Just this week I had an interesting conversation with my CT for TE 401. I am placed in a first grade classroom and we were discussing some of my curriculum I am covering for my literacy lesson plan. She was really pleased to see that I was incorporating some science into my lesson. This brought up the discussion that there has been talk of eliminating science and social studies all together from the grade levels K-4 for extra literacy instruction. The school district is concerned with the large percentage of students who are below grade level in their literacy skills. To me changing the curriculum is the easy out and what should really be taking place is a change in the way teachers are presenting the material. At risk students don't need extra time in literacy instruction that is already ineffective for them, these students need additional time using a variety of instruction strategies to improve their skills. The school could also budget for extra help, such as more special education teachers who have the education and knowledge to help bring these children up to their grade level.
Another point that comes to mind is what happens for teachers who have social studies subject matter focus? Are they going to be as marketable as other teachers who have an ELA major? Am I going to be able to find a job as easy as some of my other peers?
This is something that I am going to continue to watch and look into. Even if this was just talk amongst this school district, it is definitely something to put a lot of thought into.
I cannot believe that this school district is thinking about taking away the science and social studies curriculum from grades K-4. These subject areas are extremely critical for children to understand in order to become a better U.S. citizen and thinker of science-like phenomenon in the world. A child NEEDS to know the history of his country or the science behind weather and why it rains, for example, so he can grow up to become a well-rounded, educated U.S. citizen.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that the teachers may need to alter their way of presenting the literacy material to the students in order for the children to grasp the information and thus increase their test scores. In our MSU teaching courses, we learned the importance of different strategies for teaching each student. If one strategy does not work, then the teacher must move to a new strategy in teaching literacy.
This is extremely scary and disturbing to myself as a future special educator to read about. I am just as shocked as you and Hana are. I agree with you Kristin I think the problem falls on the teachers and the administration who is threatening to remove Science and Social Studies from the curriculum for students in grades Kindergarten through Fourth Grade. I believe what these students who are scoring below grade level need the most in more intensive instruction, smaller groups, and more time in their instruction on the aspects of Science and Social Studies. This is something that is seriously disturbing to us as future educators in the field, and this could completely change the way we are looking at the curriculum for Elementary School Grades.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post Kristin! The school that I am at has taken away their explicit social studies and science instruction. In the morning they only do literacy and in the afternoon there is math. My teacher has been teaching for 20 years and she greatly dislikes this. She agrees with Hana that students need to know their past. She is able to incorporate science into math and social studies into literacy but she is still very worried about how the students will do on the MEAP.
ReplyDeleteAnother point she brought up is how so many students do better in science and social studies because they are more interesting subjects. In the past she was able to incorporate literacy into science because that is how her students learned better. As teachers we will have to find creative ways to incorporate all the subjects.
I am surprised by this - eliminating social studies and science?
ReplyDeleteI feel like there are plenty of ways to integrate literacy into social studies and science, and vice versa - we have been learning plenty of examples in TE401.
Social Studies and Science are everywhere and equally as important as Literacy and Math. To think that they may eliminate it is really sad.
I am in the social studies and science sections of TE 401 this semester and am expected to observe these subjects being taught in my kindergarten classroom at Lewton elementary school in the Lansing School district. This is my tenth week of going to my placement and I have yet to see explicit social studies or science teaching. When I asked my teacher about this she said that she teaches how to be a good citizen when problems arise in her classroom. When I asked her about science teaching she said she covers the senses throughout the year. For one of my assignments I had to look at the science and social studies curriculum and my teacher showed me a social studies curriculum book but said that she didn't base her science teaching off of curriculum. I have observed a lot of language arts lessons and hope that when I am a teacher my school allows me to teach the important concepts of science and social studies along with language arts and math.
ReplyDeleteI am having the same problem. I worked in a kindergarten classroom this semester and had to teach science and social studies lessons but never saw those subjects being taught. I talked with my teacher and she said they had science once a week and hardly ever had social studies. I think this is crazy. I realize that literacy is important and leads to other subjects but that does not mean that science and social studies can be lost. Those are just as important...science in particular because it helps students build hands on skills.
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