Two-Column Notes

Date:
Name: Brianna Appelfeller
Class/Subject: EDTL 2760
9/20/201
6
MR Title(s): Beyond personally responsible: A study of teacher conceptualizations of
citizenship education

Page #

MR Source(s): Patterson, N., Misco, T., & Doppen, F. (2012). Beyond personally responsible:
A study of teacher conceptualizations of citizenship education. Education, Citizenship, and
Social Justice, 7(2), 191-206.
The Text Says
I Say
Notes (key concepts, direct quotes, etc.)
My notes, commentary

Pg. 193

As a case in point, social studies teachers

and educators may have knowledge of the
proposition that citizenship is the primary
purpose of social studies, but they may not
believe that it is a useful construct for their
teaching.

Pg. 193

A number of studies have identified

beliefs as a possible barrier to standardsbased instruction within social studies,
suggesting that teachers steadfastly
maintain comfortable boundaries in beliefs
and practices that prohibit growth and
responsiveness to new ideas.

Teachers teach in a variety of ways, sometimes

based around the ways the students learn best,
and others teach the way they enjoy most. The
main purpose of social studies education is to
properly educate students in multiple subjects
and to teach citizenship. Many of the subjects
within social studies may not be able to be
directly relatable to the idea of teaching
students how to be proper citizens, which may
make it difficult for teachers to incorporate this
into their lessons.
When I read this, the first thing I thought of was
religion. When I was in middle school, I vaguely
remember learning minimal information about
the many major religions. Many teachers may
be uncomfortable with teaching religions
because it may go against their personal
beliefs, or they may fear that they could get in
trouble. This prevents students from learning
and understanding the diversity, which is very

Pg. 196

Table 2. Interview participants by

citizenship categorization.

Pg. 204

This study shows that teachers

conceptualizations of citizenship education
can have a tremendous impact on the
sorts of citizenship learning experiences
students receive, and that these
conceptualizations may pose barriers to
effective social studies teaching.

important as a citizen of the United States.

While reading these findings and this collection
of data, I really found comfort in the fact that
while all social studies teachers believe that
teaching citizenship is the main purpose of
social studies, every teacher saw it in a
different light so to say. While less teachers
chose the option of participatory than
justice-oriented, and even less chose the
option of personally responsible. While
reading the definitions I even tried to pin
myself into a category; I pinned myself into the
justice-oriented category.
This quote is very important because in relation
to the data, it shows that every teacher views
teaching citizenship a little differently; this can
directly relate the education the child is
receiving. One student in one class may learn
and benefit more than a student in a class with
a teacher who views citizenship differently. This
really makes teaching social studies difficult, it
makes me think about how I am going to teach
my students one day and realize how important
it is that I teach the importance of citizenship.

Connections to previous MR:

I can directly relate this article to the blog post #1. Students may not like social studies because they
feel that they are learning unimportant information, maybe they feel this way because they dont
understand the importance of citizenship, and the teacher may not be teaching in a way that they can
understand. I also can relate this to blog post #3; most of blog post #3 talked about the importance of
teaching students how to be responsible citizens, which seems to be the entirety of this article.
I think that these results are both good and bad news. I believe this to be so because I believe that it is
good that teachers are using a variety of different methods and this makes the students have a broader
understanding. But it also is bad news because some teachers may not see the teaching of citizenship
as important as it really is, which can really hurt a students social studies education.