Brain research shows that neurons that fire together wire together. When teaching concepts we want students to remember, it’s important to give them different ways to store those concepts in their long term memory. By using a narrative chain, my students are saying, seeing, and doing the information I want them to remember.
But what does that look like?
The great thing about being a history teacher is that history can be literally all around us, especially on the Internet. There are all kinds of things that might be of use for teachers of history. I provide for you three “guilty pleasures” that you may wind up exploring for fun on your own time. Continue reading “Guilty Pleasures” of History Education
One of the pleasures of working with KCSS is the many people I get to come in contact with. One of those people is our KSDE Social Studies Specialist, 
Mr. Don Gifford. He has agreed to do some guest posts for the Doing Social Studies blog. Here is his first of hopefully many more to come… BB
“In my current role as the History, Government, Social Studies Consultant for the Kansas State Department of Education I am constantly looking for ways to communicate the differences between our previous standards and the new standards adopted this spring by the Kansas Board of Education. Continue reading Guest Post: Don Gifford “Mining or Archeology?”
Blogs this time of the year are full of wonderful ideas for the first day of school. I would like to share with you a lesson that I do on the 3rd or 4th day of school after all procedural things are taken care of.
I start off by brainstorming with the kids – asking the question “What don’t you like about history?” We write their answers on a flip chart.
Then I show them this awesome YouTube video by jhayesteach. It highlights a small little speck of the amazingly cool things about history! Continue reading Why study history? A 3rd day of school lesson….
I know that some of you are already on the ground with kids, doing point of the spear stuff. But for many, school starts this week or next. And you may already have your entire week planned out, ready to go.
But if you’re still struggling with what to do or maybe just looking for a few fresh ideas, here’s five easy activities that you can use right away without a lot of prep time. Continue reading 5 Easy Back to School Ideas for Social Studies Teachers
