If there is one thing I learned this semester, it is that teaching social studies is not just about the

content, but also about teaching strategies and engaging the students. While it is imperative that
social studies teachers know the content they are teaching, they must also be able to convey this
information in a way that engages their audience. What do you need to know to teach social
studies? By going into the field at Anthony Wayne High School and observing Justin Zemanskis
class room, writing blog posts, and reading multiple case studies and documents, I was able to
find the answer to this question and come up with a few sub questions; What specific content do
high school social studies educators need to know? And how can we promote higher order
thinking (HOT) in the classroom?
What specific content do high school social studies educators need to know?
As stated above, it is imperative that social studies educators are familiar with the content they
are teaching. More specifically; American history, world history, American government,
economics and financial literacy, contemporary world issues, and geography (Ohio Department
of Education, 2010). Within these main courses there is an intense amount of information and
events that social studies educators need to know. It is very important the students feel that their
teacher is knowledgeable in the content he or she is instructing. As we discussed in class, if the
students are not confident in their teachers legitimacy, they will never be confident with the
content they are teaching them. It is always important for students to be comfortable in the class
room. As we discussed in class, never call a student out and never condemn a wrong answer.
Instead, teachers should encourage participation in the class room which promotes a comfortable
atmosphere which is better for learning. While I was observing Mr. Zemanskis many social
studies courses (American history, American government, and contemporary world issues), I
noticed that the students (about 25 in each class) had confidence in his knowledge and were
eager to ask him questions before, during, and after class.
How can we promote higher order thinking in the classroom?
Promoting higher order thinking is an essential part of teaching. While it is important that the
students know the content, it is also necessary that they can synthesize, generalize, explain,
hypothesize, or arrive at some conclusion or interpretation (Newman, Wehlage,1993). In our
class, Dr. Patterson and Mrs. Menzie always point out the purpose of our lessons and make sure
we understand our objectives by having class discussions fueled by essential questions. By
asking students essential questions, teachers can provide students with the ability to reach a
deeper understanding of key standards (Bower, Lobdell and Owens, 2010). I was able to
observe this in the classroom with a different teacher, Mr. Musgrove who taught psychology
classes. At the beginning of the unit, he had his students write down a few essential questions in
their journals and then had them answer and discuss these questions as the unit progressed. This
is a perfect example of promoting HOT in the classroom using essential questions. He got his
students engaged in the class and coming up with hypothesis and conclusions.

References
Bower, B., Lobdell, J., and Owens, S. (2010). Essential questions. Bring learning alive! Methods to
transform middle and high school social studies. Palo Alto, CA: Teachers Curriculum Institute,
pp. 226-228.
Newmann,F.M.,&Wehlage,G.G.(1993).Fivestandardsofauthenticinstruction.Educational
Leadership,50(7),812.
Ohio Department of Education. (2010). Ohio's new learning standards: Social studies standards.
Retrieved from http://education.ohio.gov/getattachment/Topics/Ohio-s-New-LearningStandards/Social-Studies/SS-Standards.pdf.aspx.