Sadly, much too often, social studies courses are regarded as relatively unimportant subject matter, whether in elementary school, middle school, or high school. This perception leads to diminished attention paid to social studies as a serious subject
area, yet in the overall development of the intellect of students, no other subject matter content holds as much promise.
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shared by Laura Wood on 24 Sep 09
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FBI Youth - Home - 0 views
www.fbi.gov/...6th12th.htm
Middle school High School internet safety primary documents Kansas City Massacre FBI Youth crime bureau Roosevelt Hoover detective investigate files SNCC KKK antrax
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So clearly the coolest link on this webpage is the "History" link. This will link you to the history of the FBI which is interesting in and of itself BUT also contains some links to primary documents. For example there is a link in 1966 called "six civil rights activists murdered" that takes you to the FBI file of the murder investigation. It might be really neat to have students look at this file and look at other accounts of this incident to understand how police/FBI officers interact with communities and crime. There's another neat account under June 1933 of the Kansas City Massacre!
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"FBI Adventures" is a little not as cool as I'd hoped. While they do give brief snapshots of country profiles, students don't get to actually investigate anything on their own. What they Could do is begin to see how even crime is globalized and how countries now have to work together to protect citizens - an interesting angle on globalization/global studies.
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Ideas about becoming a social studies teacher - 0 views
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"I think we include social studies in the curriculum for the wrong reasons. It doesn't help us avoid the mistakes of the past, and if voting turnout is an indicator of good citizenship, it doesn't have much to do with that either. Social studies is probably best understood as an organized way of helping students develop understandings and appreciations that have long-term staying power, and that will influence them in positive ways to do the right thing when doing the right thing is hard to do."
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First, you must understand the content of the social studies at a level appropriate to that which you intend to teach. To understand content means more than mere memorization of facts. To understand content for a teacher means that you can explain it in more than one way to others, whether the content concerns facts, generalizations, principles, themes, and so on.
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Second, you must be able to translate the content you so understand to make it learnable, interesting, and challenging for students at the age and grade level you are teaching. It requires rearranging what you know. This applies to social studies more than any other content area simply because social studies as a discipline lacks any widely agreed-upon structure.
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Third, you must consider pedagogy. This means that you not only understand the content in more than one way, can translate it into a form understandable, learnable, challenging, and interesting to your students, but that you also have the skills to actually teach the content. Pedagogy without subject matter content isn't worth very much. Simply "knowing about" teaching methods won't do.
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There is probably no more important skill required in teaching social studies than the ability to explain events, ideas, principles, and social interrelationships. In some ways, good social studies teaching rests on the ability to tell stories well. For social studies, this story telling ability is grounded in the depth and awareness of the connective possibilities of the content. Helping students make new connections, to find challenge and meaning in social studies content is what excellent social studies teachers do every day.
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shared by Laura Wood on 08 Oct 09
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Center for Civic Education Home - 2 views
civiced.org
school violence civic education civic education citizenship history civitas Constitution citizen podcast government
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Listen to today's podcast
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Daily civics quiz
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Mission Statement From the site: The Center for Civic Education is a nonprofit, nonpartisan educational corporation dedicated to promoting an enlightened and responsible citizenry committed to democratic principles and actively engaged in the practice of democracy in the United States and other countries. . . . The Center specializes in civic/citizenship education, law-related education, and international educational exchange programs for developing democracies. Programs focus on the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights; American political traditions and institutions at the federal, state, and local levels; constitutionalism; civic participation; and the rights and responsibilities of citizens.
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So this may be my favorite organization ever. They have an international branch, a branch in DC and a branch in California. They have a daily civics quiz on the the website and a daily 60 second civics podcast . . . I'm in <3.
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I'm just overwhelmed. I want to work at this organization . . . so many incredible incredible programs, teacher trainings, professional developments, etc. Lynn Cohen worked with Civitas in Bosnia.
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Carter Center Teacher Resource Center - Middle & High School Lessons - 2 views
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More Teachers Turning to Sign Language to Manage Classrooms - washingtonpost.com - 0 views
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how to manage children's urgent requests, in the middle of the most carefully planned lessons, for permission to sharpen pencils, get drinks of water or visit the bathroom.
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"Sign language is the ultimate multitasker's tool," she said. "It lets you tend half the class's bodily needs at the same time you're helping a small group learn."
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Signing has long been a tool for teachers to help special education students develop language skills, and for years it has been offered in area high schools as a second language. Now its use as a management tool appears to be on the rise.
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shared by Laura Wood on 23 Oct 09
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Teaching with Historic Places - 1 views
www.nps.gov/twhp
national parks National Park Service lesson plans US History using places parks battlefields places geography history historic Education
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Adrea Lawrence liked it
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Curriculum Standards for Social Studies
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WOW! They even connect their lesson plans to the NCSS standards. This link takes you to a page that lists all the lesson plans that meet each of the NCSS standards You can click on the NCSS Standard at the top of the page and it will take to you a list of those lessons that meet that one. There are a ton for each!
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National U.S. History Standards for Grades 5-12
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Hrm. They also link to a set of standards I've never heard of . . . "Part of the National Standards for History developed by the National Center for History in the Schools, these voluntary standards promote historical thinking skills and understanding" I'm glad I haven't had to hear of them, but this page will tell you how to meet these standards as well.
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From the site: "Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) uses properties listed in the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places to enliven history, social studies, geography, civics, and other subjects. TwHP has created a variety of products and activities that help teachers bring historic places into the classroom." Including lesson plans and tips!
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Lesson Plans: The Lesson Plans link has SO MANY lesson plans. They are designed at a middle school level but can easily be adapted (says them). The lesson plans are organized by Location/State; Theme; Time period; and Skill - meaning that you can click on any one of those subdivisions and search them that way. Very exciting! You should definitely check these out. Even if you're not in that state, they still have pictures, mapping materials, and activity ideas that you can use to incorporate geography into historic concepts. For example, the Battle of Bunker Hill lesson contains two maps (of Boston today and in 1775) and inquiry questions for these, a section of text (looks like a high school level to me) and inquiry questions for that AND three images (one a sketch of an encampment and two pictures) and inquiry questions for those. These might make fantastic "Do Now"s for the beginning of the lesson even if you didn't use any of the rest of the sites info. So neat!
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Also they have lots of tips for how you can incorporate place into your lessons. AND! you can submit your own lessons. They take you through the TwHP lesson creation process and you can submit them.
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Report Questions Duncan's Policy of Closing Failing Schools - NYTimes.com - 2 views
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Furthermore, the disruptions of routines in schools scheduled to be closed appeared to hurt student learning in the months after the closing was announced, the researchers found.
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The study has shown that the disruption in schools appeared to hurt student learning in the months after the closing was announced. This makes me wonder, of course, about the recent layoffs in DC. While schools have not been closed, there obviously has been a lot of disruption and many classes are most likely behind schedule.
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Instead of closing schools permanently, or for a year, and then reopening with a new staff, he shifted to the turnaround approach, in which the staff of failing schools was replaced over the summer but the same students returned in the fall. The new report focused only on the elementary schools closed permanently from 2001 to 2006, and thus offers no conclusions about the effectiveness of the turnaround strategy.
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Because of the disruption caused by the school closing, Duncan switchd to a strategy in which the staff was changed over the summer but the same students returned to the school. There are no conclusive studies about the effectiveness of this strategy. But, it does seem to show the danger of mass firings in the middle of the school year.
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Combat Stress and the Fort Hood Gunman - Room for Debate Blog - NYTimes.com - 0 views
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Room for Debate seems like a great format for learning about different positions on an issue from current events. Today's essential question: Is post-traumatic stress among caregivers a significant problem? These wars in the Middle East have reminded our nation that soldiers must often fight for their survival on two fronts: overseas as well as at home.
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Spark up the American Revolution with Math, Science, and More - 3 views
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Michelle Lee, a middle school teacher in Michigan, wrote this interdisciplinary lesson plan for teaching the American Revolution. There are some great ideas for incorporating geography, math, sociology, language arts, phys ed, and music into the social studies/history classroom. -----------Once you click the link, hit the full text button on the right hand side.-----------
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Learn About Congress: Interactive Learning Modules - 4 views
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the typical textbook process with the more realistic "dynamic" process, and you will see how our untidy process
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This module illustrates ways in which Americans can participate in the democratic process, and highlights individuals who have made a difference by getting involved
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Developed for students as well as the general public, these interactive learning activities are designed to give you a fresh perspective on how the United States Congress works, your role in the process, and peoples' perceptions about Congress. To open the modules, click the graphic.
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