I am a social studies educator. Emblazoned on the wall of my classroom is a sign proclaiming “I Teach Hard History.” Earlier this year my students looked at vivid, graphic, and unfiltered views of the Middle Passage that brought enslaved Africans to the New World. I’ve challenged students to think about whether or not the […]
History/Social Studies
Chasing the Sands of Time: Why Teachers Stand High in the Stream of History
Once in a while in the midst of life’s serpentine journey, the clockwork of life seems to slow for just a few moments. Something enormous and significant seems to swell within. Until very recently in human history, a person would describe this rare sensation as a rousing of “the soul,” an opening of the heavens, […]
The NAEP Chicken and the Common Core Nonfiction Egg
What came first…the NAEP Chicken or the CCSS Egg? In 2009, there were revisions to the reading content in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is the “largest nationally representative and continuing assessment of what America’s students know and can do in various subject areas.” The revisions increased nonfiction reading. In 2009, the development of the the Common […]