Jaimee T. Mendillo
The teaching of Social Studies always happens in conjunction with the teaching of English Language Arts, which is why I am including standards from both disciplines. The Connecticut State Department of Education published a new “Connecticut Elementary and Secondary Social Studies Standards” in 2024. This unit addresses both Inquiry and History Standards.
Inquiry Standards:
- 8.Inq.1.a. Explain how compelling and supporting questions represent key ideas in the study of United States history.
- 8.Inq.2.a. Apply disciplinary knowledge and practices to demonstrate an understanding of United States history content.
- 8.Inq.3.a. Gather information from multiple sources and evaluate their relevance and intended use (e.g., origin, authority, structure, context, corroborative value, credibility).
- 8.Inq.4.a. Construct arguments using evidence from multiple sources, while acknowledging the strengths and limitations of the arguments.
- 8.Inq.4.d. Present arguments and explanations that feature multiple perspectives about local, state, or national history to reach a target audience using print, oral, and digital technologies.
- 8.Inq.4.e. Analyze how a specific problem can manifest itself at local, regional, and global levels over time, identifying its characteristics and causes, and the challenges and opportunities faced by those trying to address the problem.
- 8.Inq.4.f. Apply a range of deliberative and democratic procedures to make decisions and take action in classrooms, schools, and out-of-school civic contexts.
History Standard:
- 8.His.14.c. Explain multiple causes and effects of racism both during and after Reconstruction.
The College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards: Guidance for Enhancing the Rigor of K-12 Civics, Economics, Geography, and History was published in 2013 by the National Council for the Social Studies. This unit addresses the following C3 Framework Standards:
- D2.Civ.11.6-8. Differentiate among procedures for making decisions in the classroom, school, civil society, and local, state, and national government in terms of how civic purposes are intended.
- D2.Civ.13.6-8. Analyze the purposes, implementation, and consequences of public policies in multiple settings.
To reference English Language Arts standards for Connecticut, the Connecticut State Department of Education redirects to the Common Core State Standards Initiative website. I accessed two different areas of English Language Arts standards that my students will cover in this unit:
“English Language Arts Standards in History/Social Studies, Grades 6-8,” https://www.thecorestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RH/6-8/
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.6. Identify aspects of a text that reveal an author's point of view or purpose.
“English Language Arts Standards in Reading Informational Texts, Grade 8,” https://www.thecorestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RI/8/
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.8.1. Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.8.3. Analyze how a text makes connections among and distinctions between individuals, ideas, or events.
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.8.7. Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of using different mediums (e.g., print or digital text, video, multimedia) to present a particular topic or idea.
