Benchmark – Social Studies and the Arts Integrated Unit Plan 

Throughout this course, you have had the opportunity to research and implement a learning activity that is cross-curricular with social studies and the arts, along with appropriate instructional strategies, questioning strategies, and differentiation.

Part 1: Social Studies Unit Plan

For this benchmark, you will plan a weeklong unit using the “Social Studies Unit Plan.” The unit plan should include social studies integrated with the visual arts and require students to research a country of their choice. You may adapt any previous assignments and lesson plans in the creation of this mini-unit plan, as long as the lessons form a planned cohesive unit. The unit plan will focus on government and economics of the selected country, U.S. and world history (comparing the selected country to the U.S), and geography and social studies of the selected country.         

Use the “Class Profile” for background information on your students in order to differentiate to meet the diverse needs of students.

Design the unit plan so that it:

Develops students’ abilities to make informed decisions in a culturally diverse democratic society and interdependent world.

Integrates visual arts to promote communication, inquiry, and engagement.

Incorporates responsible use of media, digital tools, and resources, including:

• Virtual pen pal options with students from the selected country.
• Safety measures for using the Internet in the classroom.
• Research of performance and visual arts of the selected country.
• How students can communicate and collaborate with students of other cultures.

Part 2: Rationale

Along with the unit, submit a 250-500 word rationale that explains the reasoning behind your instructional strategies and choices. Explain how you will use your findings in your future professional practice.

APA format is not required, but solid academic writing is expected.

This assignment uses a rubric. Review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

You are required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite. Refer to the LopesWrite Technical Support articles for assistance.

This benchmark assignment assesses the following programmatic competencies [and professional standards]:

MA in Elementary Education

1.4 Promote responsible student use of active technologies to collaborate in positive face-to-face and virtual local and global environments through applying effective interpersonal communication skills. [ACEI 1.0; InTASC 3(b), 3(g), 3(h), 3(m), 3(n), 3(o); ISTE-T 4a, 4c; MC1, MC4, MC5]

2.4: Use the major concepts and modes of inquiry from the social studies—the integrated study of history, geography, the social sciences, and other related areas—to promote elementary students’ abilities to make informed decisions as citizens of a culturally diverse democratic society and interdependent world. [ACEI 2.4; InTASC 4(b), 4(m), 4(o), 4(p) 5(g); MC2, MC5]

2.5: Use—as appropriate to their own understanding and skills—the content, functions, and achievements of the performing arts (dance, music, theater) and the visual arts as primary media for communication, inquiry, and engagement among elementary students. [ACEI 2.5; InTASC 5(e), 5(n), 8(h), 8(m), 8(q); MC1, MC2]

Pen Pals in the 21st Century

Read “Pen Pals in the 21st Century,” located on the Edutopia website.

URL:https://www.edutopia.org/blog/pen-pals-in-21st-century-lisa-mims

Clinical Field Experience D : Assessment and Feedback 

Allocate at least 1 hour in the field to support this field experience.

For this field experience, you will assess students, provide them feedback, and reflect on the summative assessment implementation.

Part 1: Assessment

In the previous field experience, you designed and implemented a lesson that provided additional learning support to the selected group of students. In the final part of the assessment process, you will conduct a summative assessment for the same group of students.

Your summative assessment should be designed to determine mastery of identified standards. Prior to completing the assessment, review the pre-assessment to ensure appropriate concepts are measured in the final assessment. Once your summative assessment is complete, ask your mentor teacher to review it for approval.

Administer the assessment to the group of students. You may provide multiple assessment methods (oral, written, technology driven, etc.), and differentiate assessment based on the needs of the students.

Part 2: Provide Feedback 

Individually review each student’s assessment results with him or her. During each conference, ask the following questions to engage the student:

• How do you feel about the lesson?  
• What was most difficult?
• What was easy?

During this time, provide effective, descriptive feedback that starts with a positive strength of each student and ends with identifying instructional goals for the student to continue working on.  

Part 3: Reflection 

Submit a 250-500 word reflection of your experience creating a summative assessment, implementing it, and providing feedback. Did the data you collected in the pre-assessment help you prepare an applicable summative assessment? What challenges did you run into during the summative assessment and how did you deal with them? Explain how you will use this process in your future professional practice.

Submit a description or copy of your assessment, along with a 250-500 word reflection on giving instructional feedback to the students, as one deliverable.

APA format is not required, but solid academic writing is expected.

This assignment uses a rubric. Review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

You are required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite. Refer to the LopesWrite Technical Support articles for assistance.

Document the locations and hours you spend in the field on your Clinical Field Experience Verification Form.

Submit the Clinical Field Experience Verification Form to LoudCloud in the last topic. Directions for submitting can be found on the College of Education site in the Student Success Center.