I am a passionate teacher of early learners. Last year I was recognized as regional teacher of the year.
I strongly oppose the social studies content standards currently being considered by the South Dakota Board of Education Standards. To understand why, let me tell you more about a typical day in my classroom.
Each school day, we start with songs, jokes, commitments, and celebrations. We get into “school mode,” learn about one another, and have a little fun! Most speaking and listening standards are addressed here.
Our first content is math. We add and subtract fluently within 10, solve story problems, conceptualize place-value, tell time to the hour, and even dabble with fractions.
Next, we rotate science, social studies, and art lessons into our additional studies block. This time is an hour long, twice a week. It is the only time we have to work on these content areas. So far, we’ve studied topics like night patterns, American symbols, and pointillism art.
People are also reading…
We round out the morning with foundational reading skills. Here we focus on segmenting phonemes, deleting syllables, phonics rules, irregular words, and decodable text.
After lunch, we apply what we’ve learned in foundational reading to actual books. Reading is very difficult in first grade. We spend the largest chunk of our day trying to master essential reading standards. I read to them, we read together, they read to each other; I love it when they read to themselves! Embedded in all this reading instruction is grammar, spelling, and comprehension. We study spelling patterns, discuss themes, and make inferences. Punctuation placement and vocabulary push us to our brain capacity. Our literacy block is jam-packed with reading, conversation, and questions.
Phew! Are you tired yet?
Now we’re writing. We’ve written sequenced narratives, informational texts, and are currently diving into opinion-driven reviews! We study the varying structures of these types of writing, writer’s craft, word spacing, and text features.
We finish the day with another class meeting to reflect, count the daily acts of kindness, clean up, and say goodbye.
Difficult skills and concepts are packed into the day. There isn’t room for anything else — especially the proposed social studies content standards.
There are over 113 standards proposed for first grade. Here are but three examples, taken verbatim from first grade:
— The student identifies the major figures and stories within Greek mythology.
— The student tells the story of the Roman civil wars and the triumvirates.
— The student explains the rule of law, compared and contrasted in the Magna Carta to the arbitrary rule of man.
If these are required, my students’ day would have a lot less reading, writing, and math, art, and community building. All time would be spent helping my students cope with the immense amount of historical information we’d be cramming into the day: THOUSANDS of years of history, HUNDREDS of events and people, DOZENS of wars and political events. All for what cost? And oh-my-stars…how?!
I EXPECT students to do hard things — that are research-based, data driven, and developmentally appropriate. The proposed social studies standards are not research-based, not data-driven, and are far from appropriate. These proposed standards cannot be feasibly inserted into a first-grade day.
Educators are strongly opposed to the proposed social studies content standards, and I hope you can now see why. I encourage you to visit the South Dakota Department of Education website, review the proposed social studies standards, and provide your public comment in opposition. You can do so at: https://doe.sd.gov/ContentStandards/ss-review.aspx
Jen Macziewski is a Rapid City first grade teacher and was the regional teacher of the year in 2022.
