Page 334 - Powerful Social Studies for Elementary Students 4th Edition

306 Powerful Social Studies for Elementary Students
TABLE 14.1 CONTINUED
Principle/
Related What it Looks Like up Close:
Chapter Explanation A Snapshot Examples of Enactment
this lesson, students study the events of March 5, 1770 in Boston (known as the Boston Massacre). Students study various accounts of what hap- pened and discuss why the colonists labeled it a massacre. They use this lesson as a springboard for discussion about the concepts of indepen- dence and revolution.
6. Thoughtful Discourse Chapter 8
Questions are planned to engage students in sustained discourse structured around powerful ideas.
In the early stages of units when new content is introduced and developed, more time is spent on interactive les- sons featuring teacher-student dis- course than on independent work. The teacher plans sequences of lessons designed to develop content system- atically and help students relate it to prior knowledge.
When introducing a Land to Hand relationship using the story of the banana as part of an integrated unit on food, the teacher uses the globe as a tool for reasoning about suitable cli- mates for growing bananas. She traces the Equator around the globe describing it as an imaginary line around the middle of the earth. The lesson continues as follows:
T: That’s where it’s warmest on the earth. So when you look at this globe if you get closer to this line you get....
Ss: Hotter.
T: Or warmer. If you go farther away, it gets.... Ss: Cooler.
T: Right. So look at Michigan. Here we are up here. Are we close to the line or far away from the line?
Ss: Far away.
T: So do you think this is a place where it’s going to get hot enough for bananas to grow? Ss: No.
T: [Goes to show places in Central America where bananas are from]
(Brophy, Alleman, & Knighton, 2009, p. 186).
Subsequent questions include Why not? Why do you think bananas can grow in Central Amer- ica? How is the climate there different than Michigan’s?
In another scenario, the students are studying the role of citizens in influencing public policy. In this lesson, students engage in a discussion of a public issue of importance to them: should children be allowed to bring toys to school? With the students’ help, the teacher sets up ground rules for discussion. She then models how to take a position and back it up with evi- dence: “I think that toys should not be allowed at school because sometimes the toys interfere with learning.” In small groups, students then participate in discussion about their opinions, backed with evidence and/or reasoning. The teacher circulates among the students, helping them develop appropriate language to use to engage in substantive conversation.
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