Tag Archives: sheg

Buzzworthy Social Hour, KS SS conference, and engaging project smackdown

conference, Derek Schutte, professional development, TJ Warsnak, , , ,

Social Hour LogoIf you’re on the fence about making the trip to Emporia for this year’s Kansas SocialStudies Conference, take a quick listen to a podcast from Buzzworthy Productions aka TJ Warsnak and Derek Schutte of Halstead High School.  In this edition of The Social Hour podcast, TJ and Derek display their own unique flair while sharing excitement for the direction the discipline is taking, battling it out in a social studies most engaging project smackdown, and highlighting some of the topics they’ll be sharing during their session at the conference.

Catch The Social Hour Podcast by clicking the link below:



The 2018 Kansas Social Studies conference targets the teaching and learning of historical thinking skills and assessments with a special focus on creating civically engaged students.

In addition to TJ and Derek’s Buzzworthy Productions, there are over 45 breakout sessions during this year’s conference including keynotes by Joel Breakstone, executive director of the Stanford History Education Group. Joel will focus on SHEG’s latest online civic literacy tools and share tips and tricks for using their award winning lessons and assessments.

The conference is October 28 and 29 at the Emporia State University student union. Get all the details and registration information at the conference website here.

And be sure to catch all the TJ and Derek Buzzworthy goodness during their breakout session:

Adding BuzzWorthy Engagement to the Social Studies
Monday October 29
9:30 am – 10:20 am
Blue Key Room
ESU Memorial Union 2nd Floor

Can we combine civic engagement, technology and project based learning in a cohesive way? You bet we can, and when we do, our classes become more engaging. Check out our methods of how we combine these three components to expand learning opportunities and make your classes more buzzworthy. Hear about a new projects that can easily be integrated into your classes as well as how to use Google Sites as a basis for future designs. Join us for a a fun session full of ideas, laughs and some new teaching designs.

Both TJ and Derek are active on Twitter and can be reached at:
@thewarsnack
@coachshutte

SHEG HATs for the win

assessment, best practice, Glenn Wiebe, historical thinking, lesson plans, primary sources, strategies, , , , ,
Hat fail.

I’m not talking about an actual hat. Not a baseball cap. Or a visor. Or a bowler, beanie, beret, or bucket hat.

I’m talking about SHEG HATS.

As in Stanford History Education Group and History Assessments of Thinking.

I’m sure that you’ve been over to the very useful  Stanford History Education Group’s site with its three different tools, right? (If you haven’t, mmm . . . go there now and be amazed at how your life will be changed.)

All of us at the KCSS have been pushing Sam Wineburg’s work for years so I’m hoping you’re already familiar with the work his SHEG group has been doing around the idea of reading like a historian. They’ve packaged their work into three chunks – instructional lessons that focus on training kids analyze evidence to solve problems, onlive civic literacy lessons, and wait for it . . . Continue reading SHEG HATs for the win →

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!   →

Your brain is a bucket full of holes. Sam Wineburg can help

Glenn Wiebe, historical thinking, lesson plans, primary sources, , ,

I get the chance to work with all sorts of teachers, across the state and around the country. We’re all different. But when the conversation turns to teaching and learning social studies, I often hear the same thing:

“I have to lecture (or have students read their textbooks out loud, create outlines from the chapter, complete fill-in-the-blank worksheet packets, or watch a 30 year old video converted from 16 mm film) because the kids have to know their facts. It’s not fair asking them to think historically without the basic facts.”

I get it. And I don’t disagree. Kids do need the facts. But I think for too long we’ve just assumed that acquiring foundational knowledge and historical thinking are two distinct and different activities. We fill up their heads with facts and then, if we have time in the school year and after the state assessments are over, then . . . we can try some of that historical thinking stuff.

We need to stop doing that.

The brain is not a basket that we can just fill up with stuff. The brain is a Continue reading Your brain is a bucket full of holes. Sam Wineburg can help →