Social Studies Teaching is Interdisciplinary and Connects Students to the World Around Them
Social studies teachers create connections to the world through active inquiry and the use of dynamic teaching strategies. Social studies teachers pull out the “big ideas” as they investigate essential questions with their students. Social studies teachers connect students to the world around them through the curriculum and assessments they have created. Social studies teachers draw from all areas of knowledge (both academic and artistic fields) in their lessons and units.
Artifact 1: Zinn Graphic Novel Groups
Artifact 2: Current Events
Example of Student Work for Current Events
One way in which Social Studies educators can keep students interacting with skills from other classes and make their classes interdisciplinary is by making sure students are reading the newspaper and keeping up with current events. Current events help to get students in the practice of reading the newspaper on a weekly basis in order to find a Social Studies related article, and fill out a worksheet on the article to better figure out what the article is saying. By getting students into the practice of reading the newspaper I believe it is more likely that they will read the newspaper when they are older. Through having students complete a current events worksheet it encourages students to pull on skills from other classes such as English.
Students can practice their close reading skills as well as their inferring skills. Students can start with the title of the article to see if it will fit the requirements of the current event worksheet. The way students do current events in my classroom is they pull an article from a reputable news source such as the Detroit Free Press, Detroit News, New York Times, etc. The restrictions on articles are no violence, and they should be about Social Studies related topics such as government, economics, etc. My general guideline for students when they asked about an article was, “Do you think that this could appear in a history book if we wrote one at the end of the year?” They then read the at least 7 paragraph article and fill out a worksheet about the article. At the end of the worksheet students are asked if they can point something out that the author could have omitted from the article or if there was something that they should have included to make it a stronger article. On Friday we would present their articles at random until everyone had presented. The goal of current events is not only to make students more informed and responsible, but to have students be able to talk intelligently about a topic that is Social Studies related that generally interests them. Through exposing them to different styles of writing, each writer has their own, and having them think about the information in the article it is my belief that students will become stronger writers and in turn have better English grades.
Students can practice their close reading skills as well as their inferring skills. Students can start with the title of the article to see if it will fit the requirements of the current event worksheet. The way students do current events in my classroom is they pull an article from a reputable news source such as the Detroit Free Press, Detroit News, New York Times, etc. The restrictions on articles are no violence, and they should be about Social Studies related topics such as government, economics, etc. My general guideline for students when they asked about an article was, “Do you think that this could appear in a history book if we wrote one at the end of the year?” They then read the at least 7 paragraph article and fill out a worksheet about the article. At the end of the worksheet students are asked if they can point something out that the author could have omitted from the article or if there was something that they should have included to make it a stronger article. On Friday we would present their articles at random until everyone had presented. The goal of current events is not only to make students more informed and responsible, but to have students be able to talk intelligently about a topic that is Social Studies related that generally interests them. Through exposing them to different styles of writing, each writer has their own, and having them think about the information in the article it is my belief that students will become stronger writers and in turn have better English grades.
Artifact 3: World War I Storyboards
Example of Student Work for World War I Storyboards
Another way in which Social Studies teachers can make their classes more interdisciplinary is to have students engage with pictures, cartoons and graphic novels on a regular basis. By taking vocabulary words from our textbook and having students define them they learn these words. Additionally by making them draw a picture of these they are encouraged to delve deeper into the words, think about them longer, and draw a picture that someone who looks at them could derive the words meaning or significance from their drawing. Some students really enjoy drawing and showing off their artistic skills and this is one avenue for such experiences to take place.
Before I had students attempt this assignment I consulted with a few colleagues where I expanded on this idea of a vocabulary booklet into a storyboard/cartoon board where students illustrated the meaning of the concept in a square in order to both make sense of the word and serve as a visual representation of the word where they had to think critically about and synthesize what they were going to draw in order to describe the word. Since I am a struggling artist, I had no requirement that they draw anything more than a simple stick figure and use their prior knowledge and the definition to draw a picture where they, or someone else, might be able to describe the word or phrase based off of their drawing. When I used this assignment it was right before a test so students had already had encountered these words multiple times and should have just had to activate their prior knowledge in order to complete this assignment.
Before I had students attempt this assignment I consulted with a few colleagues where I expanded on this idea of a vocabulary booklet into a storyboard/cartoon board where students illustrated the meaning of the concept in a square in order to both make sense of the word and serve as a visual representation of the word where they had to think critically about and synthesize what they were going to draw in order to describe the word. Since I am a struggling artist, I had no requirement that they draw anything more than a simple stick figure and use their prior knowledge and the definition to draw a picture where they, or someone else, might be able to describe the word or phrase based off of their drawing. When I used this assignment it was right before a test so students had already had encountered these words multiple times and should have just had to activate their prior knowledge in order to complete this assignment.
Artifact 4: Detroit "Progressive" Writing
Writing Prompt
If I had it to do over again I would have had my students at the end of the progressive era do one more assignment that would have made my classroom more interdisciplinary. I got half way there with my Progressive writing assignment. However, it fell one step short of being truly interdisciplinary in my eyes. After students completed the writing prompt what I would do is have them write letters to a city or state representative, mayor, etc. Where they explain what they see as the most important problem(s) that they see in their communities, and the City of Detroit as a whole. Through these action letters they would be encouraged to do some further research to alert the official to the urgency of the problem and then lay out their plan of action or solution. This could be done in tandem with the English class or strictly in my Social Studies classroom. It would build off of/be the final step of Detroit “Progressive” Writing Prompt and make it even more authentic.
The reason I would want to do this is to make a connection between what we are doing in the classroom and real life and to show that improvement/progress is always possible. It also would show that everyone has a voice that can be heard. After their research was complete and the letters written all of the letters (having been approved by myself) would be addressed and sent to the representatives so that they could see what these students thought were the biggest problems in their communities and in effect change their communities. Throughout this assignment students would start at a young age to take notice of things they do not like and realize that there are steps they can take in order to resolve the problems they see.
The reason I would want to do this is to make a connection between what we are doing in the classroom and real life and to show that improvement/progress is always possible. It also would show that everyone has a voice that can be heard. After their research was complete and the letters written all of the letters (having been approved by myself) would be addressed and sent to the representatives so that they could see what these students thought were the biggest problems in their communities and in effect change their communities. Throughout this assignment students would start at a young age to take notice of things they do not like and realize that there are steps they can take in order to resolve the problems they see.