government, the purpose of learning is accomplished when the students are spurred to be different.
Also, the worldviews of the government have changed over time. For example, woman and people of color rarely had positions of power within the government. Now, teaching to my African American, and Hispanic scholars, I can emphasize that they have a place within the government. Through my faith journey, I have learned the value of being valued. In God’s eyes, these students are prized possessions, with unique gifts and experiences that can benefit others. Though traditionally the experiences and wisdom of African American and Hispanic were not often seriously considered, I desire to be an open ear to their personal experiences involving the government and how they could bring change to other places within their community.
For my unit, sources have been found to support the worldview that I hold. Upon looking at the National Council of the Social Studies (n.d.), I discovered the themes that should be apparent when teaching social studies. In total, ten themes can be found, ranging from culture to time, continuity and change, and from individual development and identity to global connections. The worldview within my unit emphasizes a holistic view of the government, that encompasses and effects other parts of the students lives. Having a holistic curriculum is important, and it supports my personal view of faith. Faith should not be one segmented part of my life, but it is to flow and inspire every part of existence. Through teaching, I yearn to show my students not just the government, but how this system weaves into other systems of life, mirroring how my faiths impacts how I live. In addition, by viewing how the government acted in the Civil Rights Movement, the scholars can see how their people’s culture and identity was affected by the government’s decisions. The worldview that I hold is supposed by the themes that should be evident within teaching social studies.
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Sources have also been found to support the content and instructional choices within the social studies unit. Inspired by Palmer’s (2002) concept of the subject centered classroom, I sought sources that would hold “both me and thee accountable to something beyond ourselves" (Palmer, p. 117). The sources that I used were articles from Craps and Thacker and Brown and Silvestri (2014). In my lessons, they should not be focused on my teaching, but on the power of the content; just as in my teaching, God should be glorified in all that I do, the credit should not be towards me. When I surrender the unit and lessons to God, it holds me accountable for something greater than the content, greater than me. In light of a subject centered classroom, Craps and Thacker’s inspired the use of primary sources, such as court cases, and inquiry within the unit (Craps & Thacker, 2016). Both articles emphasized the benefits of primary sources and inquiry, but Brown and Silvestri’s article discussed the benefits of project-based learning (Brown & Silvestri, 2014). For example, the lesson on the Articles of Confederation has the students create a powerpoint based on the information in their Social Studies books (Bower, 2016). Due to two articles, my unit emphasizes a subject-centered classroom.
Finally, within my lessons, opportunities for my students to reflect on their own worldviews will be evident. Students will be able to see how the Civil Rights Movement affected people in the past, and also how it impacts their lives today. While segregation is illegal, it is still alive striving today. Within the school, my students understand that West Side is almost all black students. Thus, their worldview is a segregated one, but that is not how it should be. Through my relationship with Christ, I have learned that I can glean knowledge from everyone, and not one people should be glorified, nor should one group be excluded. Through teaching this unit, I desire the scholars to wrestle with their current segregated situation, and recognize the value of all people; that people are the strongest agents of change when they are united, not segregated.
Bibliography
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Bower, B. (2016). Social Studies Alive!: America’s Past. Rancho Cordova, CA: Teacher’s Curriculum Institute.
Brown, E., Silvestri L. (2014). Grassroots Activists and the Three Branches of the Government: Key Players in the Civil Rights Movement. Social Studies and the Young Learner, volume 27 (1) pp. 13-18
Craps, R., Thacker, S. E., (2016). Where Does It Say We Didn’t Have the Right to Vote? Fifth Graders use primary Sources in an Inquiry Lesson. Social Studies and the Young Learner, Volume 29 (1), pp. 20-23. http://docserver.ingentaconnect.com/.
National Council for the Social Studies. (n.d.) Retrieved from https://www.socialstudies.org/standards/strands
Oakes, J., Lipton, M., Anderson, A. & Stillman, J. (2013). Teaching to change the world (4th ed.). New York: Routledge.
Palmer, P. J. (1993). To know as we are known: Education as a Spiritual Journey (pp.116, 117 ). San Francisco, CA: HarperCollins.