Aundrea Marie Baldwin

Electronic Portfolio

Department of Social Science Education

College of Education, UGA

 

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. My Rationale
  3. Current Resume

Professional Standards

  1. Content and Curriculum

  2. Knowledge of Students and their Learning

  3. Learning Environments

  4. Assessment

  5. Planning and Instruction

  6. Professionalism

Content and Curriculum

"Teachers demonstrate a strong knowledge of content areas established by the National Council for the Social Studies."

"When one teaches, two learn."

Robert Half

Artifact (as evidence of meeting standard)

Factual information provides every student with a basic foundation necessary for higher learning. Facts, figures, and dates are absolutely indispensable components needed to integrate learning and foster active engagement in the classroom. Students cannot fully participate in learning concepts and synthesizing ideas unless they have reference points built upon mastery of subject content.

An understanding of subject content forms the base of a stable learning pyramid. Before I can decide how I want to teach I have to decide what I want to teach. Content is a tool to achieve my higher goals. I want to use factual content associated with Social Studies to equip my students with knowledge, values, and thinking skills that they can carry with them into their journey as active, knowledgeable, and respectful adults. Therefore the content that I select to teach is not chosen by accident or the dogged adherence to some standard protocol but a tool to achieve my goal of equipping students for lifelong learning.

I want to teach subject content and then use that information to teach students about themes and concepts of human behavior and social interactions. Factual teaching is good. Even better is getting them to think about and understand themes and concepts using those facts. However, my ultimate goal is for my students to learn to gather information and synthesize that learning into apply that type of thought process to every aspect of their lives.

High school and college provided me with exposure to general and specific Social Studies content so I thought I was prepared to teach. However, after a few days of student teaching I realized that I had not mastered much of what I had “learned”. I was reduced to the embodiment of the MTV blurb “You Think You Know But You Have No Idea”. That is the point when I realized tMay 3, 2004ve teacher. The thought of standing in front of a class of students with my current knowledge motivated me to dig into Social Studies content like nothing else had ever done. I started using my personal time to collect books, articles, Internet sites, and talk with seasoned teachers to expand and diversify my knowledge of the subjects I was expected to teach. That is when I realized that my commitment to teaching was also a commitment to lifelong learning. My parents both earned college degrees as adults. I knew it would help them in their careers but it was not until I became a student teacher that I understood their stated belief that success in any field requires a commitment to lifelong learning. I now appreciate the joy that comes from learning and understanding as a goal unto itself. I hope to pass on that love of learning to my students.

 



This portfolio was created for ESOC ####.
This page was last updated on May 3, 2004 .
Instructor: Dr. John Napier (E-mail Dr. Napier at jnapier@uga.edu)