Required Text

Haas, M., & Laughlin, M. (Eds.). (1997). Meeting the standards. Social studies readings for K-6 educators. Washington, DC: National Council for the Social Studies.

Mulder, K. W. (1996). Seminoles. Days of long ago. Tampa, FL: Mulder Enterprises.

Sunal, C. S., & Haas, M. E. (2005). Social studies for the elementary and middle grades (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon. (This book is on Reserve in Carpenter Library.)

Recommended Text

American Psychological Association. (2001) Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

Lewis, B. (1998). The kid’s guide to social action (2nd ed). Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit.

Materials Needed

Scantrons for quizzes
Paper, glue, needle, thread, and cardboard for book making
Notebook, accordion file, or other container for portfolio

Schedule

       In consonance with the conceptual framework of COEHS, this course will be focused on the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and dispositions for designing and teaching effective social studies lessons for diverse elementary students. Students will learn methods of community based as well as interactive learning and instruction incorporating social concepts and issues.

Course Goals

       As indicated within the COEHS Conceptual Framework, a key knowledge base of teaching is one that engages students in active and problem-based learning as opposed to the more traditional transmission-based approaches. This course is designed for active learning about, and practice with, the components of social studies through student research with diverse populations, resources, and perspectives. Research in the context of instruction enables preparation of relevant, integrated, and experiential curricula (Dewey, 1956) with which learners construct their knowledge, skills, and dispositions. This course will also support social studies instruction that is meaningful, integrative, value-based, challenging, and active, according to the guidelines of the National Council for the Social Studies.

Diversity Considerations

      Throughout this course human diversity will be recognized, appreciated, and accommodated. Students will prepare instruction as well as diverse assessments for social education of multicultural and multitalented students including those acquiring ESOL and those with exceptional learning traits.

Technology Considerations

      Students will use the electronic program Blackboard and the course web site to obtain and post information as well as complete assessments in this course. Students must complete their first assessment on Blackboard during the first week of instruction.

Course Objectives

This class will help you:

Objective Matrix

Grading Procedures: Participation Evaluation

10 percent of grade
1. Class investment:
      Regular and prompt attendance as well as participation in class through active and
      constructive contributions

20 percent of grade
2. Current practice:
      Social issue and action report
      Social issue plan
      Report, draft book and lesson plan for local history
      Action research report

20 percent of grade
3. Curriculum planning:
      Professional society report
      Curriculum evaluation
      Developed lessons
      Unit plan

50 percent of grade
4. Assessments of your learning:
      Reflection assignments, quizzes, exams, and portfolio evaluation

"You are in competition with one person only, and that is the individual you know you may become."
Martha Graham

Course Policies and Guidelines

College and University Policies

       Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Policy. The College of Education and Human Services complies with ADA requirements in making reasonable accommodations for qualified students with disabilities. Students desiring reasonable accommodations should contact the UNF Office of Disabled Services (Founders Hall 2120; telephone: 904/620-2769) and are encouraged to inform the instructor as early in the semester as possible regarding desired accommodations.

       University Enrollment Policy. Only those students who are admitted to the University are entitled to enroll in classes, and only those students who are enrolled in a given course are permitted to attend class meetings for that course. Sitting through a class without registering does not constitute enrollment. Instructors are authorized to bar students who are not enrolled in a course from attending class sessions until evidence of enrollment is presented to the instructor. Even if unenrolled students are allowed via the instructor’s oversight to remain in a class, university policy prohibits students from being added to a class roster after the reinstatement deadline. The primary responsibility for assuring that a student is enrolled in a course belongs to the student. Students are therefore encouraged to check their enrollment status several times during each semester with an advisor or via the UNF website.

Policies Governing Student Conduct. The University of North Florida has adopted a Student Conduct Code in order to promote responsible behavior for all students and to assure a physically, emotionally, and intellectually safe university community. This code addresses issues that may threaten the safety and order of the university environment and provides procedures and remedies for addressing these issues. Specific issues addressed include, but are not limited to, sexual misconduct; endangerment; harassment; hazing; possession/use of weapons, alcohol, and illegal drugs; damage or destruction of property; malicious mischief; computer misuse; and falsification/fraud. Students who are aware of and/or feel they are victims of any activity in violation of the Student Conduct Code should report the activity to the University Police or the appropriate campus administrator. The conduct code is available in its entirety on the University website at www.unf.edu/studentaffairs/handbook/HB2002-2003.pdf

Instructor Policies

       For accomplishing her instructional goals, the instructor retains the right to modify the seating and group arrangements of the students throughout this course.

You are expected to submit all assignments on time and to arrive on time to each class. Partial attendance in a class meeting will result with partial to no credit, depending on the amount of your participation.

Practice considerate communication with all class participants. Ensure that your discourse with a classmate does not disrupt the learning activities of other members of the class. Ensure that cell phone ringers are audibly turned off during class. Inconsiderate disruption of another’s learning opportunity will result with reduced credit for your class investment on the day it occurs.

For credit, assignments must be complete for submission to the instructor. Use the ratings scale distributed in this class as well as the course syllabus to check for completion of every assignment before you submit it. Ask the instructor for assistance with assignment directions you do not understand. In advance of your planned or unexpected absence, designate at least two classmates to take notes on directions given for class assignments that you miss. Obtain those directions from the classmates and then contact the instructor if you are unclear about work you need to complete due to your absence. Although absences are not excused in this course, make-up work done for a class meeting that you missed may be completed and submitted to the instructor for credit by the next class meeting, or earlier. Missed assessments must be done before, and submitted in, the next class meeting. Contact the instructor in e mail as soon as you know you will miss an assessment and arrangements will be made for its completion within the week that you will be absent from class. Work that you submit outside of class meetings should be taken to the Office of Curriculum and Instruction (second floor), in Shultz Hall, Building 9 to be placed in the instructor’s mailbox. Work submitted under the instructor’s office door may be mistakenly identified as waste by the cleaning staff and disposed before the instructor sees it.

Written assignments must be done only by you unless you have been directed by the instructor to collaborate with one or more classmates for its completion. Preliminary permission for collaborative writing must be obtained from the instructor for course credit. Collaborative writing with others that is submitted solely as yours will be not be accepted for credit in this course. Submission of work that is not solely your own and for which you have not obtained permission from the instructor and coauthor for such collaboration will result in a failure grade.

Papers submitted in any other class for a grade will not be accepted in this class and an attempt to do so will result in a failure grade for this course. Ask the instructor about use of work you have previously completed in another class which might pertain to assignments you must complete for this course.

Plagiarism is against the law and university rules. Any form or plagiarism by a student will likely result in a failure grade for this course and documentation at this university.

Instructions for Written Work

        These instructions apply to all homework including critiques, reviews, reports, research papers, reaction essays, or other papers. All assignments done outside of class meetings, unless otherwise indicated, must be typed. When using direct quotes and citing references, use the rules of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Fifth Edition (2001).            

        Essays, whether a homework assignment or an assessment done in class, should include an introduction that states a thesis, a body that develops the thesis, and a conclusion. Attention should be given to correct grammar usage and spelling. All essays must be double spaced with only 12-point font size of text and the use of Italics for offsetting headings or titles of published writing. The following depiction illustrates the essay report format you will use in this class, which is the style of the American Psychological Association (APA).

Subject Standards

National Council for the Social Studies Curriculum Standards (Themes)

Culture
Time, Continuity and Change
People, Places, and Environments
Individual Development and Identity
Individuals, Groups, and Institutions
Power, Authority, and Governance
Production, Distribution, and Consumption
Science, Technology, and Society
Global Connections
Civic Ideals and Practices

Sunshine State Standards for Social Studies

See the following web site for a listing of all Sunshine State Standards for Social Studies and Arts: www.firn.edu/doe/menu/sss.htm

California Social Studies Competencies

Historical Literacy
  Analyze:
  Cause and effect
  Time, continuity, and change
  Collective memory with cultural and political implications
  Philosophical and religious beliefs systems

Ethical Literacy
  Recognize:
  Sanctity of life and the dignity of all people
  How peoples’ lives are affected by their ideologies; policy, conflict, human interaction
  Ways in which different societies have tried to resolve ethical issues
  Ethical leaders in different societies

Cultural Literacy
  Recognize:
  Current and past cultural forms
  The relationship between beliefs and cultural patterns
  Complexity and continual changes of cultures
  Influence of diverse cultural norms in local to global society
  Develop:
  An ethnorelative perspective that respects the cultural differences of diverse people and practices

Geographic Literacy
  Recognize:
  Physical characteristics of places; land and water forms, climates, and resources
  Social characteristics of places; the locations of diverse cultural practices and religions
  Human and environment interaction
  Environmental change and migration

Economic Literacy
  Analyze:
  Resource allocation and trade
  Patterns of economic interdependence
  Different economic systems
  Causes of local to global economic problems
  Production, distribution, and consumption changes

Sociopolitical Literacy
  Analyze:
  Citizenship in different government patterns
  Comparative political systems

Learning Skills
  Participate in:
  Active listening
  Multiple modalities of information gathering and information dissemination
  Collaborative-group interaction
  Critical thinking; define, clarify, analyze, and draw conclusions
  Nonjudgemental and evaluative reporting
  Adapting activities for participation of those with exceptionalities

California Performing Arts Competencies

Artistic Perception
  Develop:
  Sensitivities to the aesthetic qualities of the world
  Appreciation of art work in a variety of settings

Creative Expression
  Develop:
  Performance art as an expression of historical and cultural knowledge
  Appreciation for process as well as product of artistic creation

Historical and Cultural Context
  Develop
  Awareness of how the arts reflect and influence cultures and reciprocal effects
  Awareness of how technology has influenced both the arts and history

Applications to Life
  Develop:
  Awareness of artistic expression as fuller participation in society
  Awareness of artistic expression as a means to fostering understanding of cultures
  Awareness of connections between the arts and other disciplines
  Mastery through planning and presenting an interdisciplinary social studies and arts program

National Standards for Arts Instruction

Communicate at a basic level in the four arts disciplines; dance, music, theatre and the visual arts. This includes knowdge and skills in the use of the basic vocabularies, materials, tools, techniques, and intellectual methods of each arts discipline.

Communicate proficiently in at least one art form including the ability to define and solve artistic problems with insight, reason, and technical proficiency.

Develop and present basic analyses of works of art from structural, historical, and cultural perspectives. This includes the ability to understand and evaluate work in the various arts disciplines.

Have an informed acquaintance with exemplary works of art from a variety of cultures and historical periods and a basic understanding of historial development in the arts disciplines, across the arts as a whole, and within cultures.

Relate various types of arts knowledge and skills within and across the arts disciplines. This includes mixing and matching competencies and understandings in art-making, history, and cultures, and analysis in any arts-related project.

Further information on National Standards for Arts:
http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/professional_resources/standards/natstandards/standards_print.html

Course Requirements

Professional Organization Review

      Become familiar with a professional organization that can support you in accomplishing the goals of social studies education. This requirement can be accomplished through a review of materials that the organization members produce or disseminate or through participation by your attendance at the organization’s current conference. Follow the steps below and title your review with the name of the organization that you described.

1. Describe the organization’s programs, services, and conferences if they hold them. Identify the activities of the society’s members such as research, social activism, writing or sharing instructional literature, etc.

2. Write a list of the resources such as literature, videos, and other electronic media that you found from the organization which might be useful to you as a teacher.

3. Write the full contact information for the organization: physical and electronic addresses, phone, and web site if they have one.

Sites for some Professional Societies:

Curriculum-Resource Evaluation and Recommendation

1. Describe the resource and the subject for which it might be purchased. Include the cost and
any of the resource’s features that would make it usable by students or teachers.

2. Describe your criteria that you are using to evaluate the curriculum resource. Name each set of
criteria and identify its foci. For example, on set will be Carter’s Matching Factors.

3. Start evaluating the curriculum and only mention problem areas. Point out how a teacher
might overcome those problems or how best the resource might be used given its limitation(s). For example, consider the usefulness of the curriculum resource for teaching students with special needs.

4. Make a global statement about criteria it does satisfy. In other words, you might state that all
of the criteria in Carter’s Matching Factors would be satisfied in a --- grade level class.

5. Make your recommendation. Be specific about for whom this resource should be ordered, if at
all, and include the grade level of students, teachers, and/or the school library in your
recommendation. Remember to consider the cost and instructional value of the curriculum.

Community History Project: Critical Task

        This assignment is required for successful completion of this course. Failure to complete this assignment with full points will result in a failure grade for the course. This assignment must be complete and accurate to receive credit for it. The tasks provide experiences which support social studies instruction through community based learning involving the following learning processes (a) cross-cultural communication, (b) historical data collection, analysis and reporting, and (c) curriculum development.

Community Based Learning. Spend time with elderly (70+ years) natives of this area, or where you live, to learn about local history. Select two people who are of very different cultural groups, ethnicities, and families to be your informants. You may collect information from them through examination of documents as well as artifacts that they have to show you and true stories they tell you. Visit one or more local sites that they mention. Also prepare a reference page for your contacts and the resources that you used.

Reporting. Post on Blackboard and print for submission in this class, at least four pages of typed notes, and a reference page for your contacts as well as any resources you used for your report. Although a formal essay is not needed for reporting your research, you will make a professional presentation of it in our class. For that purpose, prepare and rehearse an oral report with visuals of the highlights (to you or others) of the information that you collected about local history. Prepare a 5-minute presentation with a visual aid of your findings for our class.

Curriculum Development. Make a draft version of a picture book for use with students about one of the historical aspects that you learned. Be sure the book addresses two or more social studies standards or competencies. Finally, write a lesson plan for teaching about local history that you learned. If it’s appropriate for your lesson’s goal, incorporate the book that you wrote in your lesson plan. In developing your lesson plan, follow the NCSS recommendations in developing social studies instruction that is meaningful, integrative, value-based, challenging, and active. Also, incorporate the learning cycle in your lesson plan by including the exploratory introduction, lesson development, and expansion steps of acquiring knowledge, skills, and dispositions.

The Seminole People of Florida
http://www.seminoletribe.com/

Standards Reference Box

Florida Educator Accomplished Practices
www.firn.edu/doe/rules/6-a5.htm#6A-5.065

Florida Sunshine State Standards
www.firn.edu/doe/menu/sss.htm

Florida Performance Standards for Teachers of English for Speakers of Other Languages
www.firn.edu/doe/bin00011/perstand.htm

Educational Technology Standards for Teachers
http://cnets.iste.org/teachers/t_stands.html

NCSS Pedagogical Standards
www.socialstudies.org/standards/teachers/vol1/pedagogical.html

NCSS Curriculum Standards
www.socialstudies.org/standards/stitle.html

See the appendix of this syllabus that displays the evaluation rubric for this critical task.

Issue Knowledge and Activism Report

Multiple Perspectives. Become well-informed of a current social issue. Gather knowledge of the issue from multiple perspectives through research, observation, and discussion. Develop your own broadly informed perspective of the issue and how its conflict should be proactively addressed or resolved. Proactive citizens work to nonviolently resolve conflicts for the well-being of all who are affected by those problems.

Informed Action. Utilizing political, multicultural, economic, or environmental aspects of citizenship, take current action on the issue.

Reflective Report. For writing your report, use the style of the American Psychological Association Manual 5th edition, which is recommended above in course materials. Write your present position on the issue in an essay that fully presents three or more perspectives of the problem and how it might be solved. Conclude your essay with a recommendation for action and a description of the action you took during this course to address the issue. In the References section of your paper, list in APA style the literature you read, people you may have surveyed or interviewed, and the experts with whom you consulted. Provide evidence of the current social action you took in the Appendix of this report.

Components of the social-issue paper: (a) include an explanation of the issue and definitions of specialized terminology, if any are included, (b) three or more perspectives of the issue and corresponding ideas for problem solving, (c) your recommendation for addressing the issue, (d) a summary of the action that you took to address the issue, (e) a reference page, and (f) evidence of your action in an appendix. The length expectation for this paper is a total of six to ten pages including the cover page and at least one appendix. For posting this assignment in Blackboard, you may include just components (a) and (b) of the activism report.

Resources for social issues include:

Social Issues Plan

        After the deadline for submission of the Issue Knowledge and Activism Report, read the postings of your classmates on Blackboard about the social issues that they researched. In a Word document, make a list of 10 or more current social issues including some or all of the ones your classmates researched. This list will contain two or more descriptive sentences for each social issue you list. For each issue that you list, explain whether or not you feel you could teach elementary students about it, and why you feel that way. Near the end of the semester, the instructor will provide a Blackboard "quiz" for you to complete this assignment by copying in your work from a Word document. As the essay "quiz" in Blackboard needs manual scoring, do not be surprised to score 0 as soon you complete this assignment. Later, your responses will be scored for completion. Also print a copy of this assignment in the Word document for submission in class and subsequent insertion in your social studies portfolio.

Action Research Report

      Locating. Find an elementary class in which you can collaborate with the teacher in social studies education. Request the participation of a teacher who is known for, or at least interested in, best practices of social studies. If you are a practicing social studies educator, you may use your own class, along with that of another person, to observe for the purpose of topic identification.

      Topic Identification. Your task is to identify an area of need in the practice of social studies that you have observed, or have been informed about by the instructor of the classes. You may identify the content of, instruction in, or assessment of social studies as well as any other aspect of social studies that needs attention.

      Literature Review. Review literature from multiple sources that presents research findings on the topic you have selected. Your review will describe the studies and their findings of research on, or closely related to, the topic you selected. Studies you review should have been conducted within the last ten years, but very few may be more dated if they are pertinent to your topic. Summarize the findings of the studies in your review before you make recommendations for current practice in the classes you have observed.

      Response. Prepare your response to the literature by developing a plan for improved practice of social studies. Describe in detail how the plan should address the needs of current students and align with instructional standards. This response may take the form of a curriculum development or revision, modeling of different instructional approaches, or another method of improving social studies practice.

      Implementation. In collaboration with the classroom teacher, begin the implementation of the plan in the classroom you observed. Then write about how it was done and the results of the implementation. Be aware that a new implementation or intervention often needs refinement after its first use. Discuss those refinements that you and the teacher may have recognized.

      Research Presentation and Paper. Your complete paper will be a minimum length of 20 pages, typed or word processed, including at least 10 references of which a minimum of two are research studies. Your paper will conform to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Fifth Edition (2001). Table 1 may be useful for your writing.

Table 1. Section Lengths in Written Report

      The appendix of your paper will display products of your action such as the lesson plan, a model of the changes you implemented, student or teacher products of the implementation, or anything else related to the implementation which you can display in the report.Action

      Presentation. For practice as a professional educator, your presentation will conform to the common format used in our field. Use a visual for any content aspect of your presentation. You will have 10 minutes to present and five minutes to answer questions about your presentation. If the size of our class exceeds 10 people, we will move up the due date and start the presentations in the earlier class meeting. Or, this can be done on a volunteer basis by three or more students who agree to present one meeting earlier than the rest of the class members. The presentation-score criteria include (a) need statement, (b) research findings, (c) action plan, (d) outcome of implementation, and (e) submission of your complete research paper.

Standards you may use in your project:

Florida Educator Accomplished Practices
http://www.firn.edu/doe/rules/

Florida Performance Standards for Teachers of English for Speakers of Other Languages
www.firn.edu/doe/bin00011/perstand.htm

Educational Technology Standards for Teachers
http://cnets.iste.org/teachers/t_stands.html

NCSS Pedagogical Standards
www.socialstudies.org/standards/teachers/vol1/pedagogical.shtml

NCSS Curriculum Standards
www.socialstudies.org/standards/stitle.html

Social Studies Section of Education Portfolio

     Include in a compact disk (CD) to be submitted no later than the due date the following after editing to make any needed corrections in scored assignments.