Texas Social Studies Framework - Department of Geography ...

Chapter 4: Developing Social Studies Curriculum Based on the TEKS
The general scope and sequence document provides a
common point of departure for the development of grade
level and course documents. The TEKS for all content
areas are organized by elementary grade levels on the
Texas Education Agency (TEA) website () and provide a type of general
scope and sequence, allowing educators to examine all of
the TEKS for a particular grade level. Districts may
choose to go beyond the requirements of the TEKS in
building a district level general scope and sequence
document. They might also choose to modify the format
of the TEKS that are available from the TEA website in
order to make them easier to use in other curriculum
development tasks that will follow. Such modifications
might include labeling and reorganizing the TEKS into
categories such as content knowledge, procedural
knowledge, skills, etc.; and noting when ideas and skills
are introduced, practiced, mastered, and reviewed. Such
modifications should be made with two ends in mind:
• the general scope and sequence should
1) include and identify the learning expectations
required by state law and regulation,
2) clearly display the learning expectations of the
district for each grade and course, and
• should provide all possible assistance to those
teams of educators who will be developing grade
level and course documents and instructional
unit documents.
Grade Level Plans and Course Plans
Grade level plans contain information about a
particular subject at a particular grade or about all
subjects at a particular grade. Course plans are
similar to grade level plans, but are intended for use
at the secondary level. Grade level and course plans
provide basic information regarding instructional
objectives, the organization and sequencing of the
units and/or topics, and approaches to assessment
that are included at the grade level or in the course.
These documents are most useful to those responsible
for coordinating instruction and as a beginning
point for the development of instructional unit plans
(Armstrong, pp. 101-103).
Grade level and course plans are critical documents in a
well orchestrated plan to insure implementation of the
TEKS. They build upon the philosophy statement and the
general scope and sequence, providing the structure from
which instructional units are developed. Grade level
plans at the elementary and middle school levels can be
developed on a separate subject basis or can contain all
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subjects. At the secondary level these documents are
developed on a course by course basis. Whatever
approach district educators choose to use, they should
keep in mind the necessity for vertical articulation and
horizontal integration of the curriculum. Vertical organization
provides for the sequence and progressive development
of content and skills across the K-12 program
and horizontal organization provides the means of
reinforcing and applying knowledge and skills that are
common across several subject areas. Both organizational
approaches are described later in this chapter.
Grade level and course plans are the “work horses” of the
set of interrelated curriculum documents suggested in
this section and it is in the development of grade level
and course plans that district educators can exercise a
great deal of latitude in developing a truly local curriculum.
These documents are of critical importance because
they provide for the organization of the curriculum and
make general suggestions for its delivery. A grade level
plan for sixth grade social studies might include the
following:
• an overview of the course content (see course
descriptions in an earlier section of this document),
• a brief description of the instructional units or
topics to be covered,
• a suggested sequence for the units or topics,
• a brief suggestion for general instructional
approaches, and
• a general description of assessment procedures
that might be used.
Grade level and course documents provide invaluable
assistance for educators who will later develop the
instructional unit documents since they provide an
organizational framework for delivery of the TEKS that
is not found in the general scope and sequence document.
For example, a description of a sixth grade social
studies unit on different types of economic systems
would be likely to incorporate the development of
knowledge and skills contained in the economics,
geography, government, culture, and social studies skills
strands of the TEKS for Social Studies, as well as the
development of knowledge and skills contained in the
TEKS for Mathematics, English Language Arts and
Reading, and Technology Applications for sixth grade.
The SSCED website includes links to other websites that
contain useful information for developing grade level and
course plans. The website of the ERIC Social Studies
Center should be especially useful in identifying model