Starting this year, the freshman-level American Society course will now focus on history from the 1980s to the present, replacing its previous coverage of the late 19th century onwards. This change is part of a district-wide curriculum update following Wisconsin DPI (Department of Public Instruction) recommendations, aimed at strengthening social studies education statewide.
According to Jesse Perez, social studies and American Society teacher, the new curriculum is designed to give students the opportunity to explore topics that received less attention in the previous curriculum. With its shorter time frame, the revised curriculum will cover events like the Cold War, the War on Terror, and 9/11 and its aftermath with more detail.
“It seems like [less content], but the way we’ve broken up the class is we are going to do a deep dive into a few different themes,” Perez said. “The first theme is geography; another one of our themes is conflicts. We’re also going to talk about politics; we’re going to focus on environmental issues [and] other cultural and pop cultural events that happened throughout those times.”
Perez explains that all three levels of social studies education in the district – elementary, middle, and high – aim to be aligned to provide a more seamless transition between grades. Sarah Kopplin, SIS social studies teacher and president of the Wisconsin Council for Social Studies, was one of the co-facilitators in bringing these changes to the intermediate school.
“Jill Underly, our state superintendent, felt like we needed to bolster civics education in kindergarten through 12th grade, so she [put together] a team of teachers…and I was lucky enough to be a part of the middle school team,” Kopplin said. “It was really cool to work with teachers from all over the state.”
Kopplin’s team was tasked with designing three new courses for the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade levels. These classes are World Geography and Cultures Then and Now, Civics and Contemporary Issues, and a U.S.-Wisconsin study course covering 1924–1983, respectively. Kopplin believes this curriculum shift is vital to keeping students informed about current issues.
“Students need to learn about modern history – they won’t be able to otherwise,” Kopplin said. “So much has happened that they weren’t getting an opportunity to learn it…They might learn about ancient civilizations, but they won’t really understand where they are now, in the modern world, so that will allow them to make those connections.”
Luna Wollach Brewer is a sophomore that took American Society last year. She says she enjoyed the class and believes coverage of current events is important, but worries current and future students may not get a full picture of American history without the traditional curriculum.
“I feel like talking about more recent history is better and worse at the same time,” Wollach Brewer said. “There’s been a lot of big things that have happened recently, and learning about those could let us have a better grasp of it. [However,] I think starting earlier in history makes a little more sense. I think going back further in history, like in the 1800s, helped us understand the Constitution more as well as the racial dynamics that we talked about.”
Kopplin hopes to address these concerns starting in middle school by maintaining the interest she’s already seen expressed by students.
“I felt like this was the right thing for me to do as a teacher and as a person to help contribute to my community, and I’ve actually had really positive reactions from my students,” Kopplin said. “Once they learned about the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, they were so engaged [with questions like] ‘How do we change the Constitution? How do we add to this? Why is it so hard?’ There is also the chance to have lots of dialogue about things that are taking place in the news all the time. They care about that. They want to be able to have a place where they can discuss and hear other people’s viewpoints.”