INTASC 4. Content Knowledge

The teacher understands the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of the discipline(s) he or she teaches and creates learning experiences that make these aspects of the discipline accessible and meaningful for learners to assure mastery of the content.

 

     It is important for a social studies teacher to have an abundance of content knowledge on the subject matter they are teaching. Teachers have to be knowledgeable in disciplines like history, government, geography, economics, psychology, and sociology in order to be able to teach social studies effectively. During my college career at Richard Bland and Virginia Tech I have learned a lot of new information in a variety of social studies classes. I was fortunate to be a student in Dr. Robertson’s Civil War and Reconstruction class during his final year of teaching. I learned a lot of information about the lives of soldiers and families affected by the war. During my Senior year of undergrad I wrote a paper in my African-American Topics class about the role of USCT Troops in the Battle of the Crater, which is less than an hour away from where I grew up (See Evidence 1).

     During graduate school I continued to learn a lot of new information in my political science courses. I read Samuel Huntington’s famous book “Clash of Civilizations” in the Political of Developing Areas class (See Evidence 2). In that class and also the Regionalism and Political Development class I took, I learned a lot more about US as well as Western involvement in the third world than most social studies teachers are not exposed to. For both of those classes I wrote my term papers on Haiti, first on the role of NGO’s in the country, then the most recent one on the role of foreign aid in the country (See Evidence 3 and 4). Also in The Executive Branch class I took, I learned about the importance of Executive Branch, which many teachers can overlook when teaching about the Three Branches of Government.

     It is critical for me to use my wealth of content knowledge in the future when teaching social studies classes. It will also be important for me to keep up-to-date on my content knowledge. When I taught both in the Fall and Spring, I had reviewed my World History then my American History. I have been told by teachers and I agree that it is important for me to know more than what is in the student textbook, as students enjoy when a teacher can share an interesting piece of information with the class. Having said that, it is impossible for teachers to know everything about social studies, so it is ok to admit I do not know something. I have done that several times in the Spring, and it helps both me and students become more curious in finding out the answer.

 

Evidence