6 th grade Social Studies: A Primer

1. 6th grade Social Studies: A Primer Monday, October 21, 2013

2. Class Facilitation Nicolette Smith Kristin Campbell Angela Orr

3. Agenda

4. Administrivia • Sign-in (stipend forms for two new folks) • Edmodo folder for 6th grade World History Resources • Code: ffxhnf • Direct link: http://www.edmodo.com/home#/join/72726b11f6478a0dbc11f0fb03ed85a1 • DBQ Training – January 21 at WEA Building • On Solutionwhere • Code: 6DBQ2014

5. Foci of the Course • Sharing important social studies resources and strategies • Building a community of 6th grade S.S. educators 1st meeting: standards & essential questions 2nd meeting: concept lessons & PERSIA categorizing tool 3rd meeting: text annotation & academic vocabulary 4th meeting: discussion & structured academic controversy

6. Discuss with two people next to you… What was one idea that you noted in the reading from Walter Parker on concepts? Why did that idea stand out to you?

8. Rationale for Teaching Concepts Concepts are the “furniture” of our minds. A well-furnished mind is a source of joy, academic success, citizenship, career satisfaction, and lifelong learning. When a student forms a concept from its examples, he or she knows more than the definition of a term (e.g., river: he or she also knows some vivid examples of the concept that add flesh to a bare-bones definition, such as the Mississippi, the Amazon, the Yangtze, and the Volga). This is deep conceptual learning rather than superficial knowledge of a vocabulary word.

9. Description of “Concept” A concept is defined by critical characteristics shared by all examples of the concept. For something to be an example of a concept, it must contain all these critical characteristics. To help students form the concept, the teacher helps them first to see these critical characteristics across different examples and, then to summarize those characteristics in a definition that students themselves write.

10. One Type of Concept Lesson • Concept Development • 90-120 minute lesson • SNAPSHOT Experience (today – 20 minutes) Steps in Lesson • Activate Prior Knowledge • Individual Brainstorm • Small Group Brainstorm • Whole Group Brainstorm • Small Group Categorization • Whole Group Consensus & Gallery Walk Notetaking • Defining the Concept • Applying the Concept

11. SNAPSHOT LESSON PRACTICE • Read through the sentences at the top of your handout. • Work in a small group to brainstorm as many words and phrases as possible that come to mind when you think of the term culture. • Share with another group and add to your list. • What we’re leaving out of this snapshot… • Individual brainstorm • Whole group brainstorm (rather than two groups) • (Remember when brainstorming with students, no idea is wrong until categorization begins. Keep the conversation open and honor all ideas. Deleting words is a later step.)

12. SNAPSHOT LESSON PRACTICE • Back in your small group, use the PERSIA Method to categorize all of the words and phrases that you associate with culture. All words must either be deleted by consensus (“This isn’t a word related to culture.”) or fit into one of the categories. How this differs from a traditional concept lesson… Traditionally, you would allow students to define their own categories and then come back together as a whole class and decide on the BEST five categories. These categories become your critical characteristics of the concept. In this case, we are giving you some critical characteristics that you can use all year long for categorization.

13. SNAPSHOT LESSON PRACTICE • After categorizing your terms, work as individuals or small groups to complete the final steps in defining and revising your definition of culture. These steps are highly important, and having an agreed upon definition of an important concept is essential. We are skipping this step today, but you never should.

14. Working Definition for the Year • Create a class definition for your term. • Post this definition and refer to it often. • Ask students to use the concept as well as context clues that give a glimpse into its meaning in their writing.

15. Important Concepts in 6th Grade Social Studies: • Religion • Government • Technology • Culture • Economy • Law • Why would an in-depth understanding of concepts like these be important to teaching world history?

16. PERSIA

17. Political P • Leaders & Leadership Style • Government System • Military/War • Constitution/Documents • Individual Participation • Laws/Courts • Structure of Gov’t • Treaties

18. Economic E • Currency/Money • Resources • Trade • Industry • Technology • Agriculture/Farming • Infrastructure • Labor & Production

19. Religion R • Importance day to day • Belief/Teachings • Religious Leader(s) • Worship Practices • Holy book and sites • Values • Who & what is worshiped • Relationship to Government

20. Social S • Family • Roles of different genders • Class Structure • Language • Education • Lifestyles • Entertainment

21. Intellectual/Artistic I • Art & Music • Writing & Literature • Philosophy • Math & Science • Inventions & Innovations • Education • Technology • Fashion • Discoveries & Exploration • Architecture

22. Area A • Geography • Physical characteristics of location (land, waterways, natural borders, types of soil, etc.) • Movement of people, goods, and services • Human Environment Interaction • Region

23. Practicing the PERSIA Method • ESSENTIAL QUESTION: • How can the PERSIA Method help my students to better understand ancient civilizations and organize their understanding so that they can more effectively discuss and write about their learning?

24. PERSIA in Practice • Note Taking • Asking Great Questions • Analyzing Readings • Primary Source Analysis & Annotation • Image Sorts • Annotation of Timeline • Review of Chapters • Comparisons of Cultures • Ranking of Important Cultural Characteristics in a Civilization (within and across categories) • Preparation for Writing • Vocabulary Work

25. Emphasize Reasoning • Don’t let these become worksheets where students just “dump” information. • Consider ways that you can “probe” students for their reasoning. • Why? • So what? • Why is this the most appropriate category?

26. PERSIA Stations • Introduction to three different methods of using PERSIA • Not enough time to complete…just a snapshot experience (15 mins each) • Stations • Comparison of Cultures (from a close read) • Analysis of Sources (from DBQ) • Image Sort with Emphasis on Reasoning

27. Reflection How might these strategies work in your classroom?

28. Homework • Before we meet again on November 18, please try to implement PERSIA in some capacity or another. • If you want extra credit , maybe try a concept lesson, too! • Sign up for DBQ training if you are interested.