ETHAN DILKS

Teaching social studies at the secondary level is about teaching good history that matters.
Good history is about the how and the why. What good history gives us is the ability to be
analytical: about cause and effect, motivations, and multiple points of view. It allows us to view
the world around us and see the deeper connections; of why we are in the places we are and have
some idea of how to fix it. It lets us know more about us as a nation and people and why we
believe the things that make us who we are. History and the social sciences are the best way to
teach these skills.
The way to go about doing this is to provide interesting, engaging lessons for students.
The first step is in designing tight lessons with a target and central goal so that lessons will not be
muddled or confusing. I am most comfortable with the Understanding by Design approach of
essential questions and objectives to solving this problem. The next concern in that process is
that ensuring students of all ability levels are engaged; that means differentiated instruction to
challenge every student at their level. These efforts improve understanding by ensuring all
students understand the point, direction and content of the lesson. The next three, studentcentered activities, inquiry-based activities and cross-curricular units are also key but in building
engagement. Student-centered activities mean students are the drivers of the lesson, rather than
teachers, and the teacher simply acts as a guide. Inquiry based activities mean that students are
exploring concepts with the teacher as a resource. The last point of cross-curricular units would
mean using learning points from other classrooms, and hopefully combined planning for joint
units, to build student interest in history by their love of English or math and vice versa. It is all
of these methods together which teach good history.