Page 108 - Powerful Social Studies for Elementary Students 4th Edition

CHAPTER 4
Clare Adamus, First-Year Teacher
During my internship, as I sat down with the district curriculum materials to plan my first social studies unit on slavery and the Underground Railroad, I was filled with hope that somehow the textbook would magically instruct me how to transform the social studies I had experienced in school into memorable and exciting lessons. Unfortunately, the textbook I was using left me uninspired: how could anyone—let alone a room full of second language learners—learn about nearly two centuries of slavery by reading a meager five pages? I hoped that the teacher’s manual would help nudge me in a more positive direction but I found only word searches and other low level assessments that used vocabulary inaccessible to my students. If I were bored looking at the material, how would restless nine-year-olds feel?
Due to the support (and prodding) of my professors and mentor, I began planning weeks before I would be teaching my unit. The librarian at my local library became my best friend and I spent hours watching online videos, reading children’s books, and surfing websites that matched my topic. I recommend fol- lowing the authors’ advice, for just as I did,
you will get bombarded with the horrible, the mediocre, the acceptable, and the excellent materials out there, so keep your goals and objectives in mind (I wrote mine on neon sticky notes and posted them right under my nose!).
Finally, I had created a unit that I was pretty confident about and one that I was actually excited to teach. Before teaching it, I wanted to make sure I had covered all the bases, so I did a T-W-L (What I think I know, What I want to learn, and What I learned) chart activity with
WHAT SOCIAL STUDIES PLANNING TOOLS ARE AVAILABLE?
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© Tom Stanilus
TEACHER VOICE