1. CREATING A SOCIAL STUDIES CLASSROOM
JULY 19, 2010

2. OBJECTIVES WHY TEACH SOCIAL STUDIES?
CHARACTERISTICS OF EFFECTIVE SS CLASSROOMS
PURPOSE OF INSTRUCTION
KNOWING YOUR STUDENTS
INSTRUCTIONAL CONSIDERATIONS
Insert a map of your country.

3. WHY TEACH SOCICAL STUDIES?
Talk to your neighbor about why you think Social Studies should be taught…
Why isn’t it taught – particularly in elementary classrooms?
Insert a picture of one of the geographic features of your country.

4. Why? Insert a picture illustrating a season in your country.
Critical Thinking
Preparing Students to become Good Citizens
Encourage Lifelong Learning
Social Studies is the content that…
Explains us as human beings
Connects us to our world physically and culturally
Tells us where we have been
Helps us understand where we are going and why
Explains the reasons for the choices we make and the ways we organize our lives
Insert a picture illustrating a season in your country.

5. Why History is Important
PSEA and the PSERS “spike”
Toyota
Insert a picture of an animal and or plant found in your country.

6. Characteristics of Effective SS Classrooms
Utilization of a variety of strategies
Student Engagement
Challenging
Stimulating
Interactive
Thought-provoking
Student-Centered
Relevant, Purposeful Learning
Focus on Essential Questions and Understandings
Wide-Variety of Resources
Flexible Physical Room Set-Up
Reading, Writing, Observing, Discussion, Presenting, and Researching
Collaboration
Connected to Personal Experiences
Building Background Knowledge
Measured by Diagnostic, Formative, and Summative Assessment
Add key points in the history of your country to the timeline.

7. Purposes of Instruction
How many of my students learned the planned content?
How do I know?
Standards are foundation for planning
Resist the temptation to catch kids up!!
Plan for what students should Know – Understand – Do (KUD)
Activate student background knowledge
Enlarge and deepen the understanding of concepts in context of the content being taught
Help students make connections to real-life experiences
Insert a picture illustrating a custom or tradition here.

8. Knowing Your Students
They don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care…
Talk to your partner about this statement…
Plan your instruction…
Around student needs…
In authentic tasks…
To provide challenging opportunities…
In a variety of ways
Insert a picture of the head leader of your country.

9. Instructional Considerations (Practices to Increase…)
In-depth study of topics in each social studies field in which students make choices about what to study and discover the complexities of human interaction.
Emphasis on activities that engage students in inquiry and problem solving about significant human issues.
Participation in interactive and cooperative classroom study processes that bring together students of all ability levels.
Integration of social studies with other areas of the curriculum.
Richer content in elementary grades, building on the prior knowledge children bring to social studies topics, includes study of concepts from psychology, sociology, economics, and political science, as well as history and geography; understand, within their experience, American social institutions, issues for social groups, and problems of everyday living.
Insert a picture that illustrates some part of your country’s economy.

10. Continued…
Students’ valuing and sense of connection with American and global history, the history and culture of diverse social groups, and the environment that surrounds them.
Students’ inquiry about the cultural groups they belong to and other cultural groups represented in their school and community in order to promote the students’ sense of ownership in the social studies curriculum.
Use of evaluation that involves further learning and that promotes responsible citizenship and open expression of ideas.
Insert a picture of one of the points of interest for your country.