All posts by glennw

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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.

Chocolate & peanut butter. Professional growth & student evaluations

assessment, best practice, Glenn Wiebe, professional development, , ,

We should always be thinking about ways to improve – even in May. So I dug around in the archives and dug out a post written several years ago that shares some thoughts about student evaluations. Because your professional growth and student evals are a lot like chocolate and peanut butter – two great tastes that go great together.

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Billy Landes was probably the best teacher I ever had. Encouraging. Supportive. Tough. Demanding. Helpful. She let our study group leave to do “research” in the library when I’m pretty sure she knew that we usually headed to the donut shop instead. A learner. Smart. Knowledgeable.

And someone who always asked our feedback about how she could get better. It was the weirdest thing. A teacher asking Continue reading Chocolate & peanut butter. Professional growth & student evaluations →

We’re giving away money! Apply for KCSS Mini-Grants

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Are budget cuts hampering your creative ideas? If so, a KCSS classroom mini-grant just might be the answer to helping you put those ideas into practice.  This year KCSS will award two $250 grants – one each to a K-6 and a 7-12 social studies teacher.

Projects that are eligible for the grant include materials and resources needed to improve instruction or to carry out special projects.  We’re especially looking for mini-grant proposals that will act like a Kickstarter campaign – funding projects and instruction that can be used multiple times with multiple classes rather than a one-time project or event. And while we believe in the power of field trips, KCSS mini-grants are not designed for that type of teaching activity.

(Not a Kansas social studies teacher? Sorry. Jayhawkers only.)

Structure strips. Seriously . . . where have you been hiding?

best practice, Glenn Wiebe, literacy, reading, strategies, writing, ,

(Glenn posted the original version of Structure Strips on his History Tech site several months ago. He loves the idea of Structure Strips so much, he’s sharing it with us here at Doing Social Studies. Enjoy!)

Over the last few months, I’ve had the chance to be part of several teacher conversations focused on the integration of social studies and literacy. And for the last few years, I’ve had the chance to work with the Kansas Department of Education and Kansas teachers as we rolled out our revised state standards and assessments – both of which concentrate on finding ways for kids to read, write, and communicate in the discipline.

So while I am not some super duper ELA expert, I did think that I knew a little something about literacy tools. But I recently got a great wake-up call that let me know that there is always something new to learn.

I was doing some internet browsing for literacy activities and ran across references to something I had never heard of before. And it looks like an awesome tool to slip into your bag of tricks.

Structure strips. Continue reading Structure strips. Seriously . . . where have you been hiding? →

Structured Academic Controversy – Lewis and Clark Edition!  

assessment, best practice, civics, graphic organizer, historical thinking, Jill Weber, lesson plans, primary sources, strategies, , , ,

Today’s post is written by Cheney, Kansas middle and high social studies teacher Jill Weber. Jill is the 2016 Gilder Lehrman Kansas History Teacher of the Year.

Sometimes it all goes right. Thursday morning I didn’t think the day was going to turn out. It was just one of those rough mornings. Bad news and frustrations everywhere I looked. Before class started, I thought

Man, I’m gonna really have to fake-it-to-make-it today.

But then class started, and we got rolling with our topic and activity. By the end of my first block I knew I wasn’t gonna have to “fake it.” Today was AWESOME!

And it was made possible by the Structured Academic Controversy (SAC) activity I found using Stanford History Education Group. If you aren’t using SHEG in your classes . . . get on it! Seriously one of the best resources out there for incorporating and teaching with primary sources.

The SAC provides a controversial questions, documents for research, and the procedure for students to participate in small group debates. Students learn how to argue with evidence! And middle school students LOVE to argue!

The entire activity took two full class periods (we are on a block schedule, so two 75 min. classes) Here’s how it went down . . . Continue reading Structured Academic Controversy – Lewis and Clark Edition!   →