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IRIS - Instructional Routines in Social Studies (US History)

About the Project

IRIS will pair instructional routines for primary source document analysis with resources in the NVPS USH curriculum that highlight the stories of marginalized peoples. As a result, IRIS will support teachers in using the instructional routines with agency throughout our curricular resources (applying them to our resources where the routines might not exist), helping them to adopt our curriculum with more fidelity. The routines developed in IRIS will also foster analytical thinking and support the scaffolding of essential skills for student success on the NYS USH regents exams and beyond.

This year, to support schools who have adopted the New Visions Social Studies curriculum, we will focus on a handful of instructional routines that support teachers in key literacy and thinking skills, while also supporting their ability to embed CRHSE in their existing coursework.

Is Instructional Routines in Social Studies - USH for your school?

  • ​​Does your team use the New Visions US History Curriculum? 
  • Does your team want to embed more relevant CRHSE in your coursework? 
  • Does your team want to better support key literacy and thinking skills to improve student outcomes?
  • Does your team want targeted coaching to support the implementation of an instructional routine in your classroom?   
  • Does your team want to collaborate with your school’s instructional leader around modeling effective teaching strategies? 

 

If you answered yes to any of the questions above, then Instructional routines in Social Studies (IRIS) is for your school!

Okay, this sounds interesting…how do I get involved?

To join IRIS – USH, we recommend your team attends the August Professional Learning Launch sessions on August 29th and 30th. Program commitments include:

  • Teacher attend four PL sessions throughout SY 23 – 24 (sign up below) 
  • School leader to be actively engaged in supporting the work
  • Participating in pre-and post observation reflections and engaging in a feedback cycle 
    • Includes two in person observations from a NVPS or NVPS affiliated coach 
    • Virtual pre and post classroom observation sessions

Approach

  • Culturally Responsive and Sustaining Education

    The project will focus on revision of resources to include primary source documents from marginalized peoples, expanding our curriculum to include the voices of indigenous peoples, BIPOC women, and Americans with Disabilities. This will expand two of the three key pillars of culturally responsive pedagogy (as defined by Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings: cultural competence, and sociopolitical conscience). Additionally, this project will support the third pillar (academic achievement) by supporting key skills around sourcing, contextualization, and analytical writing that students need to be successful in secondary education and beyond.

  • Literacy and Reading across Content Areas

    The three instructional routines for USH (Zoom In, Sourcing Superheros, and Images Draw You In) all will draw from key literacy strategies from the Reading for Understanding Framework. Specifically, they will draw on metacognition, explicit instruction, and think-alouds to help students better analyze and digest the content from primary source documents. These routines will be broken down in professional learning and supported through coaching visits where the routine implementation is observed. The routines will also be embedded in curricular resources throughout the New Visions US History curriculum.

  • Adult Learning

    This project will incorporate elements of the SIMPL model by providing an immersive experience to adults who attend the US History Professional Learning sessions.

Registration links

Session 1: September 29th 2023, 9 am – 3 pm In person at location TBD 

Session 2: November 13th 2023, 9 am – 3 pm In person at New Visions for Public Schools 

Session 3: January 22nd 2024, 9 am – 3 pm In person at New Visions for Public Schools 

Session 4: April 12th 2024, 9 am – 3 pm In person at location TBD

Project Team

    • Aruna Patel
    • Aliza Kapel
    • Elizabeth Shadock
    • Dora Kastel

Contact

For questions about the project please email us at socialstudiescurriculum@newvisions.org