History and Social Studies Education

What happens when a strict Puritan family trade places with a fun loving couple from the Restoration period? We'll find out when we tune in to this week's Hi...

You don't have to major in history to read these books--All you need is a passion for history, learning and a love of reading. Here is a list of a few of the great books about America's past.  They offer an education on the complexities of the history of the United States you likely didn't get in many formal history classes. 

"The Common Core State Standards provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help them. The standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers. With American students fully prepared for the future, our communities will be best positioned to compete successfully in the global economy." 

This links you to the History/Social Studies element of the Common Core for 9th and 10th grade (look on the sidebar for links to other grade levels). 

http://www.thegreatrepublican.com Illinois' Rep. Bobby Rush (D) was removed from the House floor Wednesday morning after donning the hood of his sweater — an...

The 'rules' about clothing, place and social context are culturally and politically institutionalized. Where can you wear what clothes, and when does that change? Should it change? The clothes literally made this particular speech, since it was about the criminalization of cultural clothing norms within racial and economic groups. Should he have been thrown off the floor? What would you have done?

How did a kid armed with Skittles and an iced tea get gunned down by an overeager neighborhood watch captain? And why didn't police detain shooter George Zimmerman?

Periodically a racially charged incident involving the police will polarize public opinion and bring the discussion of race and injustice into the limelight.  That is happening with the Trayvon Martin killing.  On the surface it appears that an overzealous neighborhood watchman racially profiled Trayvon as being suspicious, tried to detain him as killed him.  The local police are calling it self-defense even though the young man was simply minding his own business.  This could be an interesting case study to investigate as a class to see the inner-workings of the law, racial dynamics and power today.   

Mrs. B rocks out to the Blondie classic with a crown from Burger King (???).

If you haven't yet discovered the YouTube channel "historyteachers," this is a sample of their work.  The simple premise is that musical rythmns and beats help us remember lyrics; using that idea, they've created a wide list of songs with historically-themed lyrics.  

"Imagine our surprise.  Rethinking Schools learned today that for the first time in its more-than-20-year history, our book Rethinking Columbus was banned by a school district: Tucscon AZ.  According to journalist Jeff Biggers, officials with the Tucson Unified School District ordered that teachers pull the book from their classrooms, evidently as an outcome of the school board’s 4-1 vote this week to abolish the Mexican American Studies program."

The battle over 'who's history' get's to be taught in public schools is an ongoing debate that likely will never truly be resolved.  What do you think about Tucson's decision?  What will this mean for their school district?  Who should decide what is in the curriculum?  At what scale should these decisions be made at?