During the middle school years, students are trying to figure out who they are. Their identities are malleable and constantly changing based on different life experiences. Social studies teachers need to utilize...

"We the People of the United States..." Seven simple words. Words that were meant to bring unity to a young country that was floundering a bit in its early stages. Words that will get many adults (ages 35 and up)...

Change. A six-letter word bandied around a lot. Politicians use the word every election cycle to argue for the need of the electorate to select new leaders. In a democracy, change means so much more. Citizens have the...

There are a number of lessons I have learned in my 20 years as a teacher of American History. Appreciation of history is like a fine wine … the longer you let it sit (the older we get), the better...

Best practices in social studies education have changed significantly over the last six years. With the release of the Common Core State Standards and its state variations, along with the C3 Framework by the National...

Social studies instruction requires students to understand complex concepts, read dense primary source documents, and critically consider various perspectives. As a social studies and English language arts teacher, I...

Using a microfilm machine for the first time… Watching a local news broadcast from the mid-nineties about the Blizzard of '93... Holding an authentic newspaper from 1941… Facetiming across the Pacific...

There is no doubt that the use of Hollywood films in a classroom provides the students with a variety of benefits crucial to their learning and their understanding. Although movie day in a middle level classroom is...

The standards in current education reform movements stress the importance of strengthening students' content-area literacy skills. This means that social studies teachers must draw on powerful texts. The problem is...

The C3 Framework by the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) has changed the dynamics of social studies instruction. The emphasis of standards in this document is for teachers to build students' content-area...