SUNY Oswego Teaching-Learning Project Guide for Social Studies Education

November 2013

Purposes: The Teaching-Learning Project: Social Studies (TLP) is an authentic product that demonstrates your ability to plan, deliver, and assess a standards-based instructional sequence; document student performance; and reflect upon your planning, teaching, and the effects of your instruction on student learning. You will align your TLP with the Common Core Learning Standards, Social Studies, Grades 6-12, and base it on the principles espoused in the School of Education Conceptual Framework, which is anchored in authentic learning and teaching for social justice. Through the successful completion of the TLP process and product, you will demonstrate your achievement of the NCSS/NCATE Standards for the Initial Preparation of Teachers of Secondary Social Studies (2012). The framework, tasks, formatting and terminology of the TLP are intentional in reflecting many of those found in the EdTPA for New York State, so it will provide scaffolding as you prepare for that certification requirement during your student teaching semester.

Tasks: The TLP is composed of three overarching tasks: Planning for Instruction and Assessment; Instructing and Engaging Students in Learning; and Assessing Student Learning. Each task includes multiple components to authentically reflect the complexity of thought, decision-making, and actions required in successfully teaching diverse learners.

Evaluation Criteria: The evidence you submit will be judged on five components of teaching practice: planning; instruction; assessment; analysis of teaching; and academic language. Rubrics with scores of 1-5 will be used to evaluate your performance in each area.

Confidentiality: In your written documents, report no real names or places. In the videoclip, use first names only. There can be no references to the place in which you are teaching.

Task 1: Planning for Instruction and Assessment: Submit a file for each of the following subsections.

1.a Context for Learning: Write a narrative that addresses the following prompts, up to three

pages in length.

  1. The School and Community: Identify demographics, key features, resources (including technology), practices, and/or expectations of the school and community. Discuss the potential impact of these characteristics on student learning, and how you will take them into account in your teaching of this learning segment.
  1. The Classroom and Curriculum: Identify key features, resources, practices, and or expectations of the classroom and curriculum. Discuss the potential impact of these characteristics on student learning, and how you will take them into account in your teaching of this learning segment.
  1. The Students: Describe the students in the classroom where you will teach this learning segment. Discuss the group as a whole as well as individuals with identified needs, the potential impact of these characteristics on learning, and how you will take these into account as you teach this learning segment. List the number of females and males, the number of Social Studies Language Learners, the number of racially orethnically diverse students, the number of economically disadvantages students, the number of students with identified disabilities, and the number of students who are gifted or high-achieving in Social Studies. Indicate the mandated and appropriate instructional supports you will provide for students with a range of learning needs. Select 3 students to keep in mind during this lesson designing process. These students should represent an academic, behavioral and/or social range of learners in your class (e.g. struggling learners, students with IEPs, students who consistently “meet” expectations, students considered

gifted and exceptional). Try to identify students with IEPs. Also consider behavioral challenges, English language learners, or other traditionally marginalized learners. Use initials or pseudonyms only.

Create a positive student profile for each of the students-without evaluating information. Make sure to include the following at minimum:

  • Background
  • Interests
  • Learning Styles/Intelligences
  • Strengths
  • Areas of struggle during learning
  • Communication
  • Behavior
  • Academic performance
  • Social Information
  • Concerns

1 b: Learning Segment Overview: Provide the following:

  1. Learning Goals and Essential Questions;
  2. Rationale for and explanation of the learning segment. Describe the central focus and purpose for the content you will teach in this learning segment.
  3. Given the central focus, describe how all the standards (NYLS, CCLS, and NCSS) and learning objectives within your learning segment address:
  4. Facts and concepts
  5. Interpretation and analysis skills
  6. Building and supporting arguments
  7. Explain how your plans build on each other to help students make connections between facts, concepts, and interpretations or analyses to build and support arguments about historical events, a topic/theme, or social studies phenomenon
  8. Discuss how your knowledge of students will inform your teaching.
  9. What prior academic learning and prerequisite skills are necessary, as related to your central focus?
  10. What do you know about your students’ experiences, cultural backgrounds, and interests that relate to your central focus?
  11. How has your understanding of your students’ prior academic learning and personal/cultural/community assets guided your choice or adaptation of learning tasks and materials?
  12. Describe and justify why your instructional strategies and planned supports are appropriate for the whole class, and for 3 focus individuals you have chosen.
  13. Describe common student errors or misunderstandings within your content focus and how you will address them.
  14. Describe and justify why your instructional strategies and planned supports are appropriate for the whole class and students with similar or specific learning needs.
  15. Identify one languagefunction (e.g., analyze, compare/contrast, construct, describe, evaluate, examine, identify, interpret, justify, locate) essential for students within your central focus. Identify a key learning task from your plans that provides students with opportunities to practice using the language function identified above. In which lesson does the task occur and in what context (include lesson or day number).
  16. Given the language function and task identified above, describe the following associated language demands (written or oral) students need to understand and/or use: Vocabulary and key phrases, and either Syntax or Discourse. Describe the language supports in your plans and materials that will help students with language functions and demands.
  17. Describe the instructional support (during and/or prior to the learning task) that help students understand and successfully use the language function and additional language identified above.

1.c: Lesson Plans: Write a set of detailed, sequential lesson plans that constitute the learning segment you will teach. Document each lesson plan on the SUNY Oswego Adolescence Social Studies Lesson Planning Template (attached). Think in terms of about 3-5 sessions with the students. Include materials within the lesson plans or as attachments. Include a blank copy of each written assessment—informal and formal—that correspond to your lessons, along with rubrics you will use to evaluate the assignments, if appropriate.

1.d:Technology Component: For part of the long-range plan, include a single technological device, application (app), or website and explain how it is used to enhance your teaching of a specific social studies lesson (include lesson number or day) on civics, history, geography, economics, anthropology, and/or other social studies subject.

1e: Planning Commentary: Respond to each of the following prompts, based on reflection of your planning:

A. Central Focus: Describe the central focus and purpose for the content you will teach in this learning segment. Describe how the standards and learning objectives within your learning segment address facts and concepts, interpretation and analysis skills, building and supporting arguments. Explain how your plans build on each other to help students make connections between facts, concepts, and interpretations or analyses to build and support arguments about historical events, a topic/theme, or social studies phenomenon.

B. Using Knowledge of Students to Inform Teaching and Learning: Consider students prior academic learning and prerequisite skills related to the central focus. What do student know, what can they do, and what are they learning to do? Consider personal/cultural/community assets related to the central focus. What do you know about your students’ everyday experiences, cultural backgrounds and practices, and interests?

C. Supporting Students’ History/Social Studies Learning: Explain how your understanding of your students’ prior academic learning and persona/cultural/community assets guided your choice or adaptation of learning tasks and materials. Describe key misconceptions within your content focus and how you will address them. Use principles from research and/or theory to support your explanations when necessary. Describe and justify why your instructional strategies and planned supports are appropriate for the whole class and students with similar or specific learning needs. Make sure to consider your 3 focus students.

D. Supporting History/Social Studies Development through Language: Identify one language function needed for students to learn the history/social studies content within your central focus (e.g. analyze, examine, compare/contrast, identify, construct, interpret, describe,justify, evaluate, locate). Identify a key learning task from your plans that provides students with opportunities to practice using the language function (identify which lesson plan the learning task occurs). Within the language function and task identified above, describe the following associated language demands: vocabulary and key phrases, plus either syntax or discourse.

E. Planning Assessments to Monitor and Support Student Learning: How do the planned formal and informal assessments providing direct evidence of how students learn and use facts, concepts, and interpretations or analyses to build arguments about historical events or social studies phenomenon throughout the learning segment? Explain how the design or adaptation of your planned assessments allows your 3 focus students to demonstrate their learning.

Task 2: Instructing and Engaging Students in Learning

2a. Video Clip of Instruction: Submit one 7-10 minute uninterrupted and unedited video clip of your teaching of the learning segment, following these steps:

  • Obtain required permission for video-recording, using the form provided on Oswego’s website on the Student Teacher Forms page.
  • Identify lesson to video record. The video should provide how you develop students’ abilities to evaluate sources, form interpretations or analyses, and build and defend arguments. The video should either:
  • Illustrate what you did to help students critically evaluate accounts or interpretations of historical events or social studies phenomenon and build and defend arguments; or
  • Illustrate what you did to support students as they formed interpretations or analyses and used evidence to build and support arguments about historical events or social studies phenomenon.
  • Select the section of the video clip to submit. View the clip for the purpose of analysis and reflection on your instruction.
  • Do not include the name of the school, or district in your video. Use first names only.

2b: Instruction Commentary: Write a response to each prompt below:

  1. Which lesson is shown in the clip? (Provide lesson number/day).
  2. Promoting a Positive Learning Environment: How did you demonstrate mutual respect for, rapport with, and responsiveness to students with varied needs and backgrounds, and challenge students to engage in learning?
  3. Engaging Students in Learning: Referring to examples from your clip, how did your instruction engage students in developing strategies or skills by critically evaluating accounts or interpretations of historical events or social studies phenomenon? How did your instruction help students to build and support their arguments? How did your instruction link students’ prior academic learning and personal, cultural, and community assets with new learning?
  4. Deepening Student Learning during Instruction: Referring to examples from your clip, how did you elicit student responses that supported their ability to form interpretations or analyses and build and support arguments? Describe and cite examples from the clip of how you support your students in using evidence to help them learn to build and support arguments about historical events, a topic/theme, or social studies phenomenon.
  5. Analyzing Teaching: Referring to examples from your clip, how did your instruction support learning for the whole class and for students who need greater support or challenge? (Refer to your 3 focus students from Context section). What changes would you make to better support student learning of the central focus? (Were there missed opportunities?) Drawing on my experience and on principles from theory or research, why might such changes improve student learning?
  6. Subject-Specific Pedagogy:How did you support students in using evidence from varied sources to build and support their arguments? How did you use conflicting or alternative evidence from varied sources to challenge students to defend their arguments?

Task 3: Assessing Student Learning and Language Use

3a. Determine which assessment from your learning segment you will use, and define and submit the evaluation criteria you will use to analyze student learning related to Social Studies. The assessment should provide opportunities for students to demonstrate their learning and use of: facts and concepts, interpretation and analysis skills, and building and supporting arguments. Attach the chosen assessment, including directions and prompts, to the end of your Assessment Commentary (explained below). Define and submit the evaluation criteria you will use to analyze student learning related to the history/social studies understandings (facts and concepts, interpretation and analysis skills, and building and supporting arguments). Collect and analyze student work to identify quantitative and qualitative patterns of learning.

3b. Student Work Samples: Select one assessment that has been completed by the entire class for analysis. Submit the work samples submitted by your 3 focus students, labeled Student 1 Work Sample, etc. These may be audio, video, or written.

3c. Evidence of feedback. Document the feedback you gave to each of your focus students on the work sample itself, or as an audio or video clip.

3d. Provide evidence of students’ understanding and use of the targeted academic language function.

3e. Assessment Commentary: Write a commentary (no more than 8 pages) by responding to the following prompts:

Analyzing Student Learning:

A. Identify specific standards/objectives from the lesson plans measured by the assessment you have chosen to analyze.

B. Provide the evaluation criteria used to analyze student learning.

C. Provided a graphic (table or chart) or narrative summary of student learning for the whole class, and summarize the learning for all evaluation criteria.

D. Use evidence found in the 3 focus student work samples and the whole class summary to analyze patterns of learning for the whole class and differences for groups or individual learners, relative to:

  • Facts and concepts
  • Interpretation and analysis skills
  • Building

Feedback to Guide Further Learning:

A. Provide evidence of providing feedback to the 3 focus students, and explained how the feedback addresses their individual strengths and needs relative to the standards/objectives measured? (You may use written feedback on work samples or in a separate document, audio files or video clips).

B. How will you support students to apply the feedback to guide improvement within the learning segment or at a later time?

Evidence of Language Understanding and Use

A. Referring to examples from your video clip and/or student work samples as evidence, explain how your students were able to use language (selected function, vocabulary and syntax or discourse) to develop content understandings.

Using Assessment to Inform Instruction

A. Based on your analysis of student learning, what will your next steps for whole class instruction and instruction of your 3 focus students be? Explain how these steps follow from your analysis of student learning. Use research or theory to support your explanation or claims.

Task 4: NCSS Standards Reflection

Write reflective responses in which you describe the effectiveness of your classroom instruction and provide evidence for how your approaches help you to deliver age-appropriate instruction. You must address the following questions:

  1. Please describe in writing your knowledge of culture and cultural diversity (NCSS Standard 1.1), how you organize classroom instruction addressing this standard, and how you deliver age-appropriate instruction centered on culture and cultural diversity.
  2. Please describe in writing your knowledge of individual development and identity (NCSS Standard 1.4), how you organize classroom instruction addressing this standard, and how you deliver age-appropriate instruction centered on individual development and identity.
  1. Please describe in writing your knowledge of individuals, groups, and institutions (NCSS Standard 1.5), how you organize classroom instruction addressing this standard, and how you deliver age-appropriate instruction centered on individuals, groups, and institutions.
  1. Please describe in writing your knowledge of science, technology, and society (NCSS Standard 1.8), how you organize classroom instruction addressing this standard, and how you deliver age-appropriate instruction centered on science, technology, and society.
  1. Please describe in writing your knowledge of global connections and interdependence (NCSS Standard 1.9), how you organize classroom instruction addressing this standard, and how you deliver age-appropriate instruction centered on global connections and interdependence.

NCSS Thematic Standards