Students create an 18-week curriculum plan that incorporates state standards, assessments, teaching strategies and use of technology, among other things. Sometimes these lessons are incorporated in their classrooms after graduation.
Students in the social studies education program are carefully guided through curriculum planning, literacy, special education modifications and research. Professor Cynthia Fitzthum stresses to her students how curriculum planning for grades 5-12 is crucial to getting through all of the state standards.
Sarah Miller ’19 and Joe Nagel ’19 teamed up to develop a fall curriculum plan for a 12th grade U.S. government class last year.
What stood out most to Fitzthum about Miller and Nagel’s work was the “focus on interdisciplinary social sciences throughout their lessons and planning, such as adding economics standards into the political science curriculum,” she said.
Stephanie Olson, a December 2018 graduate of St. Cloud State, landed her first teaching job at Tech High School in St. Cloud. She teaches 10th grade world history and practical law and ethnic studies for grades 11 and 12.
While the curriculum was set for world history at Tech High School, Olson is able to use curriculum she created at St. Cloud State for her practical law and ethnic studies class.
Assigned a curriculum theme of social issues, she created a lesson plan based on immigration and inequalities like race, gender and LGBTQ issues.
Having gone through the curriculum process at St. Cloud State, Olson is able to more easily plan backwards and prepare for lessons and units – providing a calendar outline for students.
