Debate & Deliberation

Debate and Deliberation are great strategies to incorporate into the social studies classroom. Both teach students how to research a topic, formulate/defend a position, and present a point of view. However, both strategies are not exactly the same. Provide a definition that explains their differences.

How can you create a more engaging classroom environment?

O'Mahony described the importance of creating a classroom environment that enhanced social studies instruction. In 100 words, explain to me how you can integrate song lyrics to create an environment that engages students in meaningful social studies instruction. Your task is to prove to me that you have digested a majority of our class discussions and assigned readings.

Why integrate music in the social studies classroom?

White and McCormack asserted, "American students do not recognize their roles as active citizens because they credit societal changes to historical leaders rather than individual acts." Summarize this quote and explain how lyrics can help you address this issue in during social studies lessons.

Using Photographs in the Classroom

Today we discussed the value of integrating photographs in the elementary classroom. Based on the readings and class discussions, justify how photographs can allow elementary students to perceive differences in a nonthreatening ways and explain how this promotes civic competence.

Structure of Social Studies Lessons

The three articles that you read from the SSYL introduced a couple of interesting approaches to teaching social studies. Each lesson (and the materials that accompanied them) expected students to first learn basic skills in a familiar setting (e.g., establishing technologies we have today that we did not have 'long ago' or having students use color construction paper to represent population) and then apply those skills in a novel, authentic manner. By the end of the collection of lesson (i.e., unit of instruction), students were accomplishing sophisticated tasks. Based on this, answer the questions below.

• What was the most interesting aspect of these articles/lesson ideas?
  
• Describe the structure of the lessons - how did the teachers slowly/methodically develop students’ skills?
  
• Explain how the organization mirrored the structure of the 4 categories of human interaction and 3 major areas of emphasis

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