Over the years, integrating Aero Social Studies standards into every aspect of my teaching has been important for fostering understanding and critical thinking among my students. From crafting instructional plans to designing assessments, I always ensured alignment with these standards to provide a cohesive learning experience. And, at the outset of each lesson, I would take the time to introduce the relevant standard, emphasizing the broader significance behind our explorations.

Above is a screenshot of a typical opening slide from one of my units.  

Students pay attention to these introductions, some even nodding politely as I help them grasp the bigger picture and appreciate the interconnectedness of historical and societal phenomena. But, I’ve always had a sneaking suspicion that my students were mentally treating this step like they treat the terms and conditions of their favorite apps or the intro of their favorite Netflix show: they just skipped ahead to the good stuff.

So, this year I decided to try something different. I decided to frontload the introduction of the standards to my brand new 6th grade students – and unpack all of them in detail – before we even began our overall learning journey together. 

Why didn’t I think of this sooner?!?!

Of course, there are no resources for this, so I had to create them myself. Here are links to the resources I use in this activity: document 1 and document 2.  

[Just a quick note about the naming convention of my resources: the first number tells me at a glance which order to use the documents. The final number, in parentheses, tells me the number of questions in each doc. I find these bits of information useful in organizing my classes and my unit rollout.]

As you can see from the documents, I begin with the concept of lenses – how we approach the study of civilizations from different perspectives. Then, we dive right into AERO (the organization) and flow right into the standards. We unpack the standard and the enduring understandings and then extend our thinking with some questions that are based on each standard’s own essential questions. 

Once this foundation is laid at the beginning of our journey, the lessons that follow can be more effectively anchored to their standard. I really think that this frontloaded approach will cultivate a deeper understanding of the subject matter. 

I’ll let you know how it goes!

Ed X!