Overwhelmed by all the standards

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Social Studies Teachers Chatboard

Overwhelmed by all the standards

by just venting

Oct 5, 2012

Right now I am feeling just alittle bit overwhelmed by all of my state's social studies standards.

I am being required to proove that I am teaching all of the standards. I have to "road map" them out and for each week list all of the standards that are being taught.( When they evaluate us, they check to see if we are where we should be according to our roadmap>). Then I have to proove I am teaching ALL of them including all of the benchmarks. Well I did the road map over the summer, but what I am finding is that I cannot move at that speedd.

THe standards are a mile wide and less than an inch deep. If I cover everything, nothing will be covered at any depth at all. This is also assuming that the JH kids are going to actually do their reading assignments at home. Which is prooving to not be the case with many of them. COnsequently this is slowing us down in the classroom.

I'm sorry I am just venting. We are moving soo fast that I don't feel like I am really...See More

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Lynde It's been my impression that most of us are having the same problem. Thankfully I haven't as yet had to "prove" that I am actually teaching everything, and our standards for my state are quite vague -- e.g., Students will understand the role played by Key Historical Figures. Does that mean only Ethan Allen? Or only Frances Marion? Or both? What abo...See MoreIt's been my impression that most of us are having the same problem. Thankfully I haven't as yet had to "prove" that I am actually teaching everything, and our standards for my state are quite vague -- e.g., Students will understand the role played by Key Historical Figures. Does that mean only Ethan Allen? Or only Frances Marion? Or both? What about Benedict Arnold? etc.

I've been trying to re-do my instructional method to try to do a better job of teaching everything, and I'm finding that using video-clips (YouTube in particular) seems to help. Plus it's visual instruction. I had been using my own power-points with hundreds of images, but that took hundreds of hours, and I've crashed out 3 super-flashdrives and have to start all over again. I need to sleep. So, now I'm going to YouTube. I'm starting with Bell-Work which is a Key Question and/or a Focus Question--allows students to read a paragraph in a targeted sort of way, without having to read the entire Chapter Section in class. Then we review that answer, then I turn to the documentary clips. We discuss what we saw and relate it back to the Bell-Work question. I'm preparing a Study Guide with the Big Idea/Main Ideas/Terms & Names w/definitions to each student--this is what you will need to know for the quiz/test. We review it one more time, and then they have the quiz/test. The quiz is closed-notes for Terms & Names; the test is application-level questions w/open Study Guide/notes. e.g., How did the Beringia Migration Theory reflect world-wide migratatory patterns? How did the role played by Ethan Allen contribute to the future of the nation? I'm not good at application questions--need to do some more studying on that one. But I can't see open-note tests for simple rote questions. I'm still having difficulty fitting in more support-for-learning hands-on activities--I've been trying to do alot of at-stations work. Team answer/draw the answer to the following Focus Question. Brainstorm a possible solution to the lack of funds during the Revolution. Rank- Order the patriots. etc. So far, my unruly 6th & 7th graders are enjoying it. And it breaks up the what-could-be monotony of videos. Hope maybe this helps. I'll have to see how this goes for me as the year goes by. My teaching colleague just has the kids copy down her notes from the board, they have class discussions, and then she gives them a Friday quiz. Then they move on. No projects at all. She's about 6 weeks ahead of me. Ouch. She has a reputation for being a dynamic teacher--I fear I'm going to get in trouble if I don't find a way of hustling.

On 10/05/12, just venting wrote: > Right now I am feeling just alittle bit overwhelmed by all > of my state's social studies standards. > > I am being required to proove that I am teaching all of the > standards. I have to "road map" them out and for each week > list all of the standards that are being taught.( When they > evaluate us, they check to see if we are where we should be > according to our roadmap>). Then I have to proove I am > teaching ALL of them including all of the benchmarks. Well > I did the road map over the summer, but what I am finding > is that I cannot move at that speedd. > > THe standards are a mile wide and less than an inch deep. > If I cover everything, nothing will be covered at any depth > at all. This is also assuming that the JH kids are going > to actually do their reading assignments at home. Which is > prooving to not be the case with many of them. > COnsequently this is slowing us down in the classroom. > > I'm sorry I am just venting. We are moving soo fast that I > don't feel like I am really teaching them anything. It's > more like I am "exposing" them. We can barly touch on the > topics, we don't even talk about everything in the chapter, > so the kids are taking tests on stuff they have simple read > in the book, not discussed or did any typeof activity on. > Not to mention there is no time built in to do any "fun > leanring" activities. > > I am new to this and need some advice. A few teachers have > told me to just quietly drop some of the standards, but I > am not sure this is correct or if I did how I work around > the roadmap issue. THis is a small school so there is no > department to check with. I know for a fact the previous > teacher didn't teach all of them since they watch movies > almost everyother day, he's gone and I'm being told I must > teach everything. > > Sorry for typos, some of the advertisements are covering > the screen and I can't see most of what I am typing.

Oct 6, 2012

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Kev Its definitely a problem in California but it is certainly not a death-sentence for hands-on or project-based learning. I can teach the Crusades with a day-long lecture or I can teach it by taking my students on a simulated pilgrimage. They are both going to take 50 minutes.

What stuck out to me is your concern that they are testing on th...See More

Oct 11, 2012

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