Hey everybody. I am Ben Abee (Aye-Bee)--Dr. Parker got it RIGHT! (see Blog Video instruction on BB) and I must say, this is the busiest semester yet here at GWU. I am 35 years old and finally figured out what I want to be when I grow up! I have been married to my lovely wife Harmony for 17 years this Oct. I have 2 boys Samuel (15) and Ashton (13). I plan to teach in Spring 2017. I love anything outdoors: gardening, hunting, fishing, camping... and I love music. I am part of the Worship Team at Vintage Church NC in Randleman. SO, I am a pretty busy guy. (Oh, I work full time at a furniture company too!)
I found an article from Uconn.edu that was about a proposal entitled: Connecticut Elementary and Secondary Social Studies Frameworks. It is a guide basically that would allow teachers a different approach to presenting information to their students. It would help students connect the information to what they are learning and give them the ability to begin shaping their world view. Similar to what we are starting to learn about in SSED307. From the article: "The framework, as spelled out by the State Department of Education, specifies that social studies instruction should be more than a teacher telling students what they need to know. Instead, teachers must guide students through history, economics, geography, and civics, helping them develop their own questions and conduct their own inquiry." (http://today.uconn.edu/2015/01/a-21st-century-approach-to-teaching-social-studies/) I totally agree with this idea of how we as teachers should lead our classrooms. I look forward to challenging my students philosophically, socially, and mentally on how they learn and how they form their world view and ideals. I hope to impart to them a great overall picture through social studies of how the world was, how it is, and how it could be in the future. The "frameworks" are not a mandate but rather a tool to engage students in the content from different angles. It doesn't really align with the State Standards, so I don't think it would be the best tool, but it is something that could be used to open up new doors to learning. I think what the purpose of this "framework" would be is to allow students to dive in a bit deeper into local government and how the world is effected by laws and other aspects of government in their lives and globally.
I really enjoyed this article Ben. I really like that the Connecticut State Department of Education is getting involved and encouraging more of a focus on Social Studies. I agree that we has teachers should challenge our students and allow them to formulate their own opinions and encourage our students to start asking their own questions rather than just lecturing and giving the students facts and dates. Social Studies is such an important topic for children to become familiar with because it educates them on how our society works and informs them of decisions that have worked in our past and also decisions that may not have been the best. These things are important because it gives us a knowledge of mistakes that have been made so that perhaps we all as a society may learn from them.
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