Page 318 - Powerful Social Studies for Elementary Students 4th Edition

290 Powerful Social Studies for Elementary Students
A Synthesis of Generic Principles of Good Teaching
The following 12 principles of good teaching have served as the informal underpinning to our text. We include them here to support your efforts to move beyond the current standards and rhetoric with confidence. Implementing these principles will help you teach all subjects effectively, and in particular offer your students a robust social studies program.
For much of the twentieth century, basing curriculum and instruction theories and reform ideas on ideology rather than research was not only possible but necessary because there was not very much research available to inform the enterprise. Over the last 50 years, however, a great deal of relevant, useful, and mostly mutually supportive research has accumulated. It is now possible to make confident, research-based state- ments about many aspects of teaching. Some of this research-based information is specific to particular grade levels, subject areas, and so on, but some of it is relatively generic, applicable to most aspects of teaching in typical classrooms.
One of us was asked to develop a brief synthesis of these research findings for a book- let in a series sponsored by the International Academy of Education (Brophy, 1999). The charge was to focus on generic aspects of good teaching, rooted in principles that reflect aspects of classrooms that are much more similar than different across countries and cul- tures. Most subject-matter teaching involves whole-class lessons in which content is developed during teacher-student interaction, followed by practice and application activ- ities that students work on individually or in pairs or small groups. The student/teacher ratio and other constraints cause most instruction to be directed primarily to the class as a whole, with the teacher seeking to individualize around the margins. This description fits the situation of most teachers who teach social studies to elementary students, so much of the content of this book can be subsumed within the 12 principles that anchor the synthesis.
We realize that teaching using these principles may appear to be a daunting task. Table 14.1, The 12 Principles of Good Teaching, included at the end of the chapter, pro- vides a brief description of each principle and an example of a teacher using the principle to assist you in visualizing its application in a classroom setting. The table also indicates the chapter(s) that relate directly to each principle, although bear in mind that each of the 12 principles can and should be applied broadly across the content of this book.
Introduction to the 12 Principles
There is broad agreement among educators associated with all school subjects that students should learn each subject with understanding of its big ideas, appreciation of its value, and the capability and disposition to apply it in their lives outside of school. Analyses of research done in the different subject areas have identified some commonalities in conclusions drawn about curricular, instructional, and assessment practices that foster this kind of learning. If phrased as general principles rather than specific behavioral rules, these emerging guidelines can be seen as mutu- ally supportive components of a coherent approach to teaching that applies across subjects and situations. Thus, it is possible to identify generic features of good teach- ing, although not to outline a specific instructional model to be implemented on a step-by-step basis.
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