Program Standard 1 Overview: Develop and use in-depth knowledge of subject matter

The basis of social studies teaching is historical knowledge. This depth of knowledge is
not only a mental timeline of the past, but also the connections, patterns, and developments
among culture, geography, governing, trade, change-makers, and institutions. Without this
knowledge, teachers cannot add the stories or unusual details that pique student interest or
debunk myths that cause misunderstanding. Most importantly, they cannot use the sources of the
past such as art, letters, journals, government documents, or news media effectively. They cannot
help students appropriately document and evaluate their sources analytically. Malone and
Pederson see social studies methods are as crucial in developing well-educated adults: A
rigorous proof requires the use of solid social science methods. Students need to develop skills to
evaluate the quality of information they gather. One way to accomplish this is to ask students to
analyze and evaluate primary and secondary source materials (257).
In the Introduction to Reading Like a Historian, Wineberg, Martin, and Monte-Santo
affirm the importance of broad historical knowledge that leads to making connections rather than
simply encouraging memorization: Facts are mastered by engaging students in historical
questions that spark their curiosity and make them passionate about seeking answers (ix).
Historians are always learning from new discoveries and technological advances that cause them
to reinterpret an event. For example, recent satellite imagery of mudflats in southern Spain
caused historians reassess Platos descriptions of Atlantis destruction by a tsunami, long
considered a myth.
Historians can never stop reading and studying. Scholars reanalyze and reinterpret events
from a variety of viewpoints. For example, a study of the American Revolution is usually done
from the American perspective. However, European historians see the Revolution as part of a
European power struggle to control world-wide trade. Multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, and gender-
related voices cry out to be heard. To understand why slavery became such an important concern
in the writing of the Constitution, historians must consider the status of slaves and look at the
divisions among the Founding Fathers that ultimately led to the Civil War. It might surprise
students to know that Thomas Jefferson, an elitist, did not want the one man, one vote form of
democracy that others advocated. In addition, when students read the primary source documents,
the roles of women as spies, negotiators, and philosophers in the Revolutionary era becomes
clear. The influence of Native Americans is vital since many historians argue that the French and
Indian War was the real revolution. This conflict established methods of warfare, trained
leaders, and created a pattern of ill treatment that continued over the next two centuries.
Unfortunately, many teachers are intimidated by the curriculum standards that fill
enormous notebooks, and the state testing accountability so they focus on memory work.
Loewen argues that the teachers role is to help students uncover the past rather than cover it
(19). He advocates teaching critical reading and writing, creating tables, and historiography
(31). As an avid reader of military history, I study leaders, such as Napoleon, who become
emperors that define eras in history. Understanding the connections between historical events is
critical. Human migration is the result of war, such as the enormous relocation of civilians on
the eastern front during World Wars I. The suffering among the Jewish population increased
exponentially during the next decade. These connections provide the inspirational and dramatic
stories of heroes, the models of dangerous dictators, and the plight of the common man.
During my internship in middle and high school this year, I have created presentations,
lesson plans, learning modules, websites, and strategies that address the NCSS thematic strands,
South Carolina Standards, and USC program standards. For NCSS Strand 1, I used strategies
drawn from anthropology and sociology in a lesson that presented a global challenge-the social
problems created by the population explosion in South Asia. Students used data analysis tools to
work with population density maps and population pyramids drawn from the math curriculum.
An organizer guided them through a class presentation and learning module so that they could
draw conclusions regarding the causes and effects of rapid population growth. Especially
important was the role of gender expectations in the diverse cultural mosaic of India. Students
were surprised that India had not created a one child policy in the model of China, but the Indian
government is addressing the issue with education for young girls so that they develop
aspirations for both personal and family growth.
My artifact for NCSS Standard 2 is a Weebly website dedicated to the historical mystery,
Alexandria by Lindsey Davis. Set in the Library of Alexandria in the first century CE,
informer Marcus Falco seeks out the villains who are cashing in on stolen artifacts, a
particularly modern crime as well. Students are able to travel from Rome and through the
ancient world with the detectives family since Daviss descriptions echo those of famous
travelers in the ancient world such as Petronius. Lionel Cassons Travel in the Ancient World
provides primary resources that allow students to compare the actual accounts of those who
bumped along Alexandrias streets with Falcos complaints of an aching backside. As students
are entertained by the unique locked room mystery, they can place the fictional characters beside
the ancient voices speaking across the centuries.
I address Strand 3, People, Places, and Environments with a case study of Chinas Three
Gorges Dam created for my global studies classes that presents the technological adaptations that
humans make to their physical environments. Further, students must analyze the diverse
viewpoints as officials make difficult public policy decisions that displace entire villages and
flood historical sites in order to provide electricity and control flooding for millions of Chinese.
A study of art, music, and literature created in response to the Great Migration of African
Americans to the North illustrates Strand 4, Individual Development and Identity. From the art
of Jacob Lawrence to the poems of Langston Hughes to the letters and ads in African American
newspapers of the era, students learn about the discrimination that African Americans endured in
the South and their desperation to escape to a society that nurtures their individual advancement.
In Strand 5, Individuals, Groups, and Institutions, students revisit the Russian Revolution
of 1917, examining the influence of status and social class in condemning the peasants to a life
of struggle and starvation while they support the wars and wasteful spending of Czar Nicholas II.
Students are asked to support the Czar or join with Lenin as they determine which leader will
create government institutions that will promote the common good.
Strand 6, Power, Authority, and Governance, is a lesson that uses primary sources to
examine the plight of the people of Leningrad under siege from the German army during World
War II. Though letters, diaries, and journals, students investigate the ways that the government
and citizens joined forces for survival: bread lines, rationing, treks across a frozen river for
supplies, troop deployments to keep the Germans at bay, and even the music of Dmitri
Shostakovich and his musicians that encouraged perseverance in the face of death.
Strand 7, Production, Distribution, and Consumption, is a unit plan that takes the students
on a journey through the global economy as they follow a T-shirt from a Texas cotton farm to the
shopping mall using maps, distribution data, graphing technology, and Money Planets
interactive learning site. They meet a cotton farmer, the operator of a weaving machine, a
merchant seaman, and a garment worker in Bangladesh. Students evaluate the social issues of
wage disparity, dangerous working conditions, and gender discrimination that permeate
economic decisions in developing countries. Students must question the ethics of buying a
cheaper shirt made in poor conditions but which supports a poor family in a developing country.
By working with real world problems such as the purchase of clothing, I followed the advice of
John Saye who believes that effective teachers must use the key ideas of their disciplines as
guides to create deep learning experiences that immerse students in using knowledge in
meaningful, real-world ways (33).
Standard 8, Science, Technology, and Society, is a case study of Russias Nuclear Legacy.
As Russia experimented with bomb tests in Kazakhstan and failed to maintain aging power
plants such as Chernobyl in the Ukraine, Russian citizens and their physical environment
suffered birth defects and radioactive pollution. Today, Russia struggles to develop policies and
techniques to contain their dangerous nuclear errors.
Strand 9, Global Connections, presents the tense territorial dispute in Kashmir with all of
its economic, nuclear, and ethnic concerns that ripple outward across Asia. The case study
format contains public documents, editorial cartoons, personal interviews, and editorials that
show the variety of proposals being considered as solutions.
Strand 10, Civic Ideals and Practices, showcases the work of African American leaders in
the 1920s, as they created the NAACP, the National Urban League, the United Negro
Improvement Association, and the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. Students use a flipped
classroom approach in which they read about four individual leaders and four organizations that
reflected citizen behaviors to foster effective citizenship and democratic government. The
learning module includes primary source documents, poems, news articles, photographs, and
short video documentaries and assignments that help students develop their own ideas of the role
of the citizen in the community.
When planning my lessons, I made a chart of the strands and filled in the parts of my
lesson that addressed each one. For example, in completing a lesson for a Government class, I
focused on Article II of the Constitution and the roles that a President must fulfill as a diplomat,
an economist, and a commander-in-chief. We looked at the Article, discussed the arguments of
the Founding Fathers as they wrote it, and matched its words to the realities of Presidents such as
Theodore Roosevelt who expanded Presidential powers by going around Congress as well as
Harry Truman who was checked by Congress in his attempts to increase power. Time,
continuity, and change was clear as we made a chart of President Obamas executive actions and
compared them with those of Franklin Roosevelt. Realistically, not every lesson can incorporate
all of the strands. In reflecting on the success of this activity, I used a process map developed by
Bernhardt. First, I would assess what I tried to implement, such as a learning objective like: The
student will compose a five-sentence paragraph explaining whether or not the President should
receive a salary for his service using two details from Article II of the Constitution. I can see that
only half of the class was able to complete the objective successfully, and. Next I will design a
process to assist them. Last, I can determine the success of the revised lesson.
Teachers must continue to read, incorporate new viewpoints and interpretations, and
address the facets of the NCSS strands in their lessons. (1797 words)
 Works Cited

Bernhardt, V. Measuring school processes, retrieved at

http://eff.csuchico.edu/downloads/MeasuringProcesses.pdf

Casson, L. (1974) Travelers in the Ancient World. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Loewen, J. W. (2010). Teaching what really happened: How to avoid the tyranny of textbooks
and get students excited about doing history. New York: Teachers College Press, Columbia

University.
Malone, V., & Pederson, P. V. (2008, 07). Designing Assignments in the Social Studies to Meet
Curriculum Standards and Prepare Students for Adult Roles. The Clearing House: A

Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas, 81(6), 257-262.

doi:10.3200/tchs.81.6.257-262.

Saye, J. (2014). Achieving Authentic Pedagogy: Plan Units, Not Lessons. Social Education,

78(1), pp 3337. National Council for the Social Studies.

Wineburg, Samuel S., Daisy Martin, and Chauncey Monte-Sano.(2011) Reading like a

Historian: Teaching Literacy in Middle and High School History Classrooms. New York:

Teachers College, Columbia University.