The protests that have been occurring across the country since the killing of George Floyd have led us once again to ask how best to teach U.S. history. These are issues that we have wrestled with throughout most of our careers, but recent events bring them to the forefront. A traditional blog post – with just one voice – is challenging to write at the moment because it presumes that we have answers. We don’t. Instead, we decided to get together and… Continue reading
Category: Civics
“Six Takeaways from a History Podcast Project,” MiddleWeb
In April I wrote about a new resilient history podcast project I was trying with my U.S. history students. I wanted it to relate to the current crisis and offer a meaningful group project during these challenging times. After grading the podcasts, reading student compliments on each other’s work, and conducting an anonymous survey… Continue reading
“Distance Learning Strategies to Bring Back to the Classroom,” Edutopia
Before my eighth-grade history students moved into online learning this spring, I had no idea about one student’s affection for Cup Noodles or another’s sweet way of talking about her 5-year-old brother. Perhaps I should have known, but I didn’t, and I wish I had. Distance learning has enabled these intimate glimpses… Continue reading
“Social Studies Instruction in the Age of the Coronavirus,” Education Week Teacher
This has been one of the most difficult moments I can remember to encourage students to follow the news. As two 8th graders said recently in a Zoom chat:
- I don’t really bother to look because it is all about the coronavirus.
- There’s not much about anything else… Continue reading
“A Social Studies Podcast Project for Right Now,” MiddleWeb
Rarely has it been so clear that a unit needs to be scrapped and started over from scratch. In my eighth-grade U.S. history and civics class, which has a lot of curricular flexibility, we focus on… Continue reading
“The Do’s & Don’ts of a Quick Shift to Remote Learning,” Education Week Teacher
Here’s how my second meeting with one class started last week, when three students opened up a chat on Google Meet:
1:16 PM
can i go to the bathroom
1:16 PM
we didn’t have to turn in a current event today right… Continue reading
“What Students Can Learn by Writing to Politicians,” MiddleWeb
Writing a letter to a politician is about as “civic” an assignment as we can do within our classroom walls, and it feels especially relevant in our polarized political climate. For the first two years that my U.S. history and civics students wrote these letters, though, I didn’t quite… Continue reading
“Seven Ways to Bring Current Events Into the Classroom,” Education Week Teacher
We can link current events to what we teach in the classroom in at least two ways—through content and through character. With content, teachers sometimes wonder how they can justify adding current events to their lessons… Continue reading
“How iCivics Helped Me Refresh the Constitution,” MiddleWeb
In my 8th grade U.S. history and civics class, which I’ve taught for seven years, our unit on the Constitution has always challenged me because it raises so many questions about curriculum planning… Continue reading
“Taking the Declaration in New Directions,” iCivics
Every year, teaching the Declaration of Independence daunts me. The possibilities for modern and historical connections are vast, and I wonder if I could be doing more to cement the favorable concepts from this founding document into students’ minds… Continue reading