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A Teacher’s Practical Design to Scope and Sequence
Anthony Colucci
Sculptor Charter School, Titusville, Florida
coluccia@sculptorcharter.org
(Editor’s Note: This article is reprinted from the Summer 2005 FCSS Newsletter, the author’s name was omitted from the copy. FCSS apologizes for the error.)

For many Floridians, including myself, when asked where we are from, most of us answer either New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, etc.  Several times I have surveyed my students and asked them, “How many have at least one parent that was born in another state or country?” Usually about 90% of my students’ hands go up. When asked how many of them were born in another state, about 25% of the hands go up. The problem is that many transients never learn about our state history. As more and more people from other states move to Florida, we should not be puzzled as to why our state’s history is being lost. Therefore, it is crucial that state history is taught and taught effectively.

Is Florida’s history a part of United States’ history? Is Florida’s history a part of world history? The answers to these questions are obviously “yes.”  Why then is state history usually taught as a separate subject in fourth grade?  Why is it most students know very little about our state’s history other than some information about Seminoles and St. Augustine?  The reason is that by the time most students reach fourth grade they have not learned about the World Wars, the 1920’s, the Civil Rights Movement, or the Space Race. How can they truly understand our state’s history without having prior knowledge of United States’ history and world history?

As a middle school teacher at a Core Knowledge school, I was faced with a dilemma. How do I teacher state history using a curriculum that does not include any of the subject matter? For a few years, I used the standard approach, which was to teach it all during one grade level.  During the last month of school, I ended up plowing through 15,000 years of history!  It quickly became obvious to me that this was not an effective way to teach state history; it was a way to cover standards. My students memorized what they had to for their tests, and in most cases, quickly forgot the information.

Realizing that, I had to make a change. As social studies educators we know that every opportunity to build on what a child already has learned is a golden opportunity. We also realize that if you can make meaningful to their lives then it is probably not something that is going to be forgotten.  Elementary school teachers obviously know to use Florida as an example of a peninsula and the Florida Keys as examples of islands.  When I teach about Prohibition, I explain to my students that bootleggers in Florida who were “souping” up their cars to outrun the police decided to start racing their cars on Daytona Beach, which is the root of NASCAR. Using the strategies that social studies educators know to be effective, I decided to try a new approach to teaching state history. I planned to create a K-8 state history sequence.

First, I listed all the major topics in American History and asked myself, “What should every child know about Florida’s role during these events?”  Next, I listed all the information I thought every child should know about our state under each topic.  For some topics, I made connections with world history topics, such as “Latin American Independence Movements” which I saw as an opportunity for students to learn about how the Spanish rule ended in Florida.  I followed this up by doing more research about our state, adding on to my list when necessary. It was apparent to me that for the most part, the majority of  Florida history books contained the same information; therefore, I felt I could competently and confidently decide what was essential for our students to know about Florida’s history. I also went through the same process for our state’s geography, economy, and government.  I was now ready to put together a K-8 state history sequence.

At this point, I had all the information I needed, and had to decide at which level to teach the information.  Using my Core Knowledge Sequence, I figured out in which grade each of those topics were being taught. For topics that were taught in multiple grades, I decided which of my state history facts should be taught at which level.  I then created a four-column chart that included: Grade Level, American History Topic, Florida History, and State Standards.  I plugged all the information into my chart.  I then checked to make sure that all state standards and benchmarks could be met at the appropriate grade levels.

My sequence was now complete.  I knew there were no gaps or repetitions in the sequence, yet I knew that our students would learn all the important information about our state.  The burden would be off the teachers to decide what needed to be taught. All state standards would be met, and Florida history would be taught and learned in a more meaningful way!  The opportunities to make comparisons and connections were plentiful.  Does it not make sense for students to learn about Florida’s rivers when they are learning about other important rivers of the world?  Is it more meaningful to learn about Florida’s role in the Spanish-American War when studying the Spanish American War?  Why learn about Harry T. Moore in fourth grade and the Civil Rights Movement in eighth grade?

This year my sequence has been implemented in my school. This approach has met with great success. The teachers love it!  The kids love it!  State history is no longer something mysterious, but rather something meaningful.  It is no longer something learned in fourth grade or seventh grade and then forgotten: it is taught in every grade.  State history has become a way for students to better understand United State’s history and world history.

No longer does 15,000 years of history have to be covered in a short amount of time.  This allows time to use creative, hands-on projects.  State history has become more than countless trips to St. Augustine and Indian feasts.  There has always been that one puzzle piece of world history and United State’s history missing-that piece is state history.  Creating a K-8 state history sequence has been like completing that puzzle.