Social Studies

From their bedroom on the campus of the American School in Kinshasa, Nelson and Lisa File could hear the sounds of guns and mortar fire from the uprising that shook Zaire's capital last month. And before they were forced to leave, they watched looters in the business district carry off refrigerators, pieces of corrugated tin roofs and even the frames for windows and doors. This week, the former teachers at the Friends Central School returned to the campus off City Avenue and told of their close-up view of an armed rebellion in the Central African country.

A curriculum committee of the Lower Merion School District proposed changing the existing World Cultures social studies program for ninth and 10th graders. Jane Gulick, director of curriculum, presented the proposal that would focus the studies on the non-Western world. The current curriculum includes both Western and non-Western cultures and American history. The objectives of the courses are to give the student the opportunity to locate and label major political and geographical features of the world.

Proposed changes in North Penn's secondary social studies curriculum will most likely be approved next week, although the school board is divided over one of the most basic education issues. A decision on the changes has been on hold for a month because some board members wanted time to study one change that calls for increasing world cultures studies and replacing the yearlong ninth-grade American government requirement with a semester course during the senior year. The delay of the decision was prompted by school board member Thomas Whalen at a November work session.

President Bush's education "summit," attended by the nation's governors on Sept. 27-28 in Charlottesville, Va., focused on efforts for the improvement of all aspects in America's public schools. To be successful, the agenda for change and reform must include national objectives and goals, basic curricula changes, and a professional responsibility for student improvement in ability to obtain and utilize knowledge, skills, and positive attitudes to guide their behavior. While the challenge must include a review and an evaluation of all curricula in the major subject areas, I address my concerns specifically to social studies for the primary and intermediate years, grades one throgh eight.

James P. Reed, 50, an innovative and popular social studies and history teacher in Camden City schools for the last 27 years, died suddenly Tuesday at Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center, Camden. Mr. Reed was an Audubon resident for the last 23 years. He had served on the Audubon Board of Education from 1980 to 1983 and was a scout leader for many years. Mr. Reed taught social studies and world cultures at Hatch Middle School in Camden for the last two years. For 25 years before that, he taught American history and global studies at Woodrow Wilson High School, where he was named teacher of the year in 1991.

When the students walked into James Culbertson's world history class at Benjamin Franklin High School one Monday last month, he handed each of them a penny. He asked them to look at the pennies as if they'd never seen one before, as if they'd just landed from Mars, and try to figure out something about the culture and people who made them. While that simple action may not seem to be the herald of a revolution - not even a particularly startling teaching technique - a revolution it is. Culbertson is one of 28 social studies teachers in 10 city high schools who are now testing the first part of a new world history curriculum that Philadelphia teachers themselves have been developing for two years.

Remember when the hardest lessons in kindergarten involved coloring within the lines, making holiday cards, and stacking building blocks? Well, soon the educational activities for Evesham's 5-year-olds could also include instruction in diversity, environmentalism and human rights. It all stems from a state panel's report suggesting changes in the social studies curriculum. The plan, drafted by the state Committee on Academic Content Standards, suggests that school districts weave "five connecting strands" through their curriculum to promote multiculturalism.

A first-grade teacher and an elementary social studies planner in the mostly homogeneous, mostly affluent Central Bucks School District are determined to teach students about the rest of the world. But not necessarily during social studies class. Curriculum planner Jenny Clark, Titus Elementary teacher Carla McDermott Walls, and about 35 other district teachers working with them on a project called Global Connections have found ways to work international themes into math, reading, writing and other subjects.

When she left Senegal after a stint as a Peace Corps volunteer in a village, Amy Cohen did not know she would become a teacher. But, as Cohen describes it, she had a revelation after speaking to students about the French-speaking West African nation where she had done community-development work. "After spending a morning talking about Senegal to middle-school classes, I realized that I wanted to be a teacher," Cohen said. "I knew I wanted to do socially redeeming work. "It seemed so clear: I could combine my strong interest in social studies, my enthusiasm for working with youth, and my desire to make the world a better place by becoming a teacher.

Seated on the floor of his fifth-grade classroom, 10-year-old Michael Palladino was planning an escape. Not one along his route home from the Woodlyn School, but along the paths of slaves heading north to freedom as told in the book Runaway to Freedom. Palladino's use of a map to trace the travels of the slaves was part of a combined lesson in social studies and language arts, according to Annemarie Jay, the Ridley School District language arts coordinator. "This is an example of 'Integrated Language Arts,' " Jay said.

Lisa describes herself as smart, awesome, respectful, and a one-of-a-kind teen. This social, friendly 16-year-old is easy to talk to and values her friendships highly. Lisa enjoys being a teenager and loves to spend time with her fri'ends at the mall, texting, going to movies, and attending church. She also likes to sing and cook and has a talent for very detailed and organized writing. Lisa strives to do her very best in school and her grades are usually A's and B's. Social studies, choir, and English are her favorite subjects.

A Princeton-based research firm's analysis of the KIPP national network of charter schools found KIPP middle-school students made substantial gains in core subjects over a three-year span. Mathematica Policy Research was scheduled to release a report Wednesday based on what it called its "most rigorous large-scale evaluation of KIPP charter schools. " KIPP, which has four charters in Philadelphia, contracted with the nonpartisan research firm to perform several long-term studies.

JAMESTOWN, PA. - A northwestern Pennsylvania social-studies teacher is behind bars charged with sending sexually explicit text messages to two students. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports Kevin Anthony Defrancesco, 28, was arraigned on corruption-of-minors charges for messages he allegedly sent to two female students, 13 and 14, beginning in October. Investigators say Defrancesco asked one of the girls to send him pictures of herself and traded pictures with the other.

A new study by a prominent antidiscrimination group gives 35 states, including Pennsylvania and New Jersey, failing grades when it comes to teaching students about the civil rights movement. Officials of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which released the study, also found that Pennsylvania was among 16 states that did not require that the history of the movement be taught in public school. "An educated populace must be taught basics about American history," civil rights activist and former center president Julian Bond wrote in the report's foreword.

As Haddonfield boys' soccer coach Joe Falana is nearing yet another major milestone, it's interesting that a major factor in his success has been his ability to teach - social studies. A graduate of Collingswood High and Scranton University, and a standout goalie at both, Falana was a math major in college. As a senior at Scranton, Falana was told that Haddonfield was interested in him as a soccer coach, but had a teaching job available only in social studies. This was before his second semester in college, so Falana rearranged his schedule, took social studies courses, added a number of courses that summer, and was certified.

As Haddonfield boys' soccer coach Joe Falana is nearing yet another major milestone, it's interesting that a major factor in his success has been his ability to teach - social studies. A graduate of Collingswood and Scranton University, and a standout goalie at both, Falana was a math major in college. As a senior at Scranton, Falana was told that Haddonfield was interested in him as a soccer coach, but had a teaching job available only in social studies. This was before his second semester in college, so Falana rearranged his schedule, took social studies courses, added a number of courses that summer, and was certified.

Some teachers swear that the best way to establish their authority is to avoid smiling for the first two weeks of class. David Hall takes a very different approach with his students at North Penn High School by cracking self-deprecating jokes and pretending to be the dude who thinks he is hip but so is not. In the classroom, Hall brings social studies alive, bypassing textbooks in favor of original sources and creating his own lesson...

Just about everything hurts in a bad economy, and nowhere can this be more apparent than in public schools, most of which are barely getting by on shoestring budgets. Consider these things: English books that are held together with rubber bands. Sports teams that are barely able to buy uniforms. Reduced staff and larger classes. The Wallingford-Swarthmore School District in Delaware County typifies how many schools around the country are trying to meet the demands of educating, while at the same time making tough choices in order to operate within their means.

David A. Frick, 65, of West Chester, a retired teacher and coach, died of carcinoid cancer Monday, March 21, at home. Mr. Frick was on the staff of E.T. Richardson Middle School in Springfield, Delaware County, for 32 years until retiring in 2001. He taught math, English, and social studies and coached soccer and wrestling. Mr. Frick also coached wrestling at Springfield High School from 1974 to 1981 and was the Central League's 1979 coach of the year. His family had a vacation home in Avalon, N.J., and he spent summers as a bartender and later manager of the Avalon Yacht Club.

Bernard George Daher, 93, formerly of Norristown, a retired salesman, died Saturday, Oct. 9, at the hospice at West Pennsylvania Hospital in Pittsburgh. After graduating from Bridgeport High School, Mr. Daher worked for two years to help out his parents, who were Lebanese immigrants. He then earned a bachelor's degree from Elon College in North Carolina on an athletic scholarship. He starred on Elon's football and baseball teams and in 1987 was inducted into its athletic hall of fame.