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From the FREEP
Central American Culture Study
Throughout the month of November, SRV faculty will be working together in a new and exciting way. All of the classroom and special subject teachers in the school are taking part with the students in a shared study of culture in Central America.
SRV's social studies curriculum is based on the "Expectations of Excellence" standards of the National Council for the Social Studies, and is designed to incorporate content, skills, experiences, perspectives and values. The content divisions are Self, Community, Culture, Geography, History, Governance and Economics. Each of these areas will at least be touched upon in this unit, but the emphasis will be on Geography and Culture.
For this Central America culture study, the teachers are using the principles of backward design to develop their curricula. With backwards design, first teachers identify the big concepts that they want the students to remember in years to come. From these they derive essential questions that will inspire student interest and inquiry. The teachers determine what tools they are going to use to assess how well the students have learned those big ideas. Then they plan specific activities, learning experiences and lessons to teach the concepts.
The teachers decided that for this unit the goal should be that the children acquire, at age appropriate levels, an enduring understanding of the "big idea" of culture. They chose three essential questions:
- How are children's lives affected by where they live?
- How and why do cultures change?
- What is the role of the arts and creative expression in people's lives?
Using these questions to frame and give context to the curriculum, teachers have planned their social studies for the month of November. Most are studying geography by examining the political and natural environments of the region, and how people (and especially children) live there. Some of the older students will be delving into governance and economics, including looking at some historical and modern regional conflicts. Many of the teachers have planned activities to help the students notice similarities and differences between subcultures in the region and their own culture, and to affirm their own culture. All groups are looking at the arts and other creative expressions in people's lives.
Group teachers are also finding ways to integrate the traditional academic subject curricula with what they are doing in social studies. Learning a little about Spanish and the Mayan dialects, reading, vocabulary, writing, research and math activities will enrich the children's understanding and experience.
The specials teachers have planned their curricula for the month so that what occurs in the classrooms will be coordinated and in some cases integrated. The students are using technology, learning about art and music, and studying the eco-system. Some group and specials teachers are working in partnerships on big projects. For example, the kindergartners are learning in their classroom, in science and in computer class about Pennsylvania's and Central America's geography and climate, how these determine what food can be grown, how the people in both regions get their food, and how Central American food products are transported here.
The whole staff has benefited from sharing resources in this endeavor. Kate and Anu have found lots of great books and web sites. Annie has gathered art and artifacts. Robin has made a number of connections with community cultural organizations. We did some powerful work together at the recent staff retreat. We have also found lots of potential resources for special assemblies and workshops for the students.
The idea to coordinate a shared unit of study has evolved in the last year or two through lots of staff mulling and discussion and has also been spurred by some spirited dialogue with parents. Many teachers have wanted to be more intentional about planning social studies curricula and to try backwards design. Others have been looking for ways to collaborate and to make their curricula more relevant to what students are learning in other classrooms. Coordinating a shared unit of study seemed like a good place to start.
The faculty is planning a second shared unit to occur in the spring, this time in math, when all of the group and specials teachers will cover geometry and measurement at the same time. Again, we intend to use this experience as an opportunity to practice teacher collaboration, coordinating and integrating curriculum, and using backward design principles to design curriculum. Stay tuned!
