Tuesday, February 7, 2012

How do I engage students in meaningful social studies

lessons?

Agenda:•Review Learning Cycle Lesson Plan•Pedagogical Knowledge for Social Studies•Jigsaw with Tradebooks•Types of Lecture/Direct Instruction

Learning Cycle Lesson Plan

• Exploratory Introduction– Recall/Relate Prior Knowledge– Gather Data/Make Observations– Open Question

• Lesson Development– Experience with idea– Explain– Model, provide examples, practice skill

• Expansion– Transfer to real world events– Apply new idea in new contexts

*Questions to ask yourself p.39

Pedagogical Knowledge for Social Studies (PCK)

• Methods – Similar to methods used in other subjects.– Cooperative Learning– Role Playing Simulation– Inquiry Based– Guided Discovery– Direct Instruction– Games– Learning Stations– Questioning– Writing

*The key is to match instructional methods appropriately to the meaningful social studies content focus.

Cooperative Learning

• Cooperative Learning v. Group Work• Important to keep objectives in mind:

– Lesson Content Learning Objectives• What social studies objectives are all students

supposed to meet. Will they ALL meet these through cooperative learning.

– Behavior Learning Objectives• Why am I having students complete this activity in

groups. What skills do I want them to practice? How can I organize the activity so they actually practice these skills.

Tradebooks Jigsaw

• NCSS Recommendations for Tradebooks in Social Studies

http://www.ncss.org/notable

“Lecture”• “Input”– Doesn’t match

constructivist approach BUT does seem necessary at times. Remember part of PCK is picking the right method/strategy for the content.

– Deserves only a small portion of social studies instruction

*I want to address some strategies/models to help as you begin developing your lesson plans. These methods will help traditional “lecture” be more engaging and meaningful for students.

Feedback Lecture

• Lecture

• Break Out Groups with questions

• Debriefing using Socratic Method

Guided Lecture

• Students given objectives

• Lecture from outline

• Students individually fill in info they recall

• Break out group to reconstruct big ideas, concepts, facts in outline.

• Debriefing to expand on missing or incorrect information

Responsive Lecture

• Students ask question about set topic.

• Teacher lectures to answer. While answering, teacher asks why each question is important to them.

Pause/Proceed Lecture

• Lecture from outline of big ideas, concepts, facts.

• Every 5 minutes have students share notes to collect and correct information.

• Debriefing at the end. Teacher calls on students to respond to prepared question.

Think/Write/Discuss

• Lecture from outline. At least 4 key questions are planned at pivotal points in lecture.

• At each question, teacher pauses to allow students to write down their answer.

• Debriefing: After lecture, students share answers in order and teacher relates them to the big idea of the outline.

Pause Proceed Example

• Venn Diagram

U.S. and Canada “Great Neighbors!”

Life in Canada

• Developed Country

• Most people speak English or French

• Canadian Dollar

• Urban Areas: Toronto, Montreal, Edmonton

• Rural Areas: In the north.

Debriefing with prepared questions

Guided Lecture Example

• Maps help us understand information about our world.

• Types of Maps– Maps serve different purposes

Road Map

Weather Map

Growing Season Map