Understanding by Design in the Secondary Social Studies Classroom
Reflecting Student Interests--Tupac to Caesar Chavez
Angie Peterson, an educator in the Indianapolis, Ind. system, sets up her classroom to reflect her students' backgrounds at the beginning of the school year. She posts works by African American, Hispanic, and Asian authors and poets on her bulletin boards.
For example, Tupac Shakur is familiar to her students, so she posts his lyrics as poetry along with a book excerpt on the life of Caesar Chavez. (Learn how studying Tupac led one student to orchestrate a peace forum.)
Know Your Students
It's important to know who your students are and what content is important and relevant to their lives. That key theme was echoed throughout this conference and especially in the "Understanding by Design in the Secondary Social Studies Classroom" session presented by Peterson.
Connecting to Students
Peterson stays closely connected to her students and their families and has been called on as a teacher of record to help bail more than one of her students out of juvenile detention hall when parents couldn't be reached.
One teacher in the session shared that she gives her students her cell phone number and tells them to call when they need help.
Unit Design Based on What Students Want to Learn
Peterson asks her students to tell her which of these National Council for the Social Studies thematic strands and themes are the most important for them to learn:
Related Resources
Understanding by Design Professional Development Workbook
Implementing an Understanding by Design program is much easier when you use this in-depth resource for workshops, curriculum teams, and teacher training. This collection of templates, design tools, examples, and exercises helps you give all staff members a firm grasp of key UbD principles.
UbD Exchange
This is a cooperative Web site devoted to the development and peer review of curriculum units, where you can find plenty of curriculum units designed according to UbD principles for use in your classroom.
Angie Peterson, an educator in the Indianapolis, Ind. system, sets up her classroom to reflect her students' backgrounds at the beginning of the school year. She posts works by African American, Hispanic, and Asian authors and poets on her bulletin boards.
For example, Tupac Shakur is familiar to her students, so she posts his lyrics as poetry along with a book excerpt on the life of Caesar Chavez. (Learn how studying Tupac led one student to orchestrate a peace forum.)
Know Your Students
It's important to know who your students are and what content is important and relevant to their lives. That key theme was echoed throughout this conference and especially in the "Understanding by Design in the Secondary Social Studies Classroom" session presented by Peterson.
Connecting to Students
Peterson stays closely connected to her students and their families and has been called on as a teacher of record to help bail more than one of her students out of juvenile detention hall when parents couldn't be reached.
One teacher in the session shared that she gives her students her cell phone number and tells them to call when they need help.
Unit Design Based on What Students Want to Learn
Peterson asks her students to tell her which of these National Council for the Social Studies thematic strands and themes are the most important for them to learn:
- Culture
- Time, Continuity, and Change
- People, Places, and Environment
- Individual Development and Identity
- Individuals, Groups, and Institutions
- Power, Authority, and Governance
- Production, Distribution, and Consumption
- Science, Technology, and Society
- Global Connections
- Civic Ideals and Practices
Related Resources
Understanding by Design Professional Development Workbook
Implementing an Understanding by Design program is much easier when you use this in-depth resource for workshops, curriculum teams, and teacher training. This collection of templates, design tools, examples, and exercises helps you give all staff members a firm grasp of key UbD principles.
UbD Exchange
This is a cooperative Web site devoted to the development and peer review of curriculum units, where you can find plenty of curriculum units designed according to UbD principles for use in your classroom.
Learn more about next year's conference, visit our 2006 summer conference page, where you can register today.
Explore Differentiated Instruction resources and Understanding by Design resources.
posted by ASCD at 4:16 PM
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