For this unit, I completed in-depth research about Thanksgiving because that was the holiday

that I physically taught my students about. I also learned more about St. Patricks Day, which I chose
because I knew I was already very familiar with the baseline celebrations associated with this day, but
realized I knew nothing in regards to its history, evolution, or cultural aspects.
To learn more about Thanksgiving, I took the information that we had learned in this course and
expanded upon it. I read two chapters in the book Lies My Teacher Told Me, written by James Loewen.
These chapters were very similar to the Howard Zinn chapter that we read earlier this semester. It
discussed the events that actually occurred during Christopher Columbus exploration of America and
the surrounding territories. The next chapter provided details about what may have actually occurred in
terms of the First Thanksgiving. While what I taught to my students was very basic, this resource was
very insightful and helped me to guide my discussion with students. It helped me to develop a less
biased view of the First Thanksgiving, and made the feelings associated with both the Native Americans
and Pilgrims relatable for me. I used this new perspective as I guided my students through their
introduction to this period of time.
I particularly enjoyed my second Thanksgiving resource. I read National Geographics 1621: A
New Look at Thanksgiving. I loved this book because it was filled with simply worded information and
beautiful photographs that depicted what people and items may have looked like during this time. I was
happy to learn about more than just the basic Native Americans and Pilgrims didnt get along, so they
had Thanksgiving to come together. I learned new information about why they decided to get along,
besides the need for each others resources. I learned that in addition to food sharing, the Native
Americans and Pilgrims agreed to be allies in battles and share technologies. While this resource did not
detail the many horrible things that Europeans did to the Native Americans as well as my previous
resource, it gave a great view of what life was actually like in Plymouth during that time. In the end of
this book, there was a timeline that really helped me to organize my thoughts and follow the events that

occurred. In addition, this book provided recipes for foods that would actually have been brought to
the First Thanksgiving, which I actually made for my students!
To learn more about St. Patricks day, I was an episode of The History Channels documentary
series about holidays. It was titled Celebrating the Green: History of St. Patricks Day. I loved this
documentary! It covered so much information, all of which being factual and seemingly unbiased. The
documentary discussed the history of St. Patrick himself and the origin of the holiday. It followed its
significance through Irish culture over time, and followed it with Irish immigrants to America. It
contrasted the way this holiday is celebrated around the world, emphasizing that Americans celebrate
bigger and more celebratory than anyone else. It also discusses a history of the Irish people and their
oppression overtime, which was something I had never learned about. This section helped lead me to
the cultural arts activity that I included into my St. Patricks day lesson.
As teachers, it is vital that we have extensive background knowledge about the topics that we
teach. This is particularly important when teaching social studies. In order to answer student inquiries
with substantial, culturally competent, and factual responses, we must be far more knowledgeable of
topics past what will be explicitly taught. I believe that this is even more essential when teaching the
younger grades, and especially kindergarten, like I do. As we have discussed in class, it may not be
developmentally appropriate or time conscience to teach many details of events that happened in
history, social issue concepts, or higher level civic and economic topics. However, in these lower grades,
it is our responsibility to begin students on the spiral towards the complete picture. We must create
solid foundations of social studies topics from which students can build upon, expand, connect, process,
and grow as citizens.