Peter Fontana

1
Peter Fontana

• About Me

2
Biography
About Me

• I was born on March 8th, 1981 making me 25 years
  old.
• I grew up in Maplewood New Jersey and currently
  still live there.
• I am currently into my second semester at
  Fairleigh Dickinson working on my M.A.T. and
  secondary social studies certification.
• I majored in History at Drew University in
  Madison and graduated in 2003.
• I am also interested in secondary English
  certification and am taking the PRAXIS exam in
  mid-April.

Education and Background
3
Biography
Continued

• I have played guitar for over 9 years and am
  almost entirely self taught.
• in time I am considering taking up a music
  education.
• I am an obsessive music fan and have a collection
  that is quite impressive.
• Despite this obvious flaw in my characterI am
  really into jazz and singer-songwriters.
  Especially socially relevant onesI am also a
  sucker for love songs. Below are some of my
  favorite albums.

4
Music and Education

• I have always liked the idea of incorporating
  socially relevant music into my lesson
  plansparticularly in the historical or literary
  (lyrical) context
• I am not talking about cheesy sing-alongs and
  changing the lyrics to pop-songs to fit a Civil
  War lessonI would much rather, and be far more
  adept at teaching the actual listening,
  interpretation, context, significance and
  enjoyment of music in its current or past forms.
  
• This I feel is far more valuable.
• I would love to get students to appreciate and
  love music just as much as I would love to get
  students interested in my focus subject
• Social Studies

5
My Views on Social Studies

• First and foremost I feel that the purpose of
  social studies is to teach good citizenship.
• To encourage civic participation.
• Foster informed decision making.
• High-level critical thinking.
• Well rounded individuals.

There is no way to guarantee these kind of
characteristics in anyone, but I feel it is an
obligation of educators to expose all students to
the kind of thinking the social sciences demand.
6
My History Background

• My focus as an undergrad was mostly European
  History and Literature.
• I loved Modern German History but I also studied
  a bit of Rome, Medieval, Renaissance,
  Enlightenment and Revolutions.
• Despite this, I do have a background with U.S.
  History and actually scored higher on the U.S.
  section of the PRAXIS than on the Europeanwhich
  I did not expect.
• I would love to teach either subject at the High
  School level.

7
I hope you enjoyed this presentation as much as I
did

• Also linked on the page you found this is a Power
  Point Lesson Plan on the American
  RevolutionEnjoy!