Page 149 - Powerful Social Studies for Elementary Students 4th Edition

FIGURE 5.1 Specific Examples to Illustrate Teaching History
Principles for Teaching History
Develop and present networks of knowledge structured around powerful ideas.
Expose students to varied data sources and provide them with opportu- nities to conduct historical inquiry, to synthesize and communicate their findings, to learn from biography, fiction, and texts, and so forth.
Unit 1
Unit 2
Unit 3
Unit 4
CHAPTER 5
How Can I Teach History Powerfully? 121
Instruction should focus on the study of particular individuals and groups of people rather than on impersonal abstractions.
Bring history to life for students.
Foster empathy with the people being studied.
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After teaching a unit using the guiding principles established in this chapter, interview students to
Sample Interview Questions
Select questions that match your unit’s goals and major historical understandings.
1. What were the big ideas you learned about the his- tory of our (state/region/nation)?
2. Would you have liked to have been one of the early settlers to come to our area? Why? Why not? What do you think life was like for them?
3. What groups of people do you think were the most influential in the development of our (state/region/ nation)? Why?
4. If you could meet one historical figure who contrib- uted to the development of our (state/region/nation),
OR
Focus on causal explanations that help students understand what happened, why, and what it might mean for personal, social, or civic decision making.
5.
determine their reactions regarding meaningfulness and enjoyment.
who would it be? Why? Describe how you would choose to spend a day with this person.
Have a range of data sources available that you used during the unit. Ask students to select those that were most inspiring, enjoyable, and meaningful, and explain why.
6. If you could live during the early development of our region or now, which would you choose and why? 7. How do you think learning about the past can help
you today? In the future? (These questions could be discussed in focus groups and tape recorded for later analysis and reflection.)
Your Turn: A Resource Unit for Fifth-Grade U.S. History: The American Revolution (Appendix B)
The nature of the content and the students’ lack of much background knowledge limit opportunities for experiential or independent inquiry, but the American Revolution provides a very fruitful forum for structured discourse. Also, writing can be a natural outgrowth of the discussions as well as a contributor to subsequent dialo- gues. Keeping this in mind, we recommend that you expand this resource unit (see Appendix B) into a teach- ing unit using discourse and writing as the key modalities. The writing pieces can serve as major entries for the
student portfolio, a very appropriate authentic assessment measure given the nature of the goals, content, and strat- egies for developing meaningfulness. The net result should be powerful social studies teaching and learning.
Figure 5.2 is a “worksheet” to help guide your planning of structured discourse. Select questions that focus on your goals and address the key understand- ings. Early in the discussion you will want to assess prior knowledge and determine apparent misconcep- tions. However, do not allow students to “wallow in
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