In many elementary classrooms, social studies has taken a back seat to English Language Arts and Mathematics in the wake of No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top This volume is not another hand-wringing lament. On the contrary, the elementary educators who have contributed to this volume have a positive set of stories to tell about how social studies can play a central role in the elementary classroom, how teachers can integrate social studies knowledge and skills throughout the school day, and how this learning can carry over into children’s homes and communities. The seven case studies in this book, one at each elementary grade level, highlight exemplary teachers in whose classrooms social studies is alive and well in this age of accountability. At the end of each case study, each teacher provides advice for elementary teachers of social studies. Our hope is that elementary teachers and prospective teachers, elementary principals, social studies supervisors, staff developers, and professors of elementary social studies methods who study the stories that we tell can be empowered to return social studies to its rightful place in the curriculum.

"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."--PUBLISHER'S WEBSITE.

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

This book offers research-based models of exemplary practice for educators at all grade levels, from primary school to university, who want to integrate human rights education into their classrooms. It includes ten examples of projects that have been effectively implemented in classrooms: two from elementary school, two from middle school, three from high school, two from community college, and one from a university. Each model discusses the scope of the project, its rationale, students' response to the content and pedagogy, challenges or controversies that arose, and their resolution. Unique in integrating theory and practice and in addressing human rights issues with special relevance for communities of color in the US, this book provides indispensable guidance for those studying and teaching human rights.

Organized around four commonplaces of education—learners and learning, subject matter, teachers and teaching, and classroom environment—Elementary Social Studies provides a rich and ambitious framework to help social studies teachers achieve powerful teaching and learning results. By blending the theoretical and the practical, the authors deeply probe the basic elements of quality instruction—planning, implementation, and assessment—always with the goal of creating and supporting students who are motivated, engaged, and thoughtful. Book features and updates to the third edition include: • New chapter on classroom assessment that outlines and compares existing assessment strategies, contextualizes them within the framework of state standards, and articulates a constructivist approach that moves away from traditional high-stakes testing towards more meaningful ways of evaluating student learning • New chapter that highlights and explains key elements of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts, and shows how the incorporation of critical ELA instruction into the social studies curriculum can foster more ambitious teaching and learning • Real-classroom narratives that introduce each chapter and provide in-depth access to teaching and learning contexts • Practical curriculum and resource suggestions for the social studies classroom • End-of-chapter summaries and annotated teaching resources

Making Citizens illustrates how social studies can recapture its civic purpose through an approach that incorporates meaningful civic learning into middle and high school classrooms.