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Teaching and Testing the Virginia Standards of Learning

Grades 6-12

EDIF 589--One Credit

Course Description:

In this course students will examine and unpack the History and Social Science Standards of Learning.  Methods for effectively teaching and testing the standards will be explored.  Participants will develop instructional and assessment strategies that will assist students to learn and teachers to evaluate student performance.  A key concept of the course will be the integration of the History and Social Science standards with other content areas.  Technology integration will also be a part of the course objectives.

Prerequisites:  None

Course Goals:

At the beginning of this course, participants should be:

  • Familiar with the scope and sequence of the History and Social Science Standards of Learning.

  • Able to analyze the standards to identify key concepts and generalizations.

  • Familiar with instructional strategies and resources that will facilitate the teaching of the standards.

  • Able to develop their own instructional and assessment strategies for use in classroom instruction.

  • Able to integrate the History and Social Science standards with other content areas.

  • Able to integrate History and Social Science standards with the technology standards.

Grading and Participation:

  1. Attend all sessions, read assignments, and participate in activities.,

  2. Unpack one standard and correlate it to another area of content.

  3. Create a final product lesson plan that identifies an instructional objective in history/social science, analyzes a task associated with this objective, selects a specific instructional strategy designed to promote student learning, designs a product or performance assessment task, identifies, performance criteria, and present a written copy with a short oral explanation to the class.

Grades for this class are S--Satisfactory or U--Unsatisfactory

Course Materials:   Lesson Plan Format

Recommended Text:

The Virginia Standards of Learning. (2001 revision). Virginia Department of Education.  Richmond, Virginia.      

http://www.pen.k12.va.us/DOE/Superintendent/Sols/home.shtml

History and Science Scope and Sequence (2001 revision)
Documents of American History
Curriculum Framework
Crosswalk of Common Content

http://www.pwn.k12.va.us/VDOE/Instruction/sol.html

The National Standards of History.  National Center for History in the Schools. 

  http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/nchs/standards/

Graphic Organizers

http://www.graphic.org/goindex.html

http://www.smcps.k12.md.us/mbms/writing/graphorg.html

Course Topics  

Session 1   

Overview
  Virginia SOL (2001 revision)
  Terminology
  Unpacking the SOL--what's there, what's not!
  Bloom and Social Studies
Session 2        Strategies that Work:  Literature Connections
  Integration:  Technology and Social Studies
  The Brain and Learning:  What, When, and How?
  Assignment:  Think of one piece of literature and how you could connect  (use) it in your class
Session 3 Visual Imaging:  How Memory Works
  Graphic Organizers
  Interactive Notebook & Interactive Slide Lectures
  Primary Resources
  Assignment:  Create a Graphic Organizer (Reminder:  Lesson Plan Due next session)
Session 4 Assessment:  How to Align
  Designing Assessment
 
  Sharing and discussion of Lesson Plans
  Lesson Plan Due

Lesson Plan Requirements:

  1. Must be a useful original instructional application of the material studied.

  2. Must be written to be replicable by other teachers.

  3. Turn in one printed copy.  If you do not want this material shared with other teachers, write confidential on the outside pages. If you would like a copy returned to you with comments, turn in two copies and a self-addressed envelope.

  4. Put you name, school, and school division on the bottom of each page (footer).

©2001 by the Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia      CWS 2001

This page was updated on:  04/10/02