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Best Practices for Teaching Social Studies
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Best Practices for Teaching Social Studies
What Award-Winning Classroom Teachers Do

Edited by:


June 2008 | 120 pages | Corwin

"Randi Stone has assembled an exciting collection of teaching methods to benefit all learners. The book brings together an esteemed group of teachers who are to be congratulated for sparking interest in a subject that is too often taught solely from a textbook."
—Heather E. Robinson, Fifth-Grade Teacher
Desert Canyon Elementary School, Scottsdale, AZ

Adopt or adapt these exemplary social studies strategies from the nation's best teachers!

Randi Stone transports readers into the lively classrooms of award-winning teachers in this collection of outstanding methods for teaching social studies to diverse elementary, middle, and high school learners.

Like its companion volumes for teaching writing, mathematics, and science, Best Practices for Teaching Social Studies presents firsthand accounts from educators offering fresh ideas and inquiry-based techniques to build student confidence, increase academic achievement, and develop critical thinking skills. Highlights include master teachers' tips on how to:

  • Organize and produce oral history projects
  • Use technology to explore diversity
  • Teach the art of geography and the geography of art
  • Put the "social" back into social studies, and more!

Beginning and experienced teachers alike will discover an abundance of creative teaching practices to strengthen the social studies curriculum.


 
Preface
 
Acknowledgments
 
About the Author
 
About the Contributors
 
Part I. Elementary and Middle School
Diana Schmiesing, Virginia
1. Celebrating Our Constitution
Diana Schmiesing, Virginia
2. Investigating Historical Objects and Pictures
Sandra Noel, Illinois
3. Tasting
John Pieper, Wisconsin
4. A Tale of a Whale
William Fitzhugh, Maryland
5. The Art of Social Studies/The Social Studies in Art
Kari Debbink, Arizona
6. Assembly-Line Lunches
Carol Glanville, Rhode Island
7. The History Kids
Kari Debbink, Arizona
8. Who Would You Help?
Marsha Mathias, South Carolina
9. Exploring Diversity Through Technology
Monique Wallen, Florida
10. When They "Just Don't Get It"
 
Part II. High School
Megan E. Garnett, Virginia
11. Putting the "Social" Back Into Social Studies
Megan E. Garnett, Virginia
12. A Social Studies Twist on the "Hemingway Challenge"
Marguerite Ames, Vermont
13. World War II Memories
James Wade D'Acosta, Connecticut
14. Life-Changing Field Trips
James Wade D'Acosta, Connecticut
15. Crafting Individualized Research Projects
Teresa Heinhorst, Illinois
16. Promoting Citizenship
Robert Rodey, Teacher, Illinois
17. Reflections From a High School History Teacher
 
Index

"You can easily adapt these practical lessons for your own classroom. Each chapter shows how social studies can be tied to a multiplicity of disciplines, including history, geography, math, science, and technology."

Lindy G. Poling, Social Studies Department Chair
Millbrook High School, Raleigh, NC

"Randi Stone has assembled an exciting collection of teaching methods to benefit all learners. The book brings together an esteemed group of teachers who are to be congratulated for sparking interest in a subject that is too often taught solely from a textbook."

Heather E. Robinson, Fifth-Grade Teacher
Desert Canyon Elementary School, Scottsdale, AZ

While this text is an excellent resource it is not comprehensive enough to be the foundation text in my course. However, it is an excellent resource for the social studies teacher or a elementary school teacher who is looking for creative activities or projects that will engage students while still being relevant to the curriculum. This text is a set of chapters which act as vignettes related by a diverse set of teachers who have had great success with the described projects in their specific chapters. As I said the text is too short to be a good foundation text but is an excellent resource for any teacher and a great edition to any teacher building a professional library

Mrs Elizabeth Speed
Teacher Education Dept, University of Texas - El Paso
August 27, 2013

Great resource for SPED teachers

Dr David Hampton
Special Education, Bowling Green State University
February 14, 2013