Current Events in the Secondary School

This article examines children's literature that depicts people undergoing political conflict and war in a post-WWII era. These books portray political conflicts, refugees' relocation, and settlement in different countries. Using these books with drama inspired activities can help students gain awareness and empathetic attitudes toward those in a global community.     

The Vocabulary Levels of Social Science Magazines

With the realities of standards-based accountability, it is imperative to model and demonstrate for students how subject areas and teaching methods transcend across traditional boundaries. In an effort to prepare future social studies educators to teach for global awareness and to meaningfully integrate critical literacy skills into their instruction, we initiated a collaborative model in our university's middle grades teacher education program with language arts and social studies methods courses. The development of cultural competency not only provides preservice teachers with the knowledge of diverse populations but also enables them to have an increased ability to affirm the cultures of others.     

A Unit in Current Events

The authors encourage teachers to make use of existing, standard social studies curriculum to uncover and to make visible the normative assumptions that underlie American cultural beliefs about gender and sexuality. The article provides an overview of how some cultures within the various Native American nations conceptualize gender and sexuality in ways that challenge Western norms. An example lesson plan addressing Two Spirit history is included as well as reflections from teachers who have taught the curriculum in their classrooms.     

Pedagogies of discomfort and empathy in multicultural teacher education

To show the potential and limitations of pedagogies of discomfort and empathy in anti-racist and multicultural teacher education, this paper engages in an in-depth analysis of two ‘critical moments’ that are drawn from a series of teacher workshops. The purpose of the analysis is to show how discomfort and empathy may be combined together pedagogically in the context of multicultural and antiracist teacher education. The contribution to the literature is to highlight the importance of foregrounding attention to teachers’ discomfort and its pedagogical implications in multicultural teacher education.     

Not the Israel of My Elementary School: An Exploration of Jewish-Canadian Secondary Students' Attempts to Process Morally Complex Israeli Narratives

The following article presents data from a mixed-methods practitioner research study that focuses on understanding how Jewish secondary students learned about controversial topics in Israel's history and how these topics impacted their connection to the country. The responses that were provided by the students showed that the material forced students to conceptualize Israel in new ways and that the material— learning from Palestinian and Israeli texts about events that happened in 1947 and 1948—was disruptive to their preconceived notions of Israel. With the passing of time, the students were able to reflect on the real difficulty they had with learning about the topics but were able to synthesize the disruption into their Israel narrative to arrive at a new understanding. The integration of this new material into existing schema is understood within the context of dangerous memories, and how learning about controversial moments in nationalist narratives can impact the way students learn and relate to a topic. A further finding was that some students expressed resentment at previous educational experiences for not being fully transparent about historical events.     

Teaching the Use of the Library

The purpose of the study was to examine if and how elementary preservice teachers’ perceptions about history were changed upon their completion of a class project that engaged them in a discipline-specific inquiry as a method of teaching history. Surveys were administered to assess any changes in their perception of the history before and after they participated in the class project. The preservice teachers’ reflective writings were used to explore any themes that emerged about historical inquiry as well as to understand their development of pedagogical knowledge about teaching history. The study results provide implications for inquiry-based teaching in social studies education.     

Service learning and the practice of social justice and care

The values of a social justice pedagogy in teacher education are assumed to be firmly established in South African higher education. This article discusses how serviced learning (SL) can provide practical experience of caring and serve the promotion of the ideals of social justice in two initial teacher education programmes. However, an analysis of data in this case study shows that, although SL practice has served as a platform for social justice and for care as two basic educational values, participants were not yet able to verbalize and theorize these values. They were also not able to embed these values in their reflection about service as an inherent component of education. With data from different role players in a number of SL projects, we show that the students’ discourse of what it means to be a caring teacher in a just society has not yet been developed despite the successful practical experience. It was found that, although the students had been building a practice ‘platform’ for service, they had not yet been able to articulate the conceptual intersect of care and social justice clearly. With this epistemological notion in mind, two main themes from the data analysis are discussed: 1) How SL shifted student learning from ideas ‘about’ service to implemented service, and 2) how the practical experience promoted reciprocity in inter-institutional and inter-generational communities of practice.     

Learning to teach history in culturally diverse classrooms

This paper examines prospective history teachers’ thinking about ethnic and cultural diversity and their experiences of learning to teach about history in multicultural classrooms. The paper reviews the findings of a follow‐up study of 22 Finnish student teachers during their nine‐month teacher education programme. The data consist of questionnaire data and various written assignments of this sample, plus interviews with nine selected persons. According to the results, signs of continuity and transformation are apparent in the student teachers’ thinking. The informants frequently described problems related to diversity, although most of them did not see diversity as changing their way of teaching history as such.     

Making Junior High School History Real

This article addresses the subject of teaching about women in world history in K–12 schools and in programs of social studies teacher education. It includes a review of the place of gender in teaching about world history to current and future teachers at Teachers College, Columbia University. This informal research serves as the platform for a set of recommendations concerning necessary steps for “gender-balancing” the world history curriculum in social studies teacher education.     

The Joy of Teaching Current Events

Set during the immediate years after the creation of the Berlin Wall, this case study focuses on the East German Ministry for State Security (MfS) and its secret police force known as the Stasi. Students, acting as West German spies working in East Berlin, recover secret documents used by the East German government in its efforts to maintain power, control, and stability over both its citizens and Western Europe. This activity uses higher-level Bloom's taxonomy as students evaluate, compare, and contrast documents for importance and relevance. Each document represents measures commonly used by Eastern Bloc nations throughout the Cold War, providing students with creative insight on how domestic and foreign espionage played a vital role in the struggle between Soviet communism and American democracy. This lesson is an example of how to use the case study approach.     

Mobilizing betrayal: Black feminist pedagogy and Black women graduate student educators

This article addresses Black women graduate students' educational labor in higher education teacher training programs. We ground this reflective account of our respective teaching praxis in the educational betrayal we endured as younger students, connecting it to our engagement of Black feminist pedagogy. We illustrate how this praxis empowered us as undergraduate educators to implement pedagogies of equity and justice. Employing a structured vignette analysis framework, we draw on a Black feminist paradigm and Black feminist autoethnography to examine field notes of our teaching praxis. These two field notes, one from Francena and one from ArCasia, demonstrate challenges that emerged in our instruction of mostly white undergraduates. Despite the precarious nature of our political and professional positions, we discuss why working toward an anti‐oppression praxis remains our ultimate pedagogical aim.     

Teaching Disability History: The Case of Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Abstract

This article addresses the teaching of disability history, specifically concerning the historical figure of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR). Drawing upon literature from multicultural education, disability history and disability studies in education (DSE), the authors discuss historical content and teaching ideas for instruction about FDR. The authors present findings from a content analysis of six middle level and secondary United States history textbooks, noting unanimous coverage of FDR’s disability resulting from polio. These textbooks noted how he overcame his disability and strengthened his character, referenced his decision to conceal his disability, and quoted FDR directly regarding his disability. The authors follow this analysis with discussion of several middle and high school teaching ideas that might augment textbook coverage and representation about FDR. This article explores how teachers of United States history might further develop their teaching of history through the inclusion of disability history within the context of a famous historical figure.     

Preparing Teachers for English Learners: Integrating Academic Language and Community Service Projects

In this article we highlight elements of culturally and linguistically responsive pedagogy that prepare teachers to work with English Learners (ELs) from a variety of backgrounds. Specifically, we focus on the learning experiences and practices of one secondary social studies teacher to explore promising practices with ELs and effective teacher preparation strategies. This article highlights two specific strategies used by the teacher: the intentional integration of academic language instruction through sheltered instructional observation protocol (SIOP) and community-engaged service learning. The findings suggest that the teacher improved his EL instruction, specifically within the context of his social studies curricula, and his experiences and reflections offer insights for teacher educators who seek to better prepare in-service and preservice teachers to serve ELs and their families.     

The development of intercultural pedagogy and its influences on primary schools: conclusions and perspectives

The integration debate in Germany is closely connected to the education debate. Both are related to recent societal changes. Discussions at the social and political level in the past couple of years have shown how highly emotionally charged attitudes towards migration and integration in this country truly are. This article aims to provide an overview of intercultural developments in German educational contexts, especially those related to primary schools, against the background of societal change. We trace the developments in Germany from foreigner pedagogy and intercultural pedagogy to a pedagogy incorporating antiracism elements and subsequently a pedagogical approach focused on diversity (diversity pedagogy). We conclude that though many gains have been made, there is presently a danger that we will lose sight of cultural heterogeneity as diversity pedagogy in Germany has expanded to incorporate social inclusion.     

The Ethical Implications of Mandatory Computer Ownership for Students

Many universities, colleges, and schools are contemplating mandatory computer ownership policies for undergraduate students. Review of these policies and the rhetoric employed in debate over such policies leaves some with strong misgivings. I suggest that seemingly widely held social values and a number of suspect assumptions underlie such policies, the questions raised by both their supporters and detractors, and the answers offered in response to those questions. Moreover, I identify four serious ethical concerns linked to mandatory computer ownership policies. Therefore, I argue that social science educators and practitioners have an ethical responsibility to resist such policies.     

The Tradition of Pioneer Hardships in American History Textbooks

Two middle-school teachers incorporated student creation of historical accounts into their history instruction. During these projects, the teachers instructed their students to (1) summarize information presented during classroom instruction on a topic (e.g., the Great Migration) and (2) explain the significance of that topic to the present day. This second component of the task addressed a curricular standard regarding historical thinking, but students' responses referenced themes from citizenship education (e.g., cultural pluralism, social criticism, and national identification). More than eighty student projects were analyzed and coded for themes. This study presents a portrait of ambitious history teaching and suggests a tactic for a civics-infused history education course.     

Community,Voice, and Inquiry: Teaching Global History for English Language Learners

This in-depth qualitative case study explores how one social studies teacher implemented teaching Global History for Latino/a English Language Learners (ELLs) in an urban newcomer high school. Using a framework for culturally and linguistically relevant citizenship education, this article seeks to highlight how the teacher discussed, designed, enacted, and reflected on their Global History curricula through observing, interviewing, and gathering artifacts in a social studies classroom. Findings reveal that although the teacher faced great pressures and demands of implementing a high stakes, standards-based curriculum, he was able to enact a curriculum that focused on accessing and building upon ELL students' cultural, linguistic, and civic assets and experiences. This article explores the curricular and instructional design implemented by the social studies teacher, and aims to provide readers with an example of and insight into how best to meet the needs of ELLs in the social studies classroom. Various examples of social studies teaching strategies and English language learning techniques are discussed, including: experiential learning, writing and revision, inquiry-based learning, discussion, group work, and social studies concept formation.     

The Social Studies—a Slogan or a Service

This article discusses the role that teacher educators can play in helping their students develop a fuller understanding of world history. Trends such as globalization have led to calls for increased teaching about the diverse cultures and peoples of the world. However, prospective teachers’ educational backgrounds have in most cases not adequately prepared them to teach world history effectively. The article begins with a discussion of the historical evolution of the course in world history; it then defines different approaches to this field, and concludes by providing suggestions for how teacher educators can help their students bring a true version of world history to their classrooms.     

The role of narrative in public relations ethics pedagogy

Competence in ethical decision making is one of the most important issues in the industry and practice of public relations, yet professionals entering the discipline overestimate their knowledge and skills related to ethical principles. This article features a pedagogical approach to strengthen ethics education in public relations through the use of collaborative student-professional ethics narratives. This technique attempts to move beyond a traditional case study approach and transcend traditional classroom boundaries through the development of narratives featuring real ethics situations experienced by public relations professionals. The project involved the development, implementation and assessment of the pedagogical approach that required students to interview local communication professionals (mostly in public relations) and to craft narratives that explore ethical dilemmas these professionals faced. Pre- and post-test surveys and group feedback helped explore the impact of narrative inquiry in helping students internalize ethical lessons.