I'm looking for a good lead on a literary agent--preferably someone that works with public history, education, quasi-journalistic authors :) DM me if anyone has suggestions! @historians.org @gliamericanhistory.bsky.social #publishing #literaryagents

Susan Ford Bales is speaking at #mcss25 about the legacy of her father Gerald Ford and her mother Betty Ford.

It's my last day meeting with my students. This group has been amazing to try new things on this semester and now I have a bunch more ideas to come. I've had 99 problems this semester, but social studies methods ain't one. I'm going to miss them!

I know my bio says I’m a Lions fan but I’m really a Detroit sports fanatic in general. Although the Pistons couldn’t pull it off for Game 1, we looked good! @detroitpistons.bsky.social

It was also our last week of classes at GVSU so we made a Professional Learning Plan where we recommended reading for our own content knowledge/PCK. We also recommended children’s books for our classroom libraries.

Since their inquiries are due next week we spent this week in SS methods talking about where to get resources for lesson planning, building on our visit to the CML last week.

I also held a class at the “Curriculum Materials Library” so students can see what’s available for them to check out. And maaaan do some of those resources need to be vetted. I now have another idea for next semester… 😀😀😀

Last week we talked about integration of ELA and SS but I’m talking about it differently than I have in the past. I taught them about planning SS first then integrating ELA skills and showed how easy it is to incorporate ELA into SS rather than the other way around

I’ve also been planning the Michigan Council for the Social Studies Annual Conference, held on the GVSU downtown GR campus. Very excited for our lineup!

We then moved into talking about “centers” as an instructional strategy to incorporate play as well as integrate social studies with literacy. I read aloud “Finding Winnie” and then in groups, they designed a center to go with that book

We read the chapter in SSFABW about Gamification and talked about simulations, especially those that are problematic. I am happy to say that each semester when I ask students if they participated in an offensive simulation as a kid that the number gets fewer each time.

Last week in PK-3 SS methods we talked about play. We reviewed the benefits of play on brain development and then talked about social studies digital games appropriate for young kids. They got to play with @pbs Kids Games that feature SS concepts

Last week in PK-3 methods we read about Normalization of families and holidays from Social Studies for a Better World. We identified the dominant narrative of a “normal” family and (mom, dad, married with 2 kids and a dog) and then took a poll of how many of us actually grew up with that structure

My FAVORITE part was having Gabi Likavec from the Michigan Geographic Alliance come to campus and bring her giant map of Michigan. Big maps are also developmentally appropriate and Gabi showed my students fun activities to build map skills

After Spring Break it was Geography Week in PK-3 methods. And we had FUN. We talked about developmental mapmaking from David Sobel and spatial thinking. And how it’s totally normal for Kindergartners’ maps to look like “pictures”

Last week in methods, we focused on building historical content knowledge. You can’t include counter narratives if you don’t know them. And since we were all taught history from the same institution we’re trying to disrupt, I talked about how we need to be continually educationally curious.

I assigned my students with a task to design an inquiry lesson using primary sources and a children’s book. We took a trip to the library this week to look at their children’s book collection to help with this.

In the second week of learning history, we talked about heroification. So much of elem SS is “heroes & holidays” so it was important to disrupt this idea

We are nearing the end of 3 weeks studying history methods. On Day 1 we talked about how historians do their job. I brought in some old tech from the early 2000s and had the students use sourcing techniques to figure out what they were.

It was a great week of learning economics. We started talking about teaching history this week, but flu season has hit campus and we were all down for the count. More to come!

We also talked about how Kindergartners and 1st graders are able to have beginning conversations about income inequality, social class, poverty, and government assistance. We read a book chapter from @katyswalwell.bsky.social that shows examples.

We read Jenni Gallagher’s article on finding Econ concepts in literature using Jon Klassen’s Animal Hat books. These books are funny and clever AND there are economic concepts throughout. @jonklassen.bsky.social

To further show them that economic thinking is everywhere, I sent them on a scavenger hunt in our building, Mackinac Hall, to find needs, wants, scarcity, exchange of goods, and services. They had to take pictures of what they found.

Last week was Econ week! The discipline they were the most nervous about. On Day 1, we broke down some basic concepts and I introduced them to the principles of economic thinking.

Oh— we also talked about the idealization of rules after reading SSFABW by @nrdz.bsky.social and @katyswalwell.bsky.social and many shared when they felt personally victimized by clip charts. I talked about refusing to enforce dress code violations as a teacher and my hatred for chewing gum.

Finally, we ended civics week by talking about activism and how to teach activism. I did address the idea that this could be controversial. I once got called a Marxist because I have this board book in my office.

The first day, we talked about citizenship. “Good” citizens, “bad” citizens, legal citizens, and the classic @joelwestheimer.bsky.social study on types of citizens. We discussed eliminating the binary of good/bad and recognizing the many gray areas that exist.

Around Week 4 I start digging deeper into social studies disciplines. I usually start with history, but this semester I decided to start with civics. Even though I decided this back in Dec, it felt particularly right to do it this week given the EOs on “patriotic education”

Week 3 of social studies methods was a little crazy. We were off for MLK Day, then did a Zoom class due to snow, then finally met in person for our Friday class! We learned about the C3 Framework and the Inquiry Arc using a video from NCSS from 2013 featuring @rvalbuena.bsky.social 🤣🤣🤣

I’m going to share the data from my study (below) with my students in the coming weeks too

Week 2 of social studies methods— we talked about the disciplines of social studies often taught in elementary school and challenged ourselves to write empirical and normative questions about ordinary objects.

Week 1 of social studies methods: We talked about the NCSS definition of social studies and our own definitions/prior experiences. Then Blackboard went down and got us a little behind. 😀 My students seems great! Very excited for a new semester!

The Mich Council for the Social Studies conference is happening April 25-26, 2025 in Grand Rapids. If you have a great lesson, resource, or research to share--we want to hear about it! Submit your proposal using the form below by Friday, December 13! www.mcssmi.org/EmailTracker...

Come see Kristy & I tomorrow!

Get your books signed by your favorite authors at the 104th NCSS Annual Conference, starting this Friday! View the signing schedule below, or access it anytime in our WHOVA conference app: hubs.ly/Q02Xntb-0