UPDATE IN SOCIAL STUDIES

1. UPDATE IN SOCIAL STUDIES Information to help drive your curriculum and instruction.

2. What is Social Studies? Social studies is the integrated study of the social sciences to prepare young people to become responsible citizens.

3. Primary Goal of Social Studies: To promote responsible citizenship for all students.

4. A Responsible Citizen…. • Uses knowledge of the past to construct meaning • Uses knowledge of spatial patterns on earth to understand processes that shape our human environment • Uses knowledge of American government and politics to make decisions • Uses knowledge of economic principles to make personal, career and societal decisions about resources • Uses methods of social science to investigate • Constructs and expresses thoughtful positions on public issues • Acts constructively to further the public good

5. A POWERFUL QUOTE “The greatest title any one of us can ever hold is CITIZEN.” -President Clinton During the presentation of the Presidential Medal of Freedom January 2001

6. We are all teachers of Social Studies!!! • If we want our students to understand the primary goal of Social Studies…. • We must begin to take Core Democratic Values and the vocabulary of the standards and benchmarks into all of our classrooms----K-12

7. Social Studies Curriculums need to build: • Disciplinary knowledge • Thinking skills • Commitment to democratic values • Citizen participation

8. Disciplinary Knowledge is…(the big picture) Students construct meaning through understanding of powerful ideas drawn from geography, history and American government, and economics. Constructed meaning shapes students perspective for understanding society.

9. A Look at the Standards • National Council of Social Studies (NCSS) • Alignment is critical • Pay attention to MI Standards

10. Opportunity Cost • When you make a decision, the alternative you don’t choose is the opportunity cost. • When a classroom teacher chooses to teach dinosaurs over economics, he/she is making an opportunity cost decision for the students!

11. Thinking Skills... • Necessary for involvement in public life • Students use methods of social science • Learn to gather, interpret and analyze information • Engage in civic discourse • Be able to take a stand!

12. Core Democratic Values are underlying values from our constitution and other important documents. Democratic Values

13. Teaching Core Democratic Values • CDV are ideas in which Americans believe. • We do not look the same. • We like different things. • There are some ways that we are the same. • WE BELIEVE IN TELLING THE TRUTH AND TREATING PEOPLE FAIRLY. • To be good citizens we must practicethese values each day at home and at school.

14. Thinking Out of the Box • If Core Democratic Values are only taught during Social Studies class…students will not begin to make the connection that these values are a part of our heritage and what our country is all about.

15. Citizen Participation • Involve public affairs • Strengthen competencies for self-government • Rule of Law • Encourages students to improve their • Communities

16. 25 Standards/Indicators of Responsible Citizenship Students make continuous progress toward meeting the standards at each level.

17. Historical Perspective • Use knowledge of past to construct meaning • Knowledge of events, ideas and people • Includes time and chronology, comprehending the past, analyzing the past, and judging decisions from the past

18. Geographic Perspective • Diversity of people, places and cultures • Human/Environment Interaction • Location, Movement, Connections • Regions, Patterns, and Processes • Global Issues and Events

19. 5 Themes of Geography • Designed to provide a basic framework of Geography for all teachers. • The expectation is that by teaching geography across the curriculum, we will be more successful in developing geographic literacy among our students.

20. MR. HELP • M= MOVEMENT • R=REGIONS • H=HUMAN • E= ENVIRONMENT • L= LOCATION • P= PLACE

21. Civic Perspective Using knowledge of our government to make informed decisions.

22. Economic Perspective • Use knowledge of the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services to make informed decisions about resources

23. Inquiry • Using Social Science methods to answer questions about society.

24. Public Discourse and Decision Making • Identifying and analyzing issues • Group Discussion • Persuasive Writing

25. Citizen Involvement • Students will act constructively to further the public good. • Students becoming actively involved in public affairs • Preparing students to participate in political activities in order to serve their communities

26. Developing Social Studies Sequence • Early Elementary Sequence…. Children begin by studying themselves….then progress to their families, schools and communities…all 7 strands must be included

27. Later Elementary Sequence…include broader communities (urban, suburban and rural), the state of MI and other regions of the U.S….to 1763, rights and responsibilities of citizens and basic economic concepts…interpreting specific rights of Constitution…economic, civic and geographic content needs to be covered

28. Middle School Sequence Students study global regions and the world….include study of major geographic regions and cultures…constitutional foundation of our government…history and economy of U.S…cover to at least 1815.

29. High School Sequence Eras of U.S. history….local, state and national government in the U.S…world affairs…American economy and international economic systems…geographic and environmental implications…all four disciplines- history, geography, civics and economics should be integrated within all high school courses.

30. A little about the S.S. MEAP Test • Test given in 5th, 8th and HS • 3 types of questions (selected response, constructed response and extended response) • Four levels of performance • No other MEAP Test is more aligned than the Social Studies Test

31. Are we asking too much of these kids? Is this material grade appropriate? • All of this material comes from the standards and benchmarks • Are we teaching the content standards or something else? • Some states do a similar test in 3rd or 4th grade • Readability is based on sentence length • All items reviewed three times by Advisory Committee

32. Information from the students... • Teach content standards in manner like it is being tested • For 5th graders civics is most challenging • Students can create bar and line graphs but have difficulty on interpretation

33. More Information from Students... • Knowledge of history, geography, economics and government was more evenly distributed by grade 8 • Some students are showing success • It is easier for students to identify than to explain

34. Things You Can Do to Teach Social Studies Throughout the Curriculum Learn and use the vocabulary of the content standards in every thing you do and print…. INTEGRATE… INTEGRATE… INTEGRATE!!!

35. CONNECT CONTENT TO THE REAL WORLD

36. Focus on Current Events in Your Classroom • Must help students make connections to current events • Connect this information to CDV • USA Today

37. We know from the MEAP Test... • When schools instruct through the recall method, students will have difficulty mastering the benchmarks! • When schools instruct using the 4 Teaching and Learning Standards, students find mastering the benchmarks easier and are more successful!

38. Making the Connections Look at:What you are teaching? The benchmarks you will cover “Big Ideas” Connect to today/Real World

39. Ideas to Incorporate CDV’s Across the Curriculum... Use CDV charts throughout all classrooms, in the hallway and in the office Share CDV handouts and posters with parents at Open Houses Make classroom books on CDV ‘s for every class and place in the library Use “people” shapes and have young children begin talking about CDV’s Use children’s literature to demonstrate and discuss CDV’s

40. Use Children’s Literature Several organizations have developed lesson plans to help teachers teach Social Studies concepts and vocabulary using children’s literature. See attached list for addresses/websites

41. Teaching Economics an example • Arthur’s Birthday (Marc Brown, 1989) • Vocabulary: decision making, scarcity, problem resolution • Arthur and Muffy are having birthday parties on the same day forcing their friends to choose one friend over the other. Arthur and Francine come up with a solution and put their plan into action.

42. Other Literature Sources • Notable Social Studies Trade Books- list published by NCSS each year. • Core Democratic Bibliography- arranged by CDV.

43. Terrific Websites http://www.ncss.org http://www.themint.org http://www.economicsamerica.org/vv.index/html

44. Epic Website http://michiganepic.org • Michigan EPIC is an educational technology project focused on the Social Sciences. • Aligned lessons to MCF • Assessments aligned to the MEAP • Primary resources • Teaching aids and much, much more

45. Linking and Learningfrom A to Z Best Practices of Technology Integration II from Michigan teachers All districts have several copies In lesson plan folder---many Social Studies resources like the Constitution and the Oath of Office

46. Ideas to Incorporate CDV’s Across the Curriculum... Use CDV charts throughout all classrooms, in the hallway and in the office Share CDV handouts and posters with parents at Open Houses Make classroom books on CDV ‘s for every class and place in the library Use “people” shapes and have young children begin talking about CDV’s Use children’s literature to demonstrate and discuss CDV’s

47. Understand the standards and benchmarks. All teachers are responsible for helping to teach the Social Studies. Incorporate CDV’s. Incorporate children’s literature and use the vocabulary of the standards and benchmarks. Use technology resources. Putting The Pieces Together

48. We don’t all need to teach Social Studies because of a test... We need to teach and integrate the concepts and vocabulary into much of what we do…so it makes sense for kids…so they become the responsible citizens we know they can be!