US history teachers, I think we have to rethink our curriculum given, um, you know. I am reworking my final unit so that students focus on the transformation of the govt from the Progressive Era, through the New Deal, through the Great Society, and the social movements that caused those changes. - ThreadSky

scmaestra.bsky.social • 6 days ago

US history teachers, I think we have to rethink our curriculum given, um, you know.

I am reworking my final unit so that students focus on the transformation of the govt from the Progressive Era, through the New Deal, through the Great Society, and the social movements that caused those changes.

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jessenathaniel.bsky.social•6 days ago

I totally agree we need to rethink it. I’m curious where we should start a US history course. I found Eddie S. Glaude’s ideas around centering Reconstruction to think about racial formation and where we are now pretty compelling …

https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/we-need-new-american-founding

hanesian.bsky.social•6 days ago

I'm hoping I can get into Reconstruction w/ my 5th graders this year. I'm writing my own curriculum, finding out what needs pruning or expanding. If not this year, definitely next. I studied Reconstruction in 1993 & it's exciting to see growing recognition of its importance in teaching US history.

scmaestra.bsky.social•6 days ago

This all sounds so wonderful, and i's so great that your kids are into it. Any way that kids can see that their place in time and place is historically constructed, as they also construct the present and future....

jessenathaniel.bsky.social•6 days ago

I’ve used this with my HS SpEd classroom and I’ve always wondered if someone could adapt this for younger grades — it’s obvious for some of the lessons, but some of it would have to probably be dropped just to make sure kids grasp it all. https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/reconstruction-era-3-week-unit

hanesian.bsky.social•6 days ago

Great resource, thank you! I adapt middle & high school resources a lot so I'll dig into this. My goal moving forward is to teach ss a few days a week all year so I can get to everything I'd like to get to. Sadly, the time we are "given" to teach ss is shared with science & health so its in blocks.

jessenathaniel.bsky.social•6 days ago

Yeah my wife is an elementary educator and the only answer seems to be curricula that integrates ss content as the material to be read in ELA. 🤷🏾‍♂️ I’m personally not opposed to that — I think it’s possible to find novels that support historical inquiry — but it just requires way more intentionality.

scmaestra.bsky.social•6 days ago

This is an excellent resource.

hanesian.bsky.social•6 days ago

I plan on examining a section of the EO about radical indoctrination in schools, the part about patriotic education. We have talked about it a bit. If I left out all the bad parts of history what would I be teaching them? I was so please when they responded, "LIES!"

scmaestra.bsky.social•6 days ago

That EI is begging to be part of every history teachers curriculum. That's so great you're starting it w 5th grade

scmaestra.bsky.social•6 days ago

I agree with you! In my regular history classes (not AP), I start at the civil war and spend tons of time on Reconstruction. I didn't think you can understand any more US history without understanding what could have been, but wasn't....

bkey1970.keyport.name•6 days ago

wonder what future courses are gonna do.... Reconstruction 2, electric boogaloo - the post trump years?

scmaestra.bsky.social•6 days ago

I've thought about that! I saw someone call this the Deconstruction, which sounds fitting... But we don't know where we're going, yet!

bkey1970.keyport.name•6 days ago

I just wanna know why the heck I'm in a handbasket.

hanesian.bsky.social•6 days ago

I teach 5th grade and social studies are treated as an afterthought in my district. I decided to dedicate time each week to ss--colonization, the development of US looking at class, race & gender, founding documents. I'm using the young people's version of Zinn, Takaki, Kendi as jumping off points.

hanesian.bsky.social•6 days ago

I have to say this is the most fun I've had as an educator--developing lessons that integrate videos, primary sources, projects. This is so vitally important in this moment. I can channel all my energy into this as a way to deal with the chaos. The best part, my students are loving it too.

scmaestra.bsky.social•6 days ago

In order to understand the govt. changes that are coming fast and furious, kids have to understand the historical forces behind getting the fed govt to provide services to everyday people, who was left out, and how today's chaos signals a seismic shift away from the past 85 or 60 years.

scmaestra.bsky.social•6 days ago

I would say that many adults do not understand the ways in which the federal government has shifted since the early 1900's, and the social movements that caused those shifts. The republican regime's ahistorical views and actions -- whatever the motives may be --- are undoing decades of activism.

scmaestra.bsky.social•6 days ago

And I want my students to see and recognize that activism and its results, and recognize that it's up to us now. As folks are saying, no one is coming to save us, but we've done seemingly impossible work in the past, and we can do it again.

scmaestra.bsky.social•6 days ago

(and yes, I know this is part of the "regular" curriculum, but we can do this in an intentional way, with guiding questions that focus our students on why the govt shifted, how the govt shifted, and then, at the end of the unit, how it is shifting currently)

mrneibauer.bsky.social•6 days ago

I teach fifth grade US history, through the Revolutionary War to the Constitution and the formation of our gov’t. How would you suggest I adapt our curriculum to be more in line with what & how you’re teaching your HS students?

scmaestra.bsky.social•6 days ago

What do you think your students need to know? I know that the idea of fairness is paramount in 5th grade (my second favorite grade to teach!) I don't know your curriculum would need to be in line, but what do you want them to go home and talk about? The bill of rights, including the 10th amendment +

scmaestra.bsky.social•6 days ago

which I often overlooked in favor of the much jazzier 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 8th?

Are they interesting in what's going on politically? It might be interesting to really delve into the separation of powers and checks and balances, no? My kids often lack a solid foundation in that.

What do you think?

mrneibauer.bsky.social•6 days ago

Yes to all of those things! I want my students have a solid foundation in the philosophy of the founding of our country (Bernard Bailyn vs Howard Zinn's ideas about the Dec. of Indep.). Then the need for checks & balances, separation of powers, etc.

hanesian.bsky.social•6 days ago

Fellow 5th grade history teacher here (2nd year after many years in 2nd and a few in middle even further back). Can you tell me more about this? I haven't read Bailyn.

mrneibauer.bsky.social•6 days ago

I would check out @inquirygroup.bsky.social's resources. They have a ton of great lessons and assessments for helping students be critical historical thinkers. #EduSky

https://inquirygroup.org/

mrneibauer.bsky.social•6 days ago

Kids read excerpts from each historian's take on why the Founding Fathers wrote the Dec. of Ind. Then, students read the preamble and discuss why they believe the founders wrote it. Zinn believed the Founders were motivated by self-interest, while Bailyn believed they were motivated by ideology.

mrneibauer.bsky.social•6 days ago

After that, I love diving into the federalist papers a bit, especially when discussing the bill of rights. 5th Graders LOVE debating rights!

I’ve observed that my students this year don’t seem particularly aware/interested in current events. Not sure why. How about your students?

scmaestra.bsky.social•6 days ago

Well, I probably have a larger sample size than you, but some kids are really interested and concerned, and others are, well, teenagers concerned with their own stuff.

mrneibauer.bsky.social•6 days ago

Have you used any of @inquirygroup.bsky.social (Used to be Stanford’s Read Like a Historian)? Great resources for teaching US history!

https://inquirygroup.org/history-lessons/declaration-independence?check_logged_in=1

scmaestra.bsky.social•6 days ago

Yes! I love them!

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