Standard 3 Rationale

Name: Carson Hope Program: Early Childhood Special Education

Name of Artifact: Social Studies Fair Lesson Plan

Artifact Source: ECH 232 – Social Science for Young Children

Instructor Who Originally Evaluated Artifact: Dr. Leigh Ann Fish

Introduction to Standard Addressed

Common Core Teaching Standard 5

CCTS standard 5 addresses innovative applications of content. The standard states: “the teacher
understands how to connect concepts and use differing perspectives to engage learners in
critical/creative thinking and collaborative problem solving related to authentic local and global
issues.” In other words, the standard emphasizes cross-curricular lessons and meaningful lessons that
relate to the students and their communities. The standard also requires educators to engage learners
in lessons that foster development of problem solving skills. Indicator 5(j) ensures the educator
“understands how current interdisciplinary themes (e.g., civic literacy, health literacy, global
awareness) connect to the core subjects and knows how to weave those themes into meaningful
learning experiences.” This expands on cross-curricular lessons and asks teachers to create relevant
and meaningful learning experiences for students to develop as citizens and community members.
Council for Exceptional Children Division of Early Childhood Standard 3
CEC-DEC standard 3 addresses curricular content knowledge. The standard states: “beginning
special education professionals use knowledge of general and specialized curricula to individualize
learning for individuals with exceptionalities.” In other words, special educators must know the
guidelines of the curriculum(s) they are using as well as how to modify lessons based on individuals’
needs. Knowledge indicator K3.3 states that special educators understand “developmental and
academic content” meaning while meeting students’ individual support needs, they are still meeting
elements of curricular content. Skill indicator S3.2 states that early childhood special educators “plan,
implement, and evaluate developmentally appropriate curricula, instruction, and adaptations based on
knowledge of individual children, the family, and the community.” This means that the teacher has
designed and planned lessons that are appropriate for the students in front of them, based on a
knowledge about their learning styles, backgrounds, and support needs.

Introduction of Artifact

Each year, the ECH 232 – Social Studies for Young Children class plans and hosts a social studies fair
for the students in both the full day and part day classrooms at Sweatt-Winter Childcare Center, the
lab school on the UMF campus. Each semester, the class chooses a different theme for the fair. The
theme we chose in the Spring 2017 semester was Careers. The class split up into partners to plan a
lesson based on a different career to implement as a center at the fair. My classmate Brianna and I
 chose the Chef center. We connected our smoothie-making center to the students’ local community
and the state of Maine (as blueberries are grown in Maine), measurement and mathematics, language
and vocabulary, as well as social studies. The lesson was designed to be a social studies lesson and
met the Maine Early Learning and Development Standard (MELDS) in social studies regarding how
people work in different ways, which was the standard the fair was based on, but met several other
curriculum areas as well and was an interactive lesson for children to participate in.

Rationale

I consider my colleague Brianna and I’s activity for the ECH 232 Social Studies fair with the students
from Sweatt-Winter one of my innovative applications of content. As a class, we had several
discussions about a potential topic and decided on careers as children can reflect on adults they know
well and make decisions about what they may want to do when they are older. This raises a global
awareness and demonstrates a part of the community. This was a very hands-on, meaningful
experience that crossed several content areas (social studies, mathematics, and language acquisition).
The children learned about various careers at each center so not only did the students participate in
cross-curricular activities but also practiced a real-world skill. Brianna and I both were employed by
Sweatt-Winter, so by knowing the children at the center, we were able to plan modifications that we
knew may help specific students participate successfully.