Monday, November 29, 2010
How can use this story in an elementary school classroom?
As an elementary school teacher, it is important that stay on top of current events. Based on the information we read for today (Five ways to increase Civic Engagement) this is an engaging way to inspire students to become civically active citizens. As such, it is your responsibility to integrate the news into your classroom. Read this news story and provide a short description of how you would use it to teach social studies in your class. You need to describe the following: 1) grade you feel comfortable teaching this to, 2) short description of how you would teach the information, 3) how your lesson will promote both social studies and specifically civic engagement. Please identify your response
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I think that this news story is too mature for elementary students to learn. It was even difficult for me to understand. If I had to teach something to this degree, I would definitely make sure it was a higher elementary grade, like fifth grade. In order to teach the news story, I would have the students identify what they already know about the economic crisis in our country and then read the article as a class and reflect on it. I think the lesson would promote social studies because it talks all about our government. It would promote civic engagement because it is important for the students to know what is going on in our country and how it affects them.
ReplyDelete1) I think this article is a little advanced for most elementary students. Maybe it would work for fifth grade. It could work in lower grades if there has been a focus on branches of governmnet and economics.
ReplyDelete2)I would combine this information when teaching about Executive branch of the government or possibly when talking about taxes adn national debt.
3)This will promote social studies because it deals with bbranches of government, deficits, national debt etc...
It promotes civic engagement because it is important as a citizen, even at a young age, to stay up to date with what is going on in the world, especially your government.
I think this article would be appropriate for students only in 5th grade. Additionally to students reading the article they will need a brief summary before and after they read so that they understand what they are reading. I would use this article to teach students about government programs and spending. I would let the students look at all the programs the government is in charge of and then write a persuasive letter or paper suggesting ways the government could further cut the deficit. This would introduce students to opportunity cost and other economic topics. It would also show students the kinds of decisions governments, both federal and local, have to make all the time.
ReplyDelete1) 5th
ReplyDelete2) to teach this informaiton i will need to bring in more background information as well as get them involved, i would also show the students charts and information on all of the government spending and have them brain storm ideas on how they would lower the deficit, and finallly have the class write a letter to the government giving their ideas on how they would cut spending
3) this lesson will promote both social studies and civic engagement because it will get the students involved in current events and they will be able to put their own opinions and ideas into this lesson.
I would present an article similar to this in a higher level grade, maybe 4th or 5th. Reading and understanding the content of this article needs higher level thinking skills that lower level grade students simply do not have. I would have students read this article and share their thoughts with the class. Then, I would have students come up with their own ideas to reduce debt. Because this lesson will allow students to understand what is going on in the world around them, this promotes civic engagement. This lesson also promotes social studies because it deals with the government.
ReplyDelete1. If I had to teach it at the elementary level,I would teach it to 5th grade. However, I think that is even too young.
ReplyDelete2. I would teach this information in a way that made the students interested. Maybe with a project or video.
3. It would promote social studies because is part of the government.It promotes civic engagement because these are things that an individual needs to know to be a successful citizen.
I think that this may be appropriate for 5th grade but no younger that that. I think I would use this to talk about the financial crisis. I would allow them to reflect on where they may have noticed changes because of this crisis. I may use this to talk about government and the branches, and the power that each of those have.
ReplyDeleteI think that with teacher modification of the article at least all or most of ideas could be used in the classroom. The ideas in the article could be used to discuss economics or the branches of the government. I think that I would allow the students to discover, through maybe a centers money spending activity, how money is distributed in the government. Teaching current events allows students to establish behaviors in which they are invested in their communities and country.
ReplyDeleteI think that this news story is a little bit advanced for most elementary students. However I would try to teach this to grades 4 and 5. I would give the students specific jobs. Then I would give all the students pretend money. Then I would talk about the debt of our community. Next I would let the students talk about ways to help and cost of living. We could see where it goes and talk about paycuts
ReplyDeleteI think the lesson will promote civic engagement and social studies because it allows students to get a basic concept of national debt and current events while acting out the situation.
We feel that this information is to mature for elementary aged students. The concepts are to complex for them to understand, and hard for most adults to understand. However, it can be simlified for 4th or 5th gradeer to understand. For example, you can do a cause and effect set-up withthe information. If you cut the salaries, what would this do to debt? You can relate this to the household economy as well. Cutting household expenses to save money. This promotes civic engagment by getting the students involved in current events and allows them to give their opinions
ReplyDeleteI found that this was a little difficult for even me to understand but I think that you could possibly bring this into a 5th grade classroom. In order to effectively teach on this article I think that a teacher would need to do some background research. However, it would be helpful to introduce students to incorporating a Current Events section during the day where students could bring in articles from newspapers or offline. In the event that students did not have access to these items, you could work with the school in having newspapers brought in or Scholastic newsletters for students to look at and pick out articles that interest them.
ReplyDelete1. we feel comfortable teaching this topic to 5th grade. It would also be a challenge at this grade, but they need to be aware of world events.
ReplyDelete2. I would teach this information in a unbiased way and present the information in a way that students are able to understand and simplify the content.
3. This topic is a part of government/civics and students need to learn how to deal with these issues in order to be competent citizens.
topics in this article could be used in grades 3-5. the article talks about certain government services and citizens. the article itself would be more for the older grades since it is difficult to understand certain topics and vocabulary. I would teach the article as simple as possible, maybe give examples that relate to the students in particular. Students need to understand different topics in this article to be successful citizens.
ReplyDeleteThis would be appropriate for 5th grade, or possibly a class of advanced 4th graders. I think this would be a great lesson to use debate with, so the class would need to read the article together first, then prepare and present their arguments. This specifically addresses civic engagement because it deals with politics, and all citizens have a responsibility to vote and put the people they want in charge in office.
ReplyDeleteWhile the artilce is advanced for most elementary students the subject matter can be taught to all children. Children are never too young to learn that budgets are necessary and everyone must live within their means, including our government.
ReplyDeleteBritney and Deshae
ReplyDelete1. We would feel comfortable teaching this to fifth grade.
2. We would use this to discuss economics. We could read the story, and discuss what the purpose of cutting federal salaries would be, and how this savings will filter down to the average citizen.
3. Promotes social studies because it discusses the social studies discipline of economics, and it promotes civic engagement because it shows how its all citizens responsibility to assist the country in various ways, such as relieving the debt.
We feel comfortable teaching this content to 4th/5th graders.
ReplyDeleteI would teach this information using role play. For example, making someone the leader (president) and other students the republicans and democrats. Other students could also become the workers who will be losing money and this could form a debate/deliberation. Students would switch roles allowing them to view this issue from different sides.
By using role play and debate, it encompases social studies and civic engagement.
The grades that I would teach this to would be 4th and 5th. I would teach this information to the students by breaking it up into paragraphs and having the students put it into words that are easier for them to understand. It would promote social studies and civic engagement because the students would have a better understanding of the topic because they would have had the chance to research and use dictionaries as a reference.
ReplyDeleteI could teach this in 5th grade. Students could learn about budgets as well as the roles of government. They can go through the process of propossing a bill and what it takes to get passed. Students would recognize how something such as this could affect them and explain their role in this issue.
ReplyDelete1.I would feel comfortable teaching this topic to 5th graders. It could be done with fourth but would perhaps be a little more challenging.
ReplyDelete2. We could have a debate on why we agree or disagree with what is going on with the federal government employees pays.
3. This helps them to understand that we as a country are spending above our means. It could lead to many other economic topics.
I feel that this article is a little advanced for elementary students but I could see using with a fifth grade class. I would read the article as a class so we could discuss things as we were reading. After children understood what the article was about I would ask the students to debate the issue in the article. I agree with Penny that students are never to young to learn about budgets.
ReplyDeleteWe would teach this content to 5th grade. We thought it would be appropriate to do a role-play situation on how the students have a certain amount of money or budget. The students will have to decide where a majority of their money will go to and where to limit spending.
ReplyDeleteThe students will learn about the responsibility of handling money while serving the people in their community. This can allow the students to experience where valuable time and money should be in order to help and change their society in a positive way.
I think this would be appropriate for 4th or 5th grade. Mostly 5th. ask the students if you know what a budget is, what taxes are, and what an economy is. they also will need to know what a raise is. they need some kind of background information about where our economy is at the moment and why Obama is even considering this. I think role playing would be great to teach this.
ReplyDeleteWe would feel comfortable teaching this to fourth graders. We would teach this through junior achievement having them connect this to jobs in the economy and how it can affect the community. To promote civic engagement we would have them write a letter to their congressman stating why this is a good or bad idea.
ReplyDeleteIf we taught this at the elementary level we would teach it in 5th grade. We could use this information and have a class discussion. Then we could have a debate and give pros and cons of whether this is a good idea for our economy. We could also talk about other ways to budget government money to try and help with the deficit. This teaches social studies and promotes civic competence because we are teaching about the government and students are aware of what is going on in the world today!
ReplyDeleteI think teaching this article could be presented to elementary students as young as 3rd or 2nd grade, however, it's all in the way the topic is presented. It's important for younger students to discuss topic such as this in schools so they can be introduced to and begin to understand their government and economy at a young age. I would read this article to the students (or at least parts) of the article and relate it to the students (allowance, mowing yards, etc). The students would then have a long discussion to ensure the students to understand the subject and what they think will happen if pay increases were never granted. Older students could even brainstorm ways to fix the problem
ReplyDeleteGeneva and Erin
ReplyDelete1. Grade level: Fourth or Fifth
2.Talk about government spending, have a mock budget meeting, talk about importance of jobs federal workers do, what to do with the money saved, only give a summary of the article.
3. Being a responsible citizen in your spending. Talk about the branches of governemnt and whose jobs are being affected, Keep up with current issues.
How well did this work for you
ReplyDelete