Activity 1- Teaching Small Group

Work individually and in small groups giving guided practice and/or remediation to students experiencing difficulty in Social Studies. Focus on developing instructional strategies to meet a variety of student needs (exceptionality, diversity, learning styles).

Assessment: Create an Investigation Task Card to meet the learning needs of the individual student or small group. Design assessment for evaluation of student progress and task card relevance.

Investigation Task Card Rubric

Task Cards contain the following measures of critical thinking:

• Knowledge level tasks
• Comprehension level tasks
• Application level tasks
• Analysis level tasks
• Synthesis level tasks
• Evaluation level tasks

• Does assessment adequately measure student progress?
• Is the assessment equitable for diverse learners?
• Does the assessment enable students to generalize to other problems?
• Does the assessment assess higher levels of understanding in content and meaning?

Activity 2- Team Planning/Decision Making

Work on interdisciplinary unit with assigned team. Students will:

• help plan the unit, conduct research related to the unit, and gather appropriate materials for the unit.
• examine content standards, courses of study, and curriculum guides including a variety of instructional approaches related toSocial Studies
• examine/develop appropriate means to assess student learning with authentic performance based assessments.

Rubrics

Lab Journal Entries

• Well organized thought including details and examples of events and processes
• Demonstrates an understanding of the interconnectedness of thought, word, and deed.
• Generates questions for further examination

•  Clear presentation of problem for discussion
• Solution oriented
• Generates questions for further examination

• Well organized and readable
• Contains all elements of the unit
• Reflects team philosophy and scheduling

• Identify philosophy and goals
• Determine responsibilities within team
• Examines content, resources, methodologies, and assessment
• Reflects discussion of unit's relationship to real world activity

Activity 3- Teach Mini Lessons

Teach a mini-lesson related to the interdisciplinary unit. The lesson must be inquiry or problem based and require student choice and group interaction. Lesson must also:

• focus on conceptual understanding

• utilize internet and non-textbook sources to examine concept exemplars

• evaluate generalization testing

• link plan to at least one other core subject area
• utilize two different assessment activities to determine quality of students' conceptual understanding

Rubric For Mini-Lesson Plan

• Reflects "best practice" in teaching
• Identifies the concepts being taught
• Identifies the related QCCs
• Evaluates generalization testing
• Links plan to at least one other core subject area
• Explanation of how instructional strategies enable diverse students to meet lesson outcomes
• Explanation of assessment and accompanying rubric

Activity 4- Middle School Organization Journal

Evaluate your social studies experience in terms of Middle School Organization, Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment. Generate questions and concerns about the use and effectiveness of middle school concepts.

Assessment: Use Desktop Publishing to create a Newsletter that highlights middle school components. Infuse questions and concerns based on research on "best practices" for middle level education.

Newsletter Rubric

• creative design with graphics
• includes in-depth view of the effectiveness of such middle school components as block scheduling, decentralized decision making, and teaming
• assesses team's use of curriculum effectiveness promoting reading/writing in social studies, critical thinking skills, interdisciplinary connectiveness, authenticity of experience, and meeting QCC's
• investigates team's use of such instructional practices as active learning, collaborative learning, instructional technology, alternative assessment, and heterogenous grouping