Page 119 - Powerful Social Studies for Elementary Students 4th Edition

CHAPTER 4 What Social Studies Planning Tools Are Available? 91
you need to add to align your plans more closely with them. (See the set of questions listed in the Local Curriculum Guides section of this chapter).
Suppose you were developing a unit on state government. In reviewing the state stan- dards you realize you have not included the core democratic values such as common good. That observation can lead you to add material on core democratic values to your lesson focusing on elected officials and the role and function they play in deciding what is best for their constituency.
If you start with a blank slate and try to plan a yearlong program around standards, you probably will feel deflated and frustrated. The standards were never intended to be taught in sequence or as separate entities. They are guidelines for assessing the compre- hensiveness of unit plans structured around topic-specific goals and big ideas.
What do I do if I’m handed a pacing guide and told “this is what you need to follow?” First of all, don’t panic! All of the pacing guides we have examined set mini- mal expectations and none of them dictate how you will teach. Generally speaking, they contain skills such as finding absolute locations, using longitude and latitude, reading timelines, and recalling factual information. Some call for writing opportunities such as taking a position and defending it or applying the core democratic values to a situation.
Take a deep breath. Step back. Then ask “How can I build the specified elements in my upcoming social studies unit in meaningful ways within the designated time frame (because a quarterly assessment typically follows)?”
When it is all said and done, the pacing guide establishes minimal conditions. That is the good news. Your challenge remains the creation of robust instructional plans which far exceed what you are required to include. If you fail to exploit the degree of autonomy that you have and simply drill and grill, neither you nor your students will get excited during social studies time.
How can I avoid getting so stressed about standardized testing? Find out what content and skills are expected at your grade level. For example, if students in fifth grade are expected to write a persuasive essay, understand cause and effect, or use longitude and latitude to locate specific places, find appropriate and natural places within your units for acquiring and practicing these skills. Being knowledgeable about test content serves as one more informant for developing a robust social studies program.
Consider preparing a matrix and plotting where you can naturally embed potentially testable content and skills. Periodically administer assessments in standardized testing formats, making sure students work independently. These strategic moves will promote efficacy and a realization that taking a test is “not such a big deal.”
How do I figure out what my goals are? The academic disciplines are means of generating and systematizing knowledge. The school subjects that draw from them are means of preparing students for life in our society by equipping them with essential knowl- edge, skills, values, and dispositions. We want students not just to remember what we teach them in school, but to access and use it in appropriate application situations. These goals will not be met if students simply memorize disconnected bits of information.
It is important to emphasize goals of understanding, appreciation, and life application. Understanding means the students learn both the individual elements in a network of related content and the connections among them so they can explain the content in their own words. If they have been engaged in a unit on Mexico, for example, they ought to be able to explain the idea that factors contributing to the types of work people do include geographic location, education, local needs, personal choice, and so forth.
Appreciation means that students value what they are learning because they under- stand that there are good reasons for learning it. During the unit on Mexico, we would
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