[00:00:00] Kirsten: This is the Social Studies Teacher Podcast, a show for busy elementary teachers looking for fun and engaging ways to easily add. Social studies into their classroom schedule [00:00:20] without feeling overwhelmed or pressed for time. I'm Kirsten of the Southern teach, an educator and mom who is passionate about all things social studies.

[00:00:30] I love sharing ideas and strategies that are low prep and easy to implement, so let's dive in together.[00:00:40]

[00:00:47] Teaching social studies can be so overwhelming as an elementary teacher. It's one of the subjects you might be expected to teach, but you're given not a lot of time to teach it. So we are going to [00:01:00] vent together in this episode about some frustrations and challenges in teaching social studies and some quick wins in order for you to make it happen throughout the school year.

[00:01:10] This is the very first video episode for the Social Studies Teacher podcast. We are doing something brand new for [00:01:20] season three, and I'm so excited, so here I am. If you're not watching this on YouTube, it's totally fine. You can always go on and listen where you love to listen to podcasts. And I also have a written form of whatever the topic is on my blog@thesouthernteach.com slash.

[00:01:37] Blog. So without further ado, let's go [00:01:40] ahead and dive in. When I first started this podcast, I recall coming across an article from Education Week, and it had a really. Pretty telling article from the Rand Corporation analyzing social studies and how it's being taught or not being taught in the classroom.

[00:01:58] The results that [00:02:00] they had were definitely not surprising. The Cliff notes of this is that social studies is basically kind of on the back burner, and math and reading are more heavily focused on and emphasized instead of social studies. And to make matters worse, you know that there's always inadequate resources or [00:02:20] materials.

[00:02:20] You're not really able to find what you need to in order to teach social studies, even though it may be required for some grade levels. Today I'm gonna be narrowing down on two major challenges that I personally have experienced, and that is. Lack of time and lack of resources. But the good news is that I'm gonna share [00:02:40] some solutions, simple, quick, actionable wins that you can incorporate even when you might have 15 minutes to teach social studies a day, or you can only get to it once or twice a week.

[00:02:50] And then at the end, I'll show you two resources that you can. Utilize that I've created that will give you even more support [00:03:00] to help you implement social studies effectively. So let's go ahead and start with the first one. Lack of time. You know that you're likely as an elementary teacher teaching multiple subjects.

[00:03:12] ELA science, social studies. But then when you get into upper elementary, you have even more to focus on. There might be [00:03:20] state standardized testing that you have to stop everything in prep for, and some grade levels in upper elementary might be departmentalized, so there might be ELA social studies teachers, and there might be math and science teachers or social studies and science teachers.

[00:03:36] But with that all going on, you've got small groups, [00:03:40] behavior, different varying levels. That is another big one. It is really hard to prioritize certain subjects over others. It's just the nature of things, especially with the accountability and the high stakes pressure that you might be getting from your district or in your state.

[00:03:59] So with that [00:04:00] being said, you may be lucky to get. Maybe 10 to 15 minutes to squeeze in social studies a day, and I hear all the time, there's not enough time. I cannot fit this in. There's so many other things we have to focus on. I'm not really even sure how to make it priority. So here are a few simple ways to make the most of the [00:04:20] social studies time that you do have.

[00:04:21] The first idea is to try the mini lesson model, so your direct teaching for about five to 10 minutes. A quick lesson about a social studies topic or concept, and then you can give them an exit ticket or a reflection sheet, and you can implement that with your students, even showing a BrainPOP [00:04:40] video related to something you're supposed to be talking about, like the three branches or the civil rights movement.

[00:04:46] You can have the video, watch it, and then discuss or have some quick exit ticket or reflection, something short and purposeful. A second idea is to integrate it into ELA. So if you have a [00:05:00] lot of ELA time I. You can find purposeful ways to integrate it with social studies. One of my favorite things to integrate is biographies, learning about famous people in history, especially around the winter timeframe, January, February.

[00:05:15] Those are really great tie-ins with ELA. 'cause. You can [00:05:20] also talk about the literary nonfiction genre, and I actually have a couple of podcast episodes that I've talked about relating to that. Famous people in history as well as teaching literary nonfiction, and I'll make sure to link those in the description.

[00:05:33] You could also use primary sources or secondary sources and integrate the comprehension strategies [00:05:40] and skills that have been taught in ELA and. Just kind of give them that ability using their ELA strategies to understand and analyze and critically think about those sources. And my last idea for this is to choose anchor days or just pick a couple days a week.

[00:05:59] It could be [00:06:00] Monday, Wednesday, Friday. I used to do Monday and Tuesday as social studies, and Wednesday through Friday was my science block. When I was teaching all subjects, you could always just pick different days to really focus on social studies. It could be one day a week, two days a week. However many days you need, rather than trying to fit it in [00:06:20] for 30 to 35 minutes a day, sometimes it can't be possible depending on what's going on throughout the year.

[00:06:25] Whether you pick one day a week or two days a week or so on and so forth, it still builds consistency 'cause they know that, let's say. Wednesdays are social studies days, or Fridays and Thursdays are social studies, so that can be a really great strategy if you are [00:06:40] strapped for time. Going into the second challenge, I know a lot of teachers are facing with teaching social studies is the lack of quality resources.

[00:06:49] This is a biggie. So many of us are given outdated textbooks and really dry. Resources that, sure, they're free, [00:07:00] but it's not exactly the most engaging or we might be given no materials at all. So we are left finding things ourselves, Pinterest, TPT, making it ourselves sometime Googling things, trying to put everything together to make it work.

[00:07:15] So I have some tips to help you take the overwhelm out of trying to find [00:07:20] all the resources. The first step is just starting with a small resource bank. It can be super easy. You can take some of the resources you've already really enjoyed and your students have really enjoyed, and you know it's dependable and something you can count on.

[00:07:34] Think something super reusable like graphic organizers or [00:07:40] vocabulary cards or timeline templates. Take that. Put it in your little resource bank. You can reuse it for different topics, and it's just a helpful way to rotate and reuse. It doesn't have to be super fancy. It's something that is straightforward, easy for students to use, gives you that quick win.

[00:07:58] Another idea is [00:08:00] to think of what's happening throughout the year, different holidays, current events that are happening. Use that as a starting point to make connections and make social studies relevant and engaging. Now, if you are nodding your head and you're like, this is. All the things I've been thinking.

[00:08:15] These are both challenges I face as a teacher trying to [00:08:20] fit in social studies, but I don't have the time to create and plan out the lessons myself. I totally get it, and that is why I have created two different solutions. To help make this easy for teachers to implement. My first solution is my smart and simple social studies [00:08:40] guided curriculum.

[00:08:41] This is a complete curriculum built for third, fourth, and fifth grade teachers, and I also have sixth grade world cultures. The curriculum includes pacing guides. Short, mini lessons, slideshows, guided notes, independent activities, quizzes, assessments, [00:09:00] and if you're in Texas, everything is teaks aligned and designed to be taught in short blocks of time.

[00:09:06] You can always break it apart if you'd like. It's super flexible, so this is a really great solution if you're looking for something complete and thorough. The other solution I have is the smart and simple Social Studies all [00:09:20] Access membership. It's only open a couple of times a year. It's going to be opening again in July.

[00:09:27] So I'm super excited about that, but this is great. If you want not only the guided curriculum, but additional supplemental resources, you literally get the all access pass to access all [00:09:40] of the social studies resources that I have in my TPT and website store. There's a variety of WebQuests task cards, writing prompts.

[00:09:50] All kinds of additional supplemental materials that you can use, as well as bonus monthly surprises, videos, and additional tools [00:10:00] that can work with really any curriculum to help reinforce and review concepts. The All Access membership is great for individual teachers. If you're just a teacher that is just wanting resources just for you, but if you're.

[00:10:14] With a grade level that all teaches social studies or maybe a school that [00:10:20] needs third, fourth, and fifth grade social studies resources, and you happen to teach in Texas. I do also have the school subscriptions version of the membership. It's specifically curated for the Texas State standard, so third grade school subscription.

[00:10:37] Is communities. Fourth grade is [00:10:40] Texas history, and fifth grade is US History. The school subscription also includes the guided curriculum and then curated topic, supplemental resources that are related to those specific teaks aligned units. The great thing about all of these solutions is that it's designed to save you time.[00:11:00]

[00:11:00] And it is also designed to give you those quality resources that you may have trouble finding elsewhere. So to recap this episode, lack of time is always a problem, not just with teaching in general, but especially social studies because there are other subjects and. [00:11:20] Things that are prioritized before we get to social studies, and so it's placed on the back burner more times than not.

[00:11:28] Even though social studies is extremely important to teach students so that they can be well-rounded. And knowledgeable global citizens of our [00:11:40] society in the future. And the other problem that we have is the lack of quality resources. They're not always the prettiest. They're not always the most up to date in terms of terminology.

[00:11:52] But it is something that can be alleviated with the right support, with the right strategies, whether [00:12:00] it's through the solutions that I offer or just those quick wins that I mentioned earlier in this episode. You can teach social studies effectively and efficiently If you are ever wondering about the guided curriculum or want to learn more or want to purchase, or if you're interested in the All Access membership.

[00:12:19] Or the [00:12:20] school subscriptions for Texas teachers. You can check the links in the description. I'll make sure to link those and you can check them out. Thank you so much for watching the first video episode and the first episode of season three. Thanks for listening to the Social Studies Teacher podcast.

[00:12:38] If you enjoyed listening to this [00:12:40] episode, hit that subscribe button and leave a review. I would love to hear your thoughts. You can also find me on Instagram at the Southern Teach. I can't wait for you to join me in the next episode for more teacher tips and [00:13:00] strategies.