Powerful Social Studies

1. Challenging

1.1. Throughout the lesson, teacher has students together as a group.

1.2. For example: Students are required to use their own thinking and their prior knowledge. Teacher asks them questions that causes the students to think back to past lessons, such as how different communities and cultures celebrate light.

1.3. When the students were placed into groups, they seem to be engage in conversations with each other and they worked cooperatively.

2. Value-Based

2.1. Students seem to know the classroom rules and expectations during classroom discussion.

2.2. For example: Students raise their hands before speaking and seem to repect other students' comments.

2.3. Teacher also shows respect for students comments and acknowledges their answers through praise.

3. Meaningful

3.1. The content of the lesson is deliverd a variety of ways to insure engagment from the students. She does not focus on one culture but includes mutlicultures that are present in her class.

3.2. For example: the students learn about how different cultures celebrate life and show their respect by displaying in publically in the school.

3.3. The teacher was well organized and put a lot of thought into her planning. She provided a variety of activities for her students. Her activities really go well with the goal of the lesson.

4. Integrative

4.1. Teacher integrates other subjects into her lesson.

4.2. For example: Language Arts - she uses literacy. She reads books to her students that relate to the topic of the lesson.

4.3. Science - she included the different seasons to promote a better understanding of the topic.

5. Active

5.1. The teacher integrates other resources into her lesson. She makes the lesson more meaningful for her students by using story books and art supplies. She motivates her students to think about what they have learned by asking them questions and then requiring them to expand on their answers by asking other questions.

5.2. For example: the teachers had a variety of hands-on activites and had different centers so not all students are doing the same thing. All centers are related to the topic but students are required to use skills learned in other subject areas, such as reading and writing or art.