Course Prefix/Number: SSE 4113 Course Title: Social Studies for Elementary Teachers Course Credit Hours: 3 sh Instructor Name and Contact Information: Julia M. Stone, Adjunct Instructor, Division of Teacher Education; Building 85/Room 113; Phone: (850) 497-3224; Email: jstone@uwf.edu Co-teaching with Rusty Gremillion, Email: rgremillion@uwf.edu Prerequisites or Co-Requisites: EDE 4200 Course Description: Instructional methods and materials for teaching a contemporary program in social studies in the elementary school. Includes citizenship education and multicultural understandings; current trends and models teaching social studies. An on-line seminar, instructional methods and materials for teaching a contemporary program in social studies for the elementary school. Includes citizenship education and multicultural understandings; current trends and models of teaching social studies. Purpose of Course: The Professional Education Unit has a conceptual framework that emphasizes the training of the empowered person and professional taking action. This course involves learning activities that permit the pre-professional teacher to examine what he/she does to take an active role in the instructional process. This course, by virtue of its subject matter and through its activities, assignments and expectations, will assist the pre-professional teacher with his/her development as a (1) critical thinker, (2) lifelong learner, (3) counselor/mentor, (4) decision maker, (5) problem solver, and (6) ethical/moral professional, thereby enabling him/her to fully develop the characteristics of an empowered person and professional taking action. Goals: The State of Florida has responded to national and state initiatives in education reform and accountability by creating legislative policies relative to the preparation of teachers. Florida's Accomplished Practices, Sunshine State Standards, and Curriculum Frameworks outline the knowledge, skills, dispositions, and knowledge-base that teachers and students require to be successful in Florida's educational system. - To prepare students to meet the following accomplished practices mandated by the State of Florida: #1 ,2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, and 13. (www.firn.edu.bin00026/acco-prc.htm) - To prepare students to use appropriate Sunshine State Standards in teaching students http://www.firn.edu/doe/curric/prek12/frame2.htm - To prepare students to meet the following ESOL competencies mandated by the State of Florida: #2, 6, 7, 12, 14, 15, 16, 18, 20. - To implement the following principles for best practice in undergraduate education: (a) Encourage Student-Faculty Contact, (b) Encourage Cooperation between Students, (c) Encourage Active Learning, (d) Give Prompt Feedback, (e) Emphasize Time on Task, (f) Communicate High Expectations, (g) Respect Diverse Talents and Ways of Learning Student Learning Outcomes: Upon completion of this course, students will be able to: 1. Understand techniques, skills and strategies based on the Constructivist approach, which make the social studies, come alive for students in the elementary school classroom. 2. Become familiar with and create lesson plans integrating the following social studies standards presently being used in the nation and Florida’s school systems: Sunshine State Standards, ESOL, NCSS Standards and the Connections, Challenges, and Choices curriculum. 3. Promote the idea of the teacher as a facilitator in the classroom, putting children in charge of their learning. 4. Understand how to create performance-based work for the students that require them to do what social scientists do. This results in meaningful and motivating work for elementary students. 5. Gain conceptual understanding that the idea “less is more” which means that the teacher is responsible for separating the relevant content from the inconsequential and trivial. 6. Become familiar with the principals of authentic or performance-based assessment. 7. Gain experience in the creative process of planning and implementing instruction. 8. Appreciate the diversity in our culture and to make a personal commitment to foster this acceptance in children through the modeling and the planned learning experiences. 9. Become familiar with the wide variety of resources available to an elementary school social studies teacher, including technological sources such as the Internet. . Required Text: Social Studies for the Elementary and Middle School Classrooms. Materials Required: We will complete a few projects. We will be creative as we are limited to on-line experiences. With careful and innovative planning, you can do these projects inexpensively. These projects will be things you can use again and again in future in-field experiences. Relevant Websites and Tutorials: STEPS: (www.uwf.edu~coe) http://143.99.86.98/pacee/steps Best Practices: http://www.coe.wayne.edu/TSC/best.html Journals: http://www.accesseric.org/ Chronicle of Higher Education: http://chronicle.merit.edu/ Ask Eric: http://ericir.syr.edu/ NEA: http://www.nea.org US Department of Education: http://www.ed.gov/ UWF Library: http://library.uwf.edu/ Beginning Teachers’ website: http://college.hmco.com Grading / Evaluation: Assignments Participation in class Online Assignments Final Points Earned Value 25 pts 75pts out of 100 pts Earned Points __________ __________ __________ Course Requirements: 1. 2. 3. 4. All written assignments and projects are due on time. A deduction of 10% will be taken for each class date the assignment is late. College level writing is expected and deductions will be made from work for things like typos, misspellings, grammatical errors, lack of organization, etc. The use of Standard English or “school English” is also expected during any oral presentation. Points will be deducted for grammatical errors. The instructor will use various assessment methods to judge your on-line class participation and contributions to group work. The majority of this course work will be authentic assessment of you as a social studies teacher. This means that you will do a lot of planning, creating, making, sharing, and teaching. The classroom will be a friendly learning environment which means you will participate in various activities, receive coaching from your peers and instructor, work in cooperative groups, use instructor feedback from previous performances, and engage in reflective teaching. Grading Scale A AB+ B B- 95-100 90-94 87-89 84-86 80-83 C CD+ D F C+ 77-79 74-76 70-73 67-69 64-66 0-63 Special Technology Utilized by Students: Each UWF Student is expected to: • activate a UWF ArgoNet email account • access email two to three times weekly • have basic word processing knowledge A Syllabus icon next to a course represents a link to a syllabus. Icon indicates that the course utilizes the University's course management system. Special software required. Software is either: included with textbook, downloaded from Internet, available for checkout from the library or purchased. Expectations for Academic Conduct/Plagiarism Policy: As members of the University of West Florida, we commit ourselves to honesty. As we strive for excellence in performance, integrity—personal and institutional—is our most precious asset. Honesty in our academic work is vital, and we will not knowingly act in ways which erode that integrity. Accordingly, we pledge not to cheat, nor to tolerate cheating, nor to plagiarize the work of others. We pledge to share community resources in ways that are responsible and that comply with established policies of fairness. Cooperation and competition are means to high achievement and are encouraged. Indeed, cooperation is expected unless our directive is to individual performance. We will compete constructively and professionally for the purpose of stimulating high performance standards. Finally, we accept adherence to this set of expectations for academic conduct as a condition of membership in the UWF academic community. The Student Code of Conduct sets forth the rules, regulations and expected behavior of students enrolled at the University of West Florida. Violations of any rules, regulations, or behavioral expectations may result in a charge of violating the Student Code of Conduct. It is the student’s responsibility to read the Student Code of Conduct and conduct himself/herself accordingly. You may access the current Student Code of Conduct at http://www.uwf.edu/judicialaffairs. Assistance: Students with special needs who require specific examination-related or other course-related accommodations should contact Barbara Fitzpatrick, Director of Disabled Student Services (DSS), dss@uwf.edu, (850) 474-2387. DSS will provide the student with a letter for the instructor that will specify any recommended accommodations.