Content to Classroom

Content to Classroom

By Virginia Council for the Social StudiesEducation
Download on the App Store

Content to Classroom episodes

  • Holocaust Education Is Not Making Anti-Semitism Worse: But Clickbait Journalism Might Be

    What happens when a trusted source publishes an incredibly problematic article? We refute it.


    In this episode, Virginia Council for the Social Studies President, Sam Futrell, is joined by Matt Simpson from the Virginia Holocaust Museum to break down Dara Horn's poorly researched attack against Holocaust education. Published in the May 2023 issue of The Atlantic, Horn's piece "Is Holocaust Education Making Anti-Semitism Worse? Using Dead Jews as Symbols Isn't Helping Living Ones" leverages the work of educators in museums and classrooms around the country to get clicks.


    Also featured in this episode:

    Jennifer Goss, Echoes and Reflections

    Kelley Szany, The Illinois Holocaust Museum


    Echoes & Reflections Survey

    ADL Study, Antisemitic Attitudes in America

    1 hr
  • Tips and Tricks for Applying to Summer Professional Development Programs

    Are you a teacher looking to participate in professional development this summer? Want to make the most out of your summer as a teacher? Don’t feel overwhelmed by the application process. We can help Our panelists - Ben Boyce with the Jack Miller Center, Sarah Harris with the National Constitution Center, and Jeff Scott with the Freedoms Foundation - are insiders with nationally renowned institutions who share with us their firsthand experiences and all the tips you need to get accepted into the program of your dreams! 

    Register for the 2023 VCSS Conference!

    NEH Institutes


    • Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge offers summer teacher workshops each year at their Valley Forge campus. Join the over 14,000 educators who have enriched their knowledge and their classrooms through our critically acclaimed and accredited seminars. For over 50 years, teachers like you have connected with our course content taught by extraordinary scholars and thinkers.
    • This March the Foundation will offer complimentary acceptance to one lucky attendee at the VIrginia Social Studies Conference in Richmond. Register to attend the conference: https://sites.google.com/view/vcss-2023-conference/home?authuser=2
    • Summer Workshop Link: https://www.freedomsfoundation.org/teachers/
    • The National Constitution Center recognizes not only the importance of primary sources, but also the importance of engaging with teachers across the nation. Throughout the year, and particularly during the summer months, NCC offers their Summer Educator Institute series. Every summer, the National Constitution Center hosts educators from across the country in its summer institute series, bringing together top educators and ideologically diverse constitutional scholars. Through both weeklong in-person sessions and three-day virtual sessions, educators work with content experts throughout these programs to deepen their knowledge of constitutional topics and their historical contexts and modern understandings. While working with teacher facilitators and the Center's education team, participants discover and develop innovative, nonpartisan ways to make the content relevant to their students. Educators gain new content knowledge, teaching tools, classroom-ready resources, and skills for improving constitutional literacy.
      • Summer Educator Institute Link: https://constitutioncenter.org/education/professional-learning-opportunities/summer-educator-institutes
      • The Jack Miller Center website offers a variety of resources for learning more about American political thought and development. These include articles, videos, useful websites, and fellows’ publications. Each summer the Center builds and provides collegial-level educational opportunities for teachers to engage in academic discussions relating to political and governmental topics. The incentive to support educators is derived from the will to build a movement of civic educators to reach the next generation with the principles of equality, liberty, and opportunity that lie at the heart of the American political tradition. Summer workshop offerings will be available soon on the Jack Miller Center website.
      • Jack Miller Center Link: https://jackmillercenter.org/


        • 1 hr 6 min
      • The Future of Virginia's History and Social Studies Standards

        At their November 17, 2022 meeting, the VBOE declined to accept State Superintendent Jillian Balow’s redraft standards and asked for a combined standards document that brings together the respective strengths of the original August 2022 standards with the November 2022 redraft standards, along with consideration of public comment. On December 20, 2022, a joint work group of the Virginia Social Studies Leaders Consortium (VSSLC), the Virginia Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (VASCD), and the American Historical Association (AHA) released a set of collaborative standards for History and Social Science Education and submitted their draft to the Virginia Board of Education (VBOE).

        Join VCSS President and host Sam Futrell as she discusses Virginia's social studies standards with members of the Virginia Social Studies Leaders' Consortium, Dr. Ma'asehyahu Isra-ul, Beau Dickenson, and Dr. Taylor Snow. 


        Links for this episode:

        Attend the 2023 VCSS Conference!

        Listen to Leading by History 

        Follow us on Twitter:

        @sam_futrell1

        @HCPSSnow

        @beaudickenson




        1 hr 4 min
      • Depth by Design: Using Deeper Learning Elements in Social Studies

        Current trends in social studies education, including within Virginia, point towards deeper learning experiences as the north star of desired practice. In 2015, the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) revised curriculum framework for social studies introduced a standard dedicated to history and social science thinking skills. Emphasizing the use of disciplinary concepts and a pedagogy centered on inquiry, Virginia’s future embraces constructivist pedagogies and the use of performance assessments to demonstrate student learning.  The shifts are polar opposites of what many VA. teachers have been used to since the early 21st century. In turn, rote memorization and teacher centered instruction continue to be held as markers of successful and valuable teaching and learning.  The alternative to this approach is a pedagogy of deeper learning.  


        Realizing deeper learning practices in classrooms, however, is ultimately a local, classroom, phenomenon. How a teacher enacts a curriculum, therefore, is where practice intersects with policy. To this end, successful implementation of deeper learning practices involves the following six outcomes:
        1. use of inquiry through student generated questions
        2. constructivist approach  where students generate meaning and understanding
        3. use of disciplinary concepts as part of student learning
        4. connections are made to the student’s life or to the contemporary world
        5. authentic demonstration of learning by students
        6. time to reflect on how the content impacted their understanding of themselves or the contemporary world.

        Craig Perrier is the High School Social Studies Curriculum and Instruction Specialist for Fairfax County Public Schools in Fairfax, VA. He is also an adjunct professor for the teacher certification program Educate VA and with Framingham State University. .  Previously, he taught at American Schools in Brazil for six years and for six years in public schools in Massachusetts. After leaving the classroom, Craig was the Coordinator for Curriculum and Instruction for Social Studies and History at Virtual High School and then the PK-12 Social Studies Coordinator for the Department of Defense Dependent Schools.  He has consulted with IREX, IIE, iEARN, The Global Campaign for Education, ABC-Clio, The World History Project, and the U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian. In addition, Craig has a M.A. in Global History, M.Ed in Education Leadership and  is pursuing his doctorate in Education Leadership  He presents at regional and national conferences, and is the creator of the free online teacher resource "U.S. History in a Global Context."

        Links for this episode: 

        • Globalizing US History https://sites.google.com/view/globalizing-u-s-history/home?authuser=0
        • Ready to Use VT Routines  https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1CvIpxTN0X9LxEaq5tKQAG3q59RAGh4XU?usp=sharing
        • Harvard Project Zero: http://www.pz.harvard.edu/thinking-routines#WithArtOrObjects 
        • Register for the VCSS Conference, March 24-25, 2023! https://sites.google.com/view/vcss-2023-conference/home?authuser=2 
          • 40 min
        • Does Economics Help Us Do the Right Thing?

          The study of economics can help students analyze their choices. But can economics lead us to choices that are good? That is, that are the right thing to do? In this episode Dr. Stephen Day from the VCU Center for Economic Education interrogates the ethical assumptions that form the background of economic analysis, explores thorny moral questions from an economic perspective, and introduces teachers to classroom resources that help them teach this important content, including activities from the new lesson plan book, "Ethics, Economics, and Social Issues Curriculum" from the Council for Economic Education.

          36 min
        • Embracing Digital Scholarship to Engage All Learners

          In this episode we dive into the world of digital scholarship with Annie Evans from New American History. History is the turbulent, unpredictable, and deeply human record of everything that happened before this moment. Through interactive maps, video, audio, an algorithmic engine of journalism, and tools for educators, we hope to make visible what was previously invisible about our shared American story.


          https://www.newamericanhistory.org/

          https://www.bunkhistory.org/

          https://twitter.com/mapm8ker

          Apply to be a guest on the podcast! https://forms.gle/xgsdDe8dmvvurw8G9

          38 min
        • Bonus Episode! Discussing the War in Ukraine with CEUTTSS at Virginia Tech

          Today's episode explores the War in Ukraine with Dr. Yannis Stivachtis and Colin Baker from the Center for the European Union and Transatlantic Transeuropean Space Studies at Virginia Tech. 

          Visit the CEUTTSS website: https://liberalarts.vt.edu/research-centers/ceuttss.html 

          Links from today's episode:

          1) BBC lengthy story on the turning points in history and how Feb 24th is now one of these: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60767454 (March 19th)

          2) https://movingwriters.org/2022/03/08/7-ways-to-get-students-writing-about-the-war-in-ukraine/ 

          3) European History educators site, Euroclio, with a wealth of context and huge amount of resources and lesson plans: https://padlet.com/EuroClio_Secretariat/13ck4n4khw4voyxq?mc_cid=03ce0aaf9e&mc_eid=d8839c893c (March 18th, updated every week or so)

          4) New York Times article and podcast (transcript available) on Putin/Russia by Ukraine/Russia expert Timothy Snyder - great context and depth: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/15/podcasts/transcript-ezra-klein-interviews-timothy-snyder.html (March 15th)

          5) For real depth, Synder's books on Ukraine/Russia and democracy are invaluable: "Bloodlands" (1930s/40s eastern Europe), 2016 and "The Road to Unfreedom" 

          6) Borders and Self-determination: Crimea

          https://historiana.eu/historical-content/viewpoints/borders-and-self-determination-crimea?fbclid=IwAR0m-xCa8mHZ3C6bq86HKZoMIcdomCCZIwnB8XTF5lobXMqkKnU24l8auTQ

          7) European and other news outlet reports on Ukraine - including articles in the original language (Frech, German etc...so may be of interest to World Language teachers and others)

          https://www.eurotopics.net/en/276651/ukraine-crisis-between-war-and-peace?fbclid=IwAR0m-xCa8mHZ3C6bq86HKZoMIcdomCCZIwnB8XTF5lobXMqkKnU24l8auTQ

          8) Choices Program:

          https://www.choices.edu/teaching-news-lesson/unrest-in-ukraine/

          9)  How Ukraine became Ukraine, in 7 maps

          https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/03/09/maps-how-ukraine-became-ukraine/?fbclid=IwAR2AJymT9uKJwVYCI-Wi6Ca7qaCqAgtqLQWWaSSi66mGLd2kKyEN7R2iCHc

          55 min
        • Creating "Our Commonwealth" - Stories and People that Define Virginia
          In this session VMHC Educators will discuss several of the stories spotlighted in their new permanent exhibit "Our Commonwealth," as well as highlight new opportunities for educators and students to engage with the museum. In May 2022 VMHC will be opening multiple new exhibits, including a new permanent exhibit - Our Commonwealth - which will focus on the regions of Virginia and how geography can play a role in our unique identities, as well as our shared idea of "Virginia."
          VMHC: https://virginiahistory.org/
          Educational programs at the VMHC: https://virginiahistory.org/learn/book-group-program
          VMHC exhibitions: https://virginiahistory.org/exhibitions/upcoming-exhibitions/exhibitions
          Apply to be a podcast guest: https://forms.gle/5pEHuCLFQk7H6xWMA
          33 min
        • Escaping Ordinary: Digital Escape Rooms in the Classroom

          Escape Rooms have been all the rage over the past few years. For those that don't know, escape rooms are just that... a room you must escape from. Usually, there is a theme to an escape room, and it is up to you and whomever you're with to solve a series of puzzles in under an hour to "escape" the room. As an avid escape room hobbyist, I wondered if this concept could be applied to the classroom. Sure enough, it can! Through a variety of different platforms, teachers can use or create their own escape room right in the classroom. It encourages collaboration amongst groups, critical thinking and evaluation, and to just have fun! This concept can be used to introduce content, review content, or even teach content. My students have tried to keep the villainous Ms. G. (that's me) from pulling a Carmen Sandiego and stealing major monuments throughout Europe (World Geography), and they've tried to save Julius Caesar from his gruesome fate. The sky is the limit with these activities, not to mention it is so fun to see students engaged (and frustrated) with the content. Escape rooms can be done with physical locks or they can be done through a digital platform. I have more experience creating and using digital escape rooms than physical. There is also a website called Breakout EDU that allows teachers to create themed content right there on their website for virtual learning, as well as offering information on how to get started with in-person activities.

          Apply to be a podcast guest: https://forms.gle/CmtMKwZxMGPcM1jX9 

          All of Jenn's amazing links:

          - European Digital Breakout (World Geography): https://sites.google.com/nn.k12.va.us/catchmsg/home

          - Save the Republic Digital Breakout (World History): https://sites.google.com/nn.k12.va.us/savetherepublicbreakout/home

          - Save the Renaissance Mini Digital Breakout (World History): https://sites.google.com/cnu.edu/renaissancebreakout/home

          - Hub for digital breakout resources: https://www.symbaloo.com/mix/digitalbreakouttools

          - Breakout EDU (this has some free resources, but otherwise you’d have to pay): https://www.breakoutedu.com/

          - A good blog post about creating digital escape rooms: https://meredithakers.com/2019/11/17/digital-breakout-made-easy/

          - This one looks like a really good source! https://sites.google.com/edtechcreative.com/digital-breakouts-guide/home?authuser=0

          37 min
        • Connecting the Past and Present with Retro Report

          Join VCSS Vice President and host, Sam Futrell, as she interviews David Olson, the Director of Education for Retro Report. Prior to joining Retro Report, David was an award-winning teacher of U.S. History, A.P. U.S. Government and Politics and Criminal Justice at a public high school in Madison, Wisc. His expertise and passion for teaching social studies shine through on this episode as he shares what Retro Report does and how to incorporate this fantastic resource into your social studies classroom. David and Sam also discuss how to reinforce the relevance of historical content with current events along with strategies for how to get students interested in learning about things happening in their world right now.


          Retro Report

          Gerrymandering Film & Lesson Plans

          9/11 Film & Lesson Plans

          Apply to Join the Teacher Advisory Teams!

          New American History

          Electing the House Interactive Map

          VCSS

          Follow Sam & David on Twitter: @davidjohnolson @sam_futrell1

          1 hr 1 min

        About Content to Classroom

        From the publisher's feed

        In each episode of Content to Classroom, a Virginia Council for Social Studies podcast, host, Sam Futrell, interviews historians, politicians, journalists, and educators on topics related to social…