The Weekly Update #4
August 27th, 2024

Welcome
Hello, I am Teaven Barnum the District Instructional Specialist for Secondary Social Studies. I'm excited to help you in any way that you need. You can reach me at teaven.barnum@killeenisd.org, text at 254-446-2873 or call my desk phone at 254-336-0253.
CONTENT
New Social Studies TEKS Implementation 2024-2025
The revised and updated social studies TEKS are now live and being implemented in classrooms across Texas! All changes have been finalized and posted as of August 1st. For a comparative view of the standards, the Crosswalks are super helpful. They give you a quick view of TEKS that have been added, revised, or renumbered.
In an effort to save time, all crosswalks have been collected and stored in a shared folder. Just click the image below to find the crosswalk for your content area!
TEA Resource: Crosswalks for the 2024-2025 Social Studies TEKS
The Addition of Skills Matrices
NEW!! You can now view the skills strand in a matrix that outlines the vertical alignment of each standard. These are such a helpful resource for PLC and/or vertical planning and allow you to see skill development across grade bands!
NEW STANDARDS: Foundational Language and Civil Discourse
NEW!! In light of the added standard that wraps expectations for language skills and civil discourse into social studies instruction across grade bands, TEA has released a definition for civil discourse in an effort to help clarify what this might look like in classrooms.
11th Grade Upcoming High Frequency TEKS
Here is an example of the Lowman Frequency chart. A good point of practice is to remember to emphasize standards that have been tested 5 or more times in the past. Click the link below to see the whole frequency chart with highlighted standards for the upcoming units.
8th Grade Upcoming High Frequency TEKS
Here is an example of the Lowman Frequency chart. A good point of practice is to remember to emphasize standards that have been tested 4 or more times in the past. Click the link below to see the whole frequency chart with highlighted standards for the upcoming units.
CONSISTENCY
Lesson Planning
1. Standards
It is essential to start with the standards and their specificity. The TEKS Clarification and the Instructional Focus Document page will help you to understand the standard/content that should be taught as well as at what level or rigor it is expected for the students to understand. They will also help you plan for how the information should be chunked by daily lesson.
2. District Curriculm Documents
The documents you will find in the Secondary Curriculum & Instruction Schoology group are Pacing Calendars, Year At A Glance, Benchmark Blueprints, Guardrails. You will use these documents along with TEKS resource system to help dial in on what you will chunk for a day's lesson.
Pacing Calendar- An over view of the year and the district's expectation for learning progression.
Year At A Glance- This gives you an overview of the TEKS for the Year broken down by units/nine weeks.
Benchmark Blueprints- (For 8th and 11th Grade only) This document in conjunction with the Frequency Charts will help you to spiral highly tested TEKS.
Guardrails- This document is a best practice template on how you can build a daily lesson plan in social studies.
3. Student Factor
Be sure to factor in the needs of your students when lesson planning. Good things to ponder while lesson planning would be:
-What misconceptions would my students have?
-What background knowledge would they be missing?
-How do your specific students learn best?
-How could I best differentiate to the specific learning needs of my students?
-What real world/engaging strategy could you implement in order to increase engagement?
4. PLC
When lesson planning it is always best practice to work with your PLC team and not in isolation. This not only lightens the load it allows for ideas that would not come to you other wise.
COACHING
Professional Development
Social Studies School Service
FREE Webinars Available! Choose a button below to access the registration link. 🔽
Instructional Strategies
Civil Discourse
Here is a link to examples of rubrics and success criteria for civil discourse lessons.
Other News
Job Alike: Civil Discourse
I want to thank all of you for making my birthday wishes come true by engaging in robust conversations about providing civil discourse opportunities for our students.
You all received a copy of the book and I hope that you are continuing your learning as a PLC. If you would like me to come out to participate in some of this learning please let me know.
Nichelle wanted me to let you know how much she enjoyed coming to Killeen ISD. She wanted your feedback so please click the link to fill that out. She also provided a document of additional resources.
Online Textbook Issues
Some people have contacted me saying they no longer have access to their online textbook. If this happens to you please be sure to contact me and kimberly.mcclish@killeenisd.org.
Don't make me repeat myself. -History
First person to e-mail me with the correct answer gets a prize.
Previous KISD Secondary Social Studies Newsletters
(October 2022 Newsletter) https://www.smore.com/5xkvg
(November 2022 Newsletter) https://www.smore.com/akyd6
(February 2023 Newsletter) https://www.smore.com/28pcj
(March 2023 Newsletter) https://www.smore.com/yge4w
(April 2023 Newsletter) https://www.smore.com/rfs32
(May 2023 Newsletter) https://www.smore.com/2j9zw
(August 2023 Newsletter) https://www.smore.com/cwy23
(September 2023 Newsletter) https://www.smore.com/jybau
(October 2023 Newsletter) https://www.smore.com/z3n5f
(November 2023 Newsletter) https://www.smore.com/ga5bqd
(January 2024 Newsletter) https://www.smore.com/69dk7
(February 2024 Newsletter) https://www.smore.com/n/prk0cy
(April 2024 Newsletter) https://www.smore.com/n/qrgks
(May 2024 Newsletter) https://secure.smore.com/n/1mek5




