21 tools for helping your kids understand the events in Ukraine. (Plus some bonus advice from a mom.)

Current events have always been something that we as social studies teachers are acutely aware of. There are so many ways that we’re able to use them to connect past with present. But the last few weeks have been difficult. Ukrainian people are suffering. And it doesn’t seem like that will be ending anytime soon.

So.

What’s the best way to integrate the events in Ukraine into our classrooms?

We all love Mister Rogers. Something he said once seems to fit here:

“Anything that’s human is mentionable, and anything that is mentionable can be more manageable. When we can talk about our feelings, they become less overwhelming, less upsetting and less scary.”

The more we talk, the manageable things become. Browse through this short list of resources that can help. And while the list is separated by grade level, don’t be afraid to cross-pollinate between the two.

Maybe, just maybe. Resources to support media literacy and civic engagement

Maybe. Just maybe.

Maybe it’s not that our students are gullible. It’s that they’re too cynical. Maybe it’s not that our students don’t believe in the facts. It’s that they don’t know who to trust. Maybe it’s not that our students can’t think critically. It’s that perhaps they’re thinking deeply while interacting with the wrong resources.

I get it. The events of the last few weeks support the idea that we need more social studies. More civics. More difficult and controversial conversations. (Especially at the elementary level.) Couldn’t agree more. We do need more social studies.

But I’ve been in a lot of classrooms and know a lot of great educators. There is already amazing social studies instruction happening in lots of places. So maybe we need to step back, take a breath, stop talking about requiring civic exams in order to graduate, and be more intentional about building on the good stuff that we all know is already there.

What might that look like?

Fake news: 3 things we can learn from Finland (And 3 cool tools from right here in the US of A)

We all get smarter when we all get smarter.

Pretty simple concept. It’s the whole idea behind PLCs, #sschat, and, well . . . school in general. Learning together makes a lot of sense.

I recently ran across an article highlighting how the entire country of Finland is working together to combat fake news. I got smarter. And when I followed the article with a quick conversation with some SHEG folks about their Civic Online Reasoning Assessments, it was like I took a genius pill.

Way back in 2014, before we knew Russia was messing around in American elections, Finland began noticing intentional misinformation campaigns focused around issues like immigration, the European Union, or whether Finland should become a full member of NATO. These campaigns ramped up in 2015 and a year later, the Finnish government rolled out a multi-pronged, cross-sector approach designed to give its citizens the tools they needed to be effective digital info users.

As the US continues to experience intentional attempts by both international and internal groups to manipulate the digital world we live in, can Finland’s experience help us we get smarter?

Tip of the Week: 6 strategies your students can use to combat fake news

For years, experienced social studies teachers have been asking kids to solve problems using evidence. Teaching them to practice historical thinking skills to analyze primary and secondary sources. Training them to evaluate evidence. To create arguments using that evidence.

This sort of instruction and learning wasn’t always officially encouraged. Great teachers did it because they knew it was good for kids. But our recently created state standards, the Common Core Literacy standards, and the NCSS Framework all now support this kind of quality teaching. Historical thinking skills are cool again.

And that’s a good thing. But . . .

Tip of the Week: More Election Resources Than You’ll Ever Need But Will Probably Look at Anyway

For a former poly sci major, a presidential election year is like one long Super Bowl party. Polls. Data. Ads. Commentary. Analysis. Policy discussions. Lots and lots of analysis. Throw in the Senate and House races – not to mention the state and local stuff going on here in Kansas – and it doesn’t get any better.

And the cool thing is that there are tons of online resources available to help me, you, and your students understand and participate in the process.

Your first step should be to browse through the article titled Have Politics Become So Ugly That Educators Are Afraid To Teach Civics? It might be easier to pretend the election is already over and try to ignore all the ugliness that can happen when we see so much polarization in the process. But we can not ignore our task as social studies educators – preparing students to be thoughtful, engaged, and informed citizens.

Tip of the Week – Campaign ads

I normally don’t have much control over what shows up on the family TV – there’s typically so much Netflix streaming, Pysch watching, Apple TV playing going on that I rarely have much to say on what appears. But there are two times in my house when I get full dibs on the big screen.

March Madness and presidential elections.

Non-negotiable.

So the last two weeks have been great. Speeches. Cheering. Ballon drops. Signs. Campaign slogans. Pundits. Loud pundits. Stupid pundits. Loud and stupid pundits. You know. Typical national convention stuff.

And . . . campaign ads. Lots of campaign ads. So this week, I started poking around for useful campaign ad teaching sites. The good news – lots of great sites. The bad news – lots of great sites. So to help out a bit, I’ve cobbled together some of the best websites focusing on the art of the campaign ad.

The Living Room Candidate
This is the place start. The Museum of the Moving Image has put together a database of 300 campaign ads from 1952-2008. Ads can be browsed by election year, type of commercial, or issue, and each ad is accompanied by a written transcript.  The site also features commentary, historical background, and election results. And it has a great set of lesson plans.

Propaganda Techniques in Literature and Online Political Ads
Students explore the similarities of the propaganda techniques used in the literary text and in the online political ads to explain the commentary the text is making about contemporary society.

The Ultimate Presidents Sale
Students will research and examine candidates’ background, policies and messages. The saturation of television political advertising that permeates students’ channel surfing lends itself to scrutiny, and this lesson can help them sort through the medium to see the method and message.

Electing the President: How Do You Make Up Your Mind?
Students will understand that choosing a President will require thoughtful analysis of their personal preferences, who is telling the truth, complicated issues, and their willingness to look for answers.

The Science of Campaign Ads
Using psychology to create more effective ads.

Five Myths About Campaign Ads
Do ads work? Are they as nefarious as their reputation suggests? Two decades of research has exposed several myths about campaign advertising.

Political Ad Tracker
Political Ad Tracker takes a closer look at ads from candidates, parties and outside groups and allows you to rate whether an ad is believable and how it impacts your views on the candidates and issues in the 2012 campaign.

FactCheck
A nonpartisan, nonprofit “consumer advocate” for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. We monitor the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews and news releases.

Politifact
Every day, reporters and researchers from PolitiFact and its partner news organization examine statements by anyone associated with American politics. We research their statements and then rate the accuracy on our Truth-O-Meter – True, Mostly True, Half True, Mostly False and False. The most ridiculous falsehoods get our lowest rating, Pants on Fire.

Mad Money: Tracking TV ads in the Presidential Campaign
Watch the latest campaign ads in the 2012 presidential race and track ad spending during the primaries and general election.

SuperPac App
Uses audio fingerprinting technology to listen to actual political ads and matches them up against the ads in their database. Then highlights who create the ad and factchecks them.

Have fun!