Secrets to Success for Social Studies Teachers

Ellen Kottler, Ed.S., has been a teacher for over 30 years in public and private schools, alternative schools, adult education programs, and universities. She has worked in inner-city schools as well as in suburban and rural set-tings. She was a curriculum specialist in charge of secondary social studies and law-related education for one of the country's largest school districts. Ellen is the author or coauthor of several books for educators, including Secrets for Secondary School Teachers: How to Succeed in Your First Year, On Being a Teacher, Secrets for Beginning Elementary School Teachers, Counseling Skills for Teachers, English Language Learners in Your Classroom: Strategies That Work, Secrets to Success for Science Teachers, and Students Who Drive You Crazy: Succeeding with Resistant, Unmotivated, and Otherwise Difficult Young People. She teaches secondary education and supervises intern teachers at California State University, Fullerton. Nancy P. Gallavan, Ph.D., is Professor of Teacher Education at the University of Central Arkansas where she specializes in classroom assessments and cultural competence in the Department of Teaching and Learning MAT Program, which she helped to start in 2006. The UCA MAT Program was recognized as the Distinguished Program in Teacher Education by the Association of Teacher Educators in 2010. Dr. Gallavan also serves as the UCA Academic Liaison to Institutional Diversity. Receiving university and college awards for her teaching, scholarship, and service, Dr. Gallavan has expertise in K-12 education, classroom assessments, curriculum development, cultural competence, social studies education, and teacher self-efficacy. With more than 120 peer-reviewed publications in journals, as chapters in books, and as books, Dr. Gallavan authored two versions of Developing Performance-Based Assessments, one for Grades K-5 and one for Grades 6-12 with Corwin Press in 2009. She also authored two versions of Navigating Cultural Competence: A Compass for Teachers, one for Grades K-5 and one for Grades 6-12 with Corwin Press in 2011. With Ellen Kottler, she co-authored Secrets to Success for Beginning Elementary School Teachers with Corwin Press in 2007 and Secrets to Success for Social Studies Teachers with Corwin Press in 2008. Most of these books have been republished in multiple languages. Her research agenda focuses on classroom assessments and teacher self-efficacy. Her chapter, "If you want your students to change, then you need to change: Mediating the sources and benefits of teacher self-efficacy with teacher candidates," will be published in the Handbook of Research on Professional Development for Quality Teaching and Learning in 2016. Dr. Gallavan serves as the editor of the Arkansas Association of Teacher Educators Electronic Journal (ArATE EJ) and co-editor of the Association of Teacher Educators (ATE) Annual Yearbook of Research. An active member of American Educational Research Association (AERA), Association of Teacher Educators (ATE), Kappa Delta Pi (KDP), National Association for Multicultural Education (NAME), and National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), she is involved with the AERA Classroom Assessment Special Interest Group and serves as Chair of the ATE Commission of Online Teaching, Learning, and Schooling. Dr. Gallavan is a Past President and a Distinguished Member of the Association of Teacher Educators (ATE), a Kappa Delta Pi (KDP) Eleanor Roosevelt Legacy Chapter inaugural member, and a member of Phi Delta Phi (education honor society). Prior to joining the University of Central Arkansas, Dr. Gallavan was an Assistant/Associate Professor with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, specializing in social studies education and cultural competence. She began her career in education as an elementary school and middle level classroom teacher primarily in the Cherry Creek School District in Colorado. She earned her undergraduate degree in Elementary Education with an emphasis in Literacy from Southwest Missouri State University (now Missouri State University); her master's degree in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in Gifted and Talented Education from the University of Colorado, Boulder; her school administrator license from the University of Colorado, Denver; and her doctoral degree in Curriculum Leadership with a cognate in Cultural Competence from the University of Denver. At the University of Denver, she received the Phi Delta Kappa Outstanding Dissertation Award.

Foreword by Jeff Passe Acknowledgments About the Authors Introduction 1. Design Your Classroom to Create Communities of Learners 2. Understand Standards to Develop Your Curriculum 3. Make Your Instruction Meaningful to Empower Learners 4. Align Assessments With Objectives to Strengthen Outcomes 5. Connect the Learning to Reach Students' Lives 6. Develop Literacy to Build Social Studies Skills 7. Plan With Students in Mind to Prepare Your Teaching 8. Collaborate With Colleagues to Expand Opportunities 9. Incorporate Resources to Make Social Studies Real 10. Integrate Technology to Enrich Learning 11. Seek Powerful Activities to Engage Learners 12. Reflect on Your Practices to Prepare for the Future Resource A. Social Studies Textbook Evaluation Tool Resource B. Sample Social Studies Concepts by Level Resource C. Detailed Lesson Plan Guide Resource D. Abbreviated Lesson Plan Tool Resource E. Social Studies Curriculum Evaluation Tool Readings and References Index

"Kottler and Gallavan provide a wealth of valuable material, practical ways, and wonderful hints for beginning social studies teachers to get started, get involved, and continue their own learning." -- Stephen Armstrong, Member of the Board of Directors "A very nice contribution to the social studies field, with a wide reach among inservice and preservice teachers. The authors do an excellent job in areas that are often overlooked, focusing on meaningful instruction, powerful teaching and learning, and NCSS standards." -- John K. Lee, Associate Professor "Kottler and Gallavan have done nothing less than write the story of a social studies teacher's year in the classroom, starting from the beginning stages of planning and proceeding to cover, with tremendous breadth and precision of detail, every possible aspect of the teacher's job. To read this book cover to cover is to be well prepared to teach social studies in today's classroom." -- David L. Moguel, Associate Professor of Secondary Education "Here are tips based on both the authors' experiences as social studies teachers and the insights of colleagues, all distilled into a set of tips for formulating meaningful instruction." -- California Bookwatch, April 2008