C & I 348 Teaching Elementary Social Studies (Fall Semester) and

C & I 347 Issues and Practices in Addressing Diversity in Elementary Education

(Spring Semester)

Susan Noffke (s-noffke@uiuc.edu; 333-1670)

www.ed.uiuc.edu/courses/ci348/Description.html

Conceptual Framework for the Course

Listed below are the major ways that we are addressing social studies in this course. They are related and are reflected in the readings and class activities. These concepts/approaches are enacted through the methods that we are teaching, but also reflect a particular philosophy toward teaching, learning, and schooling.

What is Social Studies To YOU -

What is the meaning of Social Studies for you?

What topics do you think are important to teach about,

and how will you teach them? Much of the course

is set up to help you identify and figure out your own perspective.

Inquiry as a Teaching/Learning tool -

Works to help students make relevant connections with their own lives and interests,

empowers students as meaning makers and provides opportunities for them

to learn from experience.

Teaching for Cultural Relevancy -

Helps students to see social issues from a variety of perspectives and

to think critically about definitions and meanings -

Teaches them to investigate issues of racial, cultural, gender, and sexual diversity.

Helps students understand power relationships in society and

sets the framework for addressing issues of social justice.

Teaching for Social Justice -

As students begin to think critically about power relationships and to understand history, economics, social norms, and social values from a variety of perspectives, they may begin to find ways to work against inequality in the social world. They are provided with opportunities to use their learning to express their opinions, make statements, and effect real change.

Integrating Social Studies with other Subjects

By finding ways to integrate many subjects around social issues, students gain an understanding of learning as holistic. They see that skills learned in school (math, reading, writing, science, art) can be used for meaningful, real-life activities that are related to their lives and the lives of other people.

Professional Inquiry #1 - Your School Community

(An inquiry to be done in school groups resulting in a class presentation/poster on Sept 14)

This time marks the beginning of your “last stretch” toward a teaching career. You’ve maybe heard lots of positive and negative stories, and look forward to this year with a mixture of joy and trepidation. We see this year as a wonderful entree into your career as an educator. One of the most important aspects to teaching, beyond what you learn in courses and through classroom experiences, is to get to know as much as possible about the community in which you teach and in which your students live. Toward this end, we have designed (with lots of help from teachers, former students, and instructors) and inquiry to help you familiarize yourself with the communities surrounding your first teaching placement. As with all of the assignments for this course, we expect that this one will grow and change as we learn more from you about your teaching contexts and experiences. Some parts of the assignment will vary a lot by schools and districts. That’s fine. For those of you placed in the same town/city, you may want to collaborate to cover the shared community services.

Before you inquire, think about yourself as an inquirer. Prepare ahead of time.

What questions do you have about the community? How does one “observe”? (How do you know what to look for?); What might you ask people? How might you record your observations, interviews? What “artifacts” might be collected?

1. Take a tour of each neighborhood served by the school (or the students in your classroom). Write down brief, descriptive notes of what you observe. Take a picture or draw a sketch of one of the neighborhoods.

2. Draw a map (by hand!) of the school and surrounding neighborhoods. Label significant features.

3. Visit the following places (add others as relevant) in the town/city in which you are teaching:

A. Police Station B. Hospital or Health Care Facility C. Library

D. Family Services Center (mental health, Salvation Army, homeless shelter, welfare office, etc.)

E. Religious Centers F. Recreation Centers, parks, playgrounds

G. Retail outlets, restaurants, other businesses H. Other things?

4. As you visit these places or walk around, meet and talk with community members about their community (these can include your co-ops or others in the school, but should also include others). How do they define the community? What do they see as its strengths? Its weaknesses?

Bring all of your notes, drawings, and artifacts to the second class session (Sept7), for in-class working on organizing and sharing information.

For the first class session (August 24), Please read the Introduction and Chapter 1 of If this is Social Studies, Why isn’t it boring? (bring short notes to class)