This study aims to identify the problems encountered during the resource-based teaching implementations carried out with pre-service history teachers along with their reasons and suggest solutions. The study was a qualitative study using a case study design. The population of the study consisted of 5th grade pre-service history teachers continuing…

This accessible book will help elementary school teachers improve literacy instruction inside or outside the Common Core environment. The authors address teachers' instructional needs by introducing key concepts from current trends in literacy education--from high-level standards to the use of 21st-century literacies. Readers then follow teachers…

Barbara Cruz describes how what began as a challenge (i.e., finding or justifying the time to spend on history instruction in an environment of high-stakes testing) turned into a rich learning experience for students using historical fiction. By designing experiences that were literacy centered but based in historical content, this group of…

The authors examined the role of an intervention designed to increase reading comprehension, reading self-efficacy beliefs, and engagement in social studies for middle school students of varying language backgrounds. Thirteen sixth- and seventh-grade teachers implemented the United States History for Engaged Reading (USHER) program with their…

When artists are inspired to travel in Europe to study art and history of the Western world, Italy is a good place to start. With its ancient architecture, rich cultural heritage, and superb works of art, Italy has been the quintessential center of Western art history for centuries. It was the good fortune of Alabama-based artist and teacher…

This is a quasi-experimental mixed methods study of a curriculum intervention focused on the interdisciplinary teaching of history, literacy, and the visual arts. In this study I address three questions: (1) How does students' learning in history change following their participation in an interdisciplinary history-literacy-visual arts…

In this article, the author describes her use of direct instruction to introduce the skill of determining source reliability in a fifth-grade unit on immigration in American history. She structures instruction to help students establish a thinking-skill strategy that results in not only an understanding of immigration in the late 1800s to early…

Decision making is one of the essential skills advocated by the National Council for the Social Studies for effective citizenship in a democratic society. Leaders in any society make decisions that influence many lives. In a democratic society, we expect that deductive and inductive reasoning guide decisions made for the common good. However, what…

Does history have to be boring and dry? Not if a person takes the familiar and adds an earthshaking twist! To begin the collaborative process, work with a willing teacher. This article talks about a teaching collaboration between the author as a library media specialist and Beth who was interested in literature circle titles for her 6th grade…

"America's Story for America's Children" is a graded series of readers intended to prepare for the regular study of history and to supplement it. Care has been taken to give prominence to the elements of life and personality and picturesqueness, so as to develop centres of interest which more advanced and systematic study will bring into…

Nearly 140 years have not erased Georgia's memory of the trail of destruction by General William T. Sherman and Union troops as they burned their way from Atlanta to Savannah during a critical campaign of the Civil War. Those weeks in late 1864 have left a lasting influence on the state's history and culture. This article deals with Georgia's…

Fourth grade students "know about" Pocahontas, but is this knowledge based on historical fact, or on information from the media, specifically the Disney movies "Pocahontas" and "Pocahontas II"? To address this question within the context of the New York State Social Studies curriculum and the New York State English…

This framework identifies the main ideas, major events, key individuals, and unifying themes of American history as a basis for preparing the 2010 assessment. The framework recognizes that U.S. history includes powerful ideas, common and diverse traditions, economic developments, technological and scientific innovations, philosophical debates,…

The successful study of history requires many things, but few would contest that an understanding of time is one of them. Quite what we mean by "an understanding of time" needs clarification, however. Chronological understanding is one feature. But it is not simply an ability to place events in order that drives our teaching (although…

It's unsettling to hear of credentialed school teachers who--ignorant of our principles and of so much more--are seduced by, and pass on, ludicrous and even subversive accounts of our history. Sandra Stotsky tells of curricula that equate white Americans with Nazis and of officials who discredit the Constitution as a license for slavery. She…