David Aleman is a 4th grade teacher from Arizona who was kind enough to sit down and discuss the current state of social studies education in Phoenix schools. The interview gave new depth to my understanding of how social studies is currently being taught in my state. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the interview responses and Arizona’s 4th grade social studies standards for such things as thoroughness, clarity, relationship to literacy development, and the shifting emphasis off of teaching social studies topics.
Social studies ultimately about civic education, or civic competence. The idea being that all students need to have a certain amount of knowledge, skills, and democratic dispositions to be an active participant in their community (Chapin, 2013). The Arizona standards are quiet complex and thorough when it comes to social studies in the fourth grade, but only in some areas. Asking Mr. Aleman a few questions regarding his personal feelings on social studies as a content area, I was ill-prepared for the honesty of his responses. First, was the question of whether or not social studies was a subject that students needed. This teacher felt that social studies was extremely important because it was a way to connect students with their past and cultural identity. I think that this is reflective of the Arizona state standards, which emphasis learning about the history of civilizations in Arizona and the Southwest. While the focus is on Arizona, it stresses the
The Arizona Youth Assessment System incorporates six distinct risk assessment tools: Diversion, Detention, Pre-Disposition, Disposition, Residential, and Re-Entry (Ducey, Douglas A., Arizona Youth Assessment System). Once the data is collected from these risk assessment tools and is entered, the results will identify the juvenile offender’s areas of highest risk. After precise overview of the results, I would then decide the sentencing recommendations based on the offender’s risk level as well as the immediate crime that was committed by them. If the juvenile’s results show he or she is at low risk of reoffending then I would recommend a minor punishment such as probation, community service, or a small fine. However, if the offender is at high
With its charts, graphs, and political cartoons, on the surface the Document Based Question (DBQ) is certainly more visually appealing than a standard multiple-choice assessment or traditional instructional strategy. However just how effective and authentic is the DBQ? What rationale do teachers, school districts, and state departments of education have for choosing the DBQ as an integral part of the social studies curriculum? What sort of psychological and social foundations of curriculum are rooted in the DBQ? A review of published literature regarding the DBQ provides some insight into these questions.
In all three of these artifacts, I have developed relevant, integrative, challenging, and exploratory units of study. The “Preserving the Past” unit incorporates all four core subjects as well as a service learning opportunity. My interdisciplinary unit on geography connects Language Arts with Social Studies with visual art mixed in, and the Greek mythology ELA unit was taught in conjunction with a Social Studies class (1). The Civil War unit and NC geography unit I have created incorporate Common Core standards as well as NC Essential standards. Lesson plans and assessments in all of these units were created using backwards design in which I started by looking at the standards and objectives students would be expected to reach and based my assessment based on those objectives (2,10).
Social Studies is a very complex subject for educators to teach and for the students to be interested in learning, this is because it includes so many different disciplines. Not to mention, society is rapidly changing socially and technologically which affects what social studies content is being taught to our students( Passe,J 2002). In past years students were forced to learn at a relatively low cognitive levels, it lack the full meaning social studies that could be transferred into real life situations. It is because of this
It is important to incorporate grade-level appropriate Social Studies books in a classroom library because it is essential for students in all grades to understand the history of our country and how it came to be. As Americans, it is important to know about critical moments in history that created this country. It is also important to include Social Studies books in your classroom library because it is being more common that Social Studies is not being taught enough or even at all in some schools. Often, teachers do not have a Social Studies block and it is important that the students still get a Social Studies education and one way to do that is to provide reading books for them to read as a way to learn this information. One argument against including this book in ones classroom library could be that since there is not enough time during the day when students read Social Studies books in the classroom library they will have questions because they are not familiar with the content. Sadly, because there is not enough time in the day teachers can not afford the time do devote to teaching Social Studies in fear that the students will fall behind in topics like Math or
To begin, over the course of this semester, I had the opportunity to conduct my history classroom observations at Sierra Vista High. This high school is a public school located in Baldwin Park and is part of the Baldwin Park Unified School District. Sierra Vista High School has a student population of 1,895 students. The student population consists of 90 percent Hispanic, 6 percent Asian, 3 percent Filipino, and 1 percent white. These demographics were shared by the vice principal of the high school. While I was at Sierra Vista High School, I was given the chance to analyze and observe three history teachers. Thus, in this paper I will discuss and share my experiences observing the
I used to work for Fort Wayne Community Schools as an assistant teacher for an elementary school. I know there are several Human Services Professionals who are riddled throughout the various facilities in our area. I was able to secure an interview with the school counselor at Towles Montessori/New Tech Middle School. The school counselor’s name is Joyce Paige. She has been in the school system for the past 20 years and seen many different changes within the Family and Marriage therapy. I was interested in the many things we discussed and a few of the suggested questions led me to ask some questions of my own.
Ever since the 1960s, the Texas textbook controversy has had an issue in America. The Texas school board is meeting to make revisions to their textbooks and curriculum. But are they also revising history? Educators across the country are watching to see the effect this issue will have on students. The choices the board members are making will affect politics, religion, monies spent thru-out the Texas school system. Christian conservatives on the state education board want curriculum changes. Parents and student would like the curriculum to remain the same, or not
Schools are another important faction in delivering affective socialization, but also deliver instrumental socialization to America's youth. Elementary classroom instruction is generally where children receive their first concrete lessons on the American political system. Teachers perform the important civic duty of instructing young Americans in political history, general laws and rights, and patriotism. Take for example the Pledge of Allegiance, recited across the nation in elementary classrooms.
In class we had learned about illegal immigration, though in a fairly detached way. This documentary was able to bring those studies and statistics to life. “The State of Arizona” follows the ongoing immigration situation in Arizona through the perspective of undocumented hispanics, those opposing illegal immigration, and legislators. While it was nice to have different points of view, it did still feel a bit biased towards the side advocating for a pathway to legalization. Nevertheless, it was very insightful and it heavily expanded my knowledge on the topic, specifically in Arizona.
First, the elementary social studies standards goes from kindergarten to fifth grade. It is imperative to note that both the
The aim of Social Studies is the promotion of civic competence the knowledge, intellectual processes, and democratic dispositions required of students to be active and engaged participants in public life. Proverbs 19:2 (ESV) states," Desire without knowledge is not good, and whoever makes haste with his feet misses his way."For example it is essential for there to be commonalities across the grade levels so that there is a scaffolding of concepts to build from one grade level to the next.
Now a day’s Texas is growing profoundly, but as it cultivates so does its problems. One of the major issues facing Texas today is in the education department. The matter ranges from school funding to standardized testing. Not only are students themselves complaining about the matters at hand but also parents, some teachers, and even state legislature. There have always been five major issues in Texas education; school finance, school choice, expanding pre-kindergarten, school calendar, and testing. Of these issues you could never think of them separately because no matter how hard you try they will, in the end, affect one another.
History class is not the only issue among students; the nation’s standardized test also leaves Native students behind their peers. Many questions are “Eurocentric and culturally bias” resulting in many students who have grown in a traditional customs unable to answer the questions (Robertson). Many school curricula does not build on the students strength of the student, it is only if the strength and skill is of the dominate culture that it will get attention (Landsman and Lewis 182).
This lesson should be taught in a sixth grade class. The students do not have to be English Language Learners, (ELL) in order to benefit from this lesson and meet state standards. It is an interactive way to learn about different geographic regions of students in the class.