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Social Studies can be SPECtacular

Social Studies can be SPECtacular. Anthony J Fitzpatrick Vice President for Professional Development Services The American Institute for History Education. Looking for SPECs in your classroom:.

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Social Studies can be SPECtacular

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  1. Social Studies can beSPECtacular Anthony J Fitzpatrick Vice President for Professional Development Services The American Institute for History Education

  2. Looking for SPECs in your classroom: • State standards, textbook objectives, and writing outlines are almost always written in a form of SPEC or other helpful anagrams. • So what is it?

  3. SPEC • Social • Having to do with people in groups, their living together, includes issues such as gender, economic status, and ethnicity. • Political • Having to do with gaining, seeking, and organizing power, events related to the function of government: making laws, enforcing laws, and interpreting laws. • Economic • Having to do with how people meet their basic material needs; the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services; includes such issues as domestic and international trade, monetary policies, and taxation. • Cultural • Having to do with the technology, arts, and institutions of a given group of people at a given time. It is a tangible representation of interactions.

  4. You don’t have to capitalize the C • Often the most confusing theme is Culture as students may confuse it with Social. • It’s quite acceptable to use SPE first until they get the SPEcial nuance that separates social and cultural.

  5. Disclaimer 2 • Are you limited to SPEC? • ABSOLUTELY NOT! • There are other themes appropriate to bring into your classroom (Geography, Religion as example) • SPEC is just a wonderful starting point, and very versatile. • There are ways to introduce the other themes while keeping SPEC as the foundation.

  6. Grade Levels • Students of ALL ages and grade levels can begin to investigate SPEC in thoughtful and meaningful ways. • The key is to engage the standards in different ways, scaffold the skill and then spiral it so keeps unlock deeper meaning.

  7. We need a formula! • Other subject areas have formulas to help students “show their work” and have a path to figure our problems. • History and Social Studies can be considered in the same way . . .

  8. Let’s try it out: Generate ideas and find the SPECs • 1. Name a figure or event central to the content: • Abraham Lincoln. • 2. Call out anything you know about this topic.

  9. Now: • Let’s take the list and use SPEC to categorize and organize our answers.

  10. The result: • Absent of an initial clear vision of Abraham Lincoln – armed with SPEC – students will be able to approach content with a plan in order to use what they know to formulate a response.

  11. Get out your SPECtacles. • Let’s examine some primary source documents for some SPECifics.

  12. Let’s move it past just the generation of ideas . . . • Graphic Organizers. • Scavenger Hunts. • Extension into an interactive notebook. • Make generalizations that will lead to . . . • THE WRITING PROCESS!

  13. TOPIC

  14. The Table Top:

  15. SPECulate • In need of a conclusion that doesn’t “tell me what you told me” – have the students take a calculated risk!

  16. What is the goal? • Have students providing a broad SPECtrum of thesis statements and conclusions that show their content mastery and their historical thinking capabilities.

  17. What was unique about the British colonial experience that laid the foundations for revolution? Its Ideological Origins

  18. Typical Interpretation:British revenue acts and American resistance • Sugar Act, 1764 • Stamp Act, 1765 • Stamp Act Congress and Boycotts • Townshend Duties, 1767, and Boycotts • Boston Massacre, 1770 • Tea Act, 1773 • Boston Tea Party, 1774 • Coercive Acts, 1774 • 1st Continental Congress, 1774 • Battle at Lexington and Concord, April 1775

  19. But why are these acts so incendiary? Why do Americans respond differently? • Old Interpretation: a conflict between virtuous American people and: • Inept British Empire • Tyrannical British Empire

  20. Why ARE these acts so incendiary FOR AMERICANS? New Interpretation: Ideology

  21. New appreciation for ideological causes of historical events • More benign meaning to “ideology” – a mentality • Contemporary history –Cold War ideological conflicts • Social science influence: anthropology and cultural meaning

  22. Shared British-American ideology • British constitution sacred – key to liberty • Constitution not codified; accumulated precedent

  23. British Constitution: mixed Government Montesquieu, 1748

  24. British Constitution: mixed Government Montequieu, 1748 – Unprecedented stability and harmony

  25. REAL reasons for British stability and harmony • 1. Controversial issues all settled • King governs according to Parliamentary statutes • Will not levy taxes or wage war without consent • No standing army in peacetime

  26. REAL reasons for British stability and harmony • 2. Day to day harmony ensured: • Crown exercise of “influence” over elections • Crown distribution of patronage

  27. Criticism of British system of influence and patronage:Radical Whigs/CommonwealthmenJohn Trenchard and Thomas Gordon, 1720-23

  28. Criticism of British system of influence and patronage: RADICAL WHIG IDEOLOGY BIG IDEAS: • Power Threatens Liberty • Liberty: Ability to exercise natural rights in limits set by law • Power: Compulsion “absolute power corrupts, absolutely” • The People MUST be Vigilant Against Corruption and Tyranny

  29. Radical Whig Thought Appeals to: AMERICAN COLONIES • American Constitution Mimics British

  30. American Differences from British Political System:Power of Executive • 1. On surface, more power: • Veto Power • Can convene and dissolve Assembly at will • Judiciary powers

  31. American Differences from the British System:Power of the Executive • But in practice, less control . . . • Responsible to external executive: Board of Trade • Little “influence” over elections Reduced ability to distribute patronage Assemblies appoint sheriffs, approve judges, appoint colonial treasurer

  32. American Differences: Assemblies not Manageable • Representation more egalitarian 50-75% of white men meet property qualifications to vote • Leadership less settled Instructions given to representatives • Idea of direct representation evolves

  33. Thus, Through American eyes . . . • Governors too powerful • British system corrupt • Radical whig warnings make sense . . .

  34. Thank You • Questions, comments, modifications? • afitzpatrick@aihe.info

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