Chapter two textbook review

Chapter two review 

    Chapter two starts with the topic " How School Reform  and  Educational Standards Affect  Elementary Social  Studies  Teachers." It begins with explaining how teachers need to be aware of the history of education and how that history and how educational reforms will affect how teachers will teach subjects such as Math, English Science, and Social Studies. Teachers today and in the past have faced many challenges, some of which are explained in the 1983 nation at risk report created by Ronald Reagan. The report explained that the schools were failing the students they were teaching and how teachers are taught to teach needed to change. The article “A Nation At Risk: Summary & Effects on Education” found on study.com explains the main point of the nation at risk report. The article states “that teachers were not educated enough or paid enough, that many students did not know how to read and that test scores were extremely low.”As explained in the textbook, teachers today face different and various challenges. These challenges include being experts in everything you teach, identifying the standards they want to use, and how the standards can relate to the lesson they are teaching with no issue. Teachers also need to be prepared to answer any question that their students may throw at them even if they don’t know the answer and teach a large amount of material in a very short amount of time. This is a challenge because teachers have more content to teach the next day, and to stay on schedule with the curriculum, they can’t spend too much time on specific pieces of content. On top of this, teachers also have to make sure that their students understand what they have learned so they can understand the content presented during the next day of class. Teachers also have to make sure that students can demonstrate their understanding of the material they have learned on a test or quiz in one, two, or three weeks from now. But due to this time crunch, more teachers are spending more time on subjects that are consisted important such as math or science, and teachers are spending less time on topics that are not as important, for example, social studies.The textbook states that “It has been noted that the emphasis on language arts and mathematics assessments has resulted in less teaching of social studies content in many elementary classrooms.”The textbook also explains that teachers have a more complex challenge they need to face. As stated in the textbook, this challenge is “Another challenge facing elementary teachers is to create classroom communities and utilize instructional strategies that meet the academic and social needs of increasingly diverse students. Today’s elementary students demonstrate diversity in the cultures, ethnicity, languages, developmental levels, social skills, and economic status that they bring to the classroom. Keeping diverse students actively and productively engaged in the learning process requires considerable effort on the part of the teacher.”Teachers also have to update their lesson plans because everything is constantly changing. The textbook states, “The only thing that is constant is change. "Teachers face the on-going challenge of working with students in a time of rapid social, political, and technological change. In particular, technological change requires teachers to constantly update their teaching strategies to utilize developing technology in the classroom effectively." For example, in the year 2020, many online servers no longer support adobe flash players. This means that many resources teachers use in the classroom supported by adobe flash are no longer available. Therefore, teachers have to find new online resources to teach Math, Science English, and Social Studies effectively.

    The second topic in chapter two is known as "History of  American Education  and Educational Reform"The textbook states, “ The story of American elementary and middle schools began in northwest Europe (especially England) and was carried to the New England colonies by immigrants. Time-honored approaches that the immigrants brought to the Americas included: tutoring, apprenticeships, and self-education. Becoming a lifelong, literate learner was not the educational goal of early America. As the nation grew, so did the purposes of education and the particular types of schools that students attended.”Before expansion occurred, school subjects such as English, Social Studies, science, and math were not as important. But as more jobs or fields of interest were created, people realized they needed more schools to teach these skills. Over time, people created many different schools, each with different teachers who had various levels of education. These schools include dame schools, homeschooling, public schools, schools that were influenced by things happening outside the united states, and there were schools whose main focus was teaching students a particular trade like welding The textbooks explain that dame schools “Dame Schools were named because married women or widows conducted the schools in their own homes. A Dame School was a combination of child care for young children and basic schooling for older children. The women taught the basics of literacy while tending to their daily chores. The curriculum consisted of the alphabet, numbers, and reading. The curriculum was closely tied to the needs of community life.” Many children who went to dame schools only got minimal education and only went to school because their parents could not teach them.

    The third topic is School Reform in Colonial Times and Early America. It focuses on specialty and public schools. The textbook states, "As towns continued to grow, a variety of schools were developed to fulfill particular goals. The creation of specialty schools continued for over 150 years. There continued to be remnants of the Dame School teaching the basics of reading. During this period, more formal infant schools (5-10-year-olds) taught the basics of reading and writing. Specialized reading and writing schools continued to exist." Specialty schools were used for students to study particular topics, which can range from Latin to mathematics. As time advance, more and more people realized how vital any kind of education was to a child. More specifically, the ability to read. But many families did not have enough money to send their children to school. This was when Thomas Jefferson had an idea. As stated in the textbook, "Thomas Jefferson designed an educational plan for the Commonwealth of Virginia. He advocated tax-supported 'elementary' schools that would provide three years of basic literacy education free of charge. Later, the Northwest Ordinances of 1785 and 1787 served notice that education was to be a priority in the United States. 

    The fourth topic is known as "Schools and Educational  Reform in the 19th Century" but first let me ask you a question. What were one-room schools, and were there benefits to one-room schools?  The textbook states, "In a one-room school, the teacher exercised considerable control over the selection of materials, the scheduling of activities, and the day-to-day assessment of students. During this process, the status and self-image of teachers were heavily invested in the success of their students on this examination. The one-room school provided the opportunity for literacy to many children. Within a few generations, basic reading, basic writing, and basic arithmetic skills became common within the United States." There were as many disadvantages as there were advantages to one-room schools. The textbook states, "First, these schools were isolated from each other, providing little opportunity for teachers to interact and to learn from other teachers. Isolation was a particular problem for young teachers who did not have a great deal of formal training. Second, personality conflicts between teachers, students, and parents could become serious and prolonged since the teacher often taught the same students over many years. Third, resources were scarce, causing the teacher to need to be resourceful to obtain materials and ideas to help their students learn." Advantages of one room classroom include the teacher knowing the students since there was only one teacher per one-room school. Because of this, the teacher knew what worked and what didn't work for her students, older students can help teach younger students giving the younger students a variety of ways to learn a topic.

    Let's talk about the fifth topic, also known as a variety of reforms. Examples of reforms include large group instruction, monitorial instruction, Expanding subject areas, teacher training, Grade levels, grade-level textbooks, and finally, free common elementary schools. Large group instruction is where there is a large group of children being taught all at once. The textbook states, "This change was necessary Because individualized instruction was a slow Labor intensive inexpensive mode of teaching." It was more expensive to teach a child one-on-one than it was to teach a group of children all at once. The textbook also States, "New methods of instruction were sought to teach more students quickly and inexpensively because the population of school-age children was rapidly growing as the nation grew." Since the population of children is growing, teachers and Educators needed a way to teach all of the children that needed in education, not just the ones who can pay for it but they also needed it away for it to be non-time-consuming because as the number of students increased so did the amount of work teachers have to do Monitorial instruction is where students who had a better understanding of the material were brought into school earlier to be taught. This was done so when students not as advanced in the material came to school. The Advanced students could help the teacher teach the lesson to not fall behind in the Curriculum.Due to the amount of children needing to be taught, the subjects also needed to increase. The textbook explains the newly added subjects. The textbook states, "Examples include history, government, natural sciences, music, art, practical arts, elocution (speech), orthography (the study and writing of words), and ortheopy (the study and pronouncing of words)."Teacher training was needed because, to teach her students, a teacher needed to be an expert in what she was teaching and have a higher level of education than her students. Teachers needed to be taught how to teach.Students needed to be put into grade levels because one teacher may have gotten overwhelmed by teaching eight years of subjects every day. That same teacher might not have been able to devote as much attention as she wanted to to a grade who was struggling because she had seven other grades she needed to teach. By creating grade levels, a teacher only needs to focus on one year of learning and devote as much time and attention to struggling students. Teachers used textbooks to teach students what they needed to know. The textbook states, "grade level textbooks were developed to meet the needed grade-level content. The development of graded textbooks such as the McGuffey Reading Series and the Ray's Arithmetic books were the forerunners of today's basal textbooks."People created free common elementary schools to provide students with an education when they could not afford it.

    Let's talk about the sixth topic, also known as Schools and Educational Reform in the 20th Century. The textbook states, "Perennialists believe that the purpose of school is to pass wisdom learned in the past to the new generation. In a perennialist school, students would study classic works of literature, art, and music. As with the essentialist, the teacher is the presenter of the classic material."As stated in the text, John Dewey believed that students were active participants in their learning, and the teacher selects classroom content to increase student motivation and involvement.The textbook states  that "William Heard Kilpatrick, an early follower of John Dewey, believed that learning should be directly related to the interests of the child." he believed that the child should choose what they want to learn about Arnold Gesell studied the physical and mental development of children. The textbook states, "these norms began to influence the organization of schools, the development of curricula, the design of supporting materials and texts, and the focus on developmentally appropriate activities for children."Jean Jacques Piaget studied his own children as he was studying his own children he realized that there are stages in the way a child develops. A child who is ten cant learn math that is meant to be taught to an 18-year-old. The textbook states that "Piaget helped educators to develop curriculum, textbooks, materials, and activities that were developmentally appropriate. "Lev Vygotsky studied how children change and develop socially as they grow into adults. He helped develop scaffolding. The textbook defines scaffolding as "the amount of support that an instructor provides for students."Benjamin Spock disliked how distant and cold parents were with their children. He believed that in order to be ready for the real world and become well-adjusted adults, children needed to grow up in a warm and loving environment. In order to make sure his mindset reached many parent's ears, he wrote a book.

Let's talk about the seventh topic also known as " The Civil Rights Movement and Education."Before certain laws were enacted to end segregation, African American and caucasian students were separated by race and were taught in different schools. African American students were severely disadvantaged when compared to caucasian students in terms of education. The textbook states, "the segregated classrooms where African American students attended schools were often overcrowded, had textbooks which were not as current as the textbooks that the white students had, and did not have enough school supplies or resources." This is where the court case of Brown vs. The Board of Education came into play. The textbook states, "Oliver Brown tried to enroll his daughter in an all-white school that was much closer to their home. The principal refused to enroll her based on her race." After many different court cases of similar circumstances. A ruling was reached. The ruling, as stated in the textbook, was "that the term separate but equal does not apply to education." 

Let’s talk about our last topic, also known as  National School Reform Efforts Since 1957. The arrival of sputnik on the moon showed teachers how important science was in the classroom. As stated in the text, effective schools helped disadvantaged children gain academic success. An effective school, as stated in the textbook, contains: 

• a safe and orderly learning environment
• a clear and focused school mission
• instructional leadership
• high expectations for the success of all students
• frequent monitoring of student progress
• a positive learning climate
• parent and community involvement
• an atmosphere of trust
• awards and recognition
• staff development
• a coordinated, tightly aligned curriculum
• decision-making discretion at the building level

A nation at risk, which was a report written by Ronald Reagan, explained that when comparing American schools to schools in different countries, America had the worst-rated schools. This realization caused people to realize education needed to be changed in order for students to become successful in school and, in turn, become successful adults. Goals 2000: Educate America Act was created by President Bill Clinton. The textbook states, “These goals focused on implementing high-quality standards and assessing the students’ progress.” The reason that this plan was named Goals 2000: Educate America Act was because the president wanted these goals accomplished by the year 2000 and no later. This was then replaced by no child left behind. No child left behind was used to helo disadvantaged children stay on a similar level of education as the non-disadvantaged children without falling behind. 

    After reading chapter two of the textbook Teaching Social Studies in the Elementary School: Communities, Connections, and Citizenship, I have learned many things, such as the reasons why teachers need to understand the history behind their careers. I have also learned the education system in America was not always the best. I have learned about the segregation between African American and Caucasian children and the lawsuits and fights people had to go through to stop segregation. I have also learned the reasons why teachers are constantly changing their lesson plans. I will use this knowledge in my future social studies classroom by always updating my lesson plan in order to make sure my students get the best out of what I am teaching them. I will also constantly update the resources I use in order to make sure my lessons don't become outdated and make sure my students will have no trouble accessing these resources. I want to make sure they will not have difficulty, so if I ever do choose to use a Computer-Assisted lesson, my students will get the most out of it.