Chapter 4: Generating Higher Order and Meaningful Social Studies Instruction for Fourth Graders with a Documents-Based Test, a Lead Teacher, and a Community of Learners

Liz, a first-year teacher, speaks gratefully of her grade-level colleagues and the lead teacher for elementary social studies, who help her and the other fourth-grade teachers in her school with curriculum and instruction. Liz is lucky. She works on a grade level anchored by two other effective teachers, in a school with a principal who sees hiring “teachers like Diane and Eda and Liz [who] are true learners, care about kids, and actually enjoy working with others” as the most important aspect of his job, in a district that has invested in four lead teachers, one in each of the major academic disciplines, English/language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies.