Common Core Implementation in the Social Studies Classroom

Karen Patiño

Common Core Resource Teacher

Kern High School District

Office of Instructional Services

karen_patino@khsd.k12.ca.us

Common Core Implementation in the Social Studies Classroom

• Everything that we hear today is a strategy that Karen has used in her classroom
• These lessons have been subject to the scrutiny of "lesson study"--peer-critiqued and peer-reviewed lessons

Modeling behavior in the classroom

• "Writing utensils down" - 100% attention to everything being said
• Notebook Checks are simply measuring whether or not students can copy symbols off of a board
• "To what end?"
• What mindset do students need to have when they are learning?
• Metacognition--learning how to learn
• Focusing on the Brain
• Carol Dweck published a book titled Mindset
• Either a fixed mindset or a growth mindset
• Fixed Mindset Statements
• We used to believe that we had a fixed mental capacity
• What you had at birth is all you're going to have
• "Intelligence is a fixed trait"
• "Look smart at all costs"
• "Answers should come naturally and easily" if you're smart
• Fixed Mindset Actions
• Avoid challenges so I don't look stupid or foolish
• When things don't go well, "fixed mindsets" blame others
• Trying to feel superior
• Fixed Mindset Praise
• "That's a great score. You must be smart."
• You did that so quickly and easily. That's impressive!"
• We associate quick answers with intelligence
• This note-taking strategy takes this format:
• LISTEN --> THINK --> DISCUSS --> WRITE
• Everyone has more access to language when they are speaking when they are writing
• When we get students to talk first before they write, they have access to both their vocabulary and their partner's vocabulary
• One word that will transform my classroom tomorrow: . . . YET.
• I'm not good at math . . . yet.
• I'm not good at basketball . . . yet.
• I'm not good in history . . . yet.
• The mindset of "not yet" can transform a classroom environment.
• Growth Mindset means that we empower students with the idea that there is no limit to their learning potential. We all learn and grow at different rates, but we are all capable of great things.

We have them awake during the day more than their parents do. We have incredible power to make change.

• What do we do with absent students?
• Quick review the day after

HOW THE BRAIN WORKS

• Witnessing a fight on campus first-hand accesses multiple parts of the brain; less so if you watch a video of the fight, or if you read a story about the fight
• Engage more lobes = greater impact on the brain
• Kids think that headphones work, but they have fooled themselves into thinking that it calms their mind
• Different lobes focused on one task is good; different lobes of the brain being pulled in different directions is bad
• A student's job is to learn

SCAFFOLDING

• "I used to scaffold the assignment; not I scaffold the skill."
• My goal is to help you learn 
• "If they can't do it without you in the room, they can't do it." - Jill Hamilton-Punch
• The dominant domain of language is speaking and listening
• Multiple Reads
• First time for decoding
• Second time for fluency
• Third time for meaning
• Scaffolding should be for the purpose of teaching them how to eventually do it independently
• If you are always scaffolding, you are never helping them do it independently

We need students to recognize and identify the three levels of reading.

• Too often we assume that students know how to read what we're giving them
• Teaching Reading is Rocket Science

• Text is Read TO Students
• Text is Read WITH Students
• For decoding
• For comprehension
• Text is Read BY Students

Lecture is a source. Your lower-level text can be your lecture. Don't dismiss the lecture.

With a video, every chance you get, use captioning.

TRAIN YOUR BRAIN

• It is through language that we cement our thoughts. This is why very few of us have any memories before 3-years-old.
• I'm always going to have you summarize what you read so you get into the habit.
• I'm going to have you visualize, so the next time you learn you visualize it.
• Explain. Explain. Explain.
• "I assess my students all the time, and yet I very rarely give grades."

Assessment drives instruction.
We have had data-driven decision making.

The Common Core State Standards and the Smarter-Balanced Assessment

The analysis has to be entirely their own.

Model the skill, so that when you assess, they can demonstrate the skill.

The only reason to front-load vocabulary is either because the vocabulary is way too difficult, or to model how to do it themselves.

The "crowdsourcing" model of teaching vocabulary. The flourish example. We learn vocabulary from context clues. Scaffolding the skill, not the text.

If students don't know a word--old model: skip it and move on. New model: attack it.

Kids need to tackle these unfamiliar words head-on.

READING STRATEGY

1. Create a word bank for yourself. On one side write "essential" and on the other side "unknown."

2. Reading #1 - skim for the words to put into the word bank.

3. Put those words in the word bank.

4. Reading #2 - read for fluency.

5. With a partner, create a summary of the reading using FOUR of the essential words they put in their word bank.

6. While they are creating their summary, they are doing Reading #3.

Another reading strategy with primary sources:

Have them first read a text about the primary source--then they read the primary source.

Again, we don't want to simply front-load vocabulary. We want to give them "attack skills" they can use these skills later in life.