Two-Column Notes

Date:
9/21/16
Page #
#193

#195

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#201

Name:
Kristen Tabesh

Class/Subject:
EDTL 2760 Intro to Social Studies
Topic or Chapter

The Text Says

Notes (key concepts, direct quotes, etc.)

I Say
My notes, commentary

The foundational position citizenship holds

in the US social studies curriculum would
suggest a proliferation of studies on
teacher beliefs about citizenship. In fact,
there are empirical studies of this nature,
with most of the attention to beliefs
centering on defining the purpose of social
studies generally
In view of exploring teachers
conceptualizations of citizenship education,
we put Westheimer and Kahne (2004)
continuum to a new usethe descriptions
of individual social studies teacher
orientations as opposed to a civic
education program orientations
To these personally responsible teachers,
good citizens are knowledgeable informed
voters who attended current events. The
level of citizen involvement for which they
advocate is local with an emphasis on
voting
The participatory teachers exhibited a
different focus on the type of participation,
use of knowledge and location of
citizenship in the curriculum. Involvement

I think this starts of the basis of this entire

article. The point this author is trying to make is
that there is a huge correlationproven by
studiesbetween social studies teachers
personal beliefs and how they teach their social
studies.
What I took away from this passage is that the
scholars that wrote this article used the
description of what makes a responsible citizen
from Westheimer and Kahne, and uses this to
judge the teachers that they interviewed.
I guess the point here is what makes a
personally responsible teacher and what
makes a hypocrite. Another point to this part of
the study is that when you practice what you
preach, you classroom gets more out of it.
I like this definition of the participatory
teacher. I think that a teacher that is
genuinely involved in things that make them an
responsible citizen, they are able to bring that

was characterized by attention to issues in

the local community and beyond
#203

#203

back into the classroom in a beneficial way.

Because after all, arent we as Social Studies
teachers striving to create good students out of
our curriculum? Isnt THAT the overall point?
In these justice oriented classrooms,
I think this is a good example of a teacher that
teachers advocated for citizenship action
goes over and beyond. I remember writing
beyond the classroom. For example, Dora
letters to government workers when I was in
and Brandon described a letter-writing
elementary school. I to this day dont know if
campaigns in which their students wrote on they actually went anywhere, but the activity
an issue of concern to members of
alone made the lesson plan more real to me as
Congress or a newspaper editor
a student.
What are teachers conceptualization of
It saddens me that this is what the study ended
citizenship education? It describes the
up saying. That there are very few teachers
majority of social studies teachers in this
that are really taking hold of the Justice
state as personally responsible in their
Oriented classroom. But I do not believe that
orientation, with very few teachers
that in itself makes them poor social studies
embracing Justice Orientation
teachers. In most careers out there, it is hard to
separate personally belief and your work. This
can be held very true to teachersespecially in
a curriculum that can often include politics.

Connection to the Reading:

I would have to say that this is bad news. We talk about our general purpose of being social studies: to
inform students on how to form into responsible citizen that become a productive part of our society. But it
is unfortunate that we dont do this as teachers. This reminds me of the video from the Newsroom that we
watched last week. Maybe if we are were responsible citizens, we would be the greatest country in the
world.