PROCEDURES FOR HISTORY AND SOCIAL SCIENCE STUDIES MAJORS TO OBTAIN DEPARTMENTAL
APPROVAL FOR STUDENT TEACHING
(Revised May 2015)
All teacher education students must receive Departmental Approval to Student Teach before they can be placed
to student teach. Each student submits an e-portfolio of materials that is due late in the semester prior to
student teaching. The DAP is evaluated by the three members of the Teacher Education Committee for History
and Social Science.
You will submit your portfolio as one PDF document through D2L (a specific site for portfolio submission). Your
portfolio should be submitted as a complete packet rather than as individual components (except for the rating
sheets turned in by your references). It might be helpful to turn individual Word documents into an Adobe
Acrobat document for uploading ease; see Dr. Laughlin-Schultz if you have questions about this.
The e-portfolio must include the following items, in this order:
 Table of Contents
 Job Ad & Cover Letter (completed as part of SOS 3400)
 Resume (including professional organizations, practicum) (completed as part of SOS 3400)
 Teaching Philosophy (updated from CEPS courses)
 Primary Source Analysis Paper & Reflective Page on Historical Thinking
 Two Learning Segments (3-5 class periods each; completed as part of SOS 3400) (see instructions on
separate page)
In addition, you will be asked to submit three reference sheets from professors. Failure to submit any portion of
the portfolio or submission of unsatisfactory elements will delay your approval for student teaching.
LEARNING SEGMENT INSTRUCTIONS (from SOS 3400)
Each of your learning segments should contain the following. For each one, you will teach one full
lesson that will be videoed, and you will submit 1-3 clips from your video along with your written
materials.
Part 1: Planning for Instruction and Assessment
Identify a LEARNING SEGMENT, that is 3-5 consecutive lessons with a CENTRAL FOCUS that supports
students in learning and using facts and concepts, and interpretations or analysis skills to build
arguments about historical events, a topic/theme or social studies phenomenon. Make sure to include
ONE LANGUAGE FUNCTION and a learning task where students use that function.
Submit a lesson plan for each lesson (following our class template; max of 4 pages per lesson
plan) – as well as key instructional materials and directions for all assessments.
Part 1 Commentary (5-7 pages total)
1. Summarize the content focus of this learning segment. This summary might take the form of a “big
idea” or “essential question.” How do the standards and learning objectives within your learning
segment address facts and concepts; interpretation or analysis skills; and/or building and supporting
arguments? How will you help students make connections?
2. How do your plans support your students’ history/social studies learning? See p. 11, 3a, 3b, 3c.
3. How will you support history/social studies development through language?
a. Identify one LANGUAGE FUNCTION
Analyze
Examine
Compare/contrast
Identify
Construct
Interpret
Describe
Justify
Evaluate
Locate
b. Identify task and additional language demands (vocabulary, key phrases, syntax, discourse –
see p. 11)
c. What are your language supports?
4. How will you monitor student learning during the learning segment? Explain use of assessments
throughout and how assessments are aligned with standards.
Part 2: Instructing and Engaging Students in Learning
You will teach one full lesson from which you will take 1-3 clips, each no more than ten minutes, that
demonstrate how you develop students’ abilities to evaluate sources, form interpretations or analyses, and build
and defend arguments. The first clip should illustrate how you engage learners in tasks that develop their
ability to interpret or analyze accounts of historical events or social studies phenomena and build and support
arguments. The second clip should focus on how you supported students to use evidence from sources to
form interpretations or analyses and build and support arguments about historical events, a topic/theme or
social studies phenomenon. (Optional) Provide evidence of students’ language use. You may provide
evidence of language use with your video clips from Task 2, an additional video clip of one or more students
using language within the learning segment (no more than 5 minutes), and/or through student work
samples in task 3.
Part 2 Commentary (5 pages total max)
After viewing clips, address the following in a commentary of no more than six single-spaced pages. If needed,
you may add up to two pages of supporting materials.
1. Which lesson or lessons are shown in the video clips? Identify the lesson(s) by lesson plan number.
2. Engaging Students in Learning
Refer to examples from the video clips in your responses to the prompts.
a. Explain how your instruction engaged students in
developing the skills of interpretation or analysis in relation to accounts of historical events or social studies
phenomena
building and supporting arguments
b. Describe how your instruction linked students’ prior academic learning and personal, cultural, and community
assets with new learning.
3. Deepening Student Learning during Instruction
Refer to examples from the video clips in your explanations.
a. Explain how you elicited and built on student responses that supported your students’ ability to form
interpretations or analyses of history/social studies sources and accounts and build and support arguments.
b. Describe and cite examples from the clips of how you supported students in using evidence from sources to
build and support arguments about historical events, a topic/theme or social studies phenomenon.
4. Analyzing Teaching
Refer to examples from the video clips in your responses to the prompts.
a. What changes would you make to your instruction—for the whole class and/or for students who need greater
support or challenge—to better support student learning of the central focus?
b. Why do you think these changes would improve student learning? Support your explanation with evidence of
student learning AND principles from theory and/or research.
Part 3: Assessing Student Learning
Determine which assessment from your learning segment you will use to evaluate your students’
developing knowledge and skills. It should be an assessment that is completed by the whole class featured in
the learning segment. The assessment should provide opportunities for students to demonstrate their
understanding of and ability to use or do the following: fact and concepts; interpretation or analysis skills; or
build and support arguments. Submit the evaluation criteria you will use to analyze student learning related
to the history/social studies understandings described above.