Best Practices Notes Social Studies

Best Practices Notes – Social Studies

In General...... 1 Summary:...... 1 Rationale:...... 1 Relevant General Principles (from entire book):...... 1 Social Studies...... 2 Resources: Readings, websites, recommendations, etc...... 2 In-Class Ideas...... 2 Reading ideas...... 2 Get students involved:...... 2 Ideas Inspired by Reading Best Practices:...... 3 One Example of Best Practice (from the book):...... 3 Appendix...... 4 Qualities of Best Practice in Teaching Social Studies (from the Best Practice book)...... 4 NCSS’ Ten Thematic Strands:...... 5 NCSS’ Four Perspectives for Approaching these Themes:...... 5 NCSS’ Four Learning Skills...... 5

In General

Summary:  Success comes from challenging and real-life projects that students see the use in and feel a tangible sense of accomplishment from (or feel that a problem has been solved). o The curriculum needs to be relevant. If you want to find oil, dig one deep well, not hundreds of shallow wells.

Rationale:  Education can be compared to learning one’s native language – there is no structured pedagogy (e.g. for infants learning to speak) beyond encouragement and gentle correction, yet “students” learn it very well.

Relevant General Principles (from entire book):  Scaffolding – group students across age-groups in order to have them teach each other. Compare to organizations such as Boy/Girl Scouts  Include reflection in all learning activities  Students CONSTRUCT (reconstruct) their world – therefore they need the basic skills, but then go about putting together their world as they understand it, in a sense recreating the world – the basic skills are what matter. They’ll (re)construct their world on their own using their basic skills. o Recreating like recreation!  Learn by doing – write and read LOTS every day, as much as possible  Learning cycle begins when a class encounters or identifies a problem for study  Students learn to read by reading and to write by writing – just like language acquisition in infants  7 Structures of Best Practice Teaching Best Practices Notes – Social Studies

o Small group activities o Reading as thinking o Representing to learn o Classroom workshops o Authentic experiences o Reflective assessment o Integrative units  Don’t have to overhaul entire curriculum immediately – just one step at a time o Seem to be a number of comparisons to Montessori  Formative, not summative, grades – i.e. fewer number grades and more constructive critiques

Social Studies

Resources: Readings, websites, recommendations, etc.  See pages 191-194 of Best Practice: Today’s Standards for Teaching and Learning in America’s Schools (Zemelman, Steve, et al)

In-Class Ideas

Reading ideas  First Thoughts: 2-3 minute free write to see what students know  KWL Charts: what students Know, Want to know, and later what they Learned  Admit/Exit slips – students must prepare a few sentences on a piece of paper about what they learned the day before (admit) or in class today (exit) and what they learned or a question they have  Dialogue journals – students write reactions and the journal is shared with other students (or the teacher) – can be like “talk to your partner about this, but you can only write instead of talking  Stop-n-Write: Brief pauses during presentations at which time students write thoughts, responses to questions, ideas, predictions, etc.  Partner/Buddy Reading – read to each other (each with own copy or passing back and forth)

Get students involved:  Peer Response and Editing – small group critiquing with soft voices and constructive criticism (pair or small group)  Centers/stations – involves movement and change of medium/topic to keep interest alive  KWL – what do you know, what do you want to find out, what did you learn  When want partners/groups to discuss, have them WRITE IT OUT. No talking allowed, so must write and read. Best Practices Notes – Social Studies

 Representing to Learn: Journals in which students answer questions, draw pictures, write poems, etc. related to the class’ work. Open ended questions (What would you do? How would things be different if? What are the advantages/disadvantages of? What are 3 questions from last night’s work that we should discuss today?) No grade for grammar, etc. Just thoughts and raw material with which to work.  Workshop – spend 30 minutes once/week, e.g., DOING the work. Read for the time. Write for the time. Have choices that are related to the current work. o Five minutes – class conference – each student tells plan for Workshop o Ten minutes – teacher gives mini-lesson to guide students into work o 20-30 minutes – work time with teacher conferring with students one-on-one for a couple minutes each – much more valuable than longer time presenting to whole class1 o 10 minutes – sharing: students can present work, share thoughts, ask questions, etc.  Bring in parent volunteers to help out as much as possible – use their expertise and get their help (keep them in the loop)

Ideas Inspired by Reading Best Practices:  Problem to Solve: Do you know that in Burma, students have to learn a foreign language in order to attend school, and in that school they can’t learn about their own culture? Let’s figure out what’s going on and if/how we can help. Let students take it from there.  Create own cultural description (as a class) each group has a different aspect to create, e.g. language, fashion, traditions, holidays, religion, etc. o Need examples of ethnographic studies to base on  Get visits from a representative/educational section of a church, synagogue/temple, and mosque – group students so that one group is responsible for each religion and can therefore prepare, ask, and help explain good questions

One Example of Best Practice (from the book):  Postholes in History (16 2-week units) – really explore topics o Students select important moments in history of country (postholes) then connect events leading to and resulting from those moments (the rails) o Few days introduction about the topic/time. Kids make admit slips with 10 significant terms/key words or phrases o Develop report topic possibilities o Each student brings in a summary of an article about the time period/event

1 In-Class Conferences(one-on-one) – Ideas for questions: o What are you working on? o How is it going? o What do you plan to do next? Best Practices Notes – Social Studies

o Share highlights, then students in groups of 3 chart what they know and what questions they have – helps guide their reading and their choice of report topics o Then a video or teacher presentation with plenty of stops for students to write reflections, questions, comments (short) o Fill out a form to reflect on the work so far o Report topics and research – couple days o Present reports o Test/Assessment: . Each group prepares one essay and five multiple-choice questions . Each group draws an essay from a hat and answers all the multiple choice questions, plus a couple more teacher-created questions . Homework – each student has to grade another student’s essay and explain their rationale for the grade they give . Finally essay writers meet with essay creators to discuss answers o Bring in newspaper or magazine articles once a week with short summary and explanation of how it relates to the unit, and student’s response to the article o Watch news show and write how it relates to the current unit (once a week) or the textbook (record the program so students can watch at school (e.g. a Friday show will have the assignment due Wednesday so time to watch at school if didn’t see it at home o Require to discuss with parent (or with teacher if parent not available) o Hopscotch of the major postholes – on floor at door and must enter and exit by hopping on all postholes – each square has a summarizing statement about the unit/posthole

Appendix

Qualities of Best Practice in Teaching Social Studies (from the Best Practice book) 1. Students of social studies need regular opportunities to investigate topics in depth 2. Students need opportunities to exercise choice and responsibility by choosing their own topics for inquiry 3. Social studies teaching should involve exploration of open questions that challenge students’ thinking 4. To make concepts real, social studies must involve active participation in the classroom and the wider community 5. Social Studies should involve students in both independent inquiry and cooperative learning in order to build skills and habits needed for lifelong, responsible learning 6. Social studies reading should include engaging real-world documents and not just textbooks 7. Social studies should involve students in writing, observing, discussing, and debating to ensure their active participation in learning (Note: Consider the idea of deliberation instead of debating – setting up activities where opposing teams can work towards a mutually agreeable consensus rather than a winner/loser finale.) Best Practices Notes – Social Studies

8. Social studies learning should build on students’ prior knowledge of their lives and communities, rather than assuming they know nothing about the subject 9. Social studies should explore the full variety of cultures found in America, including students’ own backgrounds and other cultures’ approaches to various social studies concepts 10. Social studies should avoid tracking of students because it deprives various groups of the knowledge essential to their citizenship 11. Social studies evaluation must reflect the importance of students’ thinking and help prepare students to be responsible citizens, rather than rewarding memorization of decontextualized facts

NCSS’ Ten Thematic Strands: 1. Culture 2. Time, Continuity, and Change 3. People, Places, and Environments 4. Individual Development and Identity 5. Individuals, Groups, and Institutions 6. Power, Authority, and Governance 7. Production, Distribution, and Consumption 8. Science, Technology, And Society 9. Global Connections 10. Civic Ideals and Practices

NCSS’ Four Perspectives for Approaching these Themes: 1. Personal 2. Academic 3. Pluralist 4. Global

NCSS’ Four Learning Skills 1. Acquiring information and manipulating data 2. Developing and presenting policies, arguments, and stories 3. Constructing new knowledge 4. Participating in groups