TLT 412, Fall 2014 - Course record

Owned by Tom Hammond
Last updated: Nov 10, 2014
12 min read

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 Session 1 - Monday, 25 Aug

Before class

  • Buy a copy of the textbook (Lee, 2008, Visualizing Elementary Social Studies Methods). The bookstore has it; Amazon has it; used copies are fine. 
  • Cruise this wiki and the CourseSite.
  • I have paper copies of the syllabus; you don't have to print out a copy yourself.

During class (ppt)

  • Housekeeping
    • Introductions
    • Looking at our toolbox: CourseSite, wiki, bookmarks, etc.
    • Reviewing syllabus
      • Assignments and grading
      • First step: Completing your first WTL entries
    • Questions thus far?
  • Conceptual work
    • What is social studies?
      • Jigsaw(-ish) / LGL activity
        • Form five groups
          • Group A: Use the collected memories from our WTL exercise. 
          • Group A: NCSS materials, publications
          • Group B: PA standards, textbooks; other-content area groups' materials. Use the paper materials plus this link. 
          • Group C: "Education market" materials
          • Group D: "Heritage market" materials--paper items plus these links: A, B, C.
          • Group E: Re-purposed non-educational materials
        • Group: Look over your collection and create GROUPS of items that seem to be similar.
        • Label: Identify each group by a short (1-4 word) label.
    • What is social studies methods?
      • Content?
      • Techniques?
      • Lesson planning?
    • Notes on the "unfunded mandates" in the class
      • Social studies / methods class and arts integration
      • Methods class and portfolio updating
    • Who am I as a social studies educator? 
    • Further resources for social studies ed
      • Standards
        • PDE: Old standards and new standards are both available in CourseSite – look down at the bottom of the page.
        • National organizations. (Note the big four content areas, plus the umbrella/integrated organization, NCSS)
      • Lesson plans & curricular materials
        • PDESAS
          • Curriculum in elementary social studies = pretty patchy. But do note the organizational scheme of Big Ideas, Essential Questions, Essential Concepts, etc.
          • Lesson plans, activities, etc. – be sure to start at the "Advanced Search" page.
        • Given the absence of unified curriculum at the PDE level, I've bookmarked a number of district-level curricula, both within Pennsylvania and elsewhere. 
        • Schools of California Online Resources for Education has some pretty useful stuff. 
        • The national organizations also feature important resources – for example, we'll be highlighting EconEdLinkfrom the Council for Economic Education.
      • "Stuff"
  • Closure
    • Review of what's due next week – reminder about filling in info for "Weaving the Globe"
    • Review of what's where (wiki, CourseSite)
    • Any questions?

After class

  • Reading
    • Lee, Ch. 1 (What is?) & 2 (Reflective) 
    • Crocco, 2004 (as an overview and critique of the field – if nothing else, this should teach you to be an informed, critical consumer of social studies materials)
    • NCSS, 2009

  • Assignments
    • WTL
    • Update your profile in CourseSite to include your picture
    • Starting planning out your upcoming assignments: Original Instructional Materials product #1, who you'll interview for HTCE, etc. 
    • Bookmark class websites on your computer (e.g., CourseSite, relevant wiki pages)
    • Fill out the “Weaving the Globe” input form.

    • Input your portfolio URL ASAP

 Session 2 - Monday, 1 Sep

Before class

During class (ppt)

  • Housekeeping
  • Conceptual work
    • Opening activity: Sketchmaps
    • Sketchmaps & schema
    • Examples of how social studies schema are complicated / slippery / layered
    • NCSS on the purpose of social studies
    • Curricular frameworks
    • A proposed, deliberately provocative framework of aims: A three-ring circus
    • NCSS and powerful social studies
    • Digging into geography
      • Standards – analyze these for suggested / implicit curricular frameworks and aims
      • Curricula: Focus on material from BASD. --For whatever very odd reason (I can't think of a good one!), this now requires a login!
      • Parsing it a little more simply
  • Closure

After class

  • Reading

    • Lee, Ch. 6 (Geography) & 4 (Standards; connect to discussion of frameworks) – we're going to save this for later

    • Re-visit NCSS, 2009

    • Brophy & Alleman, 2002

    • optional: Wade, 2002

    • skim: Keeler & Langhorst, 2008 (to get ideas for orig inst materials assigns)

  • Assignments 
    • WTL
    • Complete instructional product #1, bring it to class ready to share!

 Session 3 - Monday, 8 Sep

Before class

  • Complete reading
  • Complete and bring in your Original Instructional Materials product #1
  • WTL

During class (ppt)

  • Housekeeping–some of this is going to happen at the end, but be sure we talk about (1) the second OIM, and (2) your HTCE prep work.
  • Conceptual work
    • Last week vs. this week
    • Sharing OIMs – feel free to share class forum as well!!
    • From teaching activities on back up to the whole spectrum of instructional planning steps. I'm making an editorial point, but there are also some specifics for you to nail down.
      • Aims: We're revisiting the three-ring circus from last week, checking it against the NCSS statement and also something new: excerpts from the PA School Code.
      • Standards – analyze these for suggested / implicit curricular frameworks and aims
      • Curriculum
        • BASD used to make its curriculum documents publicly available on the web. Now they're behind a login. What gives? 
    • Tools of geography ed–there's a lot here, but we're just hitting a few topics
  • Closure
    • Next OIM
    • HTCE prep

After class

  • Reading

    • Lee, Ch. 11 (Planning); review Ch. 6 (Geography)

    • Geography standards: PDE, C3; see other nat’l orgs as you see fit

    • Preview Chimamanda Adichie video.

    • If you can do it now: Read Barton & Levstik, 1996 (understand context of HTCE assignment)

  • Assignments
    • WTL: None this week!
    • Work on original instructional materials assignment, product #2
    • Please consider sharing your OIM #1 by uploading to the Forum in CourseSite for this week’s class
    • If you can: Complete HTCE prep work

 Session 4 - Monday, 15 Sep

Before class

  • Complete reading
  • Complete and turn in your HTCE prep...unless you don't have time. You can turn this in later in the semester, too; I'm just recommending getting it done now so you can cross it off your list. 

During class (ppt)

  • Housekeeping
    • OIM #1 returned
    • HTCE prep questions? 
  • Current events stuff
    • Any observations / comments on Sep 11th (aka Patriot's Day) observances in schools?
    • Coming up this week: Constitution Day / Citizenship Day on Wed, Sep 17.
  • Conceptual work
    • Re-capping three stances, emph. on geo ed.
    • Digging into geo. ed, this time aiming at human geography (but with some human-environment interaction
      • Families and Food activity --> discussion of pedagogical stances to meet up with our 'aims' stances.
      • Population density activities / materials
        • Set of YouTube videos
        • Population density enactive, adapted from the Teachers Curriculum Institute geography lessons.
        • Other visual materials on population in this place, time.
    • Social studies and (de-)"othering"
  • Closure

After class

  • Reading
    • Lee, Ch. 3 & Ch. 8
    • OPTIONAL: Hammond & Manfra, 2009
  • Assignments
    • WTL
    • Complete OIM #2 – don't forget the reflection component!
    • Work on other assignments as needed. (E.g., if you punted on the HTCE prep, don't let it languish!!)

 Session 5 - Monday, 22 Sep

Before class

  • Complete the reading.
  • Complete and turn in the second Original Instructional Materials product. Don't forget to write a reflection! (See syllabus for details on what you need to address in the reflection.)

During class (ppt)

  • Housekeeping
  • Conceptual work
    • Moving from geography ed to history ed
    • History ed...using a variety of image-based teaching techniques
    • Pedagogical stances: A new twist to add to our discussion: Trivial, interactive, and authentic activities.
    • Connecting back to the "three stances" idea
    • Ambitious history ed: Challenges
  • Closure

After class

  • Reading
    • Lee, Ch. 9
    • Tiemann & Fallace, 2009
  • Assignments
    • WTL – this week we're doing a Q&A forum. I've posed two Qs having to do with history ed & history; you supply the As. No right/wrong answers!
    • Complete and turn in your fieldwork 'first installment' (soft deadline)

 Session 6 - Monday, 29 Sep

Before class

  • Complete readings
  • Complete WTL – remember there are TWO questions, please answer each. No wrong answers!
  • Complete and turn in your fieldwork 'first installment'...unless you need more time to have something to report

During class (ppt)

  • Housekeeping
  • Conceptual work – wrapping up history ed (with any luck)
    • Why teach history?
    • Three stances: Can tell you WHY...but none of them are perfectly convincing
    • Methods: Some cross over from geography, some are unique to history, and some are things I've been cogitating upon
  • Closure

After class

  • Reading
    • Lee, Ch. 10
    • Jensen, 2008
  • Assignments
    • WTL (curriculum map brainstorming)
    • Complete & turn in your curriculum map!

Pacing break - Monday, 6 Oct & Tuesday, 7 Oct 

 Session 7 - Monday, 13 Oct

Before class

  • Complete readings
  • Complete and turn in your curriculum map

During class (ppt)

  • Housekeeping
  • Conceptual work
  • Closure
  • Alternate plan to get us out of the room: A quick trip back to teaching geography, this time using some moderately fancy technologies (GPS units) and a pretty ubiquitous tool (Google Earth) that you've seen before but perhaps not played with.

After class

  • Reading – none!
  • Assignments – none!

 Session 8 - Monday, 20 Oct 

Before class

  • (Think about your instructional unit!)

During class (ppt)

  • Housekeeping
    • Discussing microteaching: Sign up for spot in sequence, what the expectations are
    • Discussing unit overview expectations, purpose.
  • Conceptual work
    • Putting last week's work in context: Why teach geography this way? What are the pay-offs? What are the opportunities?
      • To demo the pay-offs, let's try that forum activity again
      • To demo the opportunities: Consider what can be done with GPS units for local inquiry
    • More putting our work up to this point in context: A ridiculous matrix of social studies content and methods
    • Digging into economics
      • What is economics and why isn't it in our textbook?
      • Why this is a crying shame: Econ is fun, econ is practical, econ is important, econ integrates beautifully. (And it's in the PDE standards)
      • Some econ resources
        • Ohio State University Research Foundation materials
        • Day, 2006: What is Economics?
        • VanFossen, 2003: suggestions for teaching econ in elementary SS 
        • Council Economic Education
        • The classic: Play Doh Economics (to be demo'd in a few minutes)
      • Some econ activities
        • Warm up: The economics of candy consumption
        • And now for a slam-dunk: A lesson adapted from Play-Doh economics.
  • Closure

After class

  • Reading
    • Econ articles & resources
      • Download and store for future reference
        • Play Doh Economics (this is the first edition; the second edition is much nicer)
        • OSURF, 2009 student and instructor files
      • Day, 2006
      • VanFossen, 2003
    • Econ standards – just skim as needed; if you choose not to focus on this, it's fine. But you at least need to check out the documents
      • PDE: preK-2 & 3-8
      • NCSS (C3 Framework)
      • The content-area organization: Council for Economic Education. These guys have very, very good stuff. Great combo of standards AND examples AND discussion. A very nice resource.
  • Assignments

 Session 9 - Monday, 27 Oct

Before class

  • Complete reading
  • Complete and turn in your unit overview
  • If you haven't already, sign up for your microteaching time slot.

During class (ppt)

  • Housekeeping
    • I'm recruiting volunteers to assist with a history activity at Moravian academy – I WILL HAPPILY COUNT THIS AS PART OF YOUR FIELD HOURS. Here's a link to sign up; I'll explain the context in class. It's a very cool opportunity; please give it careful consideration.
    • Previewing microteaching schedule, expectations.
  • Conceptual work: Assessment, social studies, & elementary learners
    • First a little sidebar on the Praxis
      • Here's what's currently required for elementary cert (skip down to p. 3).
      • Sample practice test – social studies items are 20, 34-42; answers are on pp. 58-59.
    • Assessment & schema – i.e., how to keep things focused on INSTRUCTION and not just ACCOUNTABILITY
      • Engaging prior knowledge
        • Memories from elementary?
        • Prior teacher ed coursework?
        • What you've seen in your field placements?
      • Overviewing assessment terms, purposes
      • Assessment resources: see course bookmarks for full listing (delicious.com/tchammond/TLT412+assessment)
    • Assessment (& instruction!) with diverse learners: A lifetime of learning to be done here, but we will focus on building you a "survival kit" of strategies 
  • Closure

After class

  • Reading
    • Lee, Ch. 13 (assessment)
  • Assignments
    • (Work ahead: HTCE, fieldwork)
    • If you're microteaching next week, prep!
    • WTL: Examine

 Session 10 - Monday, 3 Nov

Before class

  • Complete readings

During class (ppt)

  • Housekeeping: Election tomorrow!
  • Microteaching
    • Hannah P.
    • Riley B.
    • Danielle C.
  • Conceptual work: (Finally!) Digging into civics ed
    • Civics is special
      • It's the one example of a high-stakes content area within social studies, at least for some folks. Proof: USCIS flashcards.
      • It's the single most-applied area of social studies? (handwashing example)
      • It's the 'Prime Directive' of social studies
      • It explicitly addresses all three domains of learning (per Bloom, Krathwohl, et al.)
      • It has a built-in paradox
      • The three-ring circus actually agrees on very little
      • I think it's the key to good work in other disciplines such as history, geography
      • All other disciplines appear within it
      • I struggle with it, at least the elementary level – there are a LOT of things that could be called 'civics'...but they're very, very different
    • So what does this look like??
      • Materials from the Center for Civic Education
      • Materials from iCivics
        • About page – be sure to check out some of the info under "Our Impact" to get a sense of what grade(s) they think this is for and how they feel they're doing.
        • Scope-and-sequence – just get a sense for what topics and methods they have going on. Note that they don't make any statements about what grade levels should work on which topics!
        • Games – these are all Flash-based and therefore might not work on some mobile devices. I picked a timely one: "Cast Your Vote"
        • ...de-brief
      • And now some other materials, that you'll hopefully have more context for by this pointSo where does this leave us? 
  • Closure

After class

  • Reading
    • Lee, Ch. 7 (Civics)
    • Civics standards: PDE, CCE, NCSS
  • Assignments
    • If you're microteaching next week, please prep for it!
    • Turn in HTCE paper. If you need an extension on this, I have no problem with that – just let me know!!

 Session 11 - Monday, 10 Nov 

Before class

  • Complete reading
  • Turn in HTCE. If you need more time, just ask for it!

During class (ppt – none this week; we're just working off what I have posted in CourseSite and material from the wiki)

  • Housekeeping
  • Microteaching
    • Kayleigh D.
    • Kristin S.
    • Katie C.
  • Conceptual work
    • Instructional planning issues
      • Essential Questions
      • Writing learning objectives
      • Lehigh required lesson plan format
    • (Time permitting) Civics education – So what does this look like??
        • Materials from the Center for Civic Education
        • Materials from iCivics
          • About page – be sure to check out some of the info under "Our Impact" to get a sense of what grade(s) they think this is for and how they feel they're doing.
          • Scope-and-sequence – just get a sense for what topics and methods they have going on. Note that they don't make any statements about what grade levels should work on which topics!
          • Games – these are all Flash-based and therefore might not work on some mobile devices. I picked a timely one: "Cast Your Vote"
          • ...de-brief
        • And now some other materials, that you'll hopefully have more context for by this point
        • So where does this leave us? 
  • Closure

After class

  • Reading
    • None
  • Assignments
    • Complete and turn in your fieldwork paper; if you need more time, let me know.
    • Work on your instructional unit!
    • If you're microteaching, prep it! If you've finished, write your reflection!

 Session 12 - Monday, 17 Nov 

Before class

  • Complete reading

During class (ppt)

  • Housekeeping
  • Microteaching
    • Kathleen K.
    • Kayleigh F.
    • Kaitlin D.
  • Conceptual work
  • Closure

After class

  • Reading
  • Assignments


 Session 13 - Monday, 24 Nov – class meets in Mac Lab tonight

Before class

  • Complete reading

During class (ppt)

  • Housekeeping
    • Portfolio how-to time at end of class
  • Microteaching
    • Kim C.
    • Caitlyn M.
    • Jessica K.
  • Conceptual work
  • Closure

After class

  • Reading
  • Assignments

 Session 14 - Monday, 1 Dec

Before class

  • Complete reading

During class (ppt)

  • Housekeeping
  • Microteaching
    • Stacy B.
    • Amanda G.
  • Conceptual work
  • Closure

After class

  • Reading
  • Assignments

 

 

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