The National Council For Social Studies

Explain how the ethos, mission, aims and values of a school may be reflected in working practices.

The Georgia Department of Education recently approved the Georgia Standards of Excellence to replace the Georgia Performance Standards. This paper will compare and contrast the elementary social studies section of the Georgia Standards of Excellence (GSE) and the Georgia Performance Standards (GPS). According to the GADOE (2015), these standards provide expectations for instruction, assessment, and student work. The comparison of the two sets of standards will be accomplished by noting the similarities and differences for each set of standards and by revealing the significant changes towards a more discipline-centered approach in the social studies curriculum.

To apply the second standard to my practice I have to make sure I ask questions about the work I am supposed to be doing with my students. Once I know what I am going to doing then, it is up to me to make sure that I know and understand what I am supposed to be teaching the students. To demonstrate that I am adhering to the standard, I have to take the time to plan out what I will be teaching the students and make sure that they are understanding what they are learning.

Creating a good communication relationship between the students, parents, and school. The teachers must create ways to communicate with their students’ parents. Keeping communication lines open to all parties involved will allow students to get a better education. The activity I completed for this standard was writing a letter for the parents of special needs students. This letter was to ensure the parents that their students were being taken care of at the school. I went over the letter with the kids and shared with them it had ways for their parents to encourage

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.

I believe that I met this standard because I created a lesson plan each week that included reading, writing, speaking, listening, and thinking skills that were developmentally appropriate for the student and addressed his academic needs. I also created activities that the student enjoyed so that he would be motivated to learn new and challenging concepts. Each activity on the lesson plan correlated to an Oklahoma Academic Standards (OAS) for his grade level.

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.

Additionally, by studying the standards teacher candidates will come to discover many interesting points. In my case, I learned how the standards use scaffolding. The standards build off of each other and become more complex as the grade level escalates. I also learned how much the students will have to know. The

The Iowa State teaching standards helped me throughout student teaching, and prepared me to be an effective classroom teacher. Through lesson planning, delivery, and reflection I was able to see how the standards were interdependent with one another. A great lesson cannot be created only using one standard, several standards should be used in every lesson I create as a teacher. Below I will explain how the standards better prepared me for the classroom while interrelating them throughout student teaching.

Even with this law, there is still a vast difference in the quality of the many different state standards. The educational standards were meant to set goals for teaching and learning. Standards include a set of competencies and the level of educational achievement that demonstrates when the child should gain appropriate knowledge. They include an extensive list of skills and sub-skills that coincides with the appropriate grade level.

As I read and thought about the Social Studies Standards, I considered looking into the standards for First grade. I think that children in this grade level are at a good age to better understand Social Studies. I do realize that teaching Social Studies starts from pre-school however it can be further be understood by older aged students. The topics that are covered according to the Standards first grade should introduce settlements and cultures, civilizations, and different places around the world. In the standards for first grade there are five strands.

The grade level of my choice is 9-12 graders the subject area is social studies. It is very important for a teacher to allow all students the opportunities of learning and for all students to reach the same understanding of the material that is being taught. Each student has a right to be educated as well as learns according to the way they comprehend information. As a new teacher, they should understand how to distinguish and separate these students who learn in different styles. According to the state of North Carolina, common core is what teachers should design content for students in special education by using steps from Blooms Taxonomy strategy. This lesson strategy deals with different levels of thinking starting with the lower level to higher levels of thinking concerning students. Special-education students who are unfamiliar with a lesson the teacher should start with lower levels before moving these students to higher levels. Blooms Taxonomy has different levels that will encourage student’s ability to think and to comprehend information during classroom activities. Nevertheless, teachers should recognize that the knowledge process if

The second standard I demonstrated was standard three. Standard three is supporting a positive learning environment. I taught my final lesson to my group of first

In addition, Ms. Preston-Grimes, discusses how the integration of social studies should be “to create children who will be able to use the disciplines to advance democratic thought and life.” The author goes on to explain that is about creating different ways of thinking and not just focusing on bits of information. In addition, social studies should not simply be about learning small pieces during a reading lesson. Ms. Preston-Grimes stresses that true integration of social studies allows students develop thought process which are applicable outside the classroom. It allows students to develop inquiry skills which lend themselves to excelling in other areas and real-world experiences. The disciplines, the author writes about, help students understand their world and investigating ways of solving problems. The term stealthy integration is mentioned in the article and defined in a way that is remarkably similar to what is often happening in the classroom. This stealthy approach sends the message that social studies is secondary to reading or writing and carries less value. Additionally, this stealthy approach is not effective and not healthy. Healthy integration involves the students gaining greater insight and developing an understanding of the world around. This type of integration involves primary and secondary sources, connections, reading and writing as part of the inquiry. Finally, the article reiterates the point that all areas of study are important and teachers must find a way of teaching social studies without fracturing the subject

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.