Blog Post- Week 2

This was the second week in my placement, and it involved a fair amount of activity facilitation and observation as well as planning for the rest of the semester.

This week, I was able to take some notes on how the class is usually structured and think deeply about the method by which I need to structure my classtime. It has been expressed that it is difficult for this age group to do more than 15-20 minutes of notes (as it becomes tedious - which is understandable), so it is recommended that I balance each day with discussions, activities, and projects. This is similar to the way that I did my lessons in years passed, so this transition should be natural for me.

As for wonderings, I was able to formulate a rough research question dealing with the use of maps (particularly interactive maps and GIS) in the classroom. Basically, I want to know how the use of interactive maps in 10th grade US history classrooms affects the achievement in tasks relating to map literacy and attitudes towards maps and map assessments. As time goes on, I will refine this wondering into a more polished research question.