Is it ever okay for your kids to hate your social studies class?

Can you ever have too much Sam Wineburg? The answer is . . . no, no you can’t. So enjoy this re-mix of a post from a couple of years ago.

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Okay. I don’t want kids to hate social studies. Let’s be clear about that from the get go. But . . . I also think that we sometimes fall off the wagon on the other end by working way too hard trying to find activities that our kids will enjoy or projects that are “engaging.”

It’s been more than just a few years since I first heard Sam Wineburg speak. I had read his book Thinking Historically and Other Unnatural Acts. Read some of his early articles on historical thinking skills and loved his ideas about how we needed to re-think our approach to teaching history. But it wasn’t until a combined Kansas / Missouri Council for History Education conference way back in 2008 that I first heard him speak. He opened the conference with a keynote highlighting the main ideas in his book.

And now, of course, he’s a future social studies Hall of Famer having helped to swing the pendulum of social studies instruction over to something more focused on a balance of both content and process.

But something he said way back in 2008 has stuck with me:

 I don’t think that a history class should be about things such as History Alive or about making cute posters, or about making history “engaging.” It’s about getting students to thinking rigorously about the evidence. Fun is okay, but I would rather have them hate the class and come out having the skills needed to be good citizens than having them enjoy themselves.

Six Awesome Back to School Social Studies Ideas

I was on a quick Zoom call the other night when of the high school teachers casually mentioned that his first day back with students had gone pretty well. Seriously!? Cue the jaw drop. I’m always a little bit shocked when I hear about districts that crank up during the first few days of August but I never get used to it.

Maybe you’re in that same boat, shoving off with kids already or very soon. If you are, this post may be a little too late. But I’m hoping that for most of you, you’ve got at least one or two more weekends before your first few student contact days.

To help energize your first awesome week with kids, here are some great ways to kick off the school year. Use what you can. Adapt what you can’t. Ignore the rest.

Throwback Thursday: “Can the Chronicling America primary source newspaper site get any better? Yes. Yes, it can.”

I’m spending a few days with some of the amazing staff at the Library of Congress (I’m looking at you, Cheryl), learning more about their super cool primary sources and more ways to use them. Yesterday I had a bit of chit-chat with the people in the LOC Newspaper Division that included some tips about using their awesome Chronicling America digital newspaper site.

It was exactly one year ago, I posted some details about one of the site’s best new features. It seems appropriate to give that post another look-see. So . . . today? A Throwback Thursday History Tech edition.

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Seriously. Other than somehow delivering their results with a large iced tea and delicious side order of hand-cut fries, is there any way that the Library of Congress Chronicling America site could get any better?

I mean, you’ve got almost 200 years worth of digitized primary source newspapers available for scanning, analyzing, printing, and perfect for use for all sorts of learning activities in your classroom. OCT text versions of articles. Searchable by keyword. By language. By state. And it’s free. What’s not to like?

So is there really any way that it could get better? Yes. Yes, it can.

What if knowledge isn’t the main idea?

I’ve been spending some time over the last few weeks doing some research on a writing project and happened to run across on old post of mine from several years ago. The post is based on some comments made by the late Grant Wiggins. Wiggins spent much of his time working with Jay McTIghe to develop and share their ideas around what they called Understanding by Design.

UbD focuses on making intentional decisions in the instructional planning process – being clear about what they called “the end in mind.” You then work back from there to ensure that everything that you’re asking kids to do is aligned to those goals. It makes a ton of sense.

In the article titled “Everything You Know About Curriculum May Be Wrong,” Wiggins spends some time sharing thoughts about the balance between teaching foundational knowledge and historical thinking process. And I know it’s summer but it’s always a good time to think about ways to do our jobs better.

So . . . a History Tech flashback post:

Thinking routines & Project Zero. Your first round draft choice.

I admit it. I’m a fan. And watch it every year.

Especially this year. Held in downtown Kansas City, home of the world champion Kansas City Chiefs, the NFL Draft is my spring booster shot that holds me through until August’s preseason.

And I know you’re all locked into the last few weeks of the semester but you need to take a few minutes to explore Project Zero, developed by the Harvard Graduate School Education. Because if you’re looking for next fall’s first round draft pick of resources, the thinking routines you’ll find at Project Zero should be at the top of your list.

NCAA basketball? Absolutely. History Movie Madness? Heck, yeah. Bracketology in the classroom? Yes, please.

Just so you know. Huge March Madness fan. First four days of the tournament rank right up there with the NCSS conference, Fourth of July, and the winter holidays. And the 2023 version did not disappoint. Would have liked KU to have done better but otherwise loving the upsets.

But somewhere in between Princeton knocking off Arizona and Gonzaga surviving TCU, I flashbacked to the American Battlefield Trust’s History Movie Madness Bracket Contest from a couple of years ago. You’ve probably heard of the Trust back when it was called the Civil War Trust. It started as a group dedicated to preserving Civil War battlefield sites. It’s now also working to do the same for Revolutionary War and War of 1812 sites. So . . . they’re good people.

I’ve written about my favorite history movies before so having the chance to break down 32 movies to find the all-time best is right up my alley.

The Trust starts off with by claiming somehow that Gods and Generals is the best movie ever. Clearly they’re very confused about what constitutes a quality movie. (Spoiler alert. Gods and Generals didn’t make it out of the first round.) But I love the idea of a movie bracket. I was so in.

I’ll be honest. I hadn’t seen all of the movies in the bracket. But I haven’t seen all 68 teams in the NCAA tournament either. So I was okay faking my way through this bracket the same way I did my basketball one. And the criteria for the winners is about as loose for the movies as it is for the NCAA. Pick your faves based on leading actor or director or time period or most significant event or most historically accurate or well, whatever you decide. My wive’s 5th grade class picked basketball winners based on best mascot so . . . there’s a lot of leeway here. (Gonzaga Zags BTW.)

I’ve posted my entry below. Feel free to troll my picks.