MR. CROUCH'S SOCIAL STUDIES CLASS
ABOUT MR. CROUCH
Hello! I'm Mr. Crouch and its my passion to learn about the world I live in. I consider myself an adventurer, a student, a global citizen, and above all else... a teacher. I love to teach. Although I am new to Newberry Academy, I've been teaching Chicago middle school students for 4 years now.
In 2015 I earned my Masters degree in Urban Education and prior to that I completed the teaching licensure program at University of Wisconsin-Platteville where I studied Broadfield Social Studies and Secondary Education.
My purpose as an educator is to inspire students to crave knowledge of the world around them. It is to teach my students the skills necessary to be successful in life: literacy, critical thinking, creativity, and empathy.
Additional Information
Classroom Materials
Students and families need 3 supply items unique to Social Studies in order to be successful in my classroom. They are:
Students use the 3 ring binder and page protectors to develop their social studies binder which stays in the classroom. Students use the composition notebook to complete their cornell notes homework.
Curriculum
The core of my social studies curriculum is designed to have students read, view, analyze, and critically think about primary and secondary source documents. Sometimes the documents tell the same stories and sometimes the documents tell conflicting stories. I feel being able to distinguish between truth and fiction and determining what sources are reliable and unreliable are the most important skills I can help them learn as a Social Studies teacher. My goal is that by the time my students leave Newberry Academy they can be presented with a piece of information, whether it be a newspaper article, something a friend told them, or something they saw on TV and use it in an informed way. Not too easy these days!
Classroom Model
This year I am using a reverse-classroom model similar to what students will experience in Mr. Greenberg’s math class. Students will have homework frequently which will help them prepare for the next day’s class. By completing the homework students will gain the necessary background information needed to be able to dive into the documents we’ll use in class.
Daily Procedures
Students in my class work in groups to understand and think about the material. Students will enter social studies and immediately begin working with their group to review over their notes, questions, and thoughts from the previous night’s homework. The class will discuss any questions they had as a whole group and then will be presented with the day’s essential question and documents. Students will read the through the documents and come to their own conclusions to answer the essential question. When students feel confident in their conclusions they will complete a daily exit ticket answering the essential question. If time remains at the end of the hour then students are encouraged to get a head start on that night’s homework.
Grading Policy
The grading policy for Social Studies is as follows:
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Assessments
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Exit Tickets: 50%
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Unit Projects: 25%
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Classwork: 20%
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Homework: 5%
Classwork Policy
20% of students’ grades is classwork. Students will receive these grades based on their engagement and involvement in the daily activities. This is essentially a participation grade. If students are tardy to class or absent then they will miss valuable points for the day!
Latework Policy
My philosophy is that A & B students in middle school don’t turn in work late. Therefore, homework completed late will not be accepted. Projects completed late can earn no more than a 75%.
Absent & Tardy Policy
If students are absent or tardy they themselves are primarily responsible for finding out what they missed. If a student is absent, the best practice is for students to contact a reliable friend and ask them for information regarding the homework.