Minnesota Administrative Rules

8710.3330 MIDDLE LEVEL ENDORSEMENT LICENSE FOR TEACHERS OF SOCIAL STUDIES.

Subpart 1.

Scope of practice.

A teacher of social studies with a middle level endorsement license is authorized to teach students in grades 5 through 8 in any school organizational pattern.

Subp. 2.

Licensure requirements.

A candidate for licensure as a middle level teacher of social studies shall:

A.

hold one or more of the following classroom teaching licenses granted by the Board of Teaching: a life license; a current nonvocational entrance, nonrenewable, or professional license; or a current entrance or continuing secondary vocational license based on a degree program in agriculture education, business education, consumer homemaking and family life education, industrial education, or marketing education;

B.

show verification of completing a preparation program approved under part 8700.7600 leading to licensure in middle level teaching of social studies for grades 5 through 8 in subpart 3; and

C.

demonstrate completion of the equivalent of a college minor in social studies.

Subp. 3.

Subject matter standards.

A candidate for licensure as a middle level teacher of social studies must complete a preparation program under subpart 2, items B and C, that includes the candidate's demonstration of the knowledge and skills in items A to D.

A.

A teacher of middle level students understands the nature of early adolescence and the needs of young adolescents. The teacher must understand and apply:

(1)

the research base for and best practices of middle level education;

(2)

the educational principles relevant to the physical, social, emotional, moral, and cognitive development of young adolescents;

(3)

the concepts of "belonging" and "family connectedness" as crucial to the development of young adolescents; and

(4)

the process and necessity of collaboration with families and other adults in support of the learning of young adolescents.

B.

A teacher of middle level students understands the teaching of an academic subject area that integrates understanding of the academic content with the teacher's understanding of pedagogy, students, learning, classroom management, and professional development. The teacher of middle level students in grades 5 through 8 must:

(1)

develop curriculum goals and purposes based on the central concepts of the academic specialty and know how to apply instructional strategies and materials that are appropriate for middle level students and are specific to the academic content area;

(2)

understand how to integrate curriculum across subject areas in developmentally appropriate ways;

(3)

understand the role and alignment of district, school, and department mission and goals in program planning;

(4)

understand the need for and how to connect schooling experiences with everyday life, the workplace, and further educational opportunities;

(5)

know how to involve representatives of business, industry, and community organizations as active partners in creating educational opportunities;

(6)

understand the role and purpose of cocurricular and extracurricular activities in the teaching and learning process;

(7)

understand the impact of reading ability on student achievement in the academic specialty, recognize the varying reading comprehension and fluency levels represented by students, and possess the strategies to assist students to read the academic specialty content more effectively; and

(8)

apply the standards of effective practice in teaching in this academic subject through a variety of early and ongoing clinical experiences with middle level students within a range of educational programming models and by completing a minimum of a four-week student teaching experience. Candidates for licensure who hold a license at the elementary level must complete the student teaching experience with students in grade 7 or 8. Candidates for licensure who hold a license at the secondary level must complete the student teaching experience with students in grade 5 or 6.

C.

A teacher with a middle level endorsement for teaching social studies in grades 5 through 8 must demonstrate knowledge of fundamental concepts of the social studies disciplines and the connections among them. The teacher must know and apply:

(1)

concepts of the ways human beings view themselves in and over time:

(a)

that different historians may describe the same event or situation in different ways;

(b)

key concepts including chronology, causality, change, conflict, and complexity to explain, analyze, and show connections among patterns of historical change and continuity;

(c)

processes important to reconstructing and reinterpreting the past;

(d)

that historical perspectives are influenced by individual experiences, societal values, and critical traditions; and

(e)

how to use knowledge of facts and concepts drawn from history, along with methods of historical inquiry, to inform and evaluate actions concerning public policy issues;

(2)

concepts of people, places, and environments;

(a)

how to map information in a spatial context and interpret the maps;

(b)

land forms and geographic features;

(c)

physical system changes, including seasons, climate and weather, and the water cycle, and identify geographic patterns associated with them;

(d)

physical and cultural patterns and their interactions, including land use, settlement patterns, cultural transmission of customs and ideas, and ecosystem changes; and

(e)

how historical events have been influenced by, and have influenced, physical and human geographic factors in local, regional, national, and global settings;

(3)

concepts of how people organize for the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services:

(a)

how economic systems structure the production and distribution of goods and services;

(b)

the costs and benefits to society of allocating goods and services through private and public sectors;

(c)

a range of various institutions that make up economic systems, for example households, business firms, banks, and corporations;

(d)

how values and beliefs influence different economic decisions; and

(e)

how to use economic reasoning to compare different proposals for dealing with contemporary social issues;

(4)

concepts of ideals, principles, and practices of citizenship in a democratic republic:

(a)

the purpose of government and how its powers are acquired, used, and justified;

(b)

the basic features of the political system in the United States;

(c)

the key ideals of the democratic republican form of government;

(d)

the process for becoming a citizen and the rights and responsibilities of citizenship;

(e)

how to locate, access, analyze, organize, and apply information about selected public issues;

(f)

diverse forms of public opinion and the influence that various forms of citizen action have on public policy development and decision making; and

(g)

how various forms of citizen action can strengthen the common good; and

(5)

relationships among science, technology, and society:

(a)

how science and technology have changed people's perceptions of the social and natural world;

(b)

ways in which values, beliefs, and attitudes are influenced by new scientific and technological knowledge;

(c)

the need for laws and policies to govern scientific and technological applications; and

(d)

the need to seek reasonable and ethical solutions to problems that arise when scientific advancements and social norms or values come into conflict.

D.

A teacher with a middle level endorsement for teaching social studies in grades 5 through 8 must understand the content and methods for teaching reading, including:

(1)

knowledge of reading processes and instruction, including:

(a)

orthographic knowledge and morphological relationships within words;

(b)

the relation between word recognition and vocabulary knowledge, fluency, and comprehension in understanding text and content materials;

(c)

the importance of direct and indirect vocabulary instruction that leads to enhanced general and domain-specific word knowledge;

(d)

the relationships between and among comprehension processes related to print processing abilities, motivation, reader's interest, background knowledge, cognitive abilities, knowledge of academic discourse, and print and digital text; and

(e)

the development of academic language and its impact on learning and school success; and

(2)

ability to use a wide range of instructional practices, approaches, methods, and curriculum materials to support reading instruction, including:

(a)

the appropriate applications of a variety of instructional frameworks that are effective in meeting the needs of readers of varying proficiency levels and linguistic backgrounds in secondary settings;

(b)

the ability to scaffold instruction for students who experience comprehension difficulties;

(c)

selection and implementation of a wide variety of before, during, and after reading comprehension strategies that develop reading and metacognitive abilities;

(d)

the ability to develop and implement effective vocabulary strategies that help students understand words including domain-specific content words;

(e)

the ability to develop critical literacy skills by encouraging students to question texts and analyze texts from multiple viewpoints or perspectives;

(f)

the ability to identify instructional practices, approaches, and methods to match materials, print and digital, to the cognitive levels of all readers, guided by an evidence-based rationale, which support the developmental, cultural, and linguistic differences of readers;

(g)

the appropriate applications of a wide variety of instructional frameworks that are effective in meeting the needs of readers in secondary school settings across developmental levels, proficiency, and linguistic backgrounds; and

(h)

the ability to plan instruction and select strategies that help students read and understand social studies texts and spur interest in more complex reading materials, including the ability to help students:

i.

recognize fact and opinion and the words that signal opinions and judgments;

ii.

distinguish between primary and secondary sources, for example, historical record versus textbook;

iii.

think critically, for example, draw inferences or conclusions from facts, analyze author's purpose and point of view, discern cause and effect relationships, detect bias, and evaluate evidence;

iv.

use and interpret maps, globes, and other nonlinguistic or graphic tools such as timelines, photographs, charts, statistical tables, digital tools, and political cartoons; and

v.

use other texts features such as glossaries, indexes, detailed databases about countries, and appendixes of documents or maps.

Subp. 4.

Professional license.

A professional license shall be issued and renewed according to this chapter.

Subp. 5.

Effective date.

The requirements of this part for licensure as a teacher of social studies to middle level students in grades 5 through 8 are effective on September 1, 2010, and thereafter.

Statutory Authority:

MS s 122A.09

History:

34 SR 595

Published Electronically:

November 19, 2009