I am teaching 7/8 Social Studies for the first time this year. Our 7th grade book is about World cultures. The Illinois state standards in Social Studies do not include virtually anything about other countries. Every grade is focused on the US. I am in a private school so it is not necessary I completely follow the standards but I don't want to go totally opposite of them also. Shouldn't the students learn about the world and it's cultures? It is on our state tests? Do I just go by the book and not the standards?
The Illinois standards don't include anything about other countries? Are you sure you're looking at the right standards? Yes, the Illinois social studies standards stink, but State Goal 16 (history) is fairly evenly split between US and World History. At the Middle Grades level, there are plenty of standards focused on non-US history. http://www.isbe.state.il.us/ils/social_science/pdf/goal16.pdf
I feel you about Social Studies standards and the textbooks especially at the MS level. I have taught 6th, 7th and 8th Grade Social Studies and I am teaching 6th & 7th this year. In Maryland, the 7th Grade Social Studies curriulum is technically World Geograhpy. But, the textbooks I have been asked to use for 7th grade always focus on World Cultures. Usually the first unit in the book is about geography, mapping, finding locations, physical features and so forth. The rest of the book is then divided up into units about each contintent/world region. Thus, I just follow the textbook and find ways to link the state's Social Studies standards to the book's current topic. Also, my district has adopted the Common Core and since there are no Social Studies Common Core standards/objectives - only Humanities (ELA - Reading & Writing) - sometimes I just use those. Maryland does not have a Social Studies state test for MS so I am not worried about teaching to the test. And, personally, I find the 7th curriculum to be the WORST and so boring; I enjoy teaching history but geography and modern world cultures are just not my thing.
Does your private school have it's own standards? I teach in a Catholic School and the Archdiocese itself has standards that are based on the state standards.
I also teach in a Catholic school and the standards are very similar to the Illinois ones. For the standards that are world based, it is ancient civilizations. Basically, everything our book isn't.
Yeah, I looked them over more carefully, and I see what you mean... they're more history-focused, as opposed to world cultures. Are the geography standards perhaps more applicable?
I have that concern and I teach 3rd grade about the Common Core standards. We have atleast one more year of the current state tests before we switch. Our textbook does not cover all of the new standards and a lot of what I used last year I can't use this year. I will be doing a lot of making up my own stuff this year.
I think you should go by the standards which your school follows after all they are world based and you are teaching in that school.
