Professional Development - Teaching the SCC

I sent a letter to the National Council of Social Studies listserv that I have been on for the past 3 or 4 years to provide them with some feedback on the wonderful semester I had - using ideas that I solicited from that wonderful professionals on that listserv. I think it merits being an entry today.

January 2006

Back in June I asked for advice from this listserv on how to structure and teach a course on culture and a few asked me to share the results. I have to say - the semester went terrifically. I took many (if not all!) of your ideas.

I set up the 15 week semester into 5 sections. Within each section, I had various field trips, daily work, assessments, small group meetings, large group (the former run by students, the latter by me) and informal experiences. I'll spare you from every little detail of the term, but would like to share some details; your suggestions went so well, I plan on duplicating the whole set up again for spring term.

Thanks! Ryan

There are field trips and host family experiences going on usually at least once a week. The students met with me during orientation week, then again 5 times through out the semester. On 'off' weeks, they met in small groups. The 15 weeks were divided up into 5 three week sections:

The five sections:

1. Identifying Culture
2. Developing an Historical Context
3. Making Connections
4. Drawing Conclusions
5. Cultural Competence
   

Identifying Culture
We discussed the Iceberg model of culture. I had the students make some predictions about Scottish Culture (which they would revisit during the last week and 'correct'). They read a brief article on the tangibles and intangibles (values, beliefs, etc.) in culture. Within each of the 5 sections (so once about every 3 weeks), the students completed a 2000 word journal with pre-arranged topics (topics which still allowed for creativity and flexibility). The students, in 'clan' groups of 8, went on a scavenger hunt in Edinburgh.

Developing a Context
The students met in groups of 5 to discuss their first impressions, learning thus far from host families, scavenger hunt, etc. They were also assigned the first of 3 larger assessments (projects): a tic-tac-toe research paper. I'm sure many of you have seen or use this type of assessment. 9 topics from politics/history/economics /social themes/literature/science were placed on the grid. Students needed to take any three in any row, research them and connect them in a 1,500 word paper. Large group seminar found me discussing their papers with them as I was trying to draw out what they were learning about Scottish cutlure over there 6 weeks so far; accessing their knowledge from their British-taught courses as well, they were able to grasp the 'context' for the culture and why certain attitudes prevailed over others or explain the prevalence of objects/symbols (religious icons) in public or private arenas, and so forth. The real challenge of this project was the short length requirement - they really needed to focus on what was important and be able to link it to other major themes. They also submitted a journal.

Making Connections
Again, students meet in small groups to process their learning without the teacher. I should note that all of these meetings had a structure to them and required brief (typed) notes. During this phase, students were asked to reflect on similarities and differences between at least 2 articles from Scottish newspapers and 2 articles from American newspapers (on the same theme, e.g., security), watch Hollywood made movies about Scottish history (e.g., Braveheart - and all of its errors ;-) and along with their discussions with host families and all of the field trips they have been on (Wallace Monument, Sterling Castle, New Lanark, etc) describe how the past is reflected in the present and how media portrays or represents culture correctly and where it exaggerates attitudes and beliefs (influences nationalism or contributes to a sense of identity).

Drawing Conclusions
In an attempt to leave stereotypes and myths, this section asked the students to complete Project 2: "Scottish Novel Report". Each student had to read and review a Scottish novel, and along with the basic dissection of the setting/plot/conclusion as they related to Scottish culture/identity, they had to connect the story to an event (defining moment) in their life. Discussions in the seminar about cultural, universal and personal values were engaging after an assignment like this. Furthermore, it was good to have the students draw out the idiosyncrasies of Scottish culture that were infused into the works of literature - utilizing over 50 titles, there was a great amount of diversity in what the students seized from the project and then shared in large group. Of course, they again had more field trips to York and a Scottish Mining museum and the Dalkeith Palace to write about in journals and discuss in their small group meetings.

Cultural Competence
The last component had them reflecting on their previous four small group sessions and identifying how their views had changed or were reinforced. They were then charged with the task of planning a culturally significant and culturally sensitive house trip (similar to the 5 or 6 house trips through the semester). They had to budget the trip, outline pre-departure plans, create an itinerary, find hotel/hostel accommodations, and ultimately justify, with historical/political/social information about why the destinations ('Iona' or 'Viking Fire Festival' in the Shetland Islands) would be significant for student learning and finally, create a post-trip assessment or survey. Thanks was a fantastic idea - thanks again. The students could sympathize with how difficult it is to plan a trip and truly figure out how and why places might typify Scottish culture. (This project was their only group one and was presented during large group seminar.)

In summary: 5 journals (2,000 words each) 5 small group meetings, documented (student led - every other week) 5 large group meetings (teacher led - the opposite week of sm. group) 3 Projects (Research paper, Novel report, Planning a trip [group])

Things I would change: As educators you know there is always room for improvement. The semester really did go very well, so the changes I make are going to be on the written directions I give for the 3 projects (I can't assume that just because I am working with college students that I can gloss over details - I need to be just as clear as with 9th graders as it is still a room full of diverse learners). Second, and this is a process piece, but I think I'd like to structure my large group meetings in such a way that the students either lead them or do most of the talking. Although productive, I found myself stating (or re-stating) the 'ah-ha' learning taking place. The job of a teacher is to summarize, but I need to investigate some tools that will prompt the students to come prepared to share an 'ah-ha' type of moment to the seminars, and then get them do some of the verbal summarizing; they need to be the meaning-makers of their experience. All in all, it went very well.

Thanks again.