On a student’s class list and report card it says “History”. However, I choose to call this class “Social Studies”, as, in my opinion, this is not just a study of the past even though our topic is Ancient Civilizations. Instead, we will learn to think about how the past might be related to issues in the world today and current events. We will try to see connections between all people, no matter how ancient or far away, the challenges they faced, and their attempts to overcome them and compare them to our own problems and ideas for solutions.
It is also important to know that different people think differently about the past. There is no one right or wrong version of “history”. People create their own understanding by incorporating their beliefs and experience with the evidence or facts on hand at the time in their own unique way. Do we ever know what happened in the past with certainty? Do we ever get enough clues to solve the puzzle? I don’t know, but it is certainly our job to keep looking and investigating.
To encourage this kind of critical thinking, we will make use of the following ten guiding questions throughout the school year.
GUIDING QUESTIONS
- How do we know what we “know” about the past?
- What are some different ways to get that information?
- Are some sources more reliable than others?
- How much evidence is enough to form an opinion?
- Who are the different people in this lesson? (Not just the named ones, like Alexander the Great, but all the unnamed ones as well, like the people he conquered or his soldiers.)
- What problems or challenges did these people face?
- How did they choose to address those problems or challenges?
- Do we still have the same or similar problems in the world today? Where?
- How do people in the world today address this problem?
- How well do you think those people in the past addressed their problem considering the resources, knowledge, and technology that were available to them at the time? How well are we addressing this issue now?
ACADEMIC LANGUAGE (VOCABULARY)
One of the greatest challenges with 6th grade social studies is the amount of unfamiliar vocabulary. For this reason, we will work on developing strategies to deal with new terms and concepts as they arise (pretty much every day). The goal is not just to memorize the book definition of a term, but to come to understand the word and be able to use and apply it to new situations as well.
NON-FICTION READING STRATEGIES
Non-fiction reading strategies have been covered in detail on the language arts pages. Again, this is often a challenging area for students and one we will work together on. I will model the use of reading strategies and have the students support each other in small groups with the goal of building independence for every student.
Another thing to keep in mind is that history is no different than a story, or rather, lots of stories. So I hope you will enjoy learning about all these people, their struggles, and their accomplishments as much as I enjoy teaching it.
For a more complete breakdown of the units/civilizations we will study throughout the year, please click on the monthly links under SOCIAL STUDIES over at the right.
