Social studies is essential for helping students understand the world and think critically about history, current events, and their civic responsibilities. But with subjects like literacy, math, and science often taking center stage, fitting social studies into an already busy academic schedule can feel like a challenge. This is where a well-designed pacing guide can make a difference.
A pacing guide helps teachers plan what lessons they need to implement to cover all required content within the available time. While pacing guides ensure steady progress through the curriculum, they don’t have to be rigid — they can be flexible, allowing teachers to adjust to student needs along the way.
Pacing for Social Studies
For social studies, a pacing guide is essential in helping teachers prioritize content, align instruction with standards, and integrate social studies into the broader curriculum – even when time is limited. Without a clear plan, social studies instruction can become sporadic, leading to gaps in students’ understanding and missed opportunities to connect with other subjects.
A pacing guide:
- Ensures standards coverage: Helps teachers cover all the necessary topics and skills within the school year.
- Promotes consistency: Provides a consistent instructional approach across different classrooms and schools within a district.
- Supports connections between subjects: Encourages connection between social studies, literacy, and other subjects, making instruction more meaningful and efficient.
- Allows for flexibility: Offers a framework that teachers can adapt based on the needs of their students while still staying on track.
Guiding Your Pacing: Two Approaches
When planning for your school or district, there are two approaches that we commonly see used with our inquirED partners.
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Based on Instructional Days and Subject Splits
Start by determining the total number of instructional days in your academic calendar. Then, consider how social studies time is divided with other subjects. For example, if social studies is taught three days a week, map out the key topics and allocate days accordingly. This approach helps create a realistic plan that fits within the existing schedule.
Planning Around Yearly Milestones
Another effective method is to plan your pacing around significant yearly milestones like reporting periods, state testing, or community events. Identify these key dates and work backward to allocate instructional time for each unit. This ensures the content is covered before important assessments and provides flexibility to review or extend lessons as needed.
Example Pacing Guides
A pacing guide can be a helpful tool in making social studies a consistent part of the curriculum. To better understand the benefits of a pacing guide, download these examples.
By providing a clear framework, pacing guides allow teachers to plan, prioritize, and integrate social studies into their schedule without sacrificing the flexibility needed to address the unique needs of their students. A well-designed pacing guide can help you ensure that social studies receives the time and focus it deserves, even in the busiest of academic schedules.
About inquirED
inquirED supports teachers with high-quality instructional materials that make joyful, rigorous, and transferable learning possible for every student. Our social studies curricula – Inquiry Journeys (K-5) and Middle School World History – are used across the country to help students build deep content knowledge and develop inquiry skills essential for a thriving democracy.