Learn Beyond the Page: Teaching Compassion Through Social Studies

“These kids! They never do well on my social studies tests!”

Take a moment and reflect on professional development events you have attended, and ask yourself, how many of them were “really” good,  meaningful, effective, and relevant to your chosen profession? As educators, we attend several types of training, many of which are mandatory, or are recommended from our superiors.

Do you remember your favorite teacher? Who could ever forget that teacher?  Who could ever forget the special way that teacher inspired you and made you a better student and person at the same time?

Before we as educators are able to make thinking visible to students we have to first make the processes and procedures of thinking visible to ourselves.

“We like to think of our champions and idols as superheroes who were born different from us.

“Patriotism is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime.

This year at NCSS (National Council for the Social Studies), we went around asking one question to attendees—”Why do you love social studies?” 

The flipped classroom allows students to build background knowledge outside school, freeing up time for more hands-on learning in the classroom.

Iowa social studies professionals know how to model informed action.