Old Things and New Perspectives: Learning How to Teach Social Studies

  Every teacher can understand the struggle of compiling resources for their lessons while combing through endless google search pages or teacher subreddits and trying to make it all fit into their lesson plans in time for the next class. As the school year approaches and in the spirit of teacher to teacher cooperation here is a list of five resources that could be used to great effect in social studies classrooms.  1. Fall of Civilizations (YouTube Channel) This YouTube channel produces high quality documentaries that are about an hour or two long and which focus on charting the journey of a civilization over time and then how it eventually began to collapse. There are options for just audio or a more traditional documentary style that include images and videos.  What this channel does well is telling  history like a story with an interesting beginning, rising tensions that culminate in an explosive way, and then dwindling suspense that ends the story in a poignant way. It makes histo

    Obligatory Personal Anecdote   Unlike many students in the United States I never got the chance to to visit D.C. for a class trip which means that I got to see the capital for the first time earlier this year as an adult with a history degree and in school to become a social studies teacher. Perhaps this is why my experience resonated so deeply with me when I went out to tour the many historical museums in the history and I found myself struck by the dichotomy at the core of our national history.  I started the day at the African History Museum learning about the horrific beginnings of the African-American population in the United States and their struggle for freedom in the face of systematic oppression. After that sobering experience I then right afterwards walked through the bright and cheerful celebration of American culture and achievements that is the Museum of American History. Despite a few obligatory references to slavery I found myself dazed at the completely different pe

  It All Leads Back to Rome (But With a New Twist)   Rome and it's various iterations remain perhaps the most commonly depicted ancient civilization in our cultural landscape and most students, even if they haven't paid attention in history class, would probably be able to rattle out at least a few facts about gladiators or crazy emperors if they were asked. However I would make the argument that much of the Roman history that is actually relatable and important for our modern context tends to be overshadowed by the flashier and more grandiose aspects that fill the movies and textbooks.  I would like to teach a Roman History electives class that focused on subjects like the reforms of the Gracchi brothers which were instrumental in the social class struggles of the early Republic, the complex and multicultural Mediterranean world created by the Roman Empire, and the lasting impacts on not only Europe but also the Middle East and other cultures. Using these aspects of Roman hist