The later part of the nineteenth century through the early twentieth century has many monikers in U.S. history textbooks, such as the "Gilded Age," the "Progressive Era," and the "Second Industrial Age." What it is rarely called, but should be known as, is the "Nadir of Race Relations." One topic in this…

In the early modern era, Spanish missionaries, cosmographers, chroniclers, and physicians wrote major studies on botany, ethnography, navigation, Indigenous languages, war, and history, aided by capable, though often reluctant, Indigenous informants. They penned this rich body of scholarship using iron gall ink -- a mixture of tannins, sulfates,…

Jacob Olivey set out to design enquiries which would enable his pupils to reconstruct, using evidence, the perspectives of people in the past. In this article he shares in detail the planning and outcomes of two enquiries: one for Year 7 and one for Year 8. Olivey offers a example of 'the curriculum as the progression model', considering how to…

Holly Hiscox was concerned that many of her A-level students -- asked to evaluate three different historical interpretations for their non-examined assessment task -- still tended to hold unhelpful misconceptions about the nature of interpretations. In this article she explains how she created an introductory scheme of work to help them understand…

Particularly for Americans, patriotic history is a kind of glue for an extraordinarily diverse republic. Civic education requires students engage with their history--not only to know whence conventions, principles, and laws have come, but also to develop an attachment to them. This article looks at how American history should educate, but also…

With a focus on methods courses, this article makes a case for social studies teacher educators to employ in their pedagogy an intersectional perspective. I ask social studies teacher educators to consider critical history monographs, specialized book-length studies that center on marginalized perspectives, as pedagogical tools that complement…

The "College, Career, and Civil Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards" guides teachers to initiate complex inquiries by sparking students' disciplinary literacy and critical analysis of rich sources. With effective scaffolding and engaging content, elementary students can explore and contextualize complex historical…

Teachers value students' close reading of and text-based writing about diverse texts while eliciting their awareness of the world, privilege, and power. Carefully selected literature coupled with primary sources can bridge the classroom and society. To engage modern students in America's racialized past and present, this article guides teachers to…

Where textbooks introduce readers to history via specific terminology and short passages, trade books present historical eras through relatable characters and engaging prose. For most topics, trade books are numerous enough for teachers to select multiple titles written at distinct reading levels to differentiate for diverse learners.…

History education rests at the junction between historical content, disciplinary literacy, and educational psychology. To understand the sources and strategies that facilitate historical thinking, more inquiries are needed. How do students respond to different historical topics, texts, and tasks? Which sources and strategies best facilitate…

Discussions with sixth-form students about reading led Carolyn Massey and Paul Wiggin to start a sixth-form reading group. They describe here the series of themed sessions that they planned, and the student discussion and reflections that resulted. Listening to their students discuss their reading led Massey and Wiggin to reflect on what is meant…

The year 2013 marked the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of E. P. Thompson's "The Making of the English Working Class" (1963). Throughout the year, essays, articles, and conference panels--indeed, whole conferences--explored the legacy of this influential historian and his most monumental work. 2013, coincidentally, also marked…

Eleanor Roosevelt (ER), niece of President Theodore Roosevelt (TR) and wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR), was so revered that towns were named in her honor; she advocated for so many causes for so many people across most every continent that space prevents compilation. Now imagine young students' reactions upon discovering that the…

This essay addresses the challenges of teaching to myths and misperceptions through a discussion of two books that the author uses to frame her course on the history of women and gender in the modern Middle East: (1) Geraldine Brooks' "Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women" (1995); and (2) Heather Raffo's "9 Parts…

Our social studies classrooms are filled with students from many different backgrounds. This article aims to help middle grades (grades 6-8) social studies teachers consider how trade books that feature the global South can be paired with primary historical texts in order to help students develop perspective consciousness. Social studies educators…