The Easy and Meaningful Integration of Social Studies and Language Arts

In “Lost in America” by Douglas McGray, he writes about the need to improve the foreign language policies in schools across America and for students to gain knowledge about counties outside of America in the magazine, Foreign Policy. The author’s intentions are not to attack Americas educational system but to persuade the readers about the problems of the educational system used in America today. He wants the readers to realize that there is a change that needs to take place in the classrooms across America. He does this effectively by using the rhetorical choices antidotes, formal diction, and tone. His audience is geared towards American readers interested on political and cultural issues. I don’t think it’s geared towards students because,

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).

There are a great number of things that can create problems for students in regards to their academics. One such issue is misunderstandings. There are some that are more common than others and will be identified in order to recognize potential problem areas and solutions. In addition, there are some misconceptions that are associated with particular content areas. One content area that will be under scrutiny will be the Social Studies classroom. These potentially problematic instances will be identified and methods will be devised using the “Backward Design” (Wiggins, & McTighe, 2005) approach in an attempt to reduce issues the teacher may face.

An American Education has drastically changed over time, and it is widely known that things have changed. Students in their generation and ones prior are acutely aware and morally affected about subjects regarding

Within college classes, the teachers and students have the ability to talk more about controversial topics that are not allowed within the high school classes. Parents understand that when their children go to college, they will be exposed to more topics that they have yet to hear about. Parents do not expect the same from a high school classroom. Lake Braddock English departments officials sent a letter to Murphy stating that “society must address troubles the world faces” (The Washington Post - Shapiro). The letter also mentioned that, “ reading and studying books that expose us, imaginatively and safely, to that trouble steels our souls to pull us through our own hard times and leads us to a greater empathy for the plight of our fellow human beings” (The Washington Post - Shapiro).

In the state of South Carolina, the high school English standards contain six parts: inquiry-based literacy, reading literary text, reading informational text, writing, communication, and disciplinary literacy. The South Carolina Common Core Reading Standards (2015) explicitly state for students in high school “Reading, writing, communicating, thinking critically, and performing in meaningful, relevant ways within and across disciplines are essential practices for accessing and deeply understanding content (pp. 107).” Additionally, these standards, if followed by the classroom teacher, creates students who are college and career ready by challenging them to participate in interdisciplinary study and curriculum integration through real-world

According to the prompt, “Students in high school English classes in the United States can read texts that vary widely from school to school” (Prompt). In today’s world, different countries and nations vary in ways. However, one variation between countries that has came to notice, would be the fact that most nations have a defined national school curriculum, while other countries, such as the United States, do not (Prompt). This also means that students in countries other than the United States may all read the same books in high school, while students in the U.S. could read different texts in wide range from school to school (Prompt). The United States’s choice to not have a set English class reading curriculum for high schools has both, its advantages and disadvantages. Some individuals feel that this is positive because it creates diversity from classroom to classroom across the United States, while others feel that it is negative because having the same reading curriculum would ensure that students are gaining the same education and are reading material that is appropriate. However, high school English classes should not all have the same reading curriculum because it will limit the amount of opportunity for students, as well as it would exclude non popular and more recent pieces of writing.

In recent years, changes have been made because social issues and the dramatic increase of minority in the communities. An example of these changes is primarily due to the large migration of English Language Learners that are entering the school systems. This is a positive change for the social studies education. However, this can overload the teacher and curriculum that is bursting at the seams with programs that lack clear purpose (Pace,J.L.,2011). This is why the NCATE had embodied that all teacher programs be aligned with professional and ethical standards to prepare teachers to facilitate learning that will enable our students to acquire the knowledge and be productive citizens that can compete in society.

The first connections that I made was research based on North American History. The idea I have is for the students to review primary and secondary sources of an event then be able to recall information and categorize what they find. The Social Studies standard that fits with this is 3.17 Compare and contrast a primary source and secondary source of the same event or topic (North America). The English Language Arts standard that I paired with the Social Studies standard is 8. Recall information from experiences or gather information from print and digital sources; take brief notes on sources and sort evidence into provided categories.

Coming into AP Lang, I felt as if I was a relatively strong writer. However this year, I have progressed immensely both as a writer, reader and thinker. Immediately confronted with intricate pieces of writing from some of the worlds greatest authors, I was thrusted into a position where I really had to challenge myself. Not only have I felt that I grew at my ability to recognize the implicit argument any piece by “fondling the details”, but I also learned how to use my own personal beliefs to shape the way in which a text impacts me. From my interpretation of “In History” as a indirect bridge towards white academia or the ways in which Walton uses primary sources to personify the oftentimes hidden structures of racism in the South, I feel like

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

In the first strand covered in the standards introduces the students to American History. It uses several concepts research skills for

The Common Core State Standard for Language Arts, which is the current standards observed by North Carolina, determines the particular proficiency students need in order to be prepared for their academic and professional futures according to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. They add that some of these skills include, but are not limited to critical thinking skills, literacy skills and analytical skills. Current process, for the most part, do help establish a framework for keeping materials relevant to the maturity level of students. However, if students or parents feel as if their values or beliefs don’t line up with current standards of education, complications can arise. Complications such as the censorship of beneficial literature can have negative consequences in society. In agreement with Judy Blume, “ If every individual with an agenda had his/her way, the shelves in the school library would be close to empty.” Although there are many books that have either been banned or challenged, according to The Committee on Intellectual Freedom of the American Library Association, To Kill a Mockingbird is listed as “being among the 10 most frequently challenged books” (Karolides, Bald, and Sova 483).

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.

To examine and explore what is global citizenship? This essay will look at the importance of becoming a global citizenship, the role we, as educators play in this development and how the curriculum frameworks and associated learning emphases for global education assist in the development of a global citizen.