EDEL 157

Susan Baker

Texts:

The major textbook is Social Studies in Elementary Education, 11th edition, Merrill Prentice

Projects and Due Dates:

	Design a lesson and a learning center that supports TEACHING HISTORY. Project Due: February 13
	Design two LITERATURE-BASED SOCIAL STUDIES outlines. Project Due: February 27.
	Develop an INTERDISCIPLINARY CURRICULUM UNIT focused on a social studies/education topic. Project Due: March 15
	Compile all handouts in a RESOURCE BINDER. Project Due: April 26.

Teaching History

Good teachers continually look for new and better ideas. School Districts' curricula guides, scopes and sequences, and social studies textbooks provide some guidelines. Vermont's Framework of Standards and Learning Opportunities provides a comprehensive view of what is expected in Vermont schools. Many states have in place or are working on similar Standards. You will receive in class the Fall, 2000 VT's Framework of Standards and Learning Opportunities. Please review History, Social Sciences Standards 6.1-6.6 carefully.

Your assignment is to develop a history lesson (not geography, civics but history) and a supporting learning center for a primary class or for grades 4 - 6. Be sure to consider what prior knowledge children will need before working on your ideas. Answer the following questions for your History Learning Center:

What 5 (or more) activities will be available at your Learning Centers? Describe each one carefully.
What do you want children to learn from these activities (learning objectives)?
What prior knowledge or experiences will children need to do this work?
What materials will be needed?
What will children be expected to do; and
How will you know if children have learned what you intended them to learn (otherwise know as assessment)?

Submit the above information in narrative form plus a lesson plan for the lesson.

Due February 13

Literature-Based Social Studies

This assignment asks you to consider teaching social studies through literature. Another way to think about this is how to use historical fiction, picture books, poetry, and nonfiction from classroom reading programs to explore social studies and social education issues. Finding time to teach everything is one of the most frustrating challenges of teaching elementary school. Consequently, we talk frequently in the Inquiry Block about integrating curricula areas. How can we use mathematics in science experiments? How can we use picture book illustrations to study artists' expressions of the human condition?

Spend some time in children's sections of libraries and bookstores to find one picture book and one chapter book that lend themselves to social studies topics. Become very familiar with both books. Do not use books from your Author Study. Branch out to new authors and illustrators. Include in outline or narrative form, the following details:

Titles, authors, dates, and publishers of your TWO selections.
Summary of each story: one paragraph for each book should be adequate. State age or grade level(s) for which you intend each book.
Social Studies content areas addressed by each book and your accompanying activities (i.e., anthropology, geography, sociology, governance, citizenship, history, etc.)
Content-related vocabulary words, eight per book. Think about what a six year old, for example, can really read. Consider diverse reading levels.
Big Ideas addressed in each book. For example - growth, diverse perspectives, individuality, gender issues, human and/or environmental interconnectedness, etc.
Critical-thinking questions, include 4 to 8 per book. Avoid regurgitated facts and concentrate on asking children to analyze the stories and develop informed opinions.
Brainstormed list of related books, videos, CD-ROMs, field trips, etc.
Activities related to each book. Describe 8 to 10 possibilities per book. Consider art, crafts, drama (simulations of historical events), mapping, board games, letter or newspaper writing, science connections, etc. One descriptive paragraph for each activity should be adequate.

Students in EDEL 187 classes should think about specific connections they can make between this project and 187's coursework

Due February 27

Interdisciplinary Curriculum Unit

Interdisciplinary Curriculum Units serve many important teaching and learning goals. Teachers can design them, for example, around children's interests, learning needs of a particular class, and community issues or events. Many studies replicate "real life" in order to capture children's attention and to give them something authentic to do with their learning. They can utilize multiple intelligences and learning styles in order to include, nurture, and challenge all students. Our textbook and its accompanying "Curriculum Standards for Social Studies" provide many theme and topic ideas.

Use the Unit Planning Outline, Appendix 2 in this Syllabus, to guide your work. Your topic must be from the social studies or social education. As you work on #3 - Learning Objectives Outline - remember and note in writing the disciplines you are integrating into your topic (i.e. science, math, literacy, the arts in addition to social studies). As you work on #4 - Teaching and Learning Strategies - be sure to incorporate multiple intelligences. Also, list under #6 - Resources - any ideas for field trips, speakers, use of technology, and relevant book titles that would enrich your Unit of study.

An additional requirement for this project is that you include a multicultural approach to your topic. For example, if your topic is an era of history, be sure to include some learning about all the people involved, not just the victors; or if your topic is a landform like deserts and you are focusing on the U.S. Southwest, consider what the native people and the cultural majority do to deal with life in the desert. You may want to include a comparison study with a desert in Africa. If your topic is Mexico, include the contributions Mexican people have made in the U.S.

Include in your project, any handouts or materials you find in books or the Internet that you think would be helpful if you actually teach this unit. Your lesson descriptions do not have to include all these materials, but get in the habit of collecting materials even if you don't need them for this particular project. Of course, if your described lesson includes a book, state the title and author; if it requires a worksheet or a guideline sheet, include one; of if it requires a resource, cite it so you can find it later.

Due March 15

Resource Binder

We want you to become organized collectors. Save everything and begin an organization system that makes sense for you. At the very least include index tabs for each of your sections. You may combine your Social Studies and your VPA Binders.