Course Description
Lesson planning, implementation, and formative classroom assessments to foster middle grades students’ cultural understandings of Georgia and the United States. Teaching and planning tasks will deepen students understanding of the interconnectedness of the history, politics, economics, and geographies of Georgia and the United States.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Graduate students will prepare a research paper on the significance of local, state, and national studies of the social sciences in middle grades.
Athena Title
Teach Plan Ga & US Soc St Mid
Undergraduate Prerequisite
ESOC 4410/6410
Graduate Prerequisite
ESOC 4410/6410
Semester Course Offered
Offered spring
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student learning Outcomes
- Align appropriate US and Georgia social studies content standards when designing lessons, planning curriculum, and implementing assessments.
- Use backwards design for lesson planning to formatively assess upper elementary and middle grade students within the planning, teaching, and assessment cycle.
- Design formative assessments based on knowledge of students’ characteristics, uses, and limitations to promote student growth, match instructional goals, and foster engagement in middle grades social studies.
- Analyze and select sources for an interdisciplinary approach to middle grades social studies content and classroom activities that are differentiated for students.
- Incorporate the unique cognitive, physical, social, emotional, and moral characteristics of students in middle grades as individuals and members of groups within their lesson planning, instruction, and assessment.
- Incorporate understanding of how prior learning, differing family background, historical and contemporary contexts, and diverse cultural backgrounds influence learning within their lesson and assessment designs.
- Develop middle grades lessons on the US and Georgia that are creative, incorporate critical thinking, and follow the guidelines of an inquiry design approach to social studies.
Topical Outline
- Introduce meaningful curricular decisions, pedagogical practices, and assessment designs for upper elementary and middle grades social studies.
- Introduce lesson planning approaches for upper elementary and middle grades social studies that lead students to transferable learning outcomes.
- Inquiry-orientated, social studies learning experiences that promote high student engagement and critical thinking.
- Pedagogical practices and corresponding assessment strategies that foster active participation and engagement among all students.
- Assess students’ understanding of the upper elementary and middle grades social studies content using both formative and summative assessment results.
