Teachinghistory.org’s AHA Workshop: Teaching the Past in a Digital World

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For those of you who couldn’t make it to Chicago on January 7 for our workshop, “Teaching the Past in a Digital World: New Perspectives for History Education,” at the American Historical Association (AHA) Annual Meeting, you not only missed the balmy 50 degree temperatures (not bad for Chicago in January!), but also quite a few great resources worth sharing. Here’s a recap:

After a welcome by Anne Hyde of Colorado College, I provided a brief overview of Teachinghistory.org. With about half the audience already familiar with the site, I was able to get everyone up to speed and highlight a few new features, including the newly unveiled Favorites tool, as well as the new Spotlight Pages. Responding to a commonly asked question about world history, I highlighted the many teaching materials and best practices that can apply to all historical topics, whether you teach the American or the French Revolution.

From adrenaline to Vimeo, we covered a lot of ground in Chicago.

Fitting for Chicago, Dr. Daniel Graff from the University of Notre Dame introduced ideas and resources to help teachers integrate labor history into their teaching. He provided a packet of primary sources that participants analyzed in small groups and then discussed as a whole group. The workshop helped me see new classroom connections for bringing labor history into discussions about slavery, women’s history, and the civil rights movement.

My colleague, Rwany Sibaja, presented an interactive workshop with handouts on teaching American history with digital tools. He introduced the participants to Vimeo, Prezi, and Animoto among others. I always learn new things from my Teachinghistory.org colleagues (Rwany introduced me to Prezi last year) and you can check out some of his write-ups on various tools in our Tech for Teachers section.

Next up, Paul Kolimas of Homewood Flossmoor High School moderated a session with fellow Homewood Flossmoor High School teachers Jeff Treppa and John Schmidt. They offered a presentation on a “new school” approach to the classic research paper. It was interesting to see how their techniques related back to Teachinghistory.org’s emphasis on historical thinking skills. The audience had lots of questions, so they definitely hit on a popular topic.

Molly Myers of Lindblom Math and Science Academy then turned our attention back to digital tools, focusing her talk on how she uses technology for the 3 c’s: collaboration, communication, and community building. Her presentation helped me see a lot of new possibilities and I particularly loved hearing how Molly turned to Twitter to get input from teachers on #SSChat about how they use digital tools for her presentation.

We ended the workshop with an inspiring talk by Patricia Nelson Limerick, vice-president of the AHA’s Teaching Division and professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder. She titled her talk, “Facing Down Fear: Innovation, Experimentation, and Adrenaline in the Teaching of History.” The talk lived up to the title. She spoke about the importance of trying new things, even things you might fear such as using new technology. She also talked about the importance of personal connections in the classroom (and in life) and raised the question of whether digital tools enhance or distract us from these personal links. She graciously agreed to write up her talk for Teachinghistory.org, so look for her post in the coming weeks.

So from adrenaline to Vimeo, we covered a lot of ground in Chicago. Our next stop? Kansas City for the National Council for History Education conference, March 22-24. Hope to see you there!

For more information

What did we cover at least year's AHA annual meeting? Rwany Sibaja reports on one presentation at our 2011 workshop, "Teaching and Learning History in the Digital Age."

Asian Pacific American Heritage Month 2011

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Photo, Princess of Hawaii Kaiulani, c.1893, E. Chickering, Library of Congress
Photo, Princess of Hawaii Kaiulani, c.1893, E. Chickering, Library of Congress
Photo, Princess of Hawaii Kaiulani, c.1893, E. Chickering, Library of Congress
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In 1992, Congress passed Public Law 102.42, permanently designating May as Asian Pacific American Month. Just as with other heritage months, May is barely enough time to scratch the surface of the many strands of history the month memorializes. In May 2009, Teachinghistory.org suggested some places to start digging. Continue to dig this year, with more suggestions.

Japanese Americans and World War II

Modern history textbooks now recognize the internment of Japanese Americans in prison camps during World War II, and its violation of the U.S. understanding of citizenship has increasingly become a core strand in narratives about the war. Digital archives offer rich collections of primary sources related to the internments. Many of these sources feature children, making them a natural choice for drawing students into the story of history. Others focus on law, press, and the choices adults made both during and after the internment years.

  • Students describe their own experiences of internment in the University of Arkansas's Land of (Un)Equal Opportunity. World War II-era high-school students' essays, poems, and other documents record the thoughts of modern students' historical peers.
  • Densho: The Japanese American Legacy Project's archives preserve more than 900 hours of oral history interviews on Japanese American experiences, as well as 10,830 photographs, documents, and newspapers. Browsing them by topic reveals sources on little-covered aspects of the World War II era, such as the experiences of Japanese Hawaiians.
Chinese Americans

Photo, Manpower. Boatyard workers, Jul. 1942, Howard R. Hollem, LoC The lives and experiences of all groups in the U.S. overlap and intertwine with each other, and no group's history exists in isolation. Japanese American history didn't begin and end with World War II, nor did it exist in a vacuum. Enter the keywords "registration certificate 1942" into the search box at the Columbia River Basin Ethnic History Archive for a primary source that captures the complicated nature of identity, perception, and categorization in U.S. history. Remember that Chinese and Japanese Americans are not the only groups represented by this artifact—consider what groups' views motivated the creation of this source.

Filipino Americans

Groups within the U.S. have often banded together based on shared identities to push for change. The Seattle Civil Rights & Labor History Project tells the story of Filipino Americans and unionism in the Seattle canning industry.

Korean Americans

World War II, the Korean War, and the whole span of U.S. international history and involvement (and lack of involvement) can shift when seen from different perspectives. The University of Southern California's Korean American Digital Archive includes photographs and documents related to international events—and to daily life.

Hawaiians

Photo, Princess of Hawaii Kaiulani, c.1893, E. Chickering, Library of CongressBoth a Pacific Island and a U.S. state, Hawaii has a unique position for Asian Pacific American Month. Many different cultures come together here, including Native Hawaiian, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese, among others, and it is one of only four states where non-Hispanic whites do not form the majority. Sources on the history of many of these groups can be found in the digital archives of the University of Hawai'i at Manoa.

More Resources

These resources touch on only a scattering of the many Asian American and Pacific American groups represented in the history of the U.S.—and only a scattering of the resources available to teachers. Comment and tell us what you use to teach Asian Pacific American history this month—and the rest of the year. What books, lesson plans, films, primary sources, and other materials have their place in your classroom and curriculum?

Jennifer Orr on Teaching Failure

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photography, an unwitting victim, 8 Jan 2010, Flickr CC
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Human beings are not perfect. That seems fairly obvious as we see examples of it every day. I prove it to myself quite regularly.

In spite of that, we teach many famous people as if they were flawless. There are several problems with this approach. For one, not only does this give students an incomplete, inaccurate view of those who helped shape our history, it also sets our students up to avoid academic risks. In addition, it suggests that failure or struggles are negative rather than opportunities to grow and learn.

Suggesting that only perfect human beings can change the world or make a difference, means students will never see these possibilities for themselves.

No one in history has achieved greatness without some struggles along the way. Walt Disney declared bankruptcy on the way to success with Disney Studios. Upon Thomas Jefferson’s death his estate was saddled with debt. Winston Churchill’s career is a study in trying again after failing to achieve. If we only teach students about the achievements and successes in the lives of these individuals we create a picture that is inaccurate.

Suggesting that only perfect human beings can change the world or make a difference means students will never see these possibilities for themselves. Knowing that Abraham Lincoln lost about as many elections as he won shows students that failure is a part of life and not a dead end. If they only learn of Lincoln’s childhood determination for education and his eventual presidency they see a man who is too perfect and therefore cannot serve as a role model for their lives.

In fact, failures are often necessary steps on the way to a future success. Thomas Edison saw all his failed attempts as simply pieces of his eventual achievement. Each failure taught him something new. Fearing failure and seeing it as negative make taking risks something to be avoided. Students should see failures as something to celebrate and learn from. As it stands now, unfortunately, we look at failures as shameful and things to be avoided at all costs.

In fact, failures are often necessary steps on the way to a future success.

We should be presenting historical figures to students in accurate, complete ways. We should be encouraging them to take risks as learners. We should be helping them grow through their struggles and failures rather than avoiding them. This will require significant changes in how teachers approach lessons and students, but history is one area in which we can easily begin.

Many resources available for teaching young children about historical figures present those individuals without any flaws. Teaching a more complete picture falls on us. My class often creates data retrieval charts about famous figures we study. Typically we include the person’s name, dates of birth and death, contributions to our country, and interesting facts. Adding a column about challenges is one way to help students explore historical figures more fully.

Having these ideas in black and white in front of us also allows us to discuss why those challenges or failures might have been important in an individual’s life. Students make connections to their own lives when they talk and explore a historical figure’s contributions and challenges. It allows them to see themselves in our country’s history and to envision their future in powerful new ways.

For more information

What historical figures come to mind for teaching about failure? Scientists and inventors often make mistakes or take wrong turns in their quests for success. Sometimes those failures lead to new discoveries!

Check out our Website Reviews for resources on innovators from Alexander Graham Bell to Barbara McClintock.

What about authors who wrote for years before being published, or politicians who lost elections only to try again? Failure was part of the lives of all historical figures, even the most successful.

The Preamble to the U.S. Constitution: A Dissection

Teaser

Explore the meaning behind "We the People" and other nuances of the U.S. Constitution in this lesson for grades 4–9.

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Glass negative, James Madison, President of the United States, 1913, LOC
Website
Consource: The Constitutional Sources Project
Description

NOTE: Unpublished because ConSource website moved and does not appear to feature this link. Contacted ConSource about this and did not hear back.

In this classroom-tested lesson, students use primary sources and a close reading of the Preamble to the Constitution to better understand its meaning and significance.

Article Body

In this lesson, students use primary sources related to the U.S. Constitution (specifically, Madison’s notes on the convention) to better understand the Preamble to the Constitution. This provides a great opportunity to teach an important element of historical thinking—the use of multiple sources to better understand the significance and meaning of one source. This is also an important part of contextualizing documents, or understanding how they relate to events and conditions at the time they were written.

The lesson guides students through the process of closely reading an important historical text. The steps in the lesson are clear and easy to follow, and breaking the Preamble down one clause at a time gives students a great opportunity to understand the purpose of one of the most important documents in the history of the United States, in addition to helping them learn how to read a text closely and carefully. Additionally, the "check for understanding" questions after each clause give teachers multiple opportunities for evaluating students' comprehension and modifying instruction. Depending on students' levels of understanding, teachers may want to supplement the provided questions with more probing questions of their own.

Topic
U.S. Constitution, Preamble, primary sources
Time Estimate
One classroom session
flexibility_scale
5
digital image, We the People, 2010, NARA, The Charter of Freedom online exhibit
Rubric_Content_Accurate_Scholarship

Yes

Rubric_Content_Historical_Background

Yes
The lesson contains a link to one source that provides context, but elsewhere on the site there exists a wealth of documents providing context for the Preamble to the Constitution.

Rubric_Content_Read_Write

Yes
The lesson is centered on a close reading of the Preamble to the Constitution. In addition, teachers may use the "check for understanding" questions provided throughout the lesson as writing prompts.

Rubric_Analytical_Construct_Interpretations

Yes

Rubric_Analytical_Close_Reading_Sourcing

Yes

Rubric_Scaffolding_Appropriate

Yes

Rubric_Scaffolding_Supports_Historical_Thinking

Yes
While the explanations of each clause will facilitate understanding of the Preamble, teachers will want to develop ways to scaffold the other documents to make them more accessible to students.

Rubric_Structure_Assessment

Yes
While no assessment is included in the lesson, teachers could easily develop an assessment using the "check for understanding" questions.

Rubric_Structure_Realistic

Yes

Rubric_Structure_Learning_Goals

Yes

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TAH Projects and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum

Video Overview

Christina Chavarria of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum describes the many resources the museum can offer TAH Grant projects and her own perceptions on the value of the TAH Grant program.

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LL_Christina1.mov
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2:56
3:56
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During the course of the time that I've been at the Holocaust Memorial Museum, we've had quite a few calls from TAH grant directors who are bringing teachers to Washington who would like a tour of the museum, and sometimes they might ask for a short professional development session.

So this really piqued our curiosity and we began to think of how we could work more intentionally with the TAH program, and it led us to really look at our resources and how our resources support American history, because even though the Holocaust took place in Europe, it is also very much a story about the United States and American responses and how those responses inform a lot of what we're teaching in schools today and issues that we're dealing with here in the United States.

We ask what the theme of the grant is and if there's any particular focus that they are looking at within the grant. For example, we had one TAH project director telling us about the focus on President Roosevelt. So we worked with our historians, our Senior Historians Office; we also work with collections, to see what collections we have that support American history, and we also look at using our permanent exhibition because our permanent exhibition does have a focus on the United States and the role of the United States.

So we try to put in time, of course, for the teachers to see the exhibit, that's very important. and a session on how to teach about the Holocaust and if there is a direct focus within the grant, we can look at our senior historians office to support a lecture about some historical topic that's related to the grant.

We also encourage teachers to hear Holocaust survivors, their testimonies. We do have Holocaust survivors who are at the museum every day. And if we have a phone call and if the project directors make contact with us early on, we can arrange to have Holocaust survivors speak, and that's very important, because we are losing that generation. So while we still have our survivors with us we do encourage teachers and the project directors to incorporate Holocaust testimony in the visit.

The standards in the United States for teaching U.S. history are either very explicit on teaching the Holocaust, where they state responses to what was happening in Nazi Germany and what was happening in occupied Europe during that time—those are very explicitly stated in many states. But when you look at other themes, American response, foreign policy respond, the rise of fascism, American responses to fascism—if you look at American responses to dictatorships, all of these strands within the elements and standards are very much a part of what we focus on at the museum. It's a very natural fit.

Pretty much everything you will see at the United States Holocaust Museum fits in perfectly to support U.S. history teachers when you're looking at 20th-century history. And even the precedents that were set before. You can look at the 19th century, you can look at the role of antisemitism. There are so many elements. And then of course, today, focusing on our responses to genocides since the Holocaust—that is an incredibly important topic to our museum. And, so, we would encourage U.S. history teachers to look at American foreign policy in trouble spots in places like Darfur, in the former Yugoslavia, like Rwanda, and how we've responded to those situations, and how the Holocaust gave us this, I don't want to say opportunity, but it gave us this light on the subject that is still very much with us today.

Because our primary focus is on the victims and our survivors and their testimonies, but, for example, in working with a Teaching American History group a few weeks ago, I focused on some interviews with an African American athlete, John Will—John Woodruff, excuse me, who was a participant in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, and he speaks very eloquently about his experiences in Berlin in 1936, representing the United States and being proud to represent his country and his race and what he saw there and the euphoria of the crowds in reaction to his gold medal victory—also Jesse Owens, which is a story that many people know very well. And then when he returns home, he speaks about being excluded from the hall of fame, from the university where he, that he attended.

In looking at that, to show again what we do in a professional development is to show how expansive this history really is. And we use survivor testimony, we use witness testimony, we use liberator testimony. we also focus very much on photos and other primary source documents. And what we really want to do is to complicate the thinking of the teachers that come to us for professional development, to show that this history is so complex and so vast in its context from the years that it took place, but what happened in the years before, the decades and centuries before, and what's happening after.

June and July are very, very busy months for us and usually we're booked about a year before in our schedules, so I recommend to project directors that they contact us, perhaps in the fall, but as soon as they know that they want to come, they need to be in touch with us, and we will do our absolute best to get them in the museum—because that's very important and if there's time and if there's space and we're available to do so we would be very happy to provide professional development to them, as well.

And for groups that they cannot come to Washington, DC, we offer many resources offsite. First of all, our website is filled with archival material—our photo archives, for example. We also have exemplary lessons that have been tested by teachers and education experts, and they have been vetted for historical accuracy. We also have online exhibitions that contain collections that we encourage teachers to use for a more hands-on approach. More importantly, we have traveling exhibitions, and on our website, you can see a schedule of what exhibitions will be in certain venues around the country and when.

And from our standpoint, from the educational standpoint, we have a network of museum regional educators, our Regional Education Corps, and these are 30 educators who are deeply involved with our museum who are spread out around the country, and if you contact us in the Education Division, in the National Outreach for Teacher Initiatives branch, we can be in touch with our museum regional educators and they can work with a TAH project anywhere in the country to provide professional development even before a group comes to the museum, or after, or if they never come at all—we still have that on-ground support. We also have 246 museum Teacher Fellows around the country, one in each of the 50 states, and they are also resources whom we turn to to provide professional development in places where we're not able to go.

The value of Teaching American History is that it works so closely with a group of teachers and it provides sustainability, and sustainability in the career of a teacher is incredibly important. Sometimes you feel like you're alone as a teacher in your classroom, and when you have that network of support and it's ongoing and it's centered on a theme and a particular rational, that makes a teacher feel incredibly rewarded for having that experience, but more importantly that translates into student success.

And students will only benefit from a teacher having that kind of quality interaction with professionals around a sustained program that will keep them going. The network and the broad availability of resources in the form of other teachers and other grants and what is available online is astounding, and I hope that it continues, and I encourage teachers and educators throughout the country to look at this program, because it does sustain teachers, and if you sustain the teacher, the teacher can better sustain the student, so that that translates into success in the classroom for the student.

World War and Literature

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Poster, Books wanted for our men in camp..., c.1918-1923, C.B. Falls, LoC
Question

Can you suggest any literature covering World War I to World War II that my 10th-grade world history class can read? I am looking for short stories or novels from that period that would interest my students. I would like stories that include what life was like during these years for young people.

Answer

Historical literature can really grab your students' interest. Consider the following excerpt:

They had come for him just after midnight. Three men in suits and ties and black fedoras with FBI badges under their coats. 'Grab your toothbrush,' they’d said. This was back in December, right after Pearl Harbor, when they were still living in the white house on the wide street in Berkeley not far from the sea. The Christmas tree was up and the whole house smelled of pine, and from his window the boy had watched as they led his father out across the lawn in his bathrobe and slippers to the black car that was parked at the curb.

He had never seen his father leave the house without his hat on before. That was what had troubled him most. No hat. And those slippers: battered and faded, with the rubber soles curling up at the edges. If only they had let him put on his shoes then it all might have turned out differently. But there had been no time for shoes.

Grab your toothbrush.
Come on. Come on. You’re coming with us.
We just need to ask your husband a few questions.
Into the car, Papa-san

Later, the boy remembered seeing lights on in the house next door, and faces pressed to the window. One of them was Elizabeth's, he was sure of it. Elizabeth Morgana Roosevelt had seen his father taken away in his slippers.

The next morning his sister had wandered around the house looking for the last place their father had sat. Was it the red chair? Or the sofa? The edge of his bed? She had pressed her face to the bedspread and sniffed.

"The edge of my bed," their mother had said.

That evening she had lit a bonfire in the yard and burned all of the letters from Kagoshima. She burned the family photographs and the three silk kimonos she had brought over with her nineteen years ago from Japan. She burned the records of Japanese opera. She ripped up the flag of the red rising sun. She smashed the tea set and the Imari dishes and the framed portrait of the boy's uncle, who had once been a general in the Emperor's army. She smashed the abacus and tossed it into the flames. "From now on," she said, "we are counting on our fingers."

The next day, for the first time ever, she sent the boy and his sister to school with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in their lunch pails. "No more rice balls," she said. "And if anyone asks, you're Chinese."

The boy had nodded. "Chinese," he whispered. "I'm Chinese."

"And I," said the girl, "am the Queen of Spain."

"In your dreams," said the boy.

"In my dreams," said the girl, "I'm the King."

—When the Emperor Was Divine, a novel by Julie Otsuka, p. 73–75

Recommendations

This list includes books considered to be for adult readers as well as books considered to be for young adult readers. These labels are only somewhat useful. Occasionally the young adult books are less challenging, though perhaps equally rewarding, for the reader.

A Very Long Engagement by Sebastien Japrisot won the Prix Interallie in 1991. This nonlinear mystery is a moving and incisive portrait of life in France during and after the First World War.

An ambitious, meticulously researched, novel, The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages is set in New Mexico in 1943 and told from the viewpoint of two disenfranchised children at Los Alamos where scientists and mathematicians converge (along with their families) to construct and test the first nuclear bomb. Grades 5–up.

No Pretty Pictures, Caldecott illustrator Anita Lobel's haunting memoir of her traumatic years in Nazi-occupied Poland, is told from the perspective of a child—she is just five when the war begins—who does not fully comprehend what she is witnessing. Grade 6–up.

Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo is a slim, stunning, and easily accessible novel written by the author of War Horse. "Exquisitely written vignettes explore bonds of brotherhood that cannot be broken by the physical and psychological wars of the First World War," said Horn Book Magazine. Grade 7–up. Match with the superb photo-essay The War to End All Wars: World War I by Russell Freedman.

Bird in a Box by Andrea Davis Pinkney is a graceful, restrained, and detailed portrait of America's Great Depression, a time when the radio delivered the sound of Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington into living rooms across the country and boxing champion, Joe Lewis, the "Brown Bomber," came to represent so much more than the zenith of a sport. Grade 4–up.

Set on the Laguna Pueblo Reservation in the years immediately following World War II, Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko, focuses on Tayo, a young vet of mixed Indian ancestry. The book is Tayo's story of return and redemption. "The novel is very deliberately a ceremony in itself—demanding but confident and beautifully written," said the Boston Globe.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is an unsettling, unsentimental, poetic novel, set in World War II and narrated by Death. This is not an easy read, but it is a book that can change a life. Grade 9–up.

We Are the Ship by Kadir Nelson is a sumptuous history of Negro League Baseball from its beginning in the 1920s to 1947 when Jackie Robinson broke the major leagues’ color barrier. Dazzling, almost iconic paintings illustrate the easygoing, conversational, historically detailed text, and all in all the book illuminates more than baseball in the '20s and '30s—it is a history of all of us. Grade 4–up.

The narrator of Ruta Sepetys's Between Shades of Gray, 15-year-old Lina, begins "They took me in my nightgown." In 1941, Stalin is deporting families from Lithuania and imprisoning them in Siberia where daily life is brutal. It is the slim possibility of survival that provides hope. This book is similar to Esther Hautzig's earlier autobiographical novel, Endless Steppe in that it is similarly themed and equally searing. In Endless Steppe, 10-year-old Esther Rudmin is arrested with her family in Poland as "enemies of the people" and exiled to Siberia. Grade 6–up.

Homestead, by Rosina Lippi, is a series of interconnected vignettes beginning in 1909, about life in Rosenau, a small isolated village in the Austrian Alps. The villagers harvest, tend animals, and make cheese. Against this pastoral backdrop are all of life's vicissitudes. The prose is clean and clear, each chapter is seemingly autonomous but as we see an event (over generations) from different characters' points of view, the life of Rosenau becomes increasingly rich and complex. This novel won the 1998 Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award for best first fiction and was short-listed for the 2001 Orange Prize.

Complete List of Titles
  • When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka
  • A Very Long Engagement by Sebastien Japrisot
  • The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages
  • No Pretty Pictures: A Child of War by Anita Lobel
  • Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo
  • The War to End All Wars: World War I by Russell Freedman
  • Bird in a Box by Andrea Davis Pinkney
  • Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko
  • The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
  • We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball by Kadir Nelson
  • Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
  • The Endless Steppe: Growing Up in Siberia by Esther Hautzig
  • Homestead by Rosina Lippi
For more information

See here to search the California literature recommendations. Choose “historical fiction” as one of your search parameters.

This Ask a Master Teacher entry has some other helpful resources for finding historical literature.

Minnesota: 4th-Grade Standards

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Grade four departs from the approach in the primary years (an approach that placed equal emphasis on each the social studies disciplines) to a more discipline-centered approach. A “lead discipline” is featured in each of grades four through eight. In grade four, the lead discipline is geography, focusing on political geography and the cultural landscape of North America. Students master the understandings that lay the geographical foundation for the interdisciplinary Minnesota, United States, and Global Studies courses to follow in the middle grades. They create and use various kinds of maps to identify the physical and human characteristics of places, examine regions in different locations and time periods, and analyze patterns and trends in the United States, Mexico and Canada. They learn about tribal government and develop a better understanding of the multiple players involved in the United States government (political leaders and the public) and the economy (buyers and sellers in a market). Students practice a reasoned decision-making process to make choices—an important building block for their understanding of personal finance that will be developed in later grades.

Social Studies Strand 1: Citizenship & Government

Substrand 1: Civic Skills

  • 1. Democratic government depends on informed and engaged citizens who exhibit civic skills and values, practice civic discourse, vote and participate in elections, apply inquiry and analysis skills, and take action to solve problems and shape public policy.
    • 4.1.1.1.1 Describe how people take action to influence a decision on a specific issue; explain how local, state, national or tribal governments have addressed that issue.

      • For Example:
      Ways people take action—write a letter, make phone calls, create an advertisement or web page, attend a meeting.

Substrand 4: Governmental Institutions and Political Processes

  • 7. The United States government has specific functions that are determined by the way that power is delegated and controlled among various bodies: the three levels (federal, state, local) and the three branches (legislative, executive, judicial) of government.
    • 4.1.4.7.1 Describe tribal government and some of the services it provides; distinguish between United States and tribal forms of government.

      • For Example:
      Services provided by tribal governments—schools, hunting and fishing regulations

    • 4.1.4.7.2 Identify the major roles and responsibilities of elected and appointed leaders in the community, state and nation; name some current leaders who function in these roles and how they are selected.

      • For Example:
      Mayor, city council member, state senator, governor.

Social Studies Strand 2: Economics

Substrand 1: Economic Reasoning Skills

  • 1. People make informed economic choices by identifying their goals, interpreting and applying data, considering the short- and long-run costs and benefits of alternative choices and revising their goals based on their analysis.
    • 4.2.1.1.1 Apply a reasoned decision-making process to make a choice.

      • For Example:
      Processes—a decision tree or PACED decision-making process (Problem, Alternative, Criteria, Evaluation, Decision).
      A choice—evaluating the benefits and costs of buying a new game.

Substrand 3: Fundamental Concepts

  • 3. Because of scarcity individuals, organizations, and governments must evaluate trade-offs, make choices, and incur opportunity costs.
    • 4.2.3.3.1 Define the productivity of a resource and describe ways to increase it.

      • For example:
      Productivity equals the amount of output divided by the amount of input (resource).
      Things that can increase productivity—division of labor, specialization, improvements in technology (the way things are made). The productivity of a corn farmer (resource) has been improved by the use of specialized equipment, development of new varieties of seeds and fertilizers and improved farming techniques.

  • 5. Individuals, businesses and governments interact and exchange goods, services, and resources in different ways and for different reasons; interactions between buyers and sellers in a market determines the price and quantity exchange of a good, service, or resource.
    • 4.2.3.5.1 Describe a market as any place or manner in which buyers and sellers interact to make exchanges; describe prices as payments of money for items exchanged in markets.

      • For Example:
      Markets—mall stores, online shopping, mail orders, garage sales, employment center.
      Prices—$40 for a video game, $15 for one hour of a worker’s labor.

Social Studies Strand 3: Geography

Substrand 1: Geospatial Skills

  • 1. People use geographic representations and geospatial technologies to acquire, process, and report information within a spatial context.
    • 4.3.1.1.1 Create and use various kinds of maps, including overlaying thematic maps, of places in the United States, and also Canada or Mexico; incorporate the “TODALS” map basics, as well as points, lines and colored areas to display spatial information.

      • For example:
      “TODALS” map basics—title, orientation, date, author, legend/key, and scale.
      Spatial information—cities, roads, boundaries, bodies of water, regions.

    • 4.3.1.1.2 Use latitude and longitude on maps and globes to locate places in the United States, and also Canada or Mexico.
  • 2. Geographic inquiry is a process in which people ask geographic questions and gather, organize and analyze information to solve problems and plan for the future.
    • 4.3.1.2.1 Choose the most appropriate data from maps, charts, and graphs in an atlas to answer specific questions about geographic issues in the United States, and also Canada or Mexico.

      • For Example:
      How has human activity had an impact on the environment? Which region has the largest population? Where are the manufacturing centers of a country? Which languages are spoken in different places? Other questions might relate to environmental concerns, transportation issues, flood control.

    • 4.3.1.2.2 Use photographs or satellite-produced images to interpret spatial information about the United States, and also Canada or Mexico.

Substrand 2: Places and Regions

  • 3. Places have physical characteristics (such as climate, topography vegetation) and human characteristics (such as culture, population, political and economic systems).
    • 4.3.2.3.1 Locate and identify the physical and human characteristics of places in the United States, and also Canada or Mexico.

      • For Example:
      Physical characteristics—landforms (Rocky Mountains), ecosystems (forest), bodies of water (Mississippi River, Hudson Bay), soil, vegetation, weather and climate.
      Human characteristics—structures (Statue of Liberty), bridges (Golden Gate Bridge), canals (Erie Canal), cities, political boundaries, population distribution, settlement patterns, language, ethnicity, nationality, religious beliefs.

  • 4. People construct regions to identify, organize and interpret areas of the Earth’s surface, which simplifies the earth’s complexity.
    • 4.3.2.4.1 Name and locate states and territories, major cities and state capitals in the United States.
    • 4.3.2.4.2 Name and locate countries neighboring the United States and their major cities.

      • For Example:
      Countries neighboring the United States—Canada, Mexico, Cuba.
      Major cities—Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg, Vancouver, Mexico City, Havana.

Substrand 3: Human Systems

  • 5. The characteristics, distribution and migration of human populations on the earth’s surface influence human systems (cultural, economic and political systems).
    • 4.3.3.5.1 Use data to analyze and explain the changing distribution of population in the United States and Canada over the last century.
  • 6. Geographic factors influence the distribution, functions, growth and patterns of cities and human settlements.
    • 4.3.3.6.1 Explain how geographic factors affect population distribution and the growth of cities in the United States and Canada.

      • For Example:
      Geographic factors—climate, landforms, availability of natural resources.

Substrand 4: Human Environment Interaction

  • 9. The environment influences human actions; and humans both adapt to and change, the environment.
    • 4.3.4.9.1 Explain how humans adapt to and/or modify the physical environment and how they are in turn affected by these adaptations and modifications.

      • For Example:
      Humans cut down a forest to clear land for farming, which leads to soil erosion. Consequently, humans have to use more fertilizer to supplement the nutrients in the soil.

  • 10. The meaning, use, distribution and importance of resources changes over time.
    • 4.3.4.10.1 Describe how the location of resources and the distribution of people and their various economic activities has created different regions in the United States and Canada.
    • 4.3.4.10.2 Analyze the impact of geographic factors on the development of modern agricultural regions in Minnesota and the United States.

      • For Example:
      Agricultural regions—"Corn Belt," "Dairy Belt," crop regions.

Social Studies Strand 4: History

Substrand 1: Historical Thinking Skills

  • 2. Historical inquiry is a process in which multiple sources and different kinds of historical evidence are analyzed to draw conclusions about how and why things happened in the past.
    • 4.4.1.2.1 Use maps to compare and contrast a particular region in the United States, and also Canada or Mexico, at different points in time.

      • For example:
      The United States, Canada, or Mexico in 1800 versus 1900; population centers over time; natural resources use over time.

Substrand 2: Peoples, Cultures and Change Over Time

  • 4. The differences and similarities of cultures around the world are attributable to their diverse origins and histories, and interactions with other cultures throughout time.
    • 4.4.2.4.1 Identify and locate on a map or globe the origins of peoples in the local community and state; create a timeline of when different groups arrived; describe why and how they came.

West Virginia: 4th-Grade Standards

Article Body

Fourth grade Social Studies is an introduction to the growth of the United States from exploration and colonization (When The Three Worlds Meet) to the conclusion of the American Revolution. Students will analyze the assimilation of various colonial groups, development of improved technology, major historical figures and events. Students will also learn about the physical geography of North America and its influence upon diverse cultures. Data collection and the essential roles of citizens in the democratic process will be emphasized. Roles of elected officials, economic trade-offs and the need for taxation will be introduced. Students will learn how the economic concepts of competition, advertising, budgeting and taxation impact production and consumption. The West Virginia Standards for 21st Century Learning include the following components: 21st Century Content Standards and Objectives and 21st Century Learning Skills and Technology Tools. All West Virginia teachers are responsible for classroom instruction that integrates learning skills, technology tools and content standards and objectives.

Social Studies Standard 1: Citizenship

SS.S.04.01/Students will:

  • characterize and model good citizenship by building social networks of reciprocity and trustworthiness (Civic Dispositions).
  • model a respect of symbols, ideas and concepts of the United States and analyze the roles of significant individuals (Respect for People, Events, and Symbols).
  • develop and employ the civic skills necessary for effective citizenship by using criteria to make judgments, arrive at and defend positions and evaluate the validity of the positions or data (Evaluation Skills).
  • develop the participatory skills of interacting, monitoring and influencing that are essential for informed, effective and responsible citizenship, including participation in civic life to shape public policy (Participatory Skills).
  • recognize and communicate the responsibilities, privileges and rights of United States citizens (Civic Life).
  • SS.PD.4.1/Performance Descriptors
    • Novice—Students are able to:
      • identify democratic beliefs as expressed in the Declaration of Independence, and recognize examples of good citizenship
      • identify patriotic representations
      • identify community agencies that provide services and recognize examples of volunteerism and responsible leadership
      • recognize examples of diversity in Early American society
      • be exposed to individual rights in conflicts, and examples of peaceful resolutions

    • Partial Mastery—Students are able to:
      • list examples of individual rights in conflicts, and explain peaceful resolutions
      • give examples of diversity in Early American society
      • list community agencies that provide services and give examples of volunteerism and responsible leadership
      • give examples of patriotic representations
      • give examples of democratic beliefs as expressed in the Declaration of Independence, and identify examples of good citizenship

    • Mastery—Students are able to:
      • explain democratic beliefs as expressed in the Declaration of Independence, and give examples of good citizenship
      • explain the significance of patriotic representations
      • outline community agencies that provide services and give examples of volunteerism and responsible leadership
      • research and give examples of diversity in early American society
      • research individual rights in conflicts, and explain peaceful resolutions

    • Above Mastery—Students are able to:
      • research and evaluate the role of individual rights in conflicts, and suggest peaceful resolutions
      • research and analyze the role of diversity in Early American society
      • evaluate community agencies that provide services and give examples of volunteerism and responsible leadership
      • evaluate the significance of patriotic representations
      • analyze democratic beliefs as expressed in the Declaration of Independence, and discuss examples of good citizenship

    • Distinguished—Students are able to:
      • debate democratic beliefs as expressed in the Declaration of Independence, and evaluate examples of good citizenship
      • justify the use and significance of patriotic representations
      • research community agencies, and choose and participate in a volunteer program to demonstrate responsible leadership
      • research, analyze, and debate the role of diversity in Early American society
      • summarize conflicts and analyze the importance of the role of individual rights in the conflicts, and suggest peaceful resolutions for them

  • Objectives / Students will:
    • SS.O.04.01.01: outline various public and private agencies in the community that provide services, explain why you would volunteer to help them, and then give examples of responsible leadership by individuals and groups in your community.
    • SS.O.04.01.02: identify and explain the commonly held democratic values, principles, and beliefs expressed in the Declaration of Independence and the significance of patriotic symbols, holidays, celebrations, and famous people.
    • SS.O.04.01.03: research forms of diversity in early American society, and give examples of the strengths/contributions of each (e.g., indentured servants, slaves, colonists, plantation owners, Native Americans, merchants).
    • SS.O.04.01.04: evaluate the responsibilities, privileges and rights of United States citizenship and the importance of civic life (e.g., voting, jury duty, obeying laws, freedom of speech, worship, paying taxes).
    • SS.O.04.01.05: research recent and historical conflicts concerning individual rights at the international, national, and local levels; then explain how those conflicts were resolved and suggest ways for peaceful conflict resolution.

Social Studies Standard 2: Civics/Government

SS.S.04.02 / Students will:

  • examine and analyze the purposes and basic principles of the United States government (Purposes of Government).
  • outline and evaluate and analyze the origins and meaning of the principles, ideals and core democratic values expressed in the foundational documents of the United States (Ideals of United States Democracy).
  • examine and distinguish the structure, function and responsibilities of governments and the allocation of power at the local, state and national levels (United States Government and Politics).
  • analyze how the world is organized politically and compare the role and relationship of the United States to other nations and to world affairs (United States Government and World Affairs).
  • SS.PD.4.2 / Performance Descriptors
    • Novice—Students are able to:
      • identify the rule of law and limited government in a democracy and identify examples that prove how they protect individual rights and the common good
      • recognize individual and group rights to dissent responsibly
      • read George Washington’s farewell address

    • Partial Mastery—Students are able to:
      • explain the rule of law and limited government in a democracy and prove how they protect individual rights and the common good
      • explain individual and group rights to dissent responsibly
      • identify the most significant points in George Washington’s farewell address

    • Mastery—Students are able to:
      • justify the rule of law and limited government in a democracy and prove how they protect individual rights and the common good
      • defend individual and group rights to dissent responsibly
      • identify and discuss the most significant points in George Washington’s farewell address

    • Above Mastery—Students are able to:
      • evaluate the rule of law and limited government in a democracy and prove how they protect individual rights and the common good
      • justify the reasons for individual and group dissension and how they can do so responsibly
      • summarize the most significant points in George Washington’s farewell address

    • Distinguished—Students are able to:
      • summarize the rule of law in a limited government in a democracy and debate individual and group rights to dissent responsibly using a current or historical conflict
      • debate individual and group rights to dissent responsibly and summarize your conclusions
      • interpret George Washington’s farewell address and apply it to current events

  • Objectives / Students will:
    • SS.O.04.02.01: justify the rule of law and limited government and prove how they protect individual rights and the common good.
    • SS.O.04.02.02: defend the rights of individuals in the democratic process and the right of an individual or group (e.g., minorities, religious groups, women, children, elderly) to dissent responsibly.
    • SS.O.04.02.03: identify and discuss the most significant points in George Washington’s farewell address.

Social Studies Standard 3: Economics

SS.S.04.03 / Students will:

  • analyze the role of economic choices in scarcity, supply and demand, resource allocation, decision-making, voluntary exchange and trade-offs (Choices).
  • research, critique and evaluate the roles of private and public institutions in the economy (Institutions).
  • compare and contrast various economic systems and analyze their impact on individual citizens (Economic Systems).
  • illustrate how the factors of production impact the United States economic systems (Factors of Production).
  • analyze the elements of competition and how they impact the economy (Competition).
  • examine and evaluate the interdependence of global economies (Global Economics).
  • SS.PD.4.3 / Performance Descriptors
    • Novice—Students are able to:
      • recognize that economic factors helped shape the early American colonies before and after the Revolutionary War including slavery and indentured servitude
      • recognize examples of key economic concepts and state that consumers make choices
      • define taxes and public services
      • identify information in simple graphics

    • Partial Mastery—Students are able to:
      • summarize the economic factors that shaped the early American colonies before and after the Revolutionary War including slavery and indentured servitude
      • give examples of key economic concepts and understand that multiple factors impact consumer choices
      • state that taxes pay for public services
      • read graphics and interpret simple data

    • Mastery—Students are able to:
      • prioritize and summarize the economic factors that shaped the early American colonies before and after the Revolutionary War including slavery and indentured servitude
      • explain and give examples of key economic concepts and analyze factors that impact consumer choices
      • relate the concept of taxation to public services
      • construct graphics to display data

    • Above Mastery—Students are able to:
      • analyze how economic factors shaped the early American colonies before and after the Revolutionary War including slavery and indentured servitude
      • analyze key economic concepts and factors that impact consumer choices, and develop a budget based on the analysis
      • analyze how taxes pay for public services
      • construct graphics to display data and use the information to draw conclusions

    • Distinguished—Students are able to:
      • debate and evaluate the economic factors that shaped the early American colonies before and after the Revolutionary War including slavery and indentured servitude
      • summarize key economic concepts and factors that impact consumer choices, and defend a budget based on the summary
      • prioritize the public services which taxes provide and predict future services that may be needed
      • select and use the correct graphics needed to interpret data and predict outcomes

  • Objectives / Students will:
    • SS.O.04.03.01:Explain and give examples of the following economic concepts: [1]trade-offs or choices/compromise—opportunity costs (e.g., developing hypothetical budgets in simulated situations) [2]people as consumers and as producers of goods [3]effects of competition and supply-demand on prices.
    • SS.O.04.03.02: analyze communications techniques that impact consumer choices (e.g., print/nonprint, advertisement, media)
    • SS.O.04.03.03: prioritize in order of importance the factors that shaped the economy of the early American colonies and identify the effects of the American Revolution on economic development and economic institutions.
    • SS.O.04.03.04: relate the concept of taxation to public services.
    • SS.O.04.03.05: summarize how slavery and indentured servitude influenced the early economy of the United States.
    • SS.O.04.03.06: construct and use charts, graphs, tables and grids to display data.

Social Studies Standard 4: Geography

SS.S.04.04 / Students will:

  • interpret and choose maps, globes and other geographic tools to categorize and organize information about personal directions, people, places, and environments (The World in Spatial Terms).
  • examine the physical and human characteristics of place and explain how the lives of people are rooted in places and regions (Places and Regions).
  • analyze the physical processes that shape the earth's surface and create, sustain and modify the cultural and natural environment (Physical Systems).
  • analyze and illustrate how the earth is shaped by the movement of people and their activities (Human Systems).
  • analyze the interaction of society with the environment (Environment and Society).
  • point out geographic perspective and tools and assess techniques available for geographic study (Uses of Geography).
  • SS.PD.4.4 / Performance Descriptors
    • Novice—Students are able to:
      • name North, South, and Central American countries and describe a physical feature of each
      • identify the different lifestyles of the people before and after the arrival of the Europeans
      • read maps and name an effect of geographic factors on physical, economic, political, and transportation changes

    • Partial Mastery—Students are able to:
      • identify North, South, and Central American countries on a map and describe their physical features
      • discuss the lifestyles of the people before and after the arrival of the Europeans
      • construct maps and recognize the effect of geographic factors on physical, economic, political, and transportation changes

    • Mastery—Students are able to:
      • use maps to locate the physical features of North, South, and Central American countries
      • compare the lifestyles of the inhabitants before and after the arrival of the Europeans
      • plan and construct maps to analyze the effect of geographic factors on physical, economic, political, and transportation changes

    • Above Mastery—Students are able to:
      • plan and create maps of North, South, and Central American countries, that show detailed physical features
      • analyze the differences in the lifestyles of the people before and after the arrival of the Europeans
      • use maps to make connections between the effect of geographic factors on physical, economic, political, and transportation changes

    • Distinguished—Students are able to:
      • use maps to analyze the data regarding differences in the physical features of North, South, and Central American countries
      • anticipate the lifestyle changes of people in North, South and Central American countries before and after the arrival of the Europeans
      • predict the effects of geographic factors on future physical, economic, political, and transportation changes

  • Objectives / Students will:
    • SS.O.04.04.01: locate North, South and Central American countries and describe their major physical features (e.g., bodies of water, mountains, rivers, grasslands, oases) using geographic terms.
    • SS.O.04.04.02: Analyze and assess the effects of and explain how people adapted to geographic factors (e.g., climate, mountains, bodies of water) on the following: [1]transportation routes [2]settlement patterns and population density [3]culture (e.g., jobs, food, clothing, shelter, religion, government) [4]interactions with others (local, national, global)
    • SS.O.04.04.03: compare and contrast the physical, economic and political changes of America caused by geographic conditions and human intervention (e.g., bridges, canals, state boundaries, transportation).
    • SS.O.04.04.04: locate the settlement areas of the Native American nations and explain their lifestyle before the arrival of the Europeans.
    • SS.O.04.04.05: plan and construct maps to demonstrate knowledge of map skills (e.g., symbols in a legend/key. lines of demarcation [Equator, Prime Meridian, latitude and longitude, time zones, borders, coast lines], scales, directions [cardinal and intermediate] and geographic barriers).

Social Studies Standard 5: History

SS.S.04.05 / Students will:

  • organize, analyze and compare historical events, distinguish cause-effect relationships, theorize alternative actions and outcomes, and anticipate future application (Chronology).
  • use the processes and resources of historical inquiry to develop appropriate questions, gather and examine evidence, compare, analyze and interpret historical data (Skills and Application).
  • examine, analyze and synthesize historical knowledge of major events, individuals, cultures and the humanities in West Virginia, the United States, and the world (Culture and Humanities).
  • use historical knowledge to analyze local, state, national and global interdependence (Interpretation and Evaluation).
  • examine political institutions and theories that have developed and changed over time; and research and cite reasons for development and change (Political Institutions).
  • SS.PD.4.5 / Performance Descriptors
    • Novice—Students are able to:
      • recognize that community life, family roles, and cultures differed in Colonial America
      • read about and discuss major historical periods and events in North America through the Revolutionary Period, including the stories of various groups and identify choices made by different groups
      • list factors that influenced the founding of the original colonies including the institution of slavery
      • read about the European explorers, and discuss their reasons for exploration, the result of their presence on peoples in English, French, Spanish, and Native American cultures, and the effect of their exploration on the rest of the world
      • read summaries of primary documents, recognize patterns of early American settlement and territorial expansion from maps, and charts

    • Partial Mastery—Students are able to:
      • describe how community life, family roles, and cultures influenced Colonial America
      • identify major historical periods and events in North America through the Revolutionary Period, including the stories of various groups and relate the events to the choices made by different groups
      • compare the influences of various factors on the founding of the original colonies including the institution of slavery
      • list the European explorers and their reasons for exploration, the result of their presence on peoples in English, French, Spanish, and Native American cultures, and some of the effects of their exploration on the rest of the world
      • use primary documents, maps, and charts to show patterns of early American settlement and territorial expansion

    • Mastery—Students are able to:
      • compare and contrast community life, family roles, and the cultures that influenced Colonial America
      • chronologically organize and explain major historical periods and events in North America through the Revolutionary Period, including the stories of various groups and explain how these events influenced choices made by different groups
      • research and compare the influences of various factors on the founding of the original colonies including the institution of slavery
      • list the European explorers and explain their reasons for exploration, the result of their presence on peoples in English, French, Spanish, and Native American cultures, and the effect of their exploration on the rest of the world
      • research primary documents, maps and charts and show patterns of early American settlement and territorial expansion

    • Above Mastery—Students are able to:
      • analyze the differences in community life, family roles, and the cultures that influenced Colonial America
      • analyze major historical periods and events in North America through the Revolutionary Period in sequence, including the stories of various groups and compare choices made by different groups during these events and periods
      • research the various influences on the founding of the original colonies including the institution of slavery and analyze the impact of each
      • compare and contrast the European explorers, their reasons for exploration, the result of their presence on peoples in English, French, Spanish, and Native American cultures, and the effect of their exploration on the rest of the world
      • research and explain patterns of early American settlement and territorial expansion using primary documents, maps, and charts

    • Distinguished—Students are able to:
      • evaluate each one then summarize how community life, family roles, and cultures influenced Colonial America
      • summarize major historical periods and events in sequence in North America through the Revolutionary Period, including the stories of various groups and research to prove how specific events influenced choices made by different groups
      • evaluate the relative importance of various influences on the founding of the original colonies including the institution of slavery and summarize their impact
      • analyze the relative importance of European explorers, evaluate their reasons for exploration, the result of their presence on peoples in English, French, Spanish, and Native American cultures, and the effect of their exploration on the rest of the world
      • analyze and anticipate patterns of early American settlement and territorial expansion using primary documents, maps, and charts

  • Objectives / Students will:
    • SS.O.04.05.01: create timelines to sequence and infer connections between events in major historical periods in U.S. history (e.g., discovery, colonization, revolution)
    • SS.O.04.05.02: chronologically organize and explain the influences of individuals and events discussed in the stories of Native Americans, explorers, settlers and colonists in North America through the Revolutionary Period.
    • SS.O.04.05.03: research and compare the influence of various factors of the founding of the original colonies (e.g., economic, geographic, political, religious).
    • SS.O.04.05.04: identify areas and patterns of early American settlement and depict territorial expansion and population distribution in the United States through maps, charts, pictures and research projects.
    • SS.O.04.05.05: list the European explorers of the 15th and 16th centuries, explain their reasons for exploration and the information gained from their journeys and then show how their travels in North America affected both North America and the rest of the world.
    • SS.O.04.05.06: Compare and contrast community life and family roles in various regions and social classes of colonial America.
    • SS.O.04.05.07: research how and why African Americans came to America and explain the motivation behind the development of slavery.
    • SS.O.04.05.08: chronologically organize and categorize the major events leading to and during the Revolutionary War; examine and explain why and how these events influenced choice made by different groups (e.g., Patriots, Loyalists, Native Americans) during this period.
    • SS.O.04.05.09: describe language, stories, music, folk tales, and artistic creations as expressions of culture that influenced the behaviors of people in colonial America.
    • SS.O.04.05.10: compare and contrast the cultures of the colonists and Native Americans and describe the changes that occurred when they came into contact with one another.
    • SS.O.04.05.11: explain the similarities and differences in backgrounds, motivations and occupational skills between people in the English settlements and those in the French and Spanish settlements.
    • SS.O.04.05.12: select, analyze, interpret and use information from various sources for reconstructing the past (e.g., documents, letters, maps, photos, newspaper articles) and prepare short reports that explain who, what, when, where, how and why events occurred as they did.

Social Studies Standard 6: Reading

SS.S.04.06 / Students will:

  • use the five reading components (phonemic awareness, phonics, background knowledge/vocabulary, high frequency word/fluency, comprehension and writing) in their acquisition of social studies knowledge, insuring a foundation of college readiness in this genre.
  • recognize main ideas and supporting details to locate basic facts (e.g., names, dates, events).
  • distinguish relationships among people, ideas, and events.
  • recognize cause-effect relationships in content passages.
  • outline sequences of events.
  • summarize events and ideas. Infer main idea or purpose of content.
  • draw generalizations and conclusions about people, ideas, and events.
  • write and edit organized texts of various genres to insure that information is clearly understood.

Note: By the completion of fourth grade, West Virginia students are also expected to master the following standards.

Elementary West Virginia Studies explore historic, geographic, economic and civic concepts. These objectives shall be appropriately integrated into the kindergarten—fourth grade curriculum. Teachers introduce students to geographic places and regions. The relationship among geographic settlement patterns and economic development of West Virginia will be examined in this course. Students participate in a variety of activities enabling them to identify research and discuss the cultural heritage of the various groups who settled West Virginia. The course content reflects West Virginia’s unique characteristics as well as its national and global relationships. The West Virginia Standards for 21st Century Learning include the following components: 21st Century Content Standards and Objectives and 21st Century Learning Skills and Technology Tools. All West Virginia teachers are responsible for classroom instruction that integrates learning skills, technology tools and content standards and objectives.

Social Studies Standard 1: Citizenship

SS.S.WV.1 / Students will:

  • characterize and model good citizenship by building social networks of reciprocity and trustworthiness (Civic Dispositions).
  • model a respect of symbols, ideas and concepts of the United States and analyze the roles of significant individuals (Respect for People, Events, and Symbols).
  • develop and employ the civic skills necessary for effective citizenship by using criteria to make judgments, arrive at and defend positions and evaluate the validity of the positions of data (Evaluation Skills).
  • develop the participatory skills of interacting, monitoring and influencing that are essential for informed, effective and responsible citizenship, including participation in civic life to shape public policy (Participatory Skills).
  • recognize and communicate the responsibilities, privileges and rights of United States citizens (Civic Life).
  • SS.PD.WV.1 / Performance Descriptors
    • Novice—Students are able to:
      • list examples of civic responsibility;
      • give an example of volunteering locally; and
      • define good citizenship.

    • Partial Mastery—Students are able to:
      • give examples for civic responsibilities, privileges, and rights;
      • identify a local problem define volunteerism;
      • discuss behavior that demonstrates good citizenship.

    • Mastery—Students are able to:
      • categorize and give examples of civic responsibilities, privileges, and rights;
      • propose solutions to a local problem volunteer to help;
      • model behavior that demonstrates good citizenship.

    • Above Mastery—Students are able to:
      • explain the importance of civic responsibilities, privileges and rights;
      • research local problems, choose one, and propose a solution;
      • defend reasons for being a good citizen.

    • Distinguished—Students are able to:
      • summarize the differences between civic responsibilities, privileges, and rights;
      • choose a local problem and develop a plan to implement a solution;
      • assess characteristics of good citizenship.

  • Objectives / Students will:
    • SS.O.WV.1.1: explain various civic responsibilities, privileges and rights (e.g., the act of voting as a West Virginia citizen).
    • SS.O.WV.1.2: propose solutions and investigate opportunities for public volunteerism concerning a local problem.
    • SS.O.K.1.3: model the behavior that shows how students are citizens of their classroom, community, state, and nation.
    • SS.O.K.1.4: take and defend a position as to why fulfilling one’s civic responsibility is important.

Social Studies Standard 2: Civics/Government

SS.S.WV.2 / Students will:

  • examine and analyze the purposes and basic principles of the United States government (Purposes of Government).
  • outline and evaluate and analyze the origins and meanings of the principles, ideals, and core democratic values expressed in the foundational documents of the United States (Ideals of United States Democracy).
  • examine and distinguish the structure, function, and responsibilities of governments and the allocation of power at the local, state and national levels (United States Government and Politics).
  • analyze how the world is organized politically and compare the role and relationship of the United States to other nations and to world affairs (United States Government and World Affairs).

  • SS.PD.WV.2 / Performance Descriptors

    • Novice—Students are able to:
      • define local, county, and state government;
      • name important holidays and local celebrations of West Virginia; and
      • identify and are given opportunity to recite the State Song or State Motto.

    • Partial Mastery—Students are able to:
      • state a role or function of government at the local, county, and state level;
      • discuss important holidays, local celebrations and people of West Virginia; and
      • define and are given the opportunity to recite the State Motto and State Song.

    • Mastery—Students are able to:
      • compare and contrast roles and functions of the government at the local, county and state levels;
      • identify and describe important state symbols, holidays, celebrations and people; and
      • explain and are given the opportunity to recite the State Motto and State Song.

    • Above Mastery—Students are able to:
      • evaluate the importance of roles or functions of local and county levels compared to those of the state level of government;
      • analyze the importance of state symbols, holidays, celebrations, and people; and
      • discuss the purpose of the State Motto and State Song and are given the opportunity to recite each.

    • Distinguished—Students are able to:
      • compare roles and functions of the state government to the roles and function of the national and discuss how they relate to each other;
      • choose important state symbols, holidays, celebrations, or people and summarize their roles; and
      • explain event(s) leading to the development of the State Motto and State Song and are given the opportunity to recite each.

  • Objectives / Students will:
    • SS.O.WV.2.1: identify state symbols, the state capital, celebrations, holidays, famous West Virginians, and the title of the elected leader (the Governor) of the state government.
    • SS.O.WV.2.2: recognize and be given the opportunity to recite the State Motto and sing the State Song.
    • SS.O.WV.2.3: compare and contrast the roles and functions of the government (e.g., legislative, executive, judicial branches) at the local, county and state levels.

Social Studies Standard 3: Economics

SS.S.K.03 / Students will:

  • analyze the role of economic choices in scarcity, supply and demand, resource allocation, decision-making, voluntary exchange and trade-offs (Choices).
  • research, critique and evaluate the roles of private and public institutions in the economy (Institutions).
  • compare and contrast various economic systems and analyze their impact on individual citizens (Economic Systems).
  • illustrate how the factors of production impact the United States economic systems (Factors of Production).
  • analyze the elements of competition and how they impact the economy (Competition).
  • examine and evaluate the interdependence of global economies (Global Economics).
  • SS.PD.WV.3 / Performance Descriptors
    • Novice—Students are able to:
      • identify occupations of people in West Virginia; and
      • list natural resources and recognize geographic features and tell how they are important to the state’s economy.

    • Partial Mastery—Students are able to:
      • give examples of occupations of people in West Virginia; and
      • give examples of natural resources and identify the geographic features that affect the state’s economy.

    • Mastery—Students are able to:
      • categorize major occupations of people in West Virginia; and
      • research the natural resources and geographic features of West Virginia and discuss their effect upon the state’s economic development.

    • Above Mastery—Students are able to:
      • compare major occupations of people in West Virginia; and
      • explain how natural resources and geographic features effect the state’s economic development and contribute to the economic well-being of its residents.

    • Distinguished—Students are able to:
      • critique the importance of major occupations of people in West Virginia; and
      • assess the importance of the state’s natural resources and geographic features to its economic development and the economy of the nation.

  • Objectives / Students will:
    • SS.O.WV.3.1: locate and give examples of the natural resources and geographic features of West Virginia and show their effect upon the economic development of the state.
    • SS.O.WV.3.2: categorize the major occupations of people in the private and public sectors of West Virginia.

Social Studies Standard 4: Geography

SS.S.K.04 / Students will:

  • interpret and choose maps, globes and other geographic tools to categorize and organize information about personal directions, people, places, and environments (The World in Spatial Terms).
  • examine the physical and human characteristics of place and explain how the lives of people are rooted in places and regions (Places and Regions).
  • analyze the physical processes that shape the earthís surface and create, sustain and modify the cultural and natural environment (Physical Systems).
  • analyze and illustrate how the earth is shaped by the movement of people and their activities (Human Systems).
  • analyze the interaction of society with the environment (Environment and Society).
  • point out geographic perspective and tools and assess techniques available for geographic study (Uses of Geography).
  • SS.PD.WV.04 / Performance Descriptors
    • Novice—Students are able to:
      • know that West Virginia is divided into counties and each has a county seat, that there are bordering states, discuss selected items, and define exact and relative locations; and
      • know that there are four physical geographic regions, tell what the weather patterns are and identify the natural resource land physical geography

    • Partial Mastery—Students are able to:
      • name West Virginia counties and county seats, bordering states, and selected items and differentiate between the exact and relative location of each; and
      • name the four physical geographic regions, describe the weather patterns and explain the impact of natural resource location and physical geography.

    • Mastery—Students are able to:
      • locate West Virginia counties and county seats, bordering states, and selected items and differentiate between the exact and relative location of each; and
      • determine the four physical geographic regions, illustrate the weather patterns and analyze the impact of natural resource location and physical geography.

    • Above Mastery—Students are able to:
      • place West Virginia counties and county seats, bordering states, and selected items on a map and explain the importance of differentiating between the exact and relative location of each; and
      • debate the similarities and differences of the four physical geographic regions, explain the weather pattern changes and evaluate the impact of natural resource location and physical geography;

    • Distinguished—Students are able to:
      • create a map that illustrates relationships between West Virginia counties and the location of their county seats, bordering states, and selected items and create a description differentiating between the exact and relative location of each; and
      • summarize the four physical geographic regions, evaluate the importance of the weather patterns and analyze the relationship between the location of natural resources and physical geography, and evaluate their impact on the inhabitants.

  • Objectives / Students will:
    • SS.O.WV.04.01: locate West Virginia and bordering states on a United States map.
    • SS.O.WV.04.02: determine the four physical geographic regions of West Virginia and the major communities contained within each region.
    • SS.O.K.04.03: locate counties and county seats on a West Virginia map.
    • SS.O.K.04.04: analyze the impact of West Virginia’s geography on transportation, settlement, jobs, clothing, food, shelter, services and interaction with others outside the state.
    • SS.O.K.04.05: illustrate West Virginia’s climate and track the weather.
    • SS.O.K.04.06: compare and contrast the characteristics of renewable and nonrenewable resources.
    • SS.O.K.04.06: differentiate between the exact and relative locations of their state, town, county, and personal address.
    • SS.O.K.04.08: research West Virginia’s population, products, resources, transportation, state parks, forests, and scenic/recreational resources and draw conclusions from the information.
    • SS.O.WV.04.09: use a grid system to locate natural and man-made items on a map.
    • SS.O.WV.04.10: recognize the eight tourist regions of West Virginia.

Social Studies Standard 5: History

SS.S.WV.05 / Students will:

  • organize, analyze and compare historical events, distinguish cause-effect relationships, theorize alternative actions and outcomes, and anticipate future application (Chronology).
  • use the processes and resources of historical inquiry to develop appropriate questions, gather and examine evidence, compare, analyze and interpret historical data (Skills and Application).
  • examine, analyze and synthesize historical knowledge of major events, individuals, cultures and the humanities in West Virginia, the United States, and the world (Culture and Humanities).
  • use historical knowledge to analyze local, state, national and global interdependence (Interpretation and Evaluation).
  • examine political institutions and theories that have developed and changed over time; and research and cite reasons for development and change (Political Institutions).
  • SS.PD.WV.05 / Performance Descriptors
    • Novice—Students are able to:
      • give examples of past and present lifestyles of West Virginia;
      • list examples of economic, social, and political history of West Virginia; and
      • verbally give short answers to specific questions.

    • Partial Mastery—Students are able to:
      • describe lifestyles and cultural life of West Virginia reflected in folklore and heritage;
      • give examples of economic, social, and political history of West Virginia; and
      • write a paragraph or short answer to specific questions.

    • Mastery—Students are able to:
      • compare and contrast past and present lifestyles of West Virginia and describe the cultural life reflected in folklore and heritage;
      • reconstruct the economic, social, and political history of West Virginia; and
      • construct short reports to answer specific questions.

    • Above Mastery—Students are able to:
      • discriminate between past and present lifestyles giving reason for their differences and evaluate the folklore and heritage;
      • explain important events in economic, social, and political history of West Virginia; and
      • research topics of interest and write short summaries.

    • Distinguished—Students are able to:
      • summarize past and present lifestyles of West Virginia and relate the culture to folklore and heritage;
      • summarize changes in the economic, social, and political history of West Virginia; and
      • summarize and defend sources they use to write reports.

  • Objectives / Students will:
    • SS.O.WV.05.01: reconstruct the economic, social and political history of West Virginia.
    • SS.O.WV.05.02: research and describe the cultural life of West Virginia as reflected in folklore and heritage.
    • SS.O.K.05.03: compare and contrast past and present lifestyles of West Virginians.
    • SS.O.K.05.04: use reference sources to construct short reports that answer specific questions about West Virginia.

Organize Your Thinking to Critically Analyze Text

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Video screencap, Organize Your Thinking to Critically Analyze Text, 27 Feb 2012
Article Body

This 15-minute video features 5th-grade teacher Jennifer Brouhard using several strategies for prompting deep understanding of historical texts. Brouhard explains how she noticed that her students were reading quickly and considered themselves finished with a text before going deeply into it or “doing anything” with it. Here, she explains several strategies that prompted her students to delve deeper into text and draw more meaning from it than a quick read allows.

This video provides examples of three promising practices:

  1. Creating opportunities to hear students making sense of the content and text and using what she learns about student understanding to design instruction tailored to that particular class’s needs;
  2. Using a historical question to frame instruction and student reading; and
  3. Using a variety of teaching strategies in response to student needs and abilities.
Strategies

In “Keep it or Junk it?” students nominate, vote, and discuss which words are needed to address the following focus question: What happened as a result of English settlement of Jamestown Virginia? Handouts for this strategy can be downloaded from the site.

“Jump in and read” lets Brouhard listen to her students read the text which helps her understand areas they need more help with. For example, if students stumble on the phrase “indentured servant,” it indicates that they need more review of this term and its meaning.

Writing subtitles for paragraphs is a third strategy Brouhard selectively employs.

Included with this video are handouts and samples of student work that make it easy to give one of these strategies a try in your own classroom.

Multiperspectivity: What Is It, and Why Use It?

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Photo, San Francisco, Calif., April 1942. . . , Library of Congress
Question

What is multiperspectivity in history?

Answer

Exploring multiple perspectives (which is known as "multiperspectivity" in parts of Europe) requires incorporating source materials that reflect different views of a historical event. In recent decades scholars and educators have begun to question the validity of singular (one-sided) historical narratives. Instead of just focusing on dominant groups and communities, they recommend employing multiple perspectives. One reason for this stems from increasing diversity and cultural pluralism, since many groups—women, the poor, ethnic minorities, etc.—have been ignored in traditional historical narratives.

. . . many groups—women, the poor, ethnic minorities, etc.—have been ignored in traditional historical narratives.

Another reason is disciplinary. After all, good historians don’t just settle for one perspective on a historical issue—they piece together many (sometimes competing) versions of a story to construct an accurate interpretation. As Ann Low-Beer explains, "In history, multiple perspectives are usual and have to be tested against evidence, and accounted for in judgments and conclusions."

Here's an instance of using multiple perspectives: When studying the voyages of discovery, students would not only learn about explorers like Columbus, but about the peoples who had been "discovered." Historian Jon Wiener, writing in American History 101 in Slate magazine, offers the following example:

In the case of Reconstruction. . . I focus [on] the three most significant [perspectives]: the Northern Radicals, who shaped federal policy and who wanted to bring the former slaves into the economy of the free market, as wage earners, and into the political system, as voters; the Southern planter elite, who wanted to preserve as much of the old plantation labor system as possible; and the former slaves themselves. Their understanding of freedom was, as Eric Foner has written, "shaped by their experiences as slaves." Freedom for them meant freedom to work for themselves—economic autonomy and access to land. This argument shows the freedmen defining their own interests, in conflict with the federal government, which claimed to represent them. Thus, instead of giving students a list of facts and dates to memorize, I would ask them to conceive of what's happening as a three-sided conflict over the meaning of freedom.

. . . instead of giving students a list of facts and dates to memorize, I would ask them to conceive of what's happening as a three-sided conflict over the meaning of freedom.

Consequently, for Wiener, "students end up learning not just about what happened during Reconstruction, but about how history itself gets reconstructed."

If not yet universal, this approach is widely accepted. In its most recent Position Statement, the National Council for the Social Studies in the United States recommended students learn to "think critically, and make personal and civic decisions based on information from multiple perspectives."

So what can a classroom teacher do? Try incorporating primary sources that represent a range of views on a historical issue. Then, ask students to spend some time thinking about why different groups may see the same event in different ways. Oftentimes a different story emerges when those multiple perspectives are put together. The result is enriched historical understanding.

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