As a social studies teacher, I find myself wanting to teach my students anything and everything I can about the many subject areas we cover. I want them to have the fullest and most complete historical understandings that I can provide for them. This is what comes with having passion for the subject area, I suppose. When I do become impassioned with my content, I am reminded by the dreaded specters of Content Area Standards and Standardized Testing. Before I keep going, a quick disclaimer: I do not have an inherent issue with state standards or standardized testing, as both of these things are necessary in order to direct our teaching.
However, they also create a tough dilemma: What do you teach? What do you leave out? Do you just teach within the standards or what’s needed to prepare students for testing? Do you add more than the standards in order to enrich content? You can, but adding that enrichment content may mean that you run out of time for teaching the content on chapter assessments. But on the other hand, if you just teach the content on the standards, there may not be any enrichment or students may be missing key context on certain topics.
This dilemma is certainly maddening, and it can cause a lot of stress for many teachers, especially in social studies. In my time teaching, this is something I have to constantly address, and through some great mentoring, I was able to make that choice. Notice, I did not say that the choice was easy! It never is, but it is a necessary one to make. Here are some ways that I was able to make that choice.
Choose the area you love the most
If you are reading this, you likely love teaching your secondary social studies class already! When deciding what to teach and what to leave out, enrich the content area that you love the most within the scope of standards. Whether that’s history, economics, government, or geography, focusing on the area that you are passionate about will still allow you to teach to the standards while also giving students key context or content that is still necessary to learn. For example, if you enjoy teaching themes about Economics, enrich that content area with a project-based activity within the scope of your standards or historical era taught!
For some inspiration, try the project-based simulation, Exchange, relating to the American Stock Market or a handful of reproducible activities for your classroom, Making Economics Fun and Relevant.
Now this may seem like the other social studies curriculum areas are not being treated like equal priorities, but that is not the case. Giving some additional focus on the areas you are most passionate about will allow you to bring more energy to your lessons and get your students energetic about the content. In turn, this creates a ripple effect of student engagement with the rest of the material that you cover throughout the year (even the content deemed “boring” by students)!
Rely on your school team
When deciding what to teach, instructional coaches and lead teachers can serve as mentors to newer teachers, offering support, encouragement, and advice on your curriculum pacing plan. Mentorship can help new teachers navigate the challenges of teaching and develop their skills to hone content more quickly. Veteran teachers also have years of experience in the classroom and have encountered a wide range of situations regarding choosing what to teach within the scope of essential standards. They have developed effective strategies for teaching various subjects, managing classrooms, and addressing student needs. Their expertise can provide valuable insights and guidance to honing your teaching plan!
Why do teachers need to make this decision?
Our students deserve the world from our teaching. Unfortunately, there are things outside of our control that require us to make sacrifices regarding our teaching, particularly at the secondary level. There are countless ways that teachers have made this decision over the years, from cutting content to relate to the bare minimum required by the standards to enriching all content areas and reviewing key concepts for standardized testing. Some teachers don’t cut anything out at all and they just prepare their students the best that they can and take the standardized test as it comes.
Social studies has so many content areas that it can come with sacrifices for delivering our weekly teaching targets. Many teachers want to effectively teach the standards content, which often equals to teachers thinking nothing should be cut from their curriculum. However, that is not the reality of teaching. We often must make sacrifices in order to meet requirements for state standards and tests. While it’s sometimes essential, this can lead to burnout or less effective teaching because of the lack of passion and energy that can come with cutting information on a subject that you love. This is not a reason to give up on teaching! If anything, this should hopefully encourage social studies teachers to rely on their mentors and find creative ways to effectively teach despite the standards and standardized tests hanging over them.
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Brendan King is a blog contributor for Social Studies School Service. He loves the study of history and reading any historical work he can get his hands on. More importantly, he is passionate about teaching history and social studies in fun and unique ways. He earned his B.A. in History at the University of West Georgia and currently teaches sixth-grade social studies. His hobbies include reading, playing video games, watching movies, and exercising.