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TLT 412 - Social Studies in Elementary Education - Record of activities

Navigation short-cut: Session jump by number

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 ... end

Session 1 - Tuesday, 26 August

Before class

• If you can, please log into Blackboard, peruse the syllabus, and familiarize yourself with the course architecture (e.g., where to find the readings)

During class (ppt)

• Introductions
• Going over the syllabus, discussion of expectations, calendar, pacing (course map)
• Tour of the infrastructure
  • This wiki, its care and feeding
  • List of ever-expanding, tagged course bookmarks (via del.icio.us)
  • Blackboard
    • "Course Documents" = where to look for readings, lesson plan formats and other goodies
    • "Assignments" = where to turn in final versions of your assignments. Note that you'''ll also be posting versions to classmates elsewhere; this is where you turn in things for grading.
• Conceptual work
  • What is social studies
    • We'll start this with a handy online quiz.
      • Quiz results viewable here.
    • A variety of lenses
      • Your lens
      • Our estimable textbook author, John K. Lee (who is currently one half-game ahead of me in our fantasy baseball league, with one week to go)
      • Conventional wisdom
      • NCSS
        • Content lens
        • Citizenship ed
      • Social studies as a paradox
      • Social studies as a vanishing act
      • (etc.)
      • Powerful social studies (NCSS, 1993)
  • What is social studies methods?
    • Introducing the taxonomy of methods
  • Technology and social studies
  • Standards and curriculum via textbooks
    • Some paper copies, incl. old-school materials...
    • BTW: Curriculum collection at FML!
    • MacMillan/McGraw-Hill
      
      • 2009 editions -- gives more exposure to games, quizzes
        
      • example of Grade 1 game.
        
      • 2003 editions -- gives a little more exposure to content of series
        
      • example of Grade K content overview (note typo!)
        
      • 2000 editions' web material.
• Closure
  • What's due next session?
  • How is it to get done?
  • What level of oversight will the instructor provide?

After class

• Reading
  • NCSS, 1993 (skim)
  • Wade, 2002
  • Brophy & Alleman, 2002
  • Keeler & Langhorst, 2008 (review for possibilities re tech products assignment)
  • Lee, Ch. 1-2
• Technology products assignment, part 1 (within-your-comfort-level product)
  • Brainstorm
    • What tools am I comfortable with?
    • What content do I want to address?
    • What grade level do I want to address?
  • Produce your first technology product. It doesn't have to be perfect, just a working demonstration of the idea.
  • Write a paragraph (or two) describing your intended use of the product.\
• History Through a Child's Eyes (HTCE): Starting thinking of someone to interview!

 

Session 2 - Tuesday, 2 September

Before class

• Complete reading specified above.
• Work on assignments. Note that nothing is due in this session, but I'm trying to get you moving on the next set of items.

During class (ppt)

• Housekeeping
  • Locating readings --going OK?
  • Tech products assignment: time at end to discuss whole-class, then break into sharing groups
  • ...other items?
• Sharing tech products, part one
  • Get into small groups, share
  • Summarize first product work, brainstorm second product work via a Google spreadsheet.
    • Input -- type in your info here
    • Output -- read classmates' statement here.
  • Invitations:
    • Feel free to make your work available to the rest of the class!
    • Please dialog with classmates as you work on tech product #2 -- support one another!
• Conceptual work #1: Social studies curricula, standards, and textbooks
  • A little mental rehearsal
  • What will you have access to?
    • Standards? Try the PDE academic standards.
    • Interested in teaching in other states? Compare to...
      • Indiana.
      • Virginia
        • standards.
        • curriculum framework.
        • enhanced scope-and-sequence.
        • testing blueprint.
  • What else?
    • More standards! These are national (voluntary)
      • History
        • NCHS
        • Point of comparison: PA
          • Fordham Foundation report card on Pennsylvania's standards
            
      • Geography
        • NCGE
        • "Five Themes"
        • Point of comparison: PA
      • Civics
        • CCE
        • Point of comparison: PA
      • Economics
        • NCEE.
        • Point of comparison: PA
      • Behavioral sciences
        • ???
      • Interdisciplinary
        • NCSS
      • Other
    • And more fun with standards -- back again to PDE
      • PA reading, writing, speaking, and listening
      • PA career education and work
  • What's the purpose of all these standards? How should you use them as an elementary social studies instructor?
  • From standards to curricula. Three flavors of elementary social studies curricula
    • Textbooks!
    • Putting you in control: Know your curriculum frameworks. Three main camps to discuss
      • Traditional : Expanding environments / horizons
      • Disciplinary
      • "Other"
        • Wade, 2002: Towards the Common Good
        • Brophy & Alleman, 2002: Cultural universals
  • Putting your cards on the table: What do you stand for? What do you like? Not like?
  • And so take a critical eye when examining publishers' materials
    • Some online textbook info, via MacMillan/McGraw-Hill
      • 2009 editions -- gives more exposure to games, quizzes
      • example of Grade 1 game.
      • 2003 editions -- gives a little more exposure to content of series
      • example of Grade K content overview (note typo!)
      • 2000 editions' web material.
  • And a reminder:
  • Take advantage of the curriculum collection at FML
  • You can borrow materials from the instructor as well.
• Demo lesson: Families and food
  • Captions -- match these with the images in the ppt
  • Family food images taken from TIME magazine photo essay about the book, Hungry Planet. Note the parallel to the book Material World. Both seem like great resources
  • Extension: pop the images onto a map! Someone has done this using Microsoft's Live Maps. I would have done it with Google Maps or as a Google Earth overlay.
• Conceptual work #2: Early elementary students
  • Views of students
    
    • Faculty psychology
    • Cultural epochs
    • Piagetian stages,
    • Schema theory
    • Constructivist view, via Vygotsky's ZPD
  • Example: Students and time (via work of Barton & Levstik, 1996)
  • Example: Students and narratives (drawing from a variety of sources, but Bruner as starting point)
• Closure

After class

• Reading
  • Zhao & Hoge, 2005 (available in Blackboard)
  • Lee, Ch. 4
• Assignments
  • Technology products:
    • Summarize first product work, brainstorm second product work via a Google spreadsheet.
      • Input -- type in your info here
      • Output -- read classmates' statement here.
    • Invitations:
      • Feel free to make your work available to the rest of the class!
      • Please dialog with classmates as you work on tech product #2 -- support one another!
    • Start working on second product: brainstorm, investigate. If you need help,
      • Look over the Keeler & Langhorst article from Session 1
      • Look at the examples linked from the assignment description in the wiki
      • Talk to a friend.
      • Review classmates' ideas (via link above).
      • ...And if you're still stuck, talk to the instructor.
  • HTCE: Line up an interviewee, fix a day and a time. Start to collect an image set. (If you want to use the original images, they're in the article (Barton & Levstik, 1996 -- available in Blackboard).
  • Think about what you want to tackle in the curriculum binder.

Session 3 - Tuesday, 9 September

Before class

• Working ahead: Move forward on the tech product (#2) assignment, HTCE, and think about what you want to do with your curriculum binder.
• Reading: Zhao & Hoge, 2005; Lee, Ch. 4

During class (ppt)

• Housekeeping
  • Progress on HTCE, tech product #2? Looking at ideas on tech products, discuss?
  • Curriculum binder discussion
    • Paper-based demo version
    • ePortfolio demo version.
• Conceptual work
  • Quick refresh on schema theory and ZPD
  • Early elementary learners
    • Example: Students and time (via work of Barton & Levstik, 1996)
    • Example: Students and narratives (drawing from a variety of sources, but Bruner as starting point)
  • (Demo lesson: Story of Aaron)
    • Something simple: a ppt. (Not my work, so it's not available to you--sorry! This is adapted from Dr. Adam Friedman and Dr. Stephanie Van Hover before him.)
    • Contrast that ppt with this website (which is the origin of the primary source documents)
      • If you want to call up the items, search for person = aaron, subscriber = randolph. Or just click this link. (BTW, lots more social studies info where that came from: vcdh.virginia.edu
      • Which platform is better for this activity? Why?
      • How would you characterize this, anyway? Giving? Prompting? Making?
      • How did the previous example of the ppt and the online database connect to these goals?
  • Upper elementary learners
    • Curriculum: Disciplinary vs. interdisciplinary (NCSS)
    • Students
      • Declining interest in social studies (impact of the curriculum?)
      • Social studies methods: typical = unproductive; more productive = active
        • Example of active technique: Silent timeline activity
          • possible variations: remove the physical element?
      • Challenges to thinking: abstraction is hard!
        • Presentism / perspective-taking / differential utility
          • Example = medieval image
          • Example = personalization / individualist interpretations of actions/events (Barton, 1997)
          • "Active" methods example (moved from last session): Chronology via people and settings and hypothetical interactions (inspired by Fallace, Briscoe & Perry, 2007) via PrimaryCommentary.
            • Note that this can be done on paper just as well -- I'm running this through a fancy new app just because, well, it's new and it's fancy and I'm interested.
        • Interesting example of internalization of presented norms: picturing the past (Wineburg, 2001)
        • Working with evidence -- past as a true story? Interpretation or construction? Text vs. information (Wineburg, 1991)
        • Change over time
          • Universal or differential
          • Linear causal change vs. dialectical / contested
          • "Active" methods example: Visualization of schema:-- this example is teacher-credited, but could be used as a model for student work: Using SketchUp to create 3-D models of schema, in this case about the impacts of the French Revolution.
        • Narrative of progress / deficit model of the past
          • "Active" methods example: Branching narrative via wiki via Dan McDowell's Holocaust branching narrative.
  • Methods
    • What have we learned thus far re
      • Learners?
        • Early elem
        • Upper elem
    • Can we start slotting the demo lessons into a taxonomy?
• Closure

After class

• Reading
  • Barton, 1997 (available in Blackboard)
  • Lee, Ch. 8 & 11
• Assignments
  • Work on tech product #2. If you still need inspiration, refer to your classmates' list here, re-visit Keeler & Langhorst, 2008, and/or see the instructor.
  • Curriculum binder: Start your binder! Decide on age levels, curriculum framework, set up divisions. You can start populating it if you like, but you don't have to. Be prepared to leave something with me to review.
    • If you want to use the eportfolio system, you will need to log in and might need to refer to the help docs.
  • Work on HTCE
  • Classroom observations: If you don't have clearances and haven't started the process of getting them, you either need to start NOW or else resign yourself to option #3....

 

Session 4 - Tuesday, 16 September

Before class

• Complete reading (available in Blackboard or the textbook)
• Work on your curriculum binder initial concept
• Work on your tech products #2 and HTCE assignments.

During class (ppt)

• Housekeeping
  • Quick collect of curriculum binder materials. Expect feedback next week.
  • Any questions/comments on HTCE? Tech product #2?
  • Coming up in two weeks: curriculum map assignment. Reminders:
    • It's an experiment. It doesn't have to be perfect, just do your best.
    • You can complete this assignment in groups.
    • There are templates available in Blackboard via the "Course Documents" link.
• Conceptual work: History education & Wikipedia as an example of powerful social studies
  • This session takes place via Blackboard. I've set up a course Discussion Board as the base of our operations.
  • posted after class: In case you're interested, here are the files I used for the Pledge timeline activity
    • Photos.
    • Flags.
    • Pledges.
• Closure

After class

• Reading
  • Lee, Ch. 5
  • Barton & Levstik, 2003
  • VanSledright, 2004
• Assignments
  • Complete technology product #2 and write reflection. Submit your work (reflection, tech product #1, and tech product #2) via Blackboard's "Assignments" feature. Don't forget to upload ALL files.
  • Start working on curriculum map. Don't forget to look at the template in Blackboard.

 

Session 5 - Tuesday, 23 September

Before class

• Complete the reading. Articles are available in Blackboard. Again, my challenge for you is to
  • ...find a definition of historical thinking in VanSledright, and
  • ...identify Barton & Levstik's argument on why interpretation should be taught
• Complete tech product #2 and the (global) reflection. Post to Blackboard via the "Assignments" list
• Working ahead: Work on HTCE, curriculum map assignments.

During class (ppt)

• Housekeeping
  • Plug for volunteers: Broughal Middle School, doing cool stuff with GPS units, working with great teachers. Date = Friday, 26 September, 9:30 - 10:20, and 11:10 - 12:00.
  • Assignments: Curriculum binder and comments coming back
  • Assignments discussion: HTCE and curriculum map
    • ...are both due next week.
    • ...I am open to receiving EITHER one next week and the other one the week after that
  • Micro-teaching
    • Starts next week.
    • Need to do sign-up.
    • What's expected, how it works.
      • 15 min lesson. I will keep time.
      • You need to give me SOME FORM of a plan to follow along with. Doesn't have to be a full, formal plan
      • We're doing two rounds; the expectation is that THIS round can be non-original (i.e., a plan from the internet or a book), but the NEXT round is original (something you've devised out of your own creativity or experience).
    • ...and if you have to micro-teach next week, I am even more flexible about your HTCE and curriculum map coming in. Let's talk.
• Conceptual work: Re-visiting history ed
  • Touching back on VanSledright and Barton & Levstik
  • Re-visit and re-framing on history ed and Wikipedia
  • ...any questions about the "other" Wikipedia stuff?
  • ...any feedback on the activity?
• Sharing tech product #2: Same as last time, we will pair and share.
  • Reminder: Feel free to share your work with the rest of the class by uploading it to the "Discussion Board" in Blackboard, "Sharing tech products" thread.
• Conceptual work: Scaffolding
  • What is it?
    • Quick review on Vygotsky & ZPD
    • You can scaffold
    • Tasks
    • Thinking processes
    • Understandings (ppt on state of the union)
    • Scaffolds can be hard or soft
    • Example of both via primaryaccess.org.
    • Soft scaffolding can happen via student-teacher interaction or student-student interaction
  • Why does scaffolding matter?
    • Quick review of concepts that are hard for students: personalization, narrative imperative, meta-narrative norms, presentism, etc etc etc
    • Example of difference in student work and test scores in high- and low-scaffolding projects
  • Suggestions for scaffolds for social studies (espec history)
    • Articulation
      • KWL.
      • Role-play or simulation
      • Question web or concept map
    • Primary source heuristics
      • SCIM-C.
      • MAPER / PAPER.
      • SOAPS.
      • APPARTS.
      • National Archives' analysis worksheets.
    • Reference material
      • Textbook page on Egyptian Pyramids.
      • Example of WP page on Egyptian Pyramids.
      • Simple WP page on Pyramids.
    • Processing tactics
      • "L" in KWL
      • Notebooks
        • Collaborative example: class wiki.
          • Sample page from within class wiki, discussing buffalo.
      • Note-taking strategies
        • Partially-blank outlines
        • Dialetical journal.
        • Split-page technique
      • Data charts, etc.
    • Questioning strategies
      • Teacher role
      • Student role
• Closure
  • Main idea on scaffolding, especially for young students: Bridging the unfamiliar using the familiar, pointing out differences.
  • Assignments for next week?
  • Micro-teaching prep?

After class

• Reading
  • Lee, Ch. 3 & 9.
• Assignments
  • Prep HTCE (as needed)
  • Prep curriculum map (as needed)
  • Prep micro-teaching (as needed)
• If you feel like being a Heroic Team Player, upload your tech products the Discussion Board thread in Blackboard.

 

Session 6 - Tuesday, 30 September

Before class

• Complete readings
• If you're micro-teaching, prepare!
• If you're not micro-teaching, be ready to hand in EITHER the curriculum map or HTCE assignment. (You may of course turn in more than what's required.)

During class (ppt)

• Housekeeping
  • Tech products assignment feedback, grading
• Micro-teaching: First some reminders on process, then...
  • Karen
  • Christina
  • Lynne
  • Megan
  • Ashley
  • Jon
  • Christie
  • Lisa
• Closure--quick reflections on micro-teaching; expanding the methods list?

After class

• No reading!
• Assignments:
  • Turn in whichever assignment (curriculum map or HTCE) you didn't turn in last week.
  • (Added after class) Unit plan: The schedule called for you to turn in an outline of what you'd like to do; let's push that back until after I've seen your curriculum map. However, if you want to still do something now, feel free to get the ball rolling and pass in an outline.
• If you micro-taught and you feel like being a Heroic Team Player, upload your micro-teaching lesson/materials to the appropriate Discussion Board thread in Blackboard.

 

Session 7 - Tuesday, 7 October

Before class

• If you're micro-teaching, prepare!

During class (ppt)

• Housekeeping
• Microteaching
  • Uhu
  • Gretchen
  • Brook
  • Katie
  • Jeff
  • Layla
  • Brittany
  • Pat
• Closure

After class

•  Work on unit plans -- if you like, you can send me an outline of what you're thinking of doing between now and the next class.

Pacing break - Tuesday, 14 October -- no class

 

FYI -- just received this, thought you might be interested

Teachers College Debate: Education and the Next President
Save the Date: Tuesday, Oct. 21, 7 to 9 p.m. (Eastern)

Join us for “Education and the Next President,” a live debate from Teachers College, Columbia University, with Linda Darling-Hammond, education adviser to Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama, and Lisa Graham Keegan, education adviser to Republican nominee John McCain.

The event is being exclusively Webcast by edweek.org with generous support from the National Association of Secondary School Principals.

This presentation will begin on October 21, 2008 at 07:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time.

Audience members may arrive 15 minutes in advance of this time.
    
Sign up (for free, I think) at http://www.edweek.org/go/tcdebate.

 

Session 8 - Tuesday, 21 October

Before class

• Work on unit plan. Send an outline if you like.

During class (ppt)

• Housekeeping
  • HTCE back
  • Curriculum maps back
  • Unit plan of attack
• Conceptual work: Geography education
  • Discussion of latitude and longitude
    • Some questions to consider
      • You are holding a GPS and move from latitude and longitude coordinates N 40.61,  W 73.50 to N 40.61, W 74.00. What direction did you travel?
      • 
      • Look at the map above. You travel from Broughal to Allentown. What happens to your latitude and longitude?
      • The corner of Packer and Brodhead has latitude and longitude coordinates of 40.608162,  W 75.380714. Where is this relative to the Equator and the Prime Meridian?
    • Consider the following instructional materials (and quiz) created by a Pennsylvania geography teacher.
  • Demo lesson: Cardinal directions, GPS, longitude and latitude via geocaching.
    • If you want this, for some reason, the worksheet I used is here.
  • Discussion of demo lesson (and the awarding of prizes!)
  • Frameworks for geography education
    • Where things are and what they're called?
    • The whys of where
    • Five themes of geography.
  • Methods for geography
    • Sketchmaps -- Can do this with very, very young students to teach map skills, map concepts
    • Maps & globes
      • Important topic in here: map projections
        • Mercator projection -- depending on your vintage, this is probably what you remember seeing from grade school.
          • And be sure to check out a digitized version of Mercator's 1569 map!
          • "The Mercator map has always been a poor projection for a world map yet due to its rectangular grid and shape, geographically illiterate publishers found it useful for wall maps, atlas maps, and maps in books and newspapers published by non-geographers. It became the standard map projection in the mental map of most westerners." (Rosenberg, M., 2001, Peters Projection vs. Mercator Projection. Available at http://geography.about.com/library/weekly/aa030201a.htm.)
        • Peters map -- is orthographically correct, and is a fun comparison to the Mercator. But it's not a great map to use for teaching -- it's still not a good representation of the spherical structure that the map is trying to approximate
        • Fuller map -- nice animation there showing the issues involved in flattening a sphere. The Fuller map is pretty elegantly non-distorted, but it's also very hard to work with, especially if you're used to seeing a N-S orientation.
        • Discussion of various projections.
        • Recommended: Mollweide, Robinson, or Winkel Tripel. To vary degrees, they suggest a sphere,  preserve a sense of the vastness of the Pacific, and minimize polar distortion.
        • Can't get enough projections? This site has a very slow-moving Java applet that lets you look at many, many, many, MANY different projections.
    • Dynamic maps and globes
      • I am of course a fan of Google Earth. Consider, for example, the Weaving the Globe activity, using this demo kml file. (If you want more, there's a blog of teaching ideas using GE.)
      • Other data-driven maps
        • Natl Geographic Map Machine. Consider types of maps, different data overlays
        • WorldMapper -- cartograms galore, REALLY get into thinking not just spatially but into more abstract concepts by re-arranging our spatial assumptions. Probably best with upper elementary.
    • Online participatory media
      • Flickr
        • Group.
        • Group's map.
        • Map search.
      • YouTube (when used with caution)
        • video #1.
        • video #2. -see comments?
        • video #3. -see comments?
    • GIS -- I'll be doing all this using AEJEE. 
      • Cities.
      • US agriculture.
      • Sewers activity.
      • When can you begin to do this with students? As soon as they understand maps not just as REFERENCES but INTERPRETATIONS
• Closure
  • Let's think geospatially for a moment...
  • And let's re-visit this question of what is geography

After class

• Reading
  • Lee, Ch. 6
  • Shin, 2006
• Assignments
  • Unit plan: If you haven't already, submit an outline between now and next week. I will get back to you ASAP.
  • Classroom observations: They're due on Tuesday, Nov. 4.

 

Session 9 - Tuesday, 28 October -- Happy Diwali!


Before class

• Complete reading
• Unit plan outline: If you haven't already, please submit one!
• Classroom observations -- they're due next week (Nov 4), so get moving!

During class (ppt)

• Housekeeping
  • Unit plans
    • Outlines back
    • Next steps?
  • Discuss other assignments?
• Conceptual work: Any subsequent reflection on your latitude and longitude experience last week?
• Conceptual work: Government and civics in elementary education
  • What's so special about civics?
    • significance within the field of social studies
      • Jefferson on the purpose of history
      • citizenship prep
      • Parker on "idiocy".
    • significance within methods (we'll return to this idea later, just wanted to set it up now)
      • civics-via-giving
      • civics-via-prompting
      • civics-via-making
      • ...consider possibilities right within the state of the union ppt we did earlier
  • Standards
    • Center for Civics Education
    • PA
    • ...how would you characterize this content?
  • Critical thinking about civics ed
    • Westheimer & Kahne, 2004
    • Butts: Knowledge, skills, dispositions
    • Lee: Civic engagement & civic awareness
  • Typical breakdown of content within elementary ed
    • Early elem
    • Upper elem
    • ... where is the focus on the public good?
  • Simplifying content lens
    • Forms or process
      • Forms
        • Branches of govt iconic diagram.
        • How a bill becomes a law flowchart.
        • Posters of each
      • Form + process
        • Legislative simulation
          • Legislation.
          • What happened to the real legislation? Let's go to Thomas.loc.gov.
          • What questions are you left with at the end of the simulation? What additional information do you want to know? What additional ACTIONS are you interested in taking?
        • Marked-up images from State of the Union
        • Mock election? I'm not a fan, so here are two variants for you
          • Polling activity, using this script and data sheet.
          • Electing a "Official Class Favorite ____" (book, movie, TV show, ice cream flavor, cookie, etc. -- for obvious reasons, I'll suggest a BOOK). This is both meaningful (in the sense that it matters to the students), and it provides opportunities for creating arguments and counterarguments, writing, composing media (posters, campaign commercials, podcasts, etc.), and of course public speaking.
        • And when not in a presidential election year (or even when in one), do consider down-ballot issues -- what state and local officials are being elected? What ballot issues are being considered?
        • Classroom council (example)
        • Deliberation
      • Observation vs. action
        • Newspapers
          • front page focus?
          • local focus?
          • ...and note that some papers have a K-12 section
        • Field trips (example)
        • Project citizen (from the Center for Civic Education)
        • Student "making"
          • writing letters
          • producing websites, podcasts, or videos
          • Conducting local studies
  • Time permitting: Look back at our chart of methods, adding in new activities from geography and civics/govt
• Closure

After class

• Reading
  • Lee, Ch. 7
  • (If you want to read that Westheimer & Kahne, 2004 article I referenced, I believe that's in Blackboard)
• Assignments
  • Finish classroom observation assignment, submit via Blackboard
  • Work on your unit plans and curriculum binders!

 

Session 10 - Tuesday, 4 November -- I hope you voted!!

Before class

• Complete reading
• Finish classroom observation assignment, submit via Blackboard
• Work on unit plan
• Work on curriculum binder

During class (ppt)

• Housekeeping
  • All unit plan outlines back?
• Conceptual work: Assessment in social studies education
  • Generic info about assessment
    • Formative vs. summative
    • Distinction between learning and retention -- consider the curve of forgetting, for example. (This has serious instructional implications, but we'll table them for now and address them below.)
    • Item types
      • Important distinction: open-ended / constructed response vs. closed-ended / selected response
    • High-stakes vs. low-stakes testing, curricular impacts
  • Assessment within social studies
    • Some examples
      • Standardized, high-stakes, summative (end-of-year)
      • NAEP items culled from the Question Tool.
      • Publisher-generated items.
    • General principles for assessment in social studies
      • Significance of formative assessment
      • Variety
      • Assessing for schema
      • Constructed-response
      • "Thick" feedback
      • Revisions / making a summative assessment an assessment-for-learning
      • Reviewing in social studies (i.e., learning vs. retention)
        • Frequency, techniques (e.g., quizzes, verbal Q & A, whiteboards, clickers, KWLs, concept maps, games)
          • Sample game: Fling the Teacher (teacher-generated items, 7th grade, curric = US Hist from 1877 to present).
          • ...and if you liked that, the website used to generate it was contentgenerator.net.
  • Assessing YOU: fun with the Praxis
  • I have paper packets for you, but I'll need them back--this is a classroom set only
  • Praxis II: Elementary Education: Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment (CIA)
    • Has anyone taken this yet?
    • Recommendation: TAKE BEFORE INTERN TEACHING
    • 110 questions
    • Qualifying score = 168+ (but I have no idea how it is scored!!)
    • Topics =
      • Reading and language arts CIA
    • Math CIA
    • Science CIA
    • Social studies CIA
    • 11 ques (i.e., 10% of total)
    • Topics and sample questions are available via the link above, but you have to scroll down
    • Arts & phys ed CIA
    • General info about CIA
  • Praxis II: Fundamental Subjects: Content Knowledge --has anyone taken this yet?
    • Has anyone taken this yet?
    • Recommendation: TAKE BEFORE INTERN TEACHING
    • 100 questions
    • "The content of the examination is not predicated on the assumption that the candidates should be experts in all of the subjects. Since the examination's purpose is to assess knowledge and skills in subject matter that may lie outside an individual candidate's teaching specialization, the questions in each subject focus on key indicators of general knowledge and understanding, requiring examinees to utilize fundamental skills that are founded upon broad concepts in each of the subjects."
    • Qualifying score = 150+ (but I have no idea how it is scored!!)
    • Topics =
      • English / language arts
      • Math
      • Citizenship / social science
        • 25 questions (i.e., 25% of total)
        • topics covered.
        • sample questions --scroll down for cit/socsci Qs, and do note that some of these questions DO NOT follow best practices in assessment
        • Time permitting: fun little game with cups
      • Science
• Closure

After class

• Reading
  • Lee, Ch. 13
  • Wineburg, 2004 (this is a fascinating article -- very, very useful lens on not just testing in social studies but any high-stakes testing situation)
• Assignments
  • Work on unit plans. CHANGE from course map: Unit plans will be due Tues, November 18. If you would like preliminary feedback on your plan, please submit a draft by Tuesday, November 11.
  • Work on curriculum binders

 

Session 11 - Tuesday, 11 November ...Happy Veterans' Day! (For our non-American friends, happy Armistice Day or Remembrance Day)

Before class

• Complete reading
• Work on unit plan -- if you want feedback, give me a draft today (Tues, 11 Nov) and I'll get it back you to before the end of the week to refine it.
• Keep moving forward on your curriculum binder

During class (ppt)

• Housekeeping
  • Any interesting tales from the classroom about the election results?
    
  • Unit plan progress?
  • Syllabus change re micro-teaching, round #2
  • No second round required
  • Write the assignment based on your first-round experience. Feel free to draw in "other" experiences (e.g., pre-intern teaching, subbing, etc.)
  • EXTRA CREDIT for doing a second round on Tuesday, 25 November. (Amount / significance TBD.)
    
  • Otherwise, no class on Tuesday, 25 November
  • Assignment due: If you're not doing a second round, please turn in your micro-teaching materials and reflection on Tues, 25 November via Blackboard. (If I need to make space on Blackboard for you to turn in your stuff, please gently remind me via email.)
  • If you do plan to micro-teach on the 25th, please let me know in advance so I can schedule small groups as needed.
    
• Conceptual work, topic #1: Teaching World Cultures
  • World Cultures and Geography -- what's the difference?
    
  1. Three examples of the distinction-with-a-difference when it comes to world cultures
     
  1. From your students to the world: Quick refresh on the Weaving the Globe activity (kml file; save it and open it in Google Earth).
  2. From the world to your students,
     • via YouTube
     • video #1: 1991.
     • video #2 2008.
     • Additional visuals (note that plenty more can be found in, among other places, flickr).
  3. Enactive -- this can be DONE with young students, but I'm not sure how much they grasp.
  4. FYI: The non-YouTube visuals and the enactive are adapted from the Geography Alive! materials from Teachers Curriculum Institute. Amazon link here. If you liked these materials, definitely consider buying this. If you're not sure, ask to borrow my copy.
     
• Conceptual work, topic #2: Economics in Elementary Ed
  
  • Meet your standards
    • NCEE
    • PA

• Meet your content...to provide one lens (and to prove a point), here's a handy page from Parenting magazine (yep!).
• Why I find (elementary) economics so fascinating
• What is it, anyway?
  
• "Any lesson involving money"?
  
• Example: From NCEE--make sure you examine parts 2-5. Is this primarily an economics lesson? History lesson? World cultures lesson?
• "The dismal science" (b/c everything has a cost)
• "The science of decision-making" (b/c people do what they do for a good reason)
• ...demo lesson: Opportunity cost of consuming candy
  
• Extensions:
  
• Marginal benefit (espec. declining marginal benefit),
  
• Adding money to introduce cost vs. real cost,
• Making it a group decision to add in collective good, bargaining
  
• The (comparative) imperative of relevance: Consider the "relevance" of econ vs. history or geography?
  
• However: Economics in elementary ed = the invisible content area
  • Lee textbook (pretty representative of other social studies methods texts)
  • Don't believe us? Check the NAEP questions tool. Look for "Economics" and see what grade levels come up.
  • Still don't believe me? Look in elementary textbooks, especially with a critical eye towards economics content being something MORE than just "any lesson involving money"
• Like civics, an incredibly ACTIVE field to teach.
• Even more so than other social studies disciplines, full of hooks for integrated instruction (e.g., math, literature)
• Also blends easily with other approaches
• Power and authority -- in a marketplace, how is decision-making re-structured away from a single, central authority?
  
• Community helpers -- look at services provided, payment
• Communities / regions -- look at resources provided and consumed
• History -- look at, for example, differences in resource bases of North and South in the Civil War
  
• The core ideas (scarcity, choice/cost, incentives) are actually pretty basic and scale nicely -- beautifully consistent throughout a wide range of complexity / depth
• (Not appropriate to elem ed, but you hit the black-is-white point much faster than in, say, geometry or chemistry)
  
• The issue of implicit bias (market-based economies / morality of interest)
  
• More on moving beyond "Economics = lessons with money"
  • Inquiry about consumer items and pricing
    
  • images to start inquiry on consumer items
  • website to start inquiry on gas prices
    • Observe local prices
      • Check recent trend (past week)
      • Check long-term term (compared to last year)
      • ...note that the price last year is a bit of a misleader -- subject to fluctuation, so who knows--that could have been an abnormally high/low week
    • Compare with prices in Canada?
      • NB: They sell liters, not gallons, and use $Cd to $US
        • Convert CAD to USD.
        • Convert liters to gallons: 3.785 liters = 1 gallon -- do the math using Google Calc.
    • Interact with this by creating an account, entering neighborhood data?
  • Contrast the above with, for example, most real-time stock market games (representative sample here) -- do the students understand enough about the context to make this anything other than speculation? Is the time frame (a few weeks or months) long enough to observe important factors such as changing market conditions? If the student gains or loses a bunch of money (or just stays even), what's the take-away?? (Contrast the above link with this version here from the Univ. of Georgia -- much better, but still not something I would want to supplement or further adapt--for example, by using historical pricing.)
    
  • Lessons I wish I could do, time permitting
    • Assembly line (aka craftspersons vs. specialists) -- note that this lesson screams for adaptation to have students make something a LOT more interesting than a "widget" -- decorations for an upcoming school event?  Cookies for a class party?
    • A market in wheat. This is from a high school text but can be run with younger students, particularly if you do the math for them. People of ALL ages love this, get excited about it.
    • Classroom economy
      • ...note that when goods are AUCTIONED, you can play with things like inflation (depending on how rational your economic actors are, of course...)
    • Playdough economics to teach GDP
      • Video clip (.wmv) of lesson 4, opportunity cost, in action.
    • Anyone remember Lemonade Stand from the Apple IIe era? Like many other classics, it's been resurrected as a web-based game (with tweaks to the complexity). Give it a try -- play Lemonade Stand online ...how can you structure this as a lesson? Would you do it as individuals, small groups, or whole-class?
      
  • More resources
  • Katie has located a nice kindergarten curriculum that has a nice section on economics (and other SS disciplines) -- more where that came from! (Just replace the "k" with the desired grade level.)
    
  • Gretchen drew upon a nice pool of resources for her micro-teaching -- search through for econ topics, but do take a look at the others, as well.
    
  • And don't forget to explore the NCEE lessons database. I'm not in love with everything there, but it's an excellent place to start thinking about integrating economics into your curriculum.
    

• Closure

After class

• Reading (available in Blackboard)
  • VanFossen, 2003
  • optional: Day, 2006 -- nice overview of economics concepts, plus instrucitonal ideas. If nothing else, skim this and save a copy for future reference.
• Assignments
  • Finish unit plans!
  • If you're going for the gold: Prep for micro-teaching, round 2!

 

Session 12 - Tuesday, 18 November

Before class

• Complete reading
• Finish up unit plans. (If you submitted a draft and haven't gotten it back yet, you have an extension...)
• Decide if you're doing micro-teaching or not next week!
  

During class (no ppt -- this will all be run from the wiki)

• Housekeeping
• Unit plans -- questions / discussions?
• Micro-teaching
• Who is planning on participating next week?
• If you are NOT participating next week, please turn in your reflection and final teaching materials by next Tuesday (25 Nov)
  
• Conceptual work
• Quick revisit on economics
• Note that the fixation on money as the benchmark of an economics lesson exists at NCEE, too -- see this lesson from their database, make sure you examine parts 2-5. Is this primarily an economics lesson? History lesson? World cultures lesson?
• Integration vs. interdisciplinary
• Working with children's / young adult literature
• Knowing where your resources are (local library, FML curriculum collection, friends, your own attic)
  
• Value / virtue of building up your classroom library
• Sample book
• Group work
• Group sharing
• Take-aways; where to find more info on fiction and non-fiction for social studies.
  
• Integrating social studies and other content areas
• From the Arizona Geographic Alliance and ASU: GeoMath and GeoLiteracy.
  
• Outcomes: See test info on GeoLiteracy in this 2007 TRSE article, and some graphs on GeoMath. What's the take-away? Why might this be?
• More groupwork, pursuing the two strategies: working from social studies lessons into other content areas and working from other content areas into social studies.
  
• Take social studies lessons and add other content areas
• Group 1: grades K-2
• option A: lesson plan.
  
• option B: Feel free to adapt the econ activity I ran with you last week.
• option C: Feel free to use one of your own lessons or locate a source besides one of those linked above.
  
• Group 2: grades 3-4
• option A: brainstorm a lesson using this source material. (If you feel it's too easy or can't think of any ideas, try this version.)
  
• option B: Feel free to design something based off of the Weaving the Globe activity (kml file).
• option C: Feel free to use one of your own lessons or locate a source besides one of those linked above.
  
• Group 3: grades 5-6
• option A: Take a look at this sample student product. How could you take the same topic (explorers, Henry Hudson) and re-work it into something more successful, and add in other content areas?
  
• option B: Feel free to design something based off of the Story of Aaron lesson -- you can find the source materials here.
• option C: Feel free to use one of your own lessons or locate a source besides one of those linked above.
  
• Take material from other content areas and integrate social studies
• Group 4: grades K-2
• option A: adapt this lesson plan.
  
• option B: Feel free to use one of your own lessons or locate a source besides one of those linked above.
• Group 5: grades 3-4
• option A: select any activity from this page of the NLVM and adapt it.
  
• option B: Feel free to use one of your own lessons or locate a source besides one of those linked above.
• Group 6: grades 5-6
• option A: adapt this unit.
  
• option B: Feel free to use one of your own lessons or locate a source besides one of those linked above.
• What are the take-aways?
• There are many ways to include social studies in your curriculum
• When done well, integration ENHANCES any lesson. (It may also provide a bridge to build up teacher comfort, confidence, and skill with content! See the GeoMath results linked above!)
  
• When done poorly, integration confuses students.
• When integrating: Try it out, reflect, and refine your implementation. It may take a few tries to get it right.
• The big trick is to BE CONSISTENT with a conceptual frame that the students can understand and follow from one lesson to the next.
  
• Closure

After class

• Work on curriculum binders!
• If you're micro-teaching next week, EMAIL THE INSTRUCTOR and then prep your lesson.
  
• If you're not micro-teaching, complete reflection and turn in via Blackboard, along with any materials.
  

 

 

Session 13 - Tuesday, 25 November -- see note from Tues, 11 Nov (session 11)...no class unless micro-teaching

Before class

• Work on curriculum binders!
• If you're not micro-teaching, complete reflection and turn in.
  

During class

• ...any takers on micro-teaching, round 2?
  

After class

• Work on curriculum binders
  
• If you did micro-teach, write reflection and turn in (along with materials) via Blackboard
  

 

Session 14 - Tuesday, 2 December

Before class

• Finish your curriculum binders and any other remaining assignments -- if you need an extension on something, let me know!!

During class (no ppt--today's session will be run from the wiki and in the various software tools mentioned below)

• Housekeeping
• Micro-teaching reflections, grades
• Unit plans: grading, returns, revision process (as needed)
• Plan of attack for today's session
  
• Who in here has made a digital movie before?
  
• Can we get a volunteer to collect and return course evaluations?
  
• Think about how you will complete the following sentence: "Social studies is..."
  
• Conceptual work: Ordering is TBD, but the topics are...
• Framing discussion: What's the rhubarb about technology and social studies, anyway?
  
• Consider
• "School is the place where children go to watch adults work"
• "One of the hallmarks of the new science of learning is its emphasis on learning with understanding" (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 2000, p. 8, emphasis added)
• ...how does tonight's use of technology help address the concerns embedded in these statements?
  
• Tool A: SmartBoards, specifically the smart notebook feature
  
• My demo file is here, if you want to play with it (and if you have the software installed)
• Use it like a white board or overhead ... not a big deal. Some logistical value-added
• Use it as a set of interactive maps ... I think this is a big step forward from pull-down maps, Google Earth, etc.
  
• Use it as a flexible concept map, a media mixer
  
• Tool B: Fathom
• What it is: A data analysis tool. You give it numbers and it lets you play with them.
  
• Where you can buy it: Key Curriculum Press.
• Why I think it's worth looking at
• Working back and forth between tables of data (e.g., spreadsheets) and graphs (visualizations of data)
• You can use it so fast and intuitively that it opens up new options for whole-class instruction, if nothing else.
• Example: Predict - Observe - Explain model from science education...now available in social studies flavors!!
  
• Tool C: GIS (geographic information system)
  
• What it is: A data analysis tool -- this time it works between data sets and MAPS (and consider that a map is just a specific type of visualization)
• The tool I'll be using is AEJEE -- get it here, read more about it. It's Java-based, cross-platform, and free.
• I'll be demoing it using some of the built-in files and also using data collected by students at Broughal Middle School
  
• Tool D: 5-picture charades activity
• Who has on their person a device that can take a digital photo?
• Who can explain how to play charades?
• Recovering your pictures: Click on a link; it will take you to a folder. Right-click on the files in the folder to save them to your local computer.
  
• Group 1.
• Group 2.
• Group 3.
  
• Tool E: Digital movie-making
• We'll be in A-122 to do this.
  
• We'll be using Windows Movie Maker (the icon looks like this: ).
  
• Note that there are MANY options for tools to use; not all of them are ideal for K-12 instructional situations.
  
• Closing off our tech-stravaganza: How did we do?
  
• "School is the place where children go to watch adults work"
• "One of the hallmarks of the new science of learning is its emphasis on learning with understanding"
• Closure
• Graduation ceremony
• Finish the following sentence: "Social studies is..."
  
• Course evaluations
  

After class

• Be in touch with me to make sure you're successfully wrapped up on assignments, grading, etc.
  
• Have a good break! Best of luck with the rest of your classes, let me know if I can be useful to you in the future.
  

 

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