This course was taught by Charlotte Bradshaw.  She gave us great ideas on how to use a newspaper to do several ideas with students.  She also gave us an opportunity to come up with different ideas from her own as well.  We talked about rubrics and how they are being used more and more.  The book had some great ideas and will be a good resource. 

Practicum Experience

We did not have any practicum experience because most teachers don't fit social studies into their curriculum.

Sample Piece of Work

Performance Objectives:  Describe how historical people, groups, and events have influenced the local community.  Describe and compare similarities of the history of peoples in North America through literature (e.g., story-telling, fables, folktales, fairy tales).
Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Objective:  Students will learn about the lives of famous women in History.  Students will learn how to choose important points in a biography.	Objective:  Students will learn the format of a bio-poem.	Objective:  Students will learn the interview process. Students will learn how to do research.	Objective:    Students will learn the interview process. Students will learn how to do research.	Objective:  Students will create a visual biography.
Activity:  Kicking off Women’s History month in March, students will look through several short biographies of famous women in History. Students will choose one biography of a woman and make a “baseball” card using key points.	Activity:  Students will create a bio-poem of a famous woman in History different from the one they learned about on the previous day.  Students will present the bio-poems to the class.	Activity:  Students will work with a partner.  They will choose a famous woman in History  (other than the two they worked on the previous two days) to research.	Activity:  Continuing from previous day, students will compose 3-5 questions and answers about the woman they chose.  They will then compose an interview to present to the class.	Culminating Activity:  Students will choose one of the three women they have researched and decide  which one is worthy to be placed on the “Wheaties” box.  They will paste a picture of their famous woman in History on one side and important biographical information on the back side.
Assessment:  The “baseball card” will be assessed for correct information and understanding.	Assessment:  Students will be assessed on their bio-poems.	Assessment:  Students will be assessed on the information they gathered for their interview.	Assessment:  Students will be assessed on their interview.	Assessment:  Students will be assessed on their final product and their understanding of a biography.