How do we empower students with integrity, self-confidence and intellectual curiosity? As a committee, we felt we are reaching many students, but not all. Thus, this became an area of focus for improvement. Finally, we asked how our program responds to the needs of students (learning needs, styles, interdisciplinary study, authentic learning, participation and engagement). In Social Studies, we vary instruction to include: ● Written notes, reading a variety of sources, projects, partner work, group work, research, videos, audio, research, teacher-directed activities, outings that link to topics studied and authentic learning projects. ● Technology: Proper ways to research, BrainPop, CNN10, Videos, Schoology, Newsela. ● Assessments: Verbal, written (in a variety of formats; short answer, essay, multiple choice, matching, true/false), notebook checks, check-ins and wrap-ups, exit slips. From these discussions, we then turned our attention to curriculumand classroom strengths, weaknesses, and challenges. Please note there was a thin line between perceived weaknesses and challenges. Strengths ● Teachers have some incredible things happening in classrooms, such as projects, discussions and partner work. ● Social Studies is a natural motivator for kids, as they love learning about these topics. ● Our classrooms are equipped with high quality resources. ● We are allowed to “go deep” rather than skim for the sake of time.
● We see the development of critical thinkers. ● We see intellectual curiosity in our students. ● Creative ‘makers’ are students at Levine.
Weaknesses ● Sometimes in lower grades Social studies is put on “back burner” due to time. ● No set curriculum leaves pulling frommany sources. ● Communication with other team members to be sure of no overlap or that we are not covering topics due to no set curriculum. ● Outings are extraordinary but are our students appreciating and really getting the “takeaway” of these big trips?
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