HIST502/SOSC401 Syllabus
Montclair State University
Department of History
SOSC 401/HIST 502 Social Studies Teaching Methods
Monday 5:30 to 8:00
University Hall 1010
Contact Information
Professor Jeff Strickland
Email: stricklandj@mail.montclair.edu
Office: 425 Dickson Hall
Office Hours: Monday 4 to 5 PM, Tuesday 2 to 5 PM, & by appointment
Professor Fred Cotterell
Email: cotterellf@mail.montclair.edu
Office: 281 Dickson Hall
Office Hours: Monday 2 to 3 PM, Thursday 5:30 to 6:30 PM, & by appointment
Course Description
This course familiarizes prospective social studies teachers, grades K-12, with pedagogical approaches and innovative teaching techniques needed to convey to a diverse population current state and professional standards-based curriculum in the social studies. Innovative uses of technology, development of instructional units, individualizing for students with special needs, and strategies for managing problem behavior will be emphasized throughout the course.
Course Objectives
· You will examine and reflect on the relationships between curriculum, instruction, and assessment in Social Studies classrooms with a particular view to multicultural context, content, and process.
· You will examine and analyze curricular and pedagogical practices for educational significance, integration of history, geography, political science, and economics, sociology, and psychology, respect for students’ cultures, and contribution to equity and social justice.
· You will design a thematic unit.
· You will acquire practical presentation experience.
· You will enhance your knowledge of social studies content
.
Blackboard Web Site
You are responsible for obtaining course updates and submitting assignments via the Blackboard website http://montclair.blackboard.com/. In addition, you will submit all assignments to Blackboard dropbox. Blackboard confirms when files have been uploaded and sent. Please do not send emails to us requesting confirmation.
Email Accounts
You should activate their university email accounts no later than the first week of class. Failure to do so will result in the inability to log into Blackboard, receive course documents, updates and other messages from us.
Required Readings
James Loewen, Lies My Teacher Told Me
Articles available on Blackboard.
Reading Assignments
You are expected to follow the course outline contained at the end of this syllabus.
Attendance
You are expected attend each class meetings since it is necessary preparation for the final planning unit and each class meeting entails some form of assessment (or preparation for it). It is important that you begin thinking of yourself as a professional, since you will begin teaching soon. If you miss more than one class, you will deduct 15% for each absence thereafter from your final grade average. If you miss more than three classes you will need to retake the methods course (a D is the best grade you could earn).
General Rules
If you arrive after 5:30 PM, you will be marked absent.
If you leave class for longer than it takes to use the restroom, you will be marked absent.
If you attempt to use your cell phone during class, you will be asked to leave the room and marked absent.
If you plagiarize, you will fail the course and we will refer you to the Dean of Students for adjudication.
If you plagiarize, you will be removed from the social studies program.
Reading Quizzes (15%)
You will write a short essay response to a question about the assigned readings during the first five minutes of each class. You cannot make up a quiz without a documented excuse for missing the class.
Primary Documents Lesson Plan (7.5 %)
You will design a lesson based on historical documents located on the Internet and present your findings to the class. Detailed primary documents assignment guidelines will be given in advance of its due date. In preparing your lesson plan, you should provide clear expectations and explicit instructions for your students. You will submit a brief lesson plan on the due date. You are expected to implement the jigsaw method. You should include no less than four documents (one document per group member). In the spirit of the Jigsaw method, each group member will have a specific responsibility in preparing this assignment (presenter is not a specific responsibility).
Historical Geography Lesson Plan (7.5 %)
You will design a history/geography lesson that focuses on historical maps. You should consider the topic, method, and means of evaluation.
Mock Trial Lesson Plan (5 %)
You and your group members will construct a mock trial transcript. You will present the mock trial to the class. Choose a famous trial from Douglass Linder’s “Famous Trials” website at the University of Missouri-Kansas City or some other website. Use the primary sources to develop a trial transcript. You should have at least four main characters and each character should speak at least three times. These are minimums and you can develop a much more elaborate trial if you prefer. Refer to the mock trial guide in the course documents section of Blackboard or the American Bar Association website listed above. Each group will present their mock trial to the class. We will hold three mock trials during class.
Précis on Lies My Teacher Told Me (5 %)
On the week when the class meets to discuss the Loewen, each student will turn in a two-page précis. This can be done in prose, outline system, or with headers. The two-page précis is designed to help you read the book critically for argument, historiographical issues, and provide a "road map" for our discussion. You should address briefly:
(1) The Author's background and other works (search the web, web databases such as "American History and Life," "Historical Abstracts", "World Cat," and the MSU Catalog)
(2) The Historical problem(s) the Author tackles. Pose these problems in the form of a question.
(3) Author's thesis (or theses)
(4) Sources
(5) Genre of History (Social, Cultural, Institutional, Diplomatic, Economic, Intellectual, Political, etc)
(6) Significant findings
(7) Historiographical contribution(s)
(8) Author's Ideological/Methodological Orientation (i.e. Marxist, structuralist, post-structuralist, foucaultian, etc).
(9) The Strengths and Weaknesses of the Book.
Professional Resources (7.5%)
You will complete three two-page summary/reflections of professional publications/resources for the teaching of Social Studies. They will provide you with an understanding of the ideas, rationale, approaches, and strategies in Social Studies curriculum and teaching. You will complete two review/reactions from professional publications and one from the Social Studies in Action PBS series. Reflections and reactions will include the relevancy of the ideas/strategies. You will read/view, summarize and reflect on two full-length articles from two different professional journals of the following three: The Social Studies, Social Education (National Council for Social Studies publication), and History Teacher. The third summary/reflection resource is an online video series from the Annenberg/WGBH series Social Studies in Action at http://www.learner.org/resources/series166.html?pop=yes&vodid=724819&pid=1788#
Instruction Material Analysis (5%)
You will examine and analyze instructional materials created for Social Studies educators. A list of materials, location, and specifics guidelines for this assignment will appear on Blackboard.
Film Lesson (5%)
The public often hears stories about students watching “movies” in their Social Studies/History class. Too often the perspective is that nothing meaningful is happening and that the entire situation is just “filler,” and Social Studies teachers have it easy. Your task is to develop guiding questions that you could use with an associated media clip. Assignment guidelines will appear on Blackboard.
Jigsaw Lesson (7.5%)
You will design a lesson plan based upon the jigsaw method www.jigsaw.org. Detailed assignment guidelines will be distributed in advance.
Final Teaching Unit (20 %)
This assessment represents one of the primary goals of the course. You can include revised work from previous assignments. Detailed unit guidelines will be given in advance of the scheduled due date. In short, you will submit a week-long unit as your final project. You must type your unit with no larger than size 12 font and with one-inch margins all around. In addition, you should provide a title page and bibliography/reference page. The unit must be submitted on the date noted, assignments turned in after then will be considered tardy and penalized a grade and subsequently an additional grade each day late thereafter, e.g. an A to a B, etc. etc.
Unit Plan Proposal
You will submit a two-page Unit Plan Proposal due Feb. 21 at 10PM. If you fail to submit the proposal on this date, you will deduct 10% from your final teaching unit.
Unit Plan Rough Draft
You will submit a rough draft of your unit plan on April 4 at 10PM. If you fail to submit a rough draft, you will deduct 10% from your final teaching unit.
In Class Participation and Discussion (10 %)
You are expected to participate thoughtfully in the discussions. You will earn as much as four 4 points per class. In addition you are expected to attend office hours four times per semester (once per month).
Binder (5%)
Your binder will consist of teaching strategies, handouts, print material, and other resources that you can use in your teaching. You should include materials from your field experience. Assignment guidelines will appear on Blackboard.
Revisions
You may revise any assignment except the final unit. Revisions must be submitted within one week of receipt of the initial grade. You will receive the grade earned on the revised assignment. It is important that you seek advisement on each assignment, rather than submit substandard work. In a case where a student repeatedly submits substandard work, they will receive an average of the grades earned on the initial assignment and the revised assignment. In short, the revision policy is a privilege not a right.
Students with Disabilities
The Services for Students with Disabilities office is located in the Academic Success Center in Morehead Hall (Suite 305). You can make an appointment by calling 973-655-5431. You can visit their website at http://www.montclair.edu/wellness/.
Tolerance to Create a Climate for Civility and
Academic Honesty—Plagiarism—Cheating (Section 9, MSU Code of Conduct)
Plagiarism is defined as using another person's words as if they were your own, and the unacknowledged incorporation of those words in one's own work for academic credit. Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to, submitting as one's own a project, paper, report, test, program, design, or speech copied from, partially copied, or partially paraphrased work of another (whether the source is printed, under copyright in manuscript form or electronic media) without proper citation. Source citations must be given for works quoted or paraphrased. The above rules apply to any academic dishonesty, whether the work is graded or ungraded, group or individual, written or oral. The following guidelines for written work will assist students in avoiding plagiarism:
(a) General indebtedness for background information and data must be acknowledged by inclusion of a bibliography of all works consulted;
(b) Specific indebtedness for a particular idea, or for a quotation of four or more consecutive words from another text, must be acknowledged by footnote or endnote reference to the actual source. Quotations of four words or more from a text must also be indicated by the use of quotation marks;
(c) A project work shall be considered plagiarism if it duplicates in whole or in part, without citation, the work of another person to an extent than is greater that is commonly accepted. The degree to which imitation without citation is permissible varies from discipline to discipline. Students must consult their instructors before copying another person's work.
Minimum sanction: Probation; Maximum sanction: Expulsion
Grading System
| 95-100 | A |
| 90-94 | A- |
| 87-89 | B+ |
| 84-86 | B |
| 80-83 | B- |
| 77-79 | C+ |
| 74-76 | C |
| 70-73 | C- |
| 67-69 | D+ |
| 64-66 | D |
| 60-63 | D- |
| 1-59 | F |
Course Outline
| Date | Week | Topic | Assignment | Readings | Professor |
| Jan. 26 | 1 | Introduction Lesson Planning Social Studies Standards | Select a topic for a primary documents lesson and submit it to the digital dropbox by January 31 at 10PM. Professional Resource Reflection #1 due Jan. 31 Précis on Loewen, Lies My Teacher Told Me due Feb. 14 at 10PM | Folder 1 for Feb.2 Loewen, Lies My Teacher Told Me for Feb. 23 | Strickland Cotterell |
| Feb. 2 | 2 | Unit Planning Historical Thinking | Reading Quiz 1: first five minutes of class. You will respond to a general/thematic question about the readings in Folder 1. Professional Resource Reflection #2 due to the digital dropbox by February 7 at 10PM Two-page Unit Plan Proposal due Feb. 28 at 10PM | Folder 2 for Feb. 9 | Cotterell |
| Feb. 9 | 3 | Teaching with Technology | Reading Quiz 2: first five minutes of class Begin working on primary documents/PowerPoint lesson in computer lab | Folder 3 for Feb. 16 | Strickland |
| Feb. 16 | 4 | Teaching with Primary Documents | Reading Quiz 3: first five minutes of class Primary Documents Lesson Plan due Feb. 21 at 10PM Meeting in computer lab | Folder 4 for Feb. 23 | Strickland |
| Feb. 23 | 5 | Beyond the Textbook Loewen Discussion | Reading Quiz 4: on Loewen Discuss Loewen | Folder 5 for Feb. 16 | Strickland |
| Mar. 2 | 6 | Teaching with films & photographs | Reading Quiz 5: first five minutes of class Develop film/photography lesson plan due Mar. 7 at 10PM | Folder 6 for Mar. 9 | Cotterell |
| Mar. 9 | 7 | Collaborative Learning | Design Jigsaw Lesson due March 21 at 10 PM | Folder 7 for Mar. 23 | Cotterell |
| Mar. 16 | | Spring Break | | | |
| Mar. 23 | 8 | Teaching Geography | Reading Quiz 6: first five minutes of class Historical Geography/World History Lesson due March 28 at 10PM | Folder 8 for Mar. 30 | Strickland |
| Mar. 30 | 9 | Teaching World History | Teaching Unit Rough Draft due April 4 at 10PM | Folder 9 for Apr. 6 | Strickland |
| Apr. 6 | 10 | Writing and Assessment | Reading Quiz 7: first five minutes of class Professional Resource Reflection #3 due April 11 at 10PM | Folder 10 for Apr. 13 | Cotterell |
| Apr. 13 | 11 | Teaching Economics Analyzing Textbooks | Instructional Materials Analysis due April 18 at 10 PM | Folder 11 for Apr. 20 | Cotterell |
| Apr. 20 | 12 | Teaching Politics & Govt. | Reading Quiz 8: first five minutes of class Mock Trial Lesson Plan due May 3 at 10PM | Folder 12 for Apr. 27 | Strickland |
| Apr. 27 | 13 | Oral History & other projects | Reading Quiz 9: first five minutes of class | Folder 13 for May 4 | Strickland |
| May 4 | 14 | Discussion & Debates | Reading Quiz 10: first five minutes of class Teaching Unit due May 9 at 10PM. | Folder 14 for May 11 | Cotterell |
| May 11 | 15 | Student Teaching | Professional Notebook due May 11 in class | | Strickland Cotterell |
Thursday, September 11, 2008
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13 comments:
First of all - thanks again for posting the question so quickly!
My biggest worry at the moment is having a good cooperating teacher. This is mainly because I've been placed at a school, but not with a teacher. So...it doesn't exactly make me feel wanted. As much as I'm worried about working with a sub-par teacher, I'm mainly anxious that he/she isn't going to want me there at all.
I'm also kind of nervous about the kids. I remember having student teachers when I was in high school - I don't think anyone really took them seriously. I guess I'm worried about finding the balance of having the students like and listen to me and making sure my cooperating teacher knows I'm serious about teaching.
I guess the whole process tends to bring on self-consciousness...or maybe that's just me. Anyway, I'm excited to read what you all think.
Katie
When I think about student teaching, I have feelings of both excitement and concern. I tend to worry obsessively about being a perfectionist, yet I know that I will be far from perfect when student teaching. Perhaps my biggest concern would be that since I look rather young for my age, students will not take me seriously as a professional. I know that I will have to enter the classroom and lay some procedures and routines the very first day of school to show students that I am in fact, a professional willing to teach and learn from my students in the classroom.
Also, I remember writing my essay for the Teacher Education Program at MSU and one of the requirements was for aspiring teachers to list any weaknesses that they may have in life. I clearly remember writing that I hope my openness and friendliness with people does not affect my performance in the classroom. I do not want my students to mistake my kindness for weakness. I am a very outgoing individual and I hope that students will not just see me as a friend but rather as a teacher and someone they can trust with issues both inside and outside the classroom. However, I also believe that at times, my openness will reflect that I am an approachable and flexible individual, so students will see me as someone they can relate to and turn to when needed.
I have several concerns about student teaching. I’m not sure one is greater than the other. I’m also aware that it’s incredibly helpful for me to be worried. If I was apathetic that should raise greater concern. I think it shows my investment in the profession.
A main concern is that I will not have a cooperative or engaging teacher as a mentor. I know how important a supportive and approachable mentor can be so my fingers are crossed about the prospects of getting a phenomenal teacher to learn from. I have heard from current teachers that a good quality school and mentor can make all the difference in a student teaching experience.
I am scared that I am not prepared for the amount of content I’ll have to teach. I am also concerned that all these methods that several students in class seem to be aware of (like jigsaw) are fairly foreign to me. I know we have to relate everything back to the NJCCCS and I’ve only been introduced to that once at MSU. While I have loved several courses at MSU (for instance a course that focused on being a reflective practitioner) I am not sure I feel comfortable in the practical day-to-day workings of being a teacher.
I’m also a bit scared that I will not love it as much as I hope to. This is one of my greatest fears about teaching. I absolutely love working with students and I love history, politics, and social justice issues so I hope that the classroom will be a wonderful place to balance these interests. It’s why I’m going into education. But I am also keenly aware of the negative aspects of teaching. I have seen one too many burnt-out teachers who do not benefit themselves, the students, or the field of education. While I acknowledge every job has difficulties I hope to give the profession and the students the kind of investment they deserve.
Right now I have three big worries about student teaching. The first is my worry that I will not be able to control the class. I feel that in my own classroom I would be able to handle it, but I am going into another teacher's classroom that the students already know and respect. It will also be a little frightening having someone there watching me as I am trying to teacher especially since I have really little experience, and this is my first time ever touching a lesson plan or seeing the standards. That is one of my other worries I have in fact, being able to make good lesson plans, and being able to understand the state standards. I have barely even seen a lesson plan until you had put one on the board last week so it is a little frightening suddenly having to make them for an entire year of school.
Thirdly and most importantly I am worried that I will not be able to student teach next semester due to the Praxis. I love my placement and am looking forward to it, so cross your fingers that tomorrow I do well!
My biggest worry about student teaching is that I won't be adequately prepared. As a history major we had to take thirty some credits in history courses. However, I don't feel that is enough preparation. The little bit of information that we learned in our history courses is not enough to cover all of the topics that we will be teaching. There are some topics that I don't feel like I know very well. Like we were talking about in class, I don't want to be one of those teachers who is just a little bit ahead of the students. I know that's probably a worry that many people have and I do know that I will always be learning history, but that's just my worry for right now.
Right now my biggest and only worry I have about student teaching is actually getting a placement. All I hear is about in my classes is almost everyone talking about their schools and teachers while I sit there and wonder what is going on in my situation. However there are some worries that I know I will encounter when I actually get my placement but are worries I encounter in every new situation like getting lost on the way to the school or being late for one reason or another. I really don’t have any worries about the act of student teaching because I feel more than adequately prepared based on my education and experience substitute teaching.
My biggest worry about student teaching is that I will not be taken seriously by the students. I have been warned that because I am young (in my early 20s) and look even younger, that this will be an issue. If my physical appearance is going to make things difficult, I will have to emphasize my personality to make up for it.
my biggest worry about student teaching is just getting started in the classroom. I am not talking about each class, but overall creating a good flow and being able to convey the information to the students so that they will enjoy learning. A similar situation is in the movie my cousin vinny when vinny can not understand the procedings in court and keeps getting thrown in jail, but once he gets going he is able to be a great attorney and is able to win the case. It is one of those things where once you get in a ryhthm teaching will become two things a lot of fun, and the students will enjoying learning
~mike savacool
My biggest worry regarding student teaching is to have enough quality lessons to last an entire semester. For the past year or so in college, I have been actively thinking what would be really interesting social studies lessons for implement while I am teaching. The closer I get to student teaching, I ask myself if I have enough of these good ones to last four months? Also, do these lessons incorporate all of the aspects of social studies teachers are supposed to use? For example, does my Progressive Era lesson incorporate geography, economics, politics, civics, etc.?
I am glad this methods course will give me plenty of resources to give me more lessons and I am also aware that my cooperating teaching will be there to help if need be. I have substituted in the past but I was always aware it was a one day event and the absent teacher had always left notes for me.
This student teacher worry should become more and more alleviated once I get my feet wet in the classroom everyday and get into a rhythm.
Of course, I have a few worries. I guess that is normal. Mostly, I fear I will not like being in the front of the classroom as much I as I think I will. We hardly have had any time in that position and now that we will have it, we are at the tail end of our education. As I said, it is just jitters. The few times I have been in position of teacher (not just in classroom setting through school) I have enjoyed the feeling and experience.
A more serious worry is whether I am prepared well enough to be a teacher, even a student one. It seems we don't take too many history classes and we also don't seem to spend much time being/acting like a teacher. when I started to get closer to student teacher, that is when I started to feel as if I really don't know how to be a teacher yet.
The last worry I will point out is the fear of getting a truly inconsiderate, uncooperative teacher for my student teaching. What will I do then? What happens if I get a teacher that not only does not help me prepare to be a teacher, but sets me back and makes me even more unsure of my abilities and training?
i am doing my student teaching at university high in newark (i plan to be an urban high school teacher). i asked to be assigned in newark because i want a learning experience, not just a job, when i teach. i subscribe to the theory that meaning/knowledge/truth is constructed in dialogs with others, and that the amount of M/K/T constructed - ie, the amount of learning/education - is a function of the Otherness of the dialog partners: the more radically Other, the more learning is possible. i don't think my students and i would learn as much together if i taught here in summit, nj where i live. on the other hand, i understand that one of the key tasks for a teacher is to contrive lessons that are relevant and interesting to students. so ... my biggest worry is that i am SO different from my newark students that i will not know enough about them to find the "hooks" that will make a lesson interesting to them.
i do have to say, however, that MSU's urban teaching academy has been extremely helpful to me in bridging this initial culture gap. moreover, i believe that if i can be genuinely open-minded and of good will, then my students and i will quickly learn enough about each other to make social studies dialogs happen.
When it comes to student teaching, my main concern is classroom management and proper discipline. I have substituted in high schools on several occasions and sometimes it seems like classroom management is a toss-up; some classes are easily controlled and follow directions while others quickly become intolerable. Often there is one or two disruptive students that encourage the rest of the class to misbehave; threatening them with punishment often does not work because they do not care about suspension or their grades and sending them to the principal makes it look like I cannot do the work assigned to me. It does not help that I am in my earlier twenties and am sometimes shorter than the students under my responsibility.
I realize that substituting is not reflective of student teaching, but I feel that I will be stepping into someone else’s classroom and students will be tempted to take advantage of the situation and find ways to do less work.
I have several concerns about student teaching, but the two largest are:
1. Will I make a meaningful contribution to my students' education?
While this is a "practice run" for me, it is most certainly not one for my students. This, as was pointed out in our first meeting this year, might be the only exposure to Social Studies/History that many of this people will get. To waste months of that exposure by not performing up to par would be quite a lapse on my part.
My second concern is that my experience will not adequately prepare me for actually "going out there" next fall. I have a degree of fear about going in front of a group of teenagers that I'm hoping I can largely allay through student teaching and observation, but of course, there's no guarantee of that. I guess you could say that's a good thing, because it will put more pressure on me to make sure the experience is really meaningful and that I give it my best effort.
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