All posts by glennw

About glennw

I work as a social studies specialist at ESSDACK, an educational service center in Hutchinson, Kansas. Before coming to ESSDACK, I taught middle school US History and higher ed social science classes. View all posts by glennw →

Bill of Rights Day 2015

December 15, 2015constitution, lesson plans, strategiesbill of rights, civics, constitution, governmentglennw

billofrights

Okay . . . admit it. How many of you didn’t know that today is Bill of Rights Day?

Come on, it’s okay.

Yes, I see those hands.

I first ran across Bill of Rights Day a few years ago. I consider myself a person who keeps up with this sort of thing but I had no idea. Back in 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared December 15 to be Bill of Rights Day, commemorating the 150th anniversary of the ratification of the Bill of Rights. So it’s been around a while.

And we probably need to make a bigger deal out of this than we are. Civic literacy and understanding of the nuance embedded in the first 10 Amendments seems a bit low right about now.

FDR observed in 1941 that Continue reading Bill of Rights Day 2015 →

4 reasons for not using primary sources (And 27 strategies for eliminating those reasons)

November 30, 2015Glenn Wiebe, historical thinking, lesson plans, primary sources, strategiescommon core, historical thinking, nokes, primary sourcesglennw

I’ve cross-posted this article from History Tech because the article discussed below is just that useful. So . . . if you’ve already seen this, head back to the article and keep reading!

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As the discipline continues to shift its practice towards asking kids to solve problems using evidence and encouraging the development of historical thinking skills, more and more social studies teachers are integrating the use of primary sources into their instructional designs. Several days ago, I posted a quick overview that highlighted 10 things to think about while using primary sources.

And if you’ve been reading History Tech for any amount of time, you know that I love the use of evidence – especially the use of primary sources.

But what if we’re wrong?

What if using primary sources is so difficult that many of our students just aren’t able to do it? Could we just be wasting a bunch of time that would be better used with direct instruction? Continue reading 4 reasons for not using primary sources (And 27 strategies for eliminating those reasons) →

The Great Thanksgiving Listen, StoryCorps, and oral history

October 13, 2015Uncategorizedglennw

I’ve been on the road quite a bit over the last few months and staying alert during long car rides was becoming a problem. Enter the technology. Both my kids suggested I check out the NPR RadioLab podcast, an incredibly interesting collection of incredibly eclectic topics. I listened to stories about the history of football with a focus on the Indian school in Carlisle PA to using forest fires as a way of increasing bird populations to POW camps holding captured Germans in the US to how Mel Blanc was brought out of a coma by an impression of Bugs Bunny.

Seriously. RadioLab is awesome stuff.

But that got me looking around for other things to listen to. Which led my to another excellent NPR audio program called StoryCorps.

StoryCorps travels the country collecting the stories of everyday people, who get to take the microphone and interview each other about their lives. Each week, the StoryCorps podcast shares these unscripted conversations, revealing “the wisdom, courage, and poetry in the words of people you might not notice walking down the street.” The mission of StoryCorps is to provide people of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share, and preserve the stories of their lives.

Why? Continue reading The Great Thanksgiving Listen, StoryCorps, and oral history →

Find the best apps, games, and sites with Graphite

October 5, 2015app, Glenn Wiebe, instructional gaming, ipad, lesson plans, mobile, social media, strategies, websitesapps, common sense media, doing social studies, games, graphite, video games, websitesglennw

The digital landscape that you and your kids have to navigate has exploded. Mobile technology, apps, instant access, digital content. The stuff is everywhere. And all of that stuff is changing how we do school.

But sometimes it feels like there is just too much. Sometimes it’s easier to just throw up our hands and try to ignore everything out there. How do we sort through all of it? We need unbiased and relevant information that can help us find the best of what we’re looking for.

And now there’s help. Enter Graphite, a free tool designed just for educators.

Graphite is a service Continue reading Find the best apps, games, and sites with Graphite →

Doing Social Studies

Social Studies for the 21st Century