Classrooms are comprised of mainstream learners, English Learners, and learners with special needs. Teachers need exposure to effective instructional strategies that meet the needs of learners. Instructional time devoted to social studies (SS) content is limited, and teachers have few opportunities to learn approaches to support SS instruction (Bleicher & Kirkwood-Tucker, 2004; Brown, 2007; Author, 2011). As university faculty who teach preservice teachers we are confronted with several issues related to SS instruction in schools including instructional time and teacher professional development (PD). The focus of standardized tests places more instruction and emphasis on mathematics and language arts in elementary schools. Teachers’ time is primarily limited by accountability measures (Scruggs, Mastropieri, & Okolo, 2008, author, 2011). A disproportionate amount of instructional time is focused on language arts and mathematics curriculum in lieu of SS (Doppen, 2007)