Teaching social studies for the first time? You're not alone, and you definitely don't have to figure it all out by yourself.

In this episode, I'm sharing the five biggest mistakes I made as a new social studies teacher (and the same mistakes I see many teachers make today). More importantly, I'll show you simple, practical solutions that you can implement before the first day of school.

Whether you've been assigned a new grade level, don't have a curriculum, or simply want to feel more confident planning your year, these tips will help you build a social studies block that is engaging, organized, and sustainable.

In This Video

• Why passage-only instruction often leads to disengagement
• How planning by unit saves time all year long
• Why consistency matters more than long social studies blocks
• The classroom routines every social studies teacher should establish
• How to save time by using quality, ready-to-use resources
• Simple strategies to build an engaging and sustainable social studies routine

If you're preparing for back-to-school, these five mindset shifts can help you avoid burnout and spend more time focusing on what matters most...your students.

Resources Mentioned

Social Studies Bootcamp - thesouthernteach.com/bootcamp

Plan Your Social Studies Year From Start to Finish

Mentioned in this episode:

Grab the Back to School Social Studies Pack!

Get your upper elementary students excited to start the school year using these low-prep back to school social studies getting to know you worksheets! With 20 pages of engaging activities targeting geography, history, and classroom community building, it makes a great back to school resource for the first week or first month of school!

Learn more about the Back to School Social Studies Resource

Teacher Summer Talks and Bootcamp - Double Dose of PD!

The week of July 20th is jam-packed with some exciting PD for teachers! Sign up for the Teacher Summer Talks audio summit >> https://thesouthernteach--secondstorywindow.thrivecart.com/tst-26-max-pass/​ Sign up for the Social Studies Bootcamp >> https://thesouthernteach.com/bootcamp

[00:00:30] I love sharing ideas and strategies that are low prep and easy to implement, so let's dive in together 


[00:01:04] Before we get started with today's episode, I always wanna put in my plug to make sure that you like and subscribe to this podcast. You'll get a variety of episodes. I've been uploading past workshops and video trainings over the last few months, and I'll always post episodes like this every month or so. 


[00:01:44] You can also look up a variety of past episodes through The Social Studies Teacher podcast. There's over 125 audio episodes. If you type in wherever you love to listen to podcasts, The Social Studies Teacher podcast. [00:02:00] And of course, my website, thesouthernteach.com/blog, with a variety of articles and resources that you can utilize for upper elementary and middle school teachers. 


[00:02:36] This is going to be specifically for third all the way through eighth grade. So for the first time, I am not just limiting it to upper elementary. There have been middle school teachers that have gone to the boot camp, even though they may not be upper elementary, but this time I am actually tailoring it to upper elementary and middle school. 


[00:03:20] There's fun bonus resources, and I have a few extra surprises up my sleeve. So I'm super excited. Make sure you stick around and you'll get more information on that. Now on to the episode. My first year of teaching upper elementary social studies, this was when I taught third grade, this was the first time I actually was more of a departmentalized teacher. 


[00:04:13] That was our social studies for the day. And of course, my students forgot everything by the end of the week. So if you are about to teach social studies for the first time this school year, or you might have gotten told to teach another grade level that you're not familiar with, this video is for you. 


[00:04:52] And I'm not knocking on this, I even create these type of daily passages, but it shouldn't [00:05:00] be the only thing you do entirely for your social studies block. And I completely understand why this happens. Maybe you don't have a curriculum, or you don't have some type of pacing guide to go off of. You're only given maybe 10 or 12 minutes a day for social studies, or 10 or 12 minutes a week of social studies. 


[00:05:48] Your students might check out, and they start telling themselves and everybody that social studies is boring. It was never boring. It might have just been taught in a boring way. Not to say that social studies needs to [00:06:00] always be peppy, and upbeat, and engaging all the time. Sometimes that just- Isn't happening with any subject, not just social studies. 


[00:06:36] It might be some type of discussion where you give out a statement and students have to either agree or disagree with that statement, and then discuss. Whatever it is, pick one interactive activity, do it once a week at the least, and go from there. One engaging structure that's done consistently beats out multiple engaging [00:07:00] structures that you try to implement and you can't keep up with by the time it's October. 


[00:07:33] Or maybe you're scrambling for something during conference period the day of. I've done that before, I will say. There was also a time I remember I was trying to find an activity for social studies the same day, it was, like, during my lunch hour, something related to economics, and I couldn't find it because it was so specific to Texas that it was just really hard to find. 


[00:08:17] When you're planning lesson by lesson as each day comes, and in a sense, flying by the seat of your pants, you're making those same decisions over 100 times in just one year. The fix is to map your units first, the big chunks, usually either four to eight units for the whole year, and then anchor them to your school calendar. 


[00:09:03] If you're interested in that, I'll make sure to put the link in the description. Mistake number three is waiting for the perfect time block. Basically, waiting for the perfect time to teach social studies. Usually, you're looking at your schedule in August, and you might think, "I don't know how I am supposed to fit in 45 minutes to teach social studies every single day." 


[00:09:46] One of my favorite things to tell teachers is that, as a fix, you don't need 45 minutes if you don't have that time, and you don't need to do it every single day. [00:10:00] You could do it 15 to 20 minutes, three days a week. If you're lucky enough to be departmentalized and only have to worry about social studies, this might not apply to you because you already have that time protected. 


[00:10:37] So if you're departmentalized and might teach more than one subject, make sure you schedule in that 15 to 20 minutes, whether it's four days a week, three days a week, every day, each week. Claim that time and defend it like it's your lunch break. Something that I did as an upper elementary teacher was chapter book read-alouds. 


[00:11:20] I thought it was fun, and it was a great way to kind of incorporate something different that you wouldn't normally get in an ELA block. So I usually picked a time, maybe during snack time or if there was some type of downtime, I think there was some downtime between lunch and recess or something like that. 


[00:12:01] The truth is a perfect time block is never coming. A protected time block is something you create on your own. Mistake number four is teaching the content without any routines. Routines are extremely important. No matter how old a student is, routines and setting and establishing routines at the beginning of the year is so crucial to a successful school year. 


[00:12:52] Even something as simple as teaching students and reminding students how to, uh, work [00:13:00] independently or read independently, even walking in a line in the hallway. Those are type of routines you have to discuss with your students. New teachers might feel the pressure of state standards or upcoming standardized tests, and so they immediately go right into the teaching without any type of buffer between the first and second week. 


[00:13:53] Here's something that can put things in perspective. Routines aren't just something that you do before [00:14:00] you are doing instruction. Routines are the instruction. A weekly vocabulary routine is how words actually stick. A five-minute current events routine will help connect history to their own world. A discussion norm is how you get kids talking about ideas with each other than talking at each other. 


[00:14:43] There are so many different routines that you can teach that will help set your students up for success. It could be related to some type of stations, task cards, current events, like I mentioned, vocabulary routine. And of [00:15:00] course, just the general routines of how you walk in the classroom. Are they working on warm-up? 


[00:15:40] Mistake number five is something I definitely did, and that is trying to create everything yourself. Somewhere along the way, new teachers have this idea that making everything from scratch is what good teachers do That was me. I had this [00:16:00] idea that, oh, these teachers that are on my team, they have some outdated resources. 


[00:16:29] So maybe you stay up at midnight making a map activity that already exists in hundreds of variations that will do just as well. That will leave you on the fast lane to burnout, and it's something that I got rid of in my mindset really quick, within the first couple of years. The fix is to beg, borrow, and buy strategically. 


[00:17:11] Your worth as a teacher was never measured by how much time you spent creating resources in Canva. It's always measured by what actually happens in the classroom. Make sure to protect your time like it's part of your job, because it is. All right, so let's recap really quickly. Tip number one: don't teach straight from a passage or a textbook. 


[00:17:57] Make sure you are [00:18:00] really revisiting and practicing and going through routines for your classroom the first three or four weeks of school. And tip number five: do not create everything from scratch. Now, if you've watched or have listened to all five of these tips and you're thinking to yourself, "Okay, I need this-" In more depth. 


[00:18:49] So if that's something you're interested in, you can go to thesouthernteach.com/bootcamp. Remember, registration opens July 10th, and I am so super [00:19:00] excited. Video trainings will be released beginning July 20th, so that is when the live component happens with the daily giveaways. So mark your calendars for July 20th through the 24th. 


[00:19:38] Thanks for listening to The Social Studies Teacher Podcast. If you enjoyed listening to this episode, hit that subscribe button and leave a review. I would love to hear your thoughts. You can also find me on Instagram at The Southern Teach. I can't wait for you to join me in the next episode for more teacher tips and [00:20:00] strategies.