Category Archives: strategies

5 ways to start the year

Glenn Wiebe, strategies

first day of school

I hate to be the one to bring this up but . . . mmm . . . school starts soon. I know many of you are going back to classrooms next week with kids making their appearance soon after. And it’s always nice to have a few tips and tricks in your backpack to start off the school year. What discipline-specific activities work best for kicking off the year?

So today? The fifth annual Five Ways to Start the School Year in a Social Studies Classroom post. Use what you can. Adapt what you can’t. Add your own ideas in the comments. Continue reading 5 ways to start the year →

Inspiration from American Colossus Part Two: The Ascendancy Cycle

assessment, best practice, books, Scott Peavey, strategies, ,

brands bookIn my previous post I wrote of the inspiration I gained from H.W. Brands’ book American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism 1865-1900; specifically how Brands discussion of the dueling natures of capitalism and democracy could lead to a solid classroom discussion in an 11th grade US History course.

This post is regarding another aspect of Brands’ thesis, something that Brands calls the ascendancy cycle in American history.  What follows is far from a polished lesson, but instead the beginnings of an idea that hopefully will result in something beneficial for my students.

In the book, Brands claims that the competition between the forces of pure capitalism and pure democracy can be used to characterize the last 200 years of American history.  This competition has resulted in the proponents of each of these founding principles consolidating power, furthering their beliefs, losing that power to the opposing group as they create policy furthering their agenda, so on and so forth.  I believe that looking at US history through this lens provides students a concrete example of the ebbs and flows of American politics and how these elections can fundamentally alter the course of the nation. Continue reading Inspiration from American Colossus Part Two: The Ascendancy Cycle →

The end is near! Letters to next year’s students

Cassie Medley, graphic organizer, strategies, writing,

Can you tell it is May?  Are your students acting as crazy as mine?  Don’t worry, the end is near. We just need to get them to hang on for a couple more weeks!

Throughout the year I have students keep all of their work in binders within my classroom and at the end of each unit we empty most of the material out.  What remains in the binder for the entire school year are the maps from each unit and a vocab log that my students have kept through the year as a resource when common vocabulary words are addressed in multiple units.  As I was working to wrap-up my content and start emptying student supplies out of my classroom, I wanted to come up with a way to check  student vocab logs without having to go through and grade each individual binder (80 students x 50+ words, no thanks!).

So, I had my students write a letter to the 6th graders that I will have next year as 7th graders, using the words from their vocab log to explain what the 6th graders would be learning in my class. Continue reading The end is near! Letters to next year’s students →

Pre-Service Teachers Contribute Curriculum

best practice, Eisenhower Library, Kansas, lesson plans, museum, primary sources, resources, strategies, websites, , , , , , , , ,

Pre-Service teachers are getting into the game and classroom teachers can benefit. The HGSS undergraduates at KU have a thriving student chapter of the National Council for the Social Studies  – the Kansas University Council for the Social Studies (KUCSS) – and they’ve been using their powers for good.

KUCSS has partnered with the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics in Lawrence, Kansas to create instructional materials for middle and high school social studies teachers. The Dole Institute of Politics has launched an online exhibit commemorating Dole and his service in WWII which resulted in a debilitating injury that would later largely shape his work as a Senator resulting in the Americans with Disabilities Act (1995).

If you’d like to read more about the collection and their collaboration with KUCSS you can check out the full article here.

Make sure to check out the WWII Letter Collection from the Dole Institute and follow the In the Classroom link for the lesson plan.

And if you haven’t taken the opportunity to visit the Dole Institute of Politics in Lawrence it’s well worth a trip. Heck, make an I-70 road trip of it: start at the Eisenhower Presidential Center in Abilene, hit the Dole Institute, and then on to Liberty, Missouri for the Truman Presidential Library and Museum – just imagine all the government fun!

Get the KCSS fall update. And try out Smore

literacy, social media, strategies, technology, web 2.0, , , ,

KCSS is giving an online tool called Smore a test drive for publishing our quarterly newsletter. First things first. Head over and get the newsletter here.

But I also think that Smore is a handy tool for teachers and students for creating all sorts of products and projects. It seems very easy to use and has some cool sharing tools.

Create a free account and Continue reading Get the KCSS fall update. And try out Smore →