While the concept of integration or an interdisciplinary curriculum has been around for decades, the purposeful practice of integration is a relatively new educational endeavor. Though classroom teachers often say they "integrate," there generally seems to be a lack of understanding of what this thing called integration is (theory) and what it is supposed to look like in the classroom (practice). Arguably, no other discipline has felt the pressure to integrate more than social studies. Marginalized by federal initiatives such as No Child Left Behind and suffering from a general crisis of credibility, social studies has been pushed further and further to the proverbial back burner of educational importance. Yet regardless of perspective or position, social studies remains ripe for integration. The crux of this book is to provide educators insights and strategies into how to integrate social studies with other discipline areas. Calling upon national experts in their respective fields, each chapter chronicles the broad relationship between individual content areas and social studies. Multiple examples of integrative opportunities are included. At the end of each chapter is a series of grade-specific integrative lesson plans ready for implementation. This book was purposefully designed as a how-to, hands-on, ready-reference guide for educators at all stages and all levels of teaching.

Visual Literacy in the K-12 Social Studies Classroom is an engaging resource that unites pedagogical theory and practical strategies, empowering teachers to foster critical thinking and cultural awareness among students through the interpretation and creation of visual content. Packed with a variety of visual tools, resources, teacher-tested lesson plans, and more, this book showcases the power of leveraging visual literacy to craft authentic and meaningful social studies learning experiences that resonate with learners of all ages.

As social studies standards shift to place a higher emphasis on critical thinking, inquiry, interaction, and expression, many teachers are scrambling to figure out how to appropriately shift their instruction accordingly. This book provides examples and ideas for working with elementary and middle school students to build social studies skills and knowledge in order to become independent learners and thinkers. Teaching these skills helps to support students in ways which are important to them, and to society at large. Real Classrooms, Real Teachers: The C3 Inquiry in Practice is aimed at in-service and pre-service teachers, grades 3-8. This text includes six sections: an introduction, one section for each of the four dimensions of the C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards (National Council for the Social Studies, 2013), and a conclusion. Each chapter begins with a vignette based on a real-life social studies lesson authored by a practicing teacher or researcher. This is followed by a sample lesson plan associated with the vignette and suggestions for appropriate texts and supporting materials, as well as suggestions for modifications.

While the concept of integration or an interdisciplinary curriculum has been around for decades, the purposeful practice of integration is a relatively new educational endeavor. Though classroom teachers often say they “integrate,” there generally seems to be a lack of understanding of what this thing called integration is (theory) and what it is supposed to look like in the classroom (practice). Arguably, no other discipline has felt the pressure to integrate more than social studies. Marginalized by federal initiatives such as No Child Left Behind and suffering from a general crisis of credibility, social studies has been pushed further and further to the proverbial back burner of educational importance. Yet regardless of perspective or position, social studies remains ripe for integration. The crux of this book is to provide educators insights and strategies into how to integrate social studies with other discipline areas. Calling upon national experts in their respective fields, each chapter chronicles the broad relationship between individual content areas and social studies. Multiple examples of integrative opportunities are included. At the end of each chapter is a series of grade-specific integrative lesson plans ready for implementation. This book was purposefully designed as a how-to, hands-on, ready-reference guide for educators at all stages and all levels of teaching.

Teaching Social Studies to Multilingual Learners in High School: Connecting Inquiry and Visual Literacy to Promote Progressive Learning explores effective strategies for teaching social studies to diverse learners. The centerpiece is a visual literacy framework that integrates inquiry, primary source analysis, and visual literacy to provide a progressive learning sequence to meet the varied needs of learners. The visual literacy framework brings together related aspects of progressive, sequential learning into a cohesive whole. It has an adaptable structure that allows teachers to customize learning activities to meet individual student needs. The progressive learning sequence has varied modes of learning that help teachers move students from basic to proficient to advanced levels of support. The book is organized into two related parts. The first three chapters provide important content and context on social studies, multilingual learner education, and the visual literacy framework. The remaining chapters discuss civics, U.S. history, world history, geography, and economics and social sciences. Each chapter defines the subject area, briefly traces its development as a high school subject over time, and then offers classroom exercises for using the visual literacy framework in these disciplines. The exercises are plotted so that differing levels of the visual literacy framework are explored throughout the book.

The field of elementary social studies is a specific space that has historically been granted unequal value in the larger arena of social studies education and research. This reader stands out as a collection of approaches aimed specifically at teaching controversial issues in elementary social studies. This reader challenges social studies education (i.e., classrooms, teacher education programs, and research) to engage controversial issues--those topics that are politically, religiously, or are otherwise ideologically charged and make people, especially teachers, uncomfortable--in profound ways at the elementary level. This reader, meant for elementary educators, preservice teachers, and social studies teacher educators, offers an innovative vision from a new generation of social studies teacher educators and researchers fighting against the forces of neoliberalism and the marginalization of our field. The reader is organized into three sections: 1) pushing the boundaries of how the field talks about elementary social studies, 2) elementary social studies teacher education, and 3) elementary social studies teaching and learning. Individual chapters either A) conceptually unpack a specific controversial issue (e.g. Islamophobia, Indian Boarding Schools, LGBT issues in schools) and how that issue should be/is incorporated in an elementary social studies methods courses and classrooms or B) present research on elementary preservice teachers or how elementary teachers and students engage controversial issues. This reader unpacks specific controversial issues for elementary social studies for readers to gain critical content knowledge, teaching tips, lesson ideas, and recommended resources. Endorsement: (Re)Imagining Elementary Social Studies is a timely and powerful collection that offers the best of what social studies education could and should be. Grounded in a politics of social justice, this book should be used in all elementary social studies methods courses and schools in order to develop the kinds of teachers the world needs today. -- Wayne Au, Professor, University of Washington Bothell, Editor, Rethinking Schools

Visual Literacy examines how teachers can use visuals to improve learning for all students. It provides teachers with a foundation in visual literacy, defined as the ability to read, think, and communicate with visually presented information. Results of studies of students’ using visual information indicate that most students are clearly lacking in the tools needed to use visuals effectively. The book orients teachers to visual literacy and the world of visuals. It discusses various classroom tested strategies and activities for all students, including second language learners, and students with special needs. Stressing visual literacy skills helps students understand a visual more deeply so they can master the content they are learning. Teachers will learn to employ a literacy triad of reading, thinking, and communicating to aid students in their study of visuals. First, they inquire into the visual, reading it for content and context, including assessing the authenticity of the document. Second, they think about the document by analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating it to come up with answers to their inquiry. Graphic organizers help students decipher the content and understand the meaning of the visual document, connecting it to prior and future instruction. Third, they communicate their findings using visuals.

2014 Outstanding Academic Title, Choice "What’s going on in this picture?" With this one question and a carefully chosen work of art, teachers can start their students down a path toward deeper learning and other skills now encouraged by the Common Core State Standards. The Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) teaching method has been successfully implemented in schools, districts, and cultural institutions nationwide, including bilingual schools in California, West Orange Public Schools in New Jersey, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. It provides for open-ended yet highly structured discussions of visual art, and significantly increases students’ critical thinking, language, and literacy skills along the way. Philip Yenawine, former education director of New York’s Museum of Modern Art and cocreator of the VTS curriculum, writes engagingly about his years of experience with elementary school students in the classroom. He reveals how VTS was developed and demonstrates how teachers are using art—as well as poems, primary documents, and other visual artifacts—to increase a variety of skills, including writing, listening, and speaking, across a range of subjects. The book shows how VTS can be easily and effectively integrated into elementary classroom lessons in just ten hours of a school year to create learner-centered environments where students at all levels are involved in rich, absorbing discussions.

Action! Film is a common and powerful element in the social studies classroom and Cinematic Social Studies explores teaching and learning social studies with film. Teaching with film is a prominent teaching strategy utilized by many teachers on a regular basis. Cinematic Social Studies moves readers beyond the traditional perceptions of teaching film and explores the vast array of ideas and strategies related to teaching social studies with film. The contributing authors of this volume seek to explain, through an array of ideas and visions, what cinematic social studies can/should look like, while providing research and rationales for why teaching social studies with film is valuable and important. This volume includes twenty-four scholarly chapters discussing relevant topics of importance to cinematic social studies. The twenty four chapters are divided into three sections. This stellar collection of writings includes contributions from noteworthy scholars like Keith Barton, Wayne Journell, James Damico, Cynthia Tyson, and many more.

"The average 8-18 year-old spends over 10 hours a day consuming media. Unfortunately their minds are often "shut off" as they watch TV, surf the web, or listen to music. Help your students "tune in" so they can begin to analyze messages and understand techniques used to influence them. By incorporating media literacy into the curriculum you can teach your students to question marketing, recognize propaganda, and understand stereotypes, and you'll also be teaching them valuable critical thinking skills they need for a successful future.