The sky fell last week. Or didn’t you notice? Or maybe you realized exactly why the sky fell and you reacted appropriately—with either a “You go, democracy!” or a “Well, it’s time to find a work-around.” The sky to which I am referring is not the actual sky, that blue blanket across our heads that…
Social Studies
I Wash My Hands of Responsibility
By now you’ve no doubt received all of your National Hand Washing Awareness Week greeting cards from friends, relatives, and secret admirers. It happens this time every year, our mailboxes stuffed with sincere or humorous cards reminding us to wash our hands to fight off the never-ending assault of germs and bacteria. There’s always that…
Making Real-World Connections
My students sometimes accused me of torture. If you know me, you know how funny that is. Maybe I did torture my students, but it was justifiable in the war on classroom boredom. It served the greater good of learning! More than a few times, I have mentioned Jack London’s story “To Build a Fire”…
Questions About Curriculum
Curriculum – noun – 1. The courses offered by an educational institution 2. A set of courses constituting an area of specialization. Cross – adjective – 1. Involving mutual interchange 2. Extending over or treating several groups, conditions, or classes. Maybe it’s because I’m an education nerd, or maybe it’s just because I think it’s…
Seven Faces Lighting Up in the Dark
Perhaps this is the most wonderful thing about teaching: seeing the wonder and amazement on a child’s face as she learns something new. It’s the eyes brightening and a brow rising as a young girl makes the connection between something she has read in a book and now experienced in another lesson, in a hands-on…
Worth Its Weight in Gold
Stop and think for a moment about what makes your job easier as a teacher. There are some things you can control, but there are plenty you cannot. And so you are left trying to do your best with the tools you are given. This got me thinking about all the teachers who stop me…
Honk If You Teach Social Studies
Honk if you use GPS. Ring if your smartphone app gives you driving directions. Raise your hand if you go geocaching. Heck, raise your hand if you even know what geocaching is! Jump up and down until I call on you if you know which country has the largest volume and value of trade with…
Teaching the Civil War: Are we doing it right?
Fort Sumter. Abraham Lincoln. Jefferson Davis. The Union. The Confederacy. Slavery. Secession. And that’s just the beginning. The American Civil War of 1861-1865 is a unique topic that offers countless approaches and cross-curricular teaching options. From a purely historical standpoint, the Civil War is a goldmine and a labyrinth for any social studies teacher. Important…
Teaching Current Events in the Upper Grades
How do you teach currents events when those events invade your classroom? I ask this because there’s a tremendous amount of significant news coming from all corners of the world today, and sometimes it takes just one student’s raised hand to move your lessons in unexpected directions. In 2001, I had been a teacher just…