Kansas Caucus – I was hoping for more fireworks

I was hoping for something. Nothing. Along with about 140 others, I arrived at the Community Center in Marion, Kansas for the state Republican caucus ready for action. As a history teacher and poly sci major, I’ve been to primaries and election but have never experienced a caucus. So I was pumped for some political [...]

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Too stupid to vote

The beauty of democracy? Power resides in the governed rather than the governors. We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence,promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and [...]

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#SOTU, document analysis, historical thinking skills and other nerdy social studies stuff

You’ve heard it before and you’ll hear it again. I’m a history geek. And a political science geek and well . . . you get the idea. So it’s a given that I love a good political speech, especially during presidential primary election season. And the State of the Union address? Of course. Had it [...]

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Tip of the Week – So Moved

I like this. A lot. I’m not sure if it’s the text or the images or a combination of both. But I like it. It’s why you teach Social Studies and history. It’s why you have kids write, analyze primary documents and role play Korematsu v. United States. Why you have kids break down the [...]

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How to get smart again

We’re not stupid, we’re ignorant. Current US history and civic knowledge among American citizens is not good. And worse, it seems as if the extremists are the only ones who care about that stuff. Moderates are choosing to “tune out” from the political process – making it more difficult for consensus to happen. So what? [...]

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