Coverdale+Brianne+Inclusion+Strategies+for+Social+Studies



 Hello, my name is Brianne Coverdale. I am transfer student from West Valley College in Los Gatos, California. I was born and raised in San Jose, California. I am from a small family, and am a middle child with a younger brother and older sister. As a kid, my dad took us camping all throughout the summer, and skiing all winter. I was also always riding my bike, rollerblading, or taking martial arts classes. Because of my childhood, I am a very active person, and always have to be doing something.  Something that I would like for you to know about me, and that you may find interesting is that I love equestrian, or horse back riding. I have been riding off and on since the age of ten.When I ride I feel free and it is such an amazing feeling when you are in that space, because you feel like nothing and no one can touch you. Some of best memories are when I am riding, whether they be from the camps I attended as a kid or the trail rides that I would go on with my girl scout troop.  While I love horseback riding and being outside, I am very different person in terms of my education and career goals. In terms of my education, I graduated from high school in 2007. After that I attended West Valley College earning my AA in Liberal Arts/Transfer with a emphasis in Arts and Humanities. I then transferred here to Southern Oregon University where I will graduate with my BA in Early Childhood Education next June. For my future education I plan on completing my Masters degree, while also gaining endorsements in reading and or ESOL(English for Speakers of Other Languages) and Bilingual Education. My future career goals, as many in this class, are to become a teacher. However, after teaching for a little while I would like to become a principal. In becoming a principal, I am hopeful that I can impact my students' education even greater. In becoming a teacher and then a principal I am hoping that I create lifelong learners, and people who will help impact our world for the better.  However, this is also one of my greatest fears in becoming a teacher. I am afraid that in becoming a teacher I will not impact my students in the way that I want to. This includes not only having a positive impact on my students, but in making my students want to be life long learners, and helping them reach their goals. I feel that even though I will be a elementary school teacher, and my students will be young, this is where they can be lost. If we do not inspire them when they are young then it will be almost impossible to reignite that spark when they are older.  As a student there was little that was extremely difficult for me to learn, except in relation to math. Math has always been a difficult subject for me to grasp. I believe that this has a lot to do with the fact that my elementary education concerning math was not the best. In my school, we learned math through worksheets and lectures that were meant to be one size fits all. This, however, was not the case for me and made learning math difficult and much of the time not retaining the concept being taught. Due to the fact I had a difficulty in math I can use it as a way to connect with my students with learning differences, or any of my students. Students, I believe, have this image of their teachers being infallible early in their education. If students realize that this isn't the case, and realize that there are concepts and topics that we struggle with, they will be more willing to work to learn them. As a student with difficulties in math, I can use the advantage of having to learn the concept in several different manners to help me retain the information and apply it to students who don't understand a concept the first way I teach it. This is not just with math either. I can apply the concept of students not understanding a topic or concept the first way I teach it and find another way for them to understand it.  From this course, I am hoping to learn about the different difficulties that students have to overcome, and how to help them. I know that as a teacher the more you understand about a student's specific issue the more you are able to help them and have them understand what is being taught and be able to participate. The other concept I hoping to learn from this class is how to not only get students the help they need if they have a learning difficulty, or other difficulty, but how to correctly bring up these issues in a sensitive manner. I know that both of these cases can be difficult to do.

=INCLUSION STRATEGIES FOR SOCIAL STUDIES INTRODUCTION: = The topic I chose for my research was inclusion in Social Studies. I chose this topic, because I love history and I want everyone to be able to learn from it. I fully believe in the quote of “We don’t know our future if we don’t know our past.” I want to be able to have all my students be able to learn and see how fun and interesting Social Studies can be. During the course of research I found information on what some issues that learning disabilities could have on students while studying social studies. These issues ranged from learning disabilities, such as reading and writing, to physical disabilities that can limit the ability for a student to learn. While beginning my research I found a lot interesting inclusion strategies that will allow children, no matter their disability, to participate and learn the concepts and lessons that are being taught.

=**TOP THINGS I LEARNED:**= 1) There are so many ways that you can adapt your lesson, according to the way your particular lesson is structured, but according to your style of teaching.

2) Being as straightforward and direct in your instruction as possible can make a huge difference in not your students understand, not just your disabled student 3) The need for teachers to understand different disabilities, and how they may affect the classroom and instruction, so that student receive as much out of their education as possible.

4) I learned that whether a student is average, gifted, or disabled they can face some of the same difficulties with the social studies, in the difficulty and density of the language that is used in social studies textbooks.

5) I learned that there are many issues that can affect a student within the context of social studies, and it is important to do everything you can to support your students. =RESOURCES:= 1) Knowles, Gianna. //Supporting Inclusive Practice//. 2nd ed. London: Routledge, 2011. Print. -5:5 rating: I gave this book this article a five out of five rating because it had so much information to offer, not only on different disabilities, but different ways to help those students in the classroom. I made this article my best resource because not only was it easy to find information that you needed but it gave case studies, and covered all students not just students with disabilities.
 * BEST RESOURCE**:

2) Mastropieri, Margo A., and Thomas E. Scruggs. //The Inclusive Classroom: Strategies for Effective Differentiated Instruction//. 4th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill, 2010. Print. - 5:5 rating: I rated it this, because while there was so much good information in it. I also felt that the examples and other help they wrote would be relatively easy to implement within a classroom setting.
 * OTHER RESOURCES:**

3) Rathvon, Natalie. "Interventions to Improve Social Studies and Science Performance."//Effective School Interventions: Strategies for Enhancing Academic Achievement and Social Competence//. New York: Guilford, 1999. 286-315. Print. -5:5 Rating: I rated this book this way, even though it was only a chapter, because it talked about the areas that are most difficult for student, not just disabled students, when studying Social Studies. I also like this chapter so much, because it showed not only different alterations you could make to lesson, but ideas on assessments as well.

4) Scruggs, Thomas E., Margo A. Mastropieri, and Cynthia M. Okolo. "Science And Social Studies For Students With Disabilities." //Focus On Exceptional Children// 41.2 (2008): 1-24. //Education Full Text (H.W. Wilson)//. Web. 23 May 2012. -4:5 Rating: I rated this article 4 out of 5, because while it had a lot of fantastic information not only about the issues that social studies instruction can preset, but what social studies is, it was very dense. It provided a lot of information that was repeated an certain point throughout the article.

5) Steele, Marcee M. "Teaching Social Studies To Middle School Students With Learning Problems." //Clearing House: A Journal Of Educational Strategies, Issues And Ideas// 81.5 (2008): 197-200. //ERIC//. Web. 23 May 2012. -4:5 Rating: I liked this article, because there was information not only on how to alter your instruction, but it talked about how the different disabilities need different accommodations, and what those accommodations may be.

6) Keith2 Smolkowski, et al. "Deepening Content Understanding In Social Studies Using Digital Text And Embedded Vocabulary Supports." //Journal Of Special Education Technology// 24.4 (2009): 1-16. //Education Full Text (H.W. Wilson)//. Web. 23 May 2012.

7) Thomas E. Scruggs, et al. "Improving Student Comprehension Of Social Studies Text: A Self-Questioning Strategy For Inclusive Middle School Classes." //Remedial & Special Education// 32.2 (2011): 105-113. //Academic Search Complete//. Web. 23 May 2012.

8) McFarland, Jacqueline. "Instructional Ideas For Social Studies Teachers Of Inclusion Students." //The Social Studies (Washington, D.C.)// 89.4 (1998): 150-153. //Education Full Text (H.W. Wilson)//. Web. 24 May 2012. -4:5 Rating: I gave it this rating rating because the article not only talked about different disabilities, and what some of the signs of a disability are, but it gave many ideas on how to support any child in the social studies classroom.