Yoolim Song

EDUC 302
Self-Reflection
Professor Keeley
04/25/2015

I was originally interested in teaching industrialization and capitalization, but I decided to change
my unit plan to World War I instead. For one reason, World War I can cover five lessons, when
industrialization and capitalization can be done within three lessons. Also, I thought that the Great War
was a big turning point of world in aspects of politics, economics, and culture. I strongly believed that it
could convey a very important message about morality (the nature of human), and power structure of the
world. But more importantly, learning about one of the most tragic human history that devoured about 37
million people was indeed essential for students as human beings. I hoped that this could be an
educational time to learn about the past, and really aware human conflict such as war can inflict on
humans lives.
Joining Mr. Sirois class was definitely a turning point of how to teach history. I was in AP World
History class, and I wasnt able to see much group discussion, or teacher-student interaction within the
class because it was intended to help students to get a certain score on AP exam. However, Mr. Sirois
really helped me realize what it means to engage students in class, and help student to be the master of
their learning. He strongly emphasized how it is student who are doing working instead of teacher. I
thought it was the hardest barrier to make students working because there are just so many things that you
have to know about history. It is very tempted to do full lecture class because history includes geography,
economy, culture, psychology, music, art, and I had no idea how to cover all these things within five
lessons. But I realized that I cant teach everything as much as I want to. I had to make a decision of what
is really important students to learn, and that has to also go along with States core standard.

I thought about how I want students get out of this lesson. As a history teacher, I thought that it is
very important to teach how to be a good historian, which means using primary sources to evaluate and
analyze to support the thesis of one self. It was definitely challenging to even find primary sources
because a lot of them were either really long, and most of them were written in high level of writing. I had
to consider students age and comprehension level. Then, Mr. Sirois recommended me to two personal
memoirs which were written with easy and comprehensible vocabulary. For another primary source such
as newspaper, I made sure that students understand the writing by putting definition of high level
vocabulary.
I handed out a writing response to students in which they were required to write Who won the
first battle of Somme? They had to use all three documents to support their answer, and also write in
well-structure which means having introduction, body, and conclusion. I also put grammar and
vocabulary as one of criteria, yet, they were very trivial point. I wanted students to use the three
documents to support their answer. The important point was students analysis of the documents. The
result was really amazing. Majority of students wrote essays with the three documents with reasons why
they were reliable or unreliable.
As I was preparing for the lesson, I was very humbled by limitation and my lack of knowledge. I
honestly had to rethink about whether it was right for me to pursue a bachelor degree in secondary
education social studies and history because I felt like I didnt have enough knowledge in my content
area. However, this really motivates me to strive and develop more in my content area, and I realized that
I had to put extra work and time to be a well-equipped teacher. For teaching history, not only reading
primary source, but also get familiar with different aspects or interpretation of sources were important. I
want to see more growth in my proficiency in my content area. Also, I realized that it is a tricky part for a
teacher to make students work because this often requires a lot of time. Teacher has to provide a
framework for students to be the master of their learning and recognize individual needs of students. This
means providing visuals such as pictures, or maps, reading, writing, speaking as well as kinetic materials.

I wanted all my five lessons to be include at least two of them in one lesson, and I should continue to put
this effort to provide Universal Design Lesson that can be beneficial for all.
Lastly, I am thankful with my whole-heart that I found what I really enjoy and passionate about.
Teaching history meant so much more than teaching information, or methods, but it meant me giving an
influence in their lives. As I started a teachers aide, I was very convinced that having a personal
relationship with them were important and could create more open, friendly classroom. I am determined
to keep striving for my growth because my growth can tremendously impact students growth as well.