At the end of last week, I had the privilege of attending the Best Practices in History Education conference hosted by the Kansas Council of History Education and the Missouri Council of History Education. I spent two days with colleagues and fellow history teachers from both sides of the state line at the World War I Museum. Usually when I attend conferences, I always go with the attitude, "If I can take away at least one new strategy, it's worth it." I am pleased to report, I actually learned a few new strategies and gained a lot of insight from Dr. Flannery Burke, associate history professor at St. Louis University. I look forward to sharing her 5Cs of historical thinking at our next secondary social studies district PD on October 10th.
The materials from the Stanford History Education Group - Reading Like a Historian and Thinking Like a Historian - were a common theme. Their historical thinking skills, various activities, and strategies were presented for all levels, elementary, middle, high, even collegiate. If you have not had the chance to check them out, I suggest you do and attempt a couple activities with your students. SHEG is trending now....and rightfully so....it's good stuff.
One of the sessions I attended didn't necessarily provide me with strategies to share, but certainly offered me a grand lesson in history. I had the opportunity to go over to the National Archives building and visit the United States Holocaust Museum's traveling exhibit, The State of Deception: The Power of Nazi Propaganda. The exhibit is incredibly well done and the images are haunting. If you are all interested in viewing it, but don't have time to get down there, you can see some of the images and corresponding lessons on their website. If you can take the time to go down there - I highly recommend it.
The materials from the Stanford History Education Group - Reading Like a Historian and Thinking Like a Historian - were a common theme. Their historical thinking skills, various activities, and strategies were presented for all levels, elementary, middle, high, even collegiate. If you have not had the chance to check them out, I suggest you do and attempt a couple activities with your students. SHEG is trending now....and rightfully so....it's good stuff.
One of the sessions I attended didn't necessarily provide me with strategies to share, but certainly offered me a grand lesson in history. I had the opportunity to go over to the National Archives building and visit the United States Holocaust Museum's traveling exhibit, The State of Deception: The Power of Nazi Propaganda. The exhibit is incredibly well done and the images are haunting. If you are all interested in viewing it, but don't have time to get down there, you can see some of the images and corresponding lessons on their website. If you can take the time to go down there - I highly recommend it.