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The Desk.

A Dignified Countenance, and a little bit of Soul.

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Hear bee sum pitchers eye maid.
Yea.
|And the Lord spake unto the masses@ 10:06 PM|

Friday, September 08, 2006

The response to my letter to NCDPI (see last post):

"I think you have to understand that high school is hopefully a
culmination of the standard course of study in social studies that has
been implemented across a student's career. Students learn about
exploration in their 4th grade history class when they study NC; they
study US History in 5th grade beginning with the explorers and the
Indian tribes; they study NC History in the US in 8th grade...all before
high school.

The US History curriculum used to include exploration to the present.
It led to history being taught as a series of dates and events - a mile
wide and an inch deep. We have found that the only way to engage
students is to teach less scope but in more depth. Like you I am a
history major and learning about all of it is important to me.

Students having only 3 courses in high school just doesn't lead to a
student's being proficient in all time periods.

Rebecca Garland"

Apparently elementary level social studies courses are supposed to suffice in teaching all the length and depth of the most important period in American history. She wants to talk about the lack of time for depth, but what kind of depth do you think they get in 4th grade? Nevermind the complex social forces and relationships present leading up to independence, let's just leave it at wooden teeth and cherry trees. They'll get a basic timeline and an overview of some of the more prominent figures, in a manner that amounts to rote memorization of names and dates (which by the way is why people think history is boring, is because of how they teach it in elementary school). It serves as an introduction, yes, and I agree that students should have a basic understanding of some of the dates and facts prior to high school, but that doesn't mean you can leave it at that. I also understand that some things have to be skimmed past or skipped over, but it's a problem across all subjects and all grade levels that there isn't enough time to cover every single piece in detail, so that is not an excuse to leave something out totally, especially something paramountly important. But if you're going to drop something, why that, why not something less signifigant? It is ultimately up to the teacher's discretion as to how much emphasis and time is spent on any given topic, and not the state's, whether it's in the SCOS or not, and I'm willing to bet that every teacher in the state still teaches on these topics. Because they understand that the rest of the story can't be told without them. And even if students aren't held accountable for it on the end of grade tests, and teachers aren't held accountable for teaching it, nine out of ten teachers don't have the conscience to deprive their students of their history, even if the state thinks an elementary level understanding is sufficient for our citizens. And just as a side note, the US history part of the naturalization and citizenship testing process is harder to pass than the EOC for US history.
|And the Lord spake unto the masses@ 5:36 PM|

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Apparently, as of 2003, the state of North Carolina no longer feels it necessary to teach the American Revolution in 11th grade American History class. Here's the email I sent to the head of curriculum for North Carolina's Department of Public Instruction, as well as the consultants in that department's office for secondary social studies regarding my concern:


"My name is Evan Watson. I am an honors student in the Watson School of Education at UNC Wilmington. I am majoring in history and on track for a secondary social studies teaching license.

Upon examining the Standard Course of Study for the high school social studies classes, I was deeply concerned with the SCOS for 11th grade US History, particularly the fact that there is no mention of what happened up to and including the Revolution, or any events prior to 1789. The course introduction even states that American history is to start with the Washington administration. Needless to say, that is ridiculous. It is impossible to fully understand all the concepts and relationships, and expect students to fully achieve these competency goals, if you pick up in the middle of the story, as the SCOS does.
http://www.ncpublicschools.org/curriculum/socialstudies/scos/2003-04/067eleventhgrade

I was then told that everything up to this point, namely the formative period of the Republic between the end of the war and the adoption of the constitution, is covered in the SCOS for Civics in 10th grade. But I found that this course only covers the period in a limited, political aspect, focusing primarily on how the Constitution was written and how it is to be interpreted, and this still does not answer the question of American history prior to that point. For example, in no course is there any mention of the early exploration and settlement of America, the colonial period, or the historical relevance of any other events and themes prior to the completed formation of the United States as such.
http://www.ncpublicschools.org/curriculum/socialstudies/scos/2003-04/062tenthgrade

Only the World History class does so, but only vaguely and as it relates to the global sense (in objectives 3.04, 3.05, 3.06, and 3.07), and not as the beginning of the American story. In any case, it seems as though a major part of our history has been overlooked here. Though I'm sure any good historian or educator would not make this mistake, a beginning teacher, coming out of the Watson School of Education for example, who is going in blind and working solely from the NC SCOS, could easily fall into this trap. That being said, I'll just say that I believe this oversight to be a tremendous flaw in the SCOS as I have read it, and I am not alone in this belief. I would just like to know where I can go to find out more about why it is written in this way, whether I have simply missed where these paramount parts of our history have been placed, and why the State of North Carolina no longer feels it necessary to teach the American Revolution, among other things, in the American history class. If you could respond and kindly explain to me what is going on here, I would greatly appreciate it, and probably benefit from this exercise in my future teaching career if I can understand why and how the SCOS gets written as it does.

Anyway, I plan to teach world history myself, as that sparks my interests more; I just wanted to clarify my confusion on this matter for my own purposes.

Thank you sincerely,
Evan M. Watson"
|And the Lord spake unto the masses@ 6:59 PM|

Thanks for Dropping By