Teaching Tolerance

"America is woven of many strands. I would recognize them and let it so remain. Our fate is to become one, and yet many. This is not prophecy, but description." - Ralph Ellison



Each year - before we begin to "dig in" to history - I ask my students to think about WHY we study history.

I get the typical:
*Because we have to...
*Because you said so...
the occasional:
*Because it teaches us about where we come from...
*Because we can learn from the past....

I think that we study history because it's a road map for how people can become the best version of themselves. Coupled with the horrors of slavery we have the bravery of abolition. The horrible exploitation of industrialization elicited the compassion of the Progressive Movement. Years of segregation gave birth to the Civil Rights Movement. It's easy to become mired down in examining the negative of history and there's a place for bringing these truths to light. It's important to also value the absolute beautiful bravery of those who time and again refused to give up or give in to this negativity.


Check out Teaching Tolerance - this magazine and the supporting materials made available online are supported by the Southern Poverty Law Center. (The Ralph Ellison quote above is included in a set of posters I have from this organization....a quote which I discussed with some students today -- reminding me why I love history and my job.)

Current Events

Keeping my opinionated mouth closed is one of the biggest challenges I face in teaching students about current events. It's a difficult balance to strike - to teach students all sides of a topic and not editorialize the information. Social Studies teachers are given the task not of teaching our students what to think - but of guiding them towards developing the skills necessary for them to become analytical, disciplined thinkers. Teaching a man to fish..and all that...

*CNN Student News is a great resource. It's a daily 10 minute newscast geared towards JrHigh/High School Students. They cover a little bit of everything - this year they've placed particular emphasis on our nations economic issues - each episode comes with discussion questions and comprehension activities (I make little use of these materials - my kids run with the ideas on their own). This newscast is available for streaming online (the link I provided) and for free daily download on itunes as a podcast (this is I highly recommend for those of you who have issues with Internet speed at your schools).

*Scholastic News is also pretty awesome. This is a resource that is appropriate for a wider range of students. They have free leveled news stories available for download and printing. Many stories are accompanied by a skill builder activity that reinforces reading skills and comprehension.

*Channel One is another resource I've heard good things about. I am less familiar with it than CNN Student News - but it serves the same function. The only drawback I've seen in my limited experience is that it isn't available for download - only live streaming.

Glogster!!!

A friend pointed me towards this GREAT site - make sure to scroll to the bottom and to follow the Glogster EDU section to the forum directed at teachers and students. Basically this gives your kids the ability to access a VERY user-friendly visual blogging site. The possibilities of this are pretty great - check out the safeguards etc. to make sure its right for your kids.

Important Documents

*The Arizona State Content Standards are the blueprint which guides instruction in our Social Studies classrooms. This link will give you access to all of the K-12 Content Standards so that you know what students were taught in previous years and what they will be learning in their other classes.

*The Cartwright School District has created pacing guides to help teachers "map out" which concepts should be taught in a particular Quarter. This helps provide consistency for our students who move between Cartwright schools, it also makes it possible for us to create district-wide common assessments. In order to access these pacing guides you need to
1. Log in to your First Class account
2. Select "Conferences"
3. Select "Teaching and Learning"
4. Select your grade level and Social Studies

*When students engage in writing in your Social Studies classroom one key way that you can help support preparations for their success on AIMS is to have them use the 6 Traits Rubric to evaluate their work. The more that students interact with this rubric and become familiar with its components the more successful they will be when it comes to the AIMS writing assessment.

*Social Studies teachers are often called upon to support the AIMS tested areas of Reading and Math (and now Science). Rather than grasping at random Language Arts standards I'd suggest taking a look at the AIMS Blueprint which will guide you towards those most-frequently assessed skills and knowledge that will help prepare students for success.

*When planning your Social Studies lessons it is important to engage students in meaningful lessons that elevate their thinking to the highest possible level. Useful in purposefully creating challenging learning activities is this Verb Wheel Based on Bloom's Taxonomy. Check the verbs you use in your planning to make sure that you are creating cognitively demanding experiences for your students.

Where to go when you don't know.....

Who won the war of 1812? Okay, who even fought in the war of 1812? There are A LOT of resources out there, there are a few that are reliable.
*Digital History Online: This site includes an online textbook that I've turned to several times, they also have a good collection of primary source documents. Not great if you are looking for quick answers - but FULL of useful information.

Integrating Literature Into the Social Studies Class

It can be overwhelming to locate literature that reinforces the historical concepts that you are teaching. This database is AMAZING and worth a look. You are able to select the historical period, genre, format and more -- and when titles are suggested they are accompanied by a brief description of the book itself.

Here is another database that I am less familiar with but that also looks good.

Multimedia Resources

The internet is FULL of resources that you can use in your Social Studies classrooms. You can find images, audio, video and more to integrate into your planning that will engage students and strengthen your lessons.

*TeacherTube is full of helpful video clips on a variety of topics.  I rely on both this site and YouTube - but appreciate that you find fewer inappropriate or completely off topic clips on this site.

*Keepvid is an excellent tool for saving video clips that you find on YouTube or TeacherTube.  If you work at a school with slow internet connection, or at a location where youtube access is blocked - keepvid is a great alternative. 

*For Cartwright Elementary School District teachers the Classzone website which is connected to our adopted text - McDougal Littell's "American History" can be a GREAT support. This site has interactive maps and animations as well as a number of links to websites that support specific topics in the text.