Social Studies

What is the fundamental purpose of our department?
The mission of the American Fork High School Social Studies Department is to enable students to critically and responsibly respond to the political, social, and economic events that have shaped our past and will shape our future.

How do we achieve our desired end results?
Our vision is to collaborate as a department to better help one another become effective teachers and increase the passion and enthusiasm to accomplish our mission.

How must we behave to support our mission and vision?
We value:
• Student attendance
• Student responsibility and accountability
• Department flexibility and freedom
• Memorization
• Written and oral communication
• Diversity
• A safe environment
• Retention
• Collaboration
• Critical thinking
• Traditions of school and community
• Subject matter

What are our fundamental beliefs?
• We believe in student responsibility; students should be accountable for their actions.
• We believe students should know and understand the American political system and processes.
• We believe every student should be enrolled in the Social Studies curriculum beyond the required courses.

Focusing our MVVB on the Four Essential Questions
Question #1 – What do we expect our students to learn?
We want our students to know, understand, and be able to utilize the major components of the social studies curriculum, which are:
Content – Historical facts and information
Skills – Reading, writing, and oral communication
Concepts – Themes common in human interaction

Question #2 – How will we know what they have learned?
We will know that they have learned the major components of the social studies curriculum through formal and informal student assessments (written and oral).

Question #3 – How will we respond to students who aren’t learning?
If students do not learn the material, we will respond by providing the opportunity for individual instruction and encouraging students to take advantage of it.

Question #4 – How do we respond to students who have already learned the material?
If students have clearly learned the material, we will respond with praise and encouraging students to take the additional course offerings within the department, many of which are upper level courses.