Individuals, Groups, and Institutions
5) Social Studies teachers should possess the knowledge, capabilities, and dispositions to organize and provide instruction at the appropriate school level for the study of Individuals, Groups, and Institutions.
This theme correlated very strongly with the material I taught in the spring. During my Legislative Branch unit I was able to spend five weeks on the institution of Congress. In the second unit we looked at groups that have influence on the institution of Congress, individuals running for office, and individual citizens. These units were all about the institutions. You can view my unit plan for the first unit by selecting the button to the right.
The first unit about the legislative branch had to do with the foundations, structure, and powers of Congress. In one of my first units we looked at the different plans that morphed into the structure we have today. We talked about individuals like Madison and Hamilton who had huge influences on the creation of Congress. Through a jigsaw the students were able to see how the different plans influenced the next, why certain plans were rejected, and why the Connecticut Plan was accepted. This led into the structure of the Congress and a FRAME dealing with the different houses in the legislature. We looked at the groups that make up the institution as a whole. Students also looked at committees and congressional staffers. I was attempting to show how Congressmen are not really individuals when it comes to lawmaking. They are a group of staffers reading, writing, and amending bills. The FRAME was an excellent way to show the groupings.
The second unit was another great example of this theme. I took what I had already taught the students and applied other groups to it. We looked at how the media, interest groups and political parties influence Congress and the lawmaking process. In the first lesson we discussed how political parties influenced a law in a West Wing episode. The president’s staff acting in the role of party leader was influencing what was happening in the institution of Congress. They utilized threats and bribes to ensure that a bill was passed in Congress. This was a great way to show students how certain groups influence Congress. Another lesson dealt with the media and how the government can influence media, while the media influences individuals. I conducted a jigsaw of a New York Times article that examined the practice of the government to record news segments and give them to local television stations that the station passed off as their own work. During this lesson we also discussed how certain news stations are definitively liberal or conservative. They can influence viewers through the issues that they cover and the way in which they cover them. We talked about bias and how they, as citizens, should always be aware of what bias certain groups have. I challenged students to not just ask what an article or news segment is trying to tell them but also why they are being told this? Through this question we can limit the influence of groups on our opinions.
Another lesson that I developed for a history class that closely aligns with this theme can be seen below. Overall, I think that I did an excellent job at supporting student learning through this theme. I was able to connect this theme to not only the curriculum, but also to the lives of the students. If you can do this you can make the curriculum relevant and meaningful to the students. In the future, I think this theme will be very easy to incorporate in every genre of social studies. Individuals, groups, and institutions are key to understanding any curriculum. It is interwoven into everything. The trick will be using the theme to relate to students lives. But, I have had a good start on this front and I think it will continue to be a strength in teaching.