Weekly Reflection: What are the attributes of meaningful, well-planned social studies lessons?

I think when designing any quality social studies lesson, the key is to make the content relevant to students' lives.  Social studies is about human beings, their actions, their history and their environments. Therefore, it should be made explicit to students how the content relates to their daily lives.  I think that a quality social studies teacher should identify the bigger picture understanding that is being addressed in a content standard.  The historical content or specific element of government should be used as a means to introduce a more general understanding rather than the entire focus of the lesson.  If a teacher works to decide exactly what they want their students to understand as a result of the lesson or unit, they can shape the content in an effective way to reach that goal.  I think that as a result, I see Social Studies lessons as very interactive and fluid where students are encouraged to discuss their ideas with each other and the teacher, rather than recall facts or dates.  However, I do recognize that this going to be much more challenging for me, especially my first year in an elementary classroom.  It is difficult to let students have more control and there is more work involved in planning lessons this way, but I think the reward of student engagement and understanding will make it worth the extra work and the risks.  

Essential Questions

Continuing on from my last post, the next step in developing a unit using Understanding by Design is to create Essential Questions.  I love the idea of asking students questions that generate more questions, rather than have one simple answer that they can read in a book.  However, in developing my own essential questions for this unit, I do see how challenging it can be to develop quality questions that really encourage conversations and engagement with a topic.

Here is my draft of Essential Questions based around the 6 Facets of Understanding:

Explanation:
1. What were some of the environmental challenges for the first settlers in the American colonies?
2. Why did pioneers choose to expand westward?

Interpretation:
1. How do natural disasters impact people today?  How does that compare to early settlers?
2. Have humans had a positive impact on the geography of the US or a negative impact?

Application:
1. How can we use what we know about human effects on the environment to protect the environment today?
2. How could you decide if people should settle in an area based on the geography?

Perspective:
1. How would the geography of the New World have looked to a recently arrived colonist?
2. What are different points of view about how much people can change physical geography?

Empathy:
1. How might Native Americans feel about the effect that settlers had on their environment in the 1600s? How might they feel today?
2. Why would a person participate in an activity that negatively affects US geography or the environment?

Self Knowledge:
1. How can I best show that I know that my actions affect the environment?
2. What are the limits in my knowledge about other geographic regions of the US?

Clarifying Content Priorities

I have begun working on a fifth grade Social Studies unit focusing on the following Geography and Environmental Literacy objectives:

5.G.1.1 Explain the impact of the physical environment on early settlements in the New World and 5.G.1.2 Explain the positive and negative effects of human activity on the physical environment of the United States, past and present.

I chose to look at the geography standard for several reasons.  First, it is the one that I feel least comfortable with, and would like to work through it with the class to get feedback and input from others.  Second, I think that it would be a good objective to integrate not only with the arts, but also with a number of science and language arts standards. 

When drafting this unit, I am going to be using the Understanding by Design model.  This is a very interesting way to approach lesson planning that I have not used in my prior teaching experiences.  So far, I find it very interesting, but also challenging to implement.  I have been working on the first stage of lesson planning, which is to Identify Desired Results.  I have used the planning organizers to “Clarify Content Priorities” for my unit.  The biggest challenge for me was to find concepts that fit under the worth being familiar with heading.  I often found myself wanting to put more under what students should know and do, but I don’t want to overwhelm my students.

 

Below is my draft; it is still a work in progress and all feedback is welcome!

Worth being familiar with:

•  Effects of pollution and greenhouse gases on the environment
•  Specific environmental regions of the US
• Main economic activities during key periods of US history (ie farming, industrial manufacturing)

Important to know and do:

• State characteristics of the physical environment of the Jamestown and Plymouth colonies
• Compare how the environment of the early colonies both helped and harmed the settlement growth
•  Identify examples of human development that have positively impacted the environment
• Identify examples of human development that have negatively impacted the environment
•  Compare characteristics of the local physical environment today and when the first settlers arrived

Big Ideas and Essential Understandings:

• The physical environment impacts where individuals settle and live
• The physical environment is constantly changing
• Human activity impacts the physical environment, which can be positive or negative.
• Individual choices can influence how a person impacts the environment

About me (and this blog)

I am currently a Masters student at Meredith College, and I have started this blog as part of my class, Integrating Social Studies and the Arts. I am looking forward to using this blog to reflect on what I learn about one of my favorite subjects from elementary school through this class.  Hopefully I will continue to utilize this blog as I begin teaching and continue thinking about how to incorporate Social Studies themes throughout the curriculum.