January 2016

 There is a new SS Framework (Standards) that is being implemented this year, UPK-8 and Government and Economics  In addition to the standards, teachers are supposed to ensure they are balancing the way they teach  Inquiry based learning (big emphasis)  Direct instruction and memorization of facts (more traditional approach to SS)

 There will be a new Global 10 Regents in the Spring of 2018 (our current 8 th graders will take)  There will be a new US History Regents in the Spring of 2019 (our current 8 th graders will take)  Therefore, our current 9 th, 10 th, and 11 th graders will be taking the exams as they have been, so we should allow those students to continue in the courses as they are

 Currently Global 10 tests Global 9 and 10 content, but in 2018 it will test Global 10 year only  The tests will mirror AP exams  There will be text sets and then questions based on the texts (so reading and understanding text is critical)  Students will have to have SS content knowledge too  Questions will be MC, SR, CR and essay

 Framework (Standards)  Field Guide (example unit on Reconstruction)  Conceptual Foundations (explains the intellectual foundations for the Toolkit Project and the Inquiry Design Model)  Toolkit Project

 An Inquiry  Larger than a lesson, but smaller than a unit  Each comes with a blueprint and description for how it might be taught  Six for each grade K-11 and 6 for both Economics and Government (84 total)  They are all complete and available through k-12-social-studies-resource-toolkit k-12-social-studies-resource-toolkit  SS teachers can access them all on Brain Honey  One at each level is annotated (more explanations and notes provided with it)  They were created by NY teachers (the University of Binghamton facilitated the project)  Involve reading and writing, so the ELA skills that all are responsible for are embedded into this

 Compelling Question  A focusing, big picture question you want to solve  Standards Being Addressed  3 Supporting Questions (approximately)  Three smaller questions that will uncover the answer to the compelling question  3 Formative Performance Tasks (approximately)  Ways you check to ensure that the supporting questions have all adequately been answered  Featured Sources  Students must read, research, and uncover the questions (they are not directly told the answers)  Summative Performance Task  At the end of the inquiry students put all of their learning together to answer the compelling question  Taking Informed Action

 Compelling Question:  Does the new inquiry-based social studies model better prepare students for college and career readiness?

 2 nd Grade  “Geography, Humans and Environment”  6 th Grade  “Agriculture and Human Civilization” annotated  10 th Grade  “Apartheid”

 SS instruction must include both, the inquiry model and direct instruction/memorization of facts, but they are done together  Students memorize facts once/as they understand when and how those facts fit together into bigger concepts  Goals of Inquiry Learning:  Deeper understanding of the world as it functions as a whole  Improved critical thinking skills  More mastery of content into long-term memory (Global, US, Government and Economics to 85% mastery)