Social Studies Methods

Description

Co-requisite with the field experience (Student Teaching in Secondary Social Studies), the Methods Seminar consists of two parts: a weekly seminar and a weekly workshop. In the Seminar, which meets for two hours each week, students will collectively explore issues, themes, and methods related to teaching and learning Secondary Social Studies, as outlined in the weekly calendar. The Seminar is arranged as a series of questions about which we will think, read, and write in preparation for each meeting. Students arrive between 3:40 and 3:55 p.m., debrief the day's doings, and will be ready to work by 4 p.m., sharp. In most cases, and unless advised otherwise, the Seminar meets from 4-6 p.m. each week, and it will be formal in style and general scope. Attendance is mandatory for all students in Seminar meetings. The workshops, meeting from 6-7 p.m. and beginning in Week Three, will be informal and specific, with each student required to sign up for and attend at least three workshop sessions. Workshop topics will be decided as needed, on a case specific basis.

Course Requirements

Specific instructions for all written work will be provided in class in advance of the due date for each assignment. In general, there will be 4 response papers, 1 book review, and 1 Regents review paper, amounting to 12 pages of formal writing by the end of the semester. In addition, a semester portfolio, the contents of which will be discussed later, will be due in the last meeting. There will be a Final Exam during finals week. By Week Ten, students will have read Lies My Teacher Told Me by James Loewen, which is available in the campus bookstore. Additional reading, which will be announced at a later date, will either be provided in class, or will be made available in a copy packet at Far Better Printing. An email account is required, and students will be asked to use the Internet from time to time (You should already be surfing the websites noted on the "yellow sheet"). This means that students need to use their email accounts and computer access at Brooklyn College, which is provided "free" for all enrolled students. (It's not really "free," of course, since the cost is built into your tuition, so take advantage of what you are already paying for.) At the end of the term, final work for the portfolio will have to be submitted in paper form and on computer disk, so now is the time to learn how to use a word processor, and to utilize the "free" computer labs on campus.

Grading

It is expected that all reading and research will be completed as requested, and that all written work will be neatly typed and turned in on time. Attendance is required at all Seminar meetings, and in at least three workshops, with sign-up required for the workshops. Unexcused absences will lower the semester grade significantly, as will late attendance. Make the necessary arrangements at the field site to assure timely arrival for each Seminar. Chronic lateness or more than two unexcused absences will be grounds for failing the course. Students are responsible for making up any missed work, and ought to exchange phone numbers and email addresses for that purpose. The Seminar grade, which will be based on work turned in and examined in the seminar, is broken down as follows: 40% for the Response Papers (4 x 10 pts. each), 30% for the Semester Portfolio (contents to be discussed in class), 20% for Daily Participation (includes attendance in all seminars and 3 workshops), and 10% for the Final Exam (which will involve in-class reading and writing, with parameters to be outlined in advance). Students should backup their disks and keep copies of all work.

Bibliography

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Deborah Britzman, Practice Makes Practice: A Critical Study of Learning to Teach (SUNY Press, 1991).

Edward T. Clark, Jr., Designing & Implementing an Integrated Curriculum: A Student-Centered Approach (Holistic Education Press, 1997).

Leonard H. Clark & Irving S. Starr, Secondary & Middle School Teaching Methods (Prentice Hall, 1996).

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Gary Nash, et al, History on Trial: Culture Wars & the Teaching of the Past (Alfred A. Knopf, 1997).

David F. Noble, A World Without Women: The Christian Clerical Culture of Western Science (Oxford University Press, 1993).

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Heidi Roupp (Ed.), Teaching World History: A Resource Book (M.E. Sharpe, 1997).

Richard E. Sclove, Democracy & Technology (Guilford Press, 1995).

Alan J. Singer, Social Studies for Secondary Schools: Teaching to Learn, Learning to Teach (Lawrence Erlbaum, 1997).

Huston Smith, The World's Religions (Harper Collins, 1991).

David E. Stannard, American Holocaust: The Conquest of the New World (Oxford University Press, 1992).

Shirley R. Steinberg & Joe L. Kincheloe, Students As Researchers: Creating Classrooms that Matter (Falmer Press, 1998).

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Chris Stevenson & Judy F. Carr, Integrated Studies in the Middle Grades (Teachers College Press, 1993).

Franke Wilmer, The Indigenous Voice in World Politics: From Time Immemorial (Sage, 1993).

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Howard Zinn, A People's History of the United States, 1492-Present (Harper Perennial, 1995).