Legislating Curriculum Or Why Kids Hate Social Studies
Topic: EducationLegislating Curriculum Or Why Kids Hate Social Studies
State legislatures sacrifice academic freedom and further marginalize minority students. by Bill Gee
(centrist)
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
This month, California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law a bill requiring that all schools include “ gay history ” into their curriculums. As a former Social Studies teacher, my knee-jerk reaction was “oh no! Not again!”, and made me very glad that I no longer work in that environment.
Don’t get me wrong. As a teacher and citizen of the human race, I am a firm believer in the dignity of all human beings, and I will be the first to acknowledge that minority groups in this country have been and continue to be subjected to enormous indignities and abuse. I also firmly believe that it is the job of every Social Studies teacher in this country to communicate the message of human dignity and to incorporate that theme into their curriculum.
What I take issue with is the top-down approach of the state legislature and the Governor in any state to dictate what goes on in my classroom. I would further argue that the California law violates the dignity and professionalism of every Social Studies teacher in America.
The Classroom as Safe-Haven
Every Social Studies classroom is a unique place. For 180 or 90 days, what you have is a small society that meets anywhere between one to two hours every day or every other day where they are supposed to be exploring their own humanity and their roles in society. This is accomplished through a curriculum of history, civics, geography, economics, and psychology. If done right, each day students should leave the classroom with more questions than they came in with. What makes the classroom unique is that every student walks in the door with an already-established world view that has been shaped by their parents, their friends and the media. It is the job of the Social Studies teacher to tear down those preconceived ideas in order to expand their mental horizons beyond anything they originally believed to be possible.
In order to accomplish the main objective of the Social Studies curriculum, the students must have a degree of trust with their teacher. They must believe that their teacher already respects each and every one of them so that they can feel safe enough to open their minds to concepts and ideas that may contradict things they may think they already know. In order to establish that trust, the teacher needs to have the freedom to find the right combination of academic material to teach.
Social Studies Lesson Plan - News
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How To Create a Social Studies Lesson Plan – social studies lesson ...
Social studies is a combined discipline of social sciences and humanities. In order for teachers to teach this subject or any subject in particular, they first have to come up with a lesson plan. A lesson plan is an organized outline that guides teachers in teaching the assigned lesson for the day. Lesson plans are very useful especially to social studies teachers or social teachers in teaching the subject to social students since it has a wider scope compared with other academic disciplines.
Here are steps on how to create a social studies lesson plan:
Identify the topic you will be teaching. Since every school follows a particular curriculum, you won’ have a hard time identifying the topic you will be teaching for the day. In identifying the social lessons you will be teaching, make sure to know the grade level of your students so that the lessons and the particular grade studies will coincide. It is also essential to know the duration of a class so that you can manage the time wisely. Know your objectives. After determining the lesson to be taught, you are now ready to set the objectives. Ask yourself questions like: what should the students learn by the end of the class? What is the significance of the lesson? How will they be able to apply the lessons learned in real life? These questions will help you identify your objectives for the particular lesson. Define key terms. You should be able to identify and define key terms that you will be using for the particular topic. This will help you remember the important terms the students must learn for that particular session. List materials. Think of the materials you will need to discuss the lesson like LCD monitors, stereo, laptop, etc. You may review this list after the whole lesson plan is done so that you can include the materials that will be needed in the activities. Formulate an effective introduction. The key to winning your student’s attention is to formulate an effective introduction. Make sure to catch their interest so that they will be encouraged to participate in the whole activity. Make sure that the chosen way of introducing the topic should match the social grade level of your students for them to be able to relate. Determine the method of teaching. It is also important to determine what kind of teaching method you want to use to impart the lesson to your students.Social Studies Lesson Plan - Bookshelf
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