Jeremiah C. Clabough – författare

For social studies teachers reeling from the buffeting of top-down educational reforms, this volume offers answers to questions about dealing with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Each chapter presents and reviews pertinent standards that relate to the social studies. Each chapter also deals with significant topics in the social studies from various social sciences to processes such as inquiry to key skills needed for success in social studies such as analysis and literacy.

The most important aspect of these chapters though is the array of adaptable activities that is included in each chapter. Teachers can find practical approaches to dealing with CCSS across the social studies panorama. The multiple authorships of the various chapters mean a variety of perspectives and viewpoints are presented. All of the authors have fought in the trenches of K-12 public education. Their activities reflect this in a way that will be useful to novice or veteran teachers.

Recent advances in technology have created easy access for classroom teachers and students alike to a vast store of primary sources. This fact accompanied by the growing emphasis on primary documents through education reform movements has created a need for active approaches to learning from such sources. Unpuzzling History with Primary Sources addresses this need. It looks at the role that primary sources can play in a social studies curriculum in the 21st century. Each chapter deals with a different aspect of teaching primary sources.

Each chapter includes a discussion of key issues, model activities, and resources for upper elementary through high school teachers. A model lesson plan also appears at the end of most chapters. Chapter one presents a unique perspective on the nature of history and primary sources. This is followed by chapters on how historical thinking and inquiry relate to primary sources.

Other chapters deal with individual types of primary sources. A glance at the table of contents will certainly draw the teacher’s interest regardless of teaching style. The skills that students gain from working with primary sources prepare them for the many responsibilities and duties of being a citizen in a democracy. Therefore, the book closes with a chapter pointing to the relationship of primary sources to citizenship education. This book will be useful as a resource for teachers and might serve as a text for in-service, college methods courses, and school libraries. All four authors have experience in the K-12 classroom as well as social studies teacher education.

Experts in social studies education and gifted education share teacher-tested strategies for differentiating social studies in K-12 classrooms. Chapter authors showcase best-practice and research-based lessons and activities that enrich and expand social studies instruction while building K-12 students’ critical and creative thinking. Each chapter contains two or more teacher-tested lessons or activities linking social studies content and concepts to the standards and recommendations of the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) and National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS).

This edited volume is targeted toward K-12 teachers and administrators, gifted education coordinators and consultants, parents of gifted children, social studies methods instructors, and central office administrators. Each chapter contains activities that can be adapted and replicated in teachers’ classrooms.

Chapters focus on significant social studies topics such as civic education, historical thinking, drama, and teaching with primary sources. Each topic is approached in ways that meet the needs of gifted education students. Through its emphasis on critical thinking, inquiry-based instruction, and higher order thinking skills, activities and lessons in the book challenge K-12 educators to raise the bar for classroom instruction in ways that improve opportunities of learning for all students.