Fall 2015 KCSS Newsletter

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We hope your school year has gotten off to a great start!

There’s a ton of stuff going on this fall. Head over and get the details at our online newsletter.

Need a few teasers?

  • The Judy Cromwell KCSS Teacher of the Year Award program has been revived. Know a great social studies teacher? We’ll be selecting teachers in all three grade levels – they’ll walk away with all sorts of goodies including a $500 cash prize.
  • We’re looking for a few state social studies conference presenters that can share how they’re integrating literacy standards into their instruction.
  • You’ll find info on a professional learning opportunity focused on the upcoming state assessment.

Have a great fall!

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 →

“Coach” should not be an insult. Take pride in all aspects of being an educator

best practice, coach, Scott Peavey

coach shortQ:  What is the most common first name of social studies teachers throughout Kansas?
A:  Coach

We all know the old cliche that social studies is the content discipline for those educators who don’t want to teach PE but also don’t want to teach a “real” subject like science or math.  We can imagine their idea of a perfect lesson: assigning students text to read out of the book, followed by a worksheet of basic, low-level questions, and ending with a full-length movie while they plan their next practice. We expect them to play favorites with their specific athletes and put all of their intellectual time and effort into their respective sport.

I’m not convinced the cliche is entirely accurate.

Perhaps I was fortunate during my time at the University of Kansas where my core group of prospective social studies teachers took a relatively strong interest in the content area we were studying.  Some of us were coaches, some of us were not.  Yet nearly all of us were able to engage in thoughtful debate covering a wide range of serious, intellectually stimulating topics.  So I did not really face the coaching cliché until two summers ago. Continue reading “Coach” should not be an insult. Take pride in all aspects of being an educator →

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 →

Reading as professional development and capitalism vs. democracy

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Welcome to Scott Peavey, high school US and World history teacher at Gardner Edgerton. Scott will be writing regular posts as the newest KCSS board member.

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As social studies teachers we constantly are finding little tidbits of information in our everyday “civilian” lives that create that special spark.  I consider that spark to be the feeling of creativity and insight that educators get whenever they identify an opportunity to cultivate a teachable moment in their classroom.  The source materials for these sparks are diverse; anything from reading the news to watching my one-year old son race across the living room floor.  Over the last week I felt that spark as I was undergoing the most cost-efficient social studies professional development there is . . . reading.

triumphI recently began H.W. Brand’s book American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism 1865-1900.  Last school year was my first formally teaching 11th grade US History and I quickly found that the Gilded Age and the rise of the industrialists was a weak point in my content arsenal.  My goal in reading this book Continue reading Reading as professional development and capitalism vs. democracy →