Thinker Analytix Virtual Workshop
Thinker Analytix, the original secondary keynote workshop for the Best Practices Institute is now offering a shortened version of their session virtually. The virtual workshop will take place on June 30th from 9-10:30 via Zoom. Thinker Analytix teaches the art of creating "argument maps" to help break better understand the multi-faceted nature of arguments. You can view a flyer here. Sign up here.
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Hamilton is Coming to Des Moines
The Hamilton Education Program is designed specifically for American History (or similar) students at Title 1 eligible high schools. Through the program, teachers are provided with a curriculum guide, student materials, and access to primary-source documents. Once the curriculum has been taught, each student is required to complete a final performance project based on whatever aspect of The Founding Era interests them. Upon completion of the performance project and return of a signed consent form, each student is offered the opportunity to attend a performance of Hamilton the musical.
The day of the matinee, the students participate in a full-day field trip to the theater. In the morning, exceptional student projects are featured and the students chosen perform on the Hamilton stage for their peers. The student performances are followed by a Q&A with Hamilton cast members. After lunch, the students see Hamilton.
Right now, schools can express their interest in participating by visiting www.gilderlehrman.org/hamilton, clicking on Hamilton Education Program, and How to Participate on the left side of the page. You can view a flyer here.
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MOC-Floyd Valley Teacher Featured in News
MOC-Floyd Valley teacher Blake Wieking was recently featured in the newspaper for the work he's doing in his 7th grade social studies classroom to implement Iowa's social studies standards. Check out more here.
Teacher Appreciation Day at Living History Farms
Living History Farms (LHF) is hosting a teacher appreciation day on July 1st. Any teacher who comes to LHF that day will receive free admission.
NAEP Results Released in U.S. History, Civics, and Geography
NAEP results - often known as the Naiton's Report Card, were recently released in U.S. history, Civics, and Geography. You can view the U.S. history results here, civics here, and geography here. Results in U.S. history and geography declined overall and results in civics remained stagnant. You can view the National Council for the Social Studies response to the NAEP results here.
National Commission on Military, National and Public Service Releases New Report
After two-and-half years of extensive research, public hearings, and conversations with Americans across the country, the Commission released its final report, Inspired to Serve, on March 25, 2020.
Inspired to Serve offers a bold vision and comprehensive plan to strengthen all forms of service to address domestic and security needs, invigorate civil society, and strengthen our democracy. The Commission’s final report contains 164 recommendations addressing civic education, the federal workforce, national service programs, military service, and the selective service system.
The report makes several connections to the need for greater K-12 civic education and attention to social studies.
You can view the full report here.
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May is Asian Pacific Heritage Month!
Check out these resources to honor and celebrate this.
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Elementary Social Studies in Action
My colleagues in Georgia have put together a video collection of elementary teachers teaching social studies using an inquiry-based approach. You can view the videos here.
New World 101 Module
World 101 has released a new unit in their Regions of the World series. This could be a great resource for our 6th or 7th grade social studies standards. You can view the new module here.
New InquirED Elementary Lesson Available
InquirED has released a new inquiry lesson plan around the compelling question: How can we create a historical record of important events? You can view this lesson and the library of lessons they have released here.
New Medal of Honor Lessons
The Medal of Honor Foundation has released new lessons that highlight elements of character education. The lessons range from citizenship to responsibility. You can view the lessons here.
Teach about Asia
Asia for Educators China and Europe, the Mongols in World History, Living in the Chinese Cosmos, and the Song Dynasty. Check these out here.
Video Series on Slavery and Abolition
Choices has released a new video series on slavery and abolition. This includes clips from scholars on a range of topics such as the Fugitive Slave Law, the Civil War, abolitionists, and more. Check it out here.
Goldie's at Home
Stuck inside? No problem - the State Historical Museum is bringing Goldie's Kids Club to you. Goldie at Home programs and activities are designed to introduce children aged 12 and under to Iowa history right from the comfort of their own homes.
Teaching Iowa History
The April Teaching Iowa History Newsletter is now available. The newsletter is put together each month by the Iowa Museum Association. It highlights resources they have created to support the teaching and learning of Iowa history.
EduHam at Home
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and HAMILTON are thrilled to announce EduHam at Home, a free digital program for students and their families. Families can explore the world of HAMILTON and America’s founding era together and students are invited to create and perform their own narrative in the form of a song, rap, spoken word, or scene. Students are invited to submit their creation and selected student performances will be shared globally through the HAMILTON app, social media (#HamAtHome), and the Gilder Lehrman Institute’s website. This free program is open to K-12 students and their families (and will be of particular interest to students in grades 6-12). Learn more and register here.
Understanding Pandemics, Past and Present
The latest issue the newsletter, Understanding the Great War, is an issue about the history of pandemics. You can view the issue here.
Civics 101 Podcast
Civics 101 is a podcast out of NHPR (New Hampshire Public Radio), where each episode focuses on one single aspect of government. These episodes are around 20 minutes long, and the most recent 40 are told in a narrative style, with music and archival audio. Each of these episodes is paired with a Graphic Organizer for students to take notes upon, as well as 2-3 discussion questions. Podcasts are a wonderful educational resource, as they’re one of the few forms of media that don’t require looking at a screen. They can be listened to on a walk, while doing chores, or just lying down staring at the ceiling. You can find all our shows, as well as daily activities paired to our episodes, at civics101podcast.org. Here's a video overview of the show too.
Elections 101
Elections 101, a curriculum brought to you by the Iowa Secretary of State's Office, includes a series of 10 lesson plans for teaching about elections and caucusing. In addition, there are two lesson plans about women's suffrage. Check them out here.
Discussion Strategies from History Tech
This blog post from History Tech outlines several discussion strategies that are ideal for social studies classrooms. These include Structured Academic Controversy, Four Corners, and more.
Songs in History Month Lesson Plan
A special thanks to John Torrey from Denison Middle School for sharing a lesson plan he created in honor of National Music in the Schools month back in March. The lesson plan focuses on songs in history. You can view the lesson plan here.
Songs in History
On a related note, Songs in History has 50 free songs related to U.S. history. You can access the songs here and accompanying materials here.
Geography for Kids
Geography for Kids is a new (to me) resource that highlights geographic thinking and basic geographic concepts for young kids. You can view the website here.
Civics in Real Life
My colleagues at the Florida Joint Center for Citizenship have created Civics in Real Life. This resource includes examples of civics in the news and examples of how civics impacts us every day.
Youth in Action Film
This new film from Brave New Films showcases the role young people play in improving their communities. The film is broken into eleven segments to show different examples of all the ways that young people engaged in taking informed action.
Teaching the Vietnam War- FREE Resources
The United States of America's Vietnam War Commemoration has created social studies resources that may be viewed online, or SHIPPED FOR FREE to middle and high schools, colleges and universities, libraries, and museums. Physical copies of our materials may be requested by emailing whs.pentagon.wso.mbx.vnwar50th-edu@mail.mil. When requesting materials, educators should include their name, address, the number of teachers' toolkits required, and the names and numbers of poster sets requested; the Vietnam War Commemoration will ship these materials FREE. The teacher's toolkit is a booklet size lesson-planning aid filled with Vietnam War websites, primary and secondary sources, links to education plans, films, books, and more and may be downloaded online at: https://www.vietnamwar50th.com/history_and_legacy/educator_resources/ The Commemoration committee also conducts their own oral histories, which may be viewed here. To view their poster listings, go here. Should you want to learn more about the Vietnam War Commemoration, please follow us at https://twitter.com/vietnamwar50th/ or https://www.facebook.com/VietnamWar50th or visit us at https://www.vietnamwar50th.com to learn more. Questions? Contact Michael.j.doidge3.ctr@mail.mil
Other resources include:
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Library of Congress Resources on the Great Influenza
This blog post from the Library of Congress talks about the resource the library has on the 1918/1919 flu. These resources span from newspaper clippings in Chronicling America to primary source documents.
OER Project
The OER Project allows you to see Big History Project content and their new world history course content. Plus, there are so many other resources to support in using these materials. Check it out here.
Civics Renewal Network
The Civics Renewal Network is a collective group between several civics education groups. Check out the multitude of resources they offer here.
Resources from the National Endowment for the Humanities
- They offer a Teacher’s Guide for Digital Humanities and Online Learning. This collection of resources features advice and guides on how to teach in an online setting, as well as open-access databases and archives for the humanities. This also includes projects funded by the NEH that have resulted in digital archives, databases, publications, online games, podcasts, films, and curricular materials for K-12 and higher education.
- Links and learning activities tied to humanities councils in the states and territories are included in our Investigating Local History Teacher’s Guide. This includes resources for using the NEH funded Clio website and app that teaches about local history, culture, and geography.
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Using Primary Sources in Digital and Live Archives. This resource provides guidance on how to engage students with digital archives and museum collections as part of distance learning.
- The NEH-funded Histories of the National Mall is another digital resource we have been promoting as many school trips to D.C. are being cancelled. This resource includes lesson activities and ideas for bringing the museums and monuments of Washington, D.C. to students.
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Mission US remains a popular interactive in middle and high school classrooms and we have continued to share the student activities that were developed to accompany these online resources.
- Our collaboration with National History Day includes the creation of new “Ask an NEH Expert” videos that focus on skill development. A video each on constructing an argument, validating sources, and writing and editing have been shared by us and NHD, and remain available at both websites.
- We have developed a collection of more than 70 media resources based on NEH-funded projects including Picturing America and BackStory, as well as viewing guides for many of the most recent Jefferson Lectures. The BackStory episode on the Pandemic of 1918 appears on the EDSITEment homepage.
Civics at Home
The Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy has released a new resource called Civics at Home. The resource is designed to show all of the civics connections parents can help young people make in the world.
Access to The Civil War Film
Educators now have complete access to the famous Ken Burns documentary, The Civil War. Check out the full video and extra resources here.
Census 2020 Resources
The 2020 Census is underway now. Students can view a response map to see how many people have already completed the census here and view home and distance learning resources here.
New Resources from the Pulitzer Center
The Pulitzer Center recently conducted a webinar to provide an overview of their resources. You can view the recording here. You can view all of their resources here.
Breakout EDU Live
Breakout Edu is hosting a live virtual breakout each weekday. There is usually a social studies topic at least once a week. Check it out here.
New Kid Citizen Episodes
Kid Citizen is a fantastic resource for young children. There are episodes on Rosa Parks, community helpers, Congress, and more. Check it out here.
New Resources from iCivics
iCivics recently published this new toolkit and launched a new game called Game Odyssey. Check out all iCivics resources here.
Story of Movies Resources
Story of Movies creates curriculum guides for class films. They recently uploaded the first three of eight thematic modules for their latest project called Portraits of America: Democracy on Film. Check out the resources here.
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Iowa and School Desegregation
In 1868, the Iowa Supreme Court rendered one of its great civil rights decisions in Clark v. Board of Directors (24 Iowa 266). Susan Clark, a 12-year-old African-American, was not allowed to attend the school in her Muscatine neighborhood because it was for whites only. The Iowa Supreme Court held that racial segregation of the public schools was unconstitutional under the Natural Rights/Equality Clause of the Iowa Constitution’s Bill of Rights (1857 version). This courageous decision, authored by one of Drake Law School's founders, Justice Chester Cole, preceded both the ratification of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the November election in which Iowa voters passed the amendments to the Iowa Constitution deleting racial designations and granting blacks the right to vote. Find out more in this resource from the Drake University Law Library and this article.
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EdPuzzle
EdPuzzle allows you to insert questions into any video to check for student understanding/reflection.
Talking Points
Talking Points is a free app that allows teachers to send messages to families- in several different languages. Find out more here.
Guardians of Democracy Microcredential
Guardians of Democracy has launched the ability to earn microcredentials. You can now earn the first badge on Current and Controversial Issues strategies. These are free to earn. Check it out here.
Teaching World History PD Course
ABOTA Civics Education
ABOTA Civics Education is holding an essay contest for middle and high school students. Winners will be chosen in each group and will receive $500 and a possibility of their essay being published. Deadline is May 22, 2020. In addition, ABOTA has released a new activity for middle and high school students. Different Government Types teaches about the different government systems in the world, then challenges students to create their own government.
Worlds of Words Grant
Worlds of Words and CERCLL are excited to announce a second round of grants in the Global Literacy Communities project. These $1000 grants support communities in the use of global literature and world languages to build intercultural understanding. Global children’s and young adult literature provides an opportunity for teachers and students to explore understandings about global cultures that go beyond surface information to explore the values and ways of living as well as languages within those cultures. See more here.
Iowa Youth Congress Recruiting for Students
The Iowa Youth Congress (IYC) was created in 2006 by the Department of Human Rights (DHR) to enhance opportunity and broader representation of all Iowans in the government process. The IYC provides youth of all backgrounds the opportunity to gain hands-on education in the subject areas of state government, democracy, advocacy, and civic engagement.
The Iowa Youth Congress (IYC) seeks up to 100 Iowa high school-aged youth (14-18) to participate in a year-long program which provides students the knowledge, abilities, and direction to advocate and enact change in their communities and at the state level for issues affecting youth. IYC will hold regional meetings throughout the year and will engage students in a one-day Mock Congress event.
Through the IYC experience, students attain a variety of skills including public speaking, problem solving, and political debate in multicultural leadership settings. The students also report that IYC participation improves their interest in the legislative process and helps to provide a more hands-on learning experience in the proposal, debate, and passing of bills. Have students go here to apply. Applications are due by June 8, 2020.
Iowa Youth Advisory Council
The State of Iowa Youth Advisory Council (SIYAC) is a policy advising organization comprised of young people from across Iowa between the ages of 14 and 20. These youth leaders are selected to represent all Iowa youth and engage in topics important to young Iowans. Concerns are drafted and shared with policy makers during the legislative session.
SIYAC has 21 members. Quarterly meetings are held in Des Moines at the State Capitol Building; monthly meetings are held via conference calls. New members are selected in June of each year and serve two-year terms. There are no participation fees.
Join SIYAC for the 2020-2022 term. Click here to apply.
Stefanie Rosenberg Wager
Social Studies Consultant
21st Century Skills- Civic and Financial Literacy
World Languages
Iowa Department of Education
Grimes State Office Building
400 E. 14th Street
Des Moines, IA 50319
Phone: 515-725-7842
Cell: 515-419-2876
Fax: 515-242-5988
Email: stefanie.wager@iowa.gov
Social Studies standards, website, Iowa Core Social Studies, newsletter, calendar, Pinterest
Financial Literacy website, newsletter, Pinterest
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