Content to Classroom

Content to Classroom

By Virginia Council for the Social StudiesEducation
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Content to Classroom episodes

  • From the Ballot Box to the Oval Office: Presidential Transitions of Power

    Join Sam as she talks with the C-SPAN education team (Pam McGorry & Tom Grane) about past and present transitions of power in the White House! From exploring the logistics of this transition to analyzing  the media’s role in the formation of presidential power and image, this episode is one you are not going to want to miss. Plus, as always, you'll get ideas/strategies for how to incorporate this topic into your classroom and inspire your students to engage in civic action. 


    C-SPAN Classroom

    C-SPAN Professional Development Opportunities for Teachers

    1 hr 16 min
  • Teaching Social Studies through Storytelling and Dramatic Play | Storytelling Series

    If you search the internet for quotes about stories and storytelling, Google will give you about 14,900,000 results in .56 seconds. Writer and anthropologist Mary Catherine Bateson says that "the human species thinks in metaphors and learns through stories." Activist, novelist, and poet Margaret Atwood tells the faceless bastardes  they are never "going to kill storytelling because it’s built into the human plan." The list goes on-- presumably with at least 14,899,898 more entries. 

    As human beings, we not only love stories, but love to talk about them. 

    In this episode, Sam talks a lot about stories with two amazing guests-- Stephen Gianotti and Brendan Wolfe. And though they might be less quotable than Bateson and Atwood,  the three share invaluable ways to use stories, the process of storytelling, and dramatic play in the social studies classroom. 

    Links from episode:

    Brendan Wolfe: http://brendanwolfe.com/

    Finding Bix: The Life and Afterlife of a Jazz Legend: http://brendanwolfe.com/finding-bix

    Mr. Jefferson's Telescope: A History of the University of Virginia in 100 Objects: https://brendan-m-wolfe.squarespace.com/mr-jeffersons-telescope

    Digital Artifact Analysis: https://sketchfab.com/tags/artifact 




    1 hr 21 min
  • Using Children's Literature to Teach Tough Topics | Storytelling Series
    Human love stories. They connect us together, teach us new things, and help us learn about the past. 
    And sometimes, stories help us explain things from our collective history that are hard to process. 
    In the first part of our storytelling series, children's author Meg Wiviott and master teacher Katie Blomquist walk us through using children's literature to teach tough topics in our history classrooms. Listen to Meg, Katie, and Sam explore what topics are appropriate for different age groups, when and how to use children's and YA lit in your classes, and practical ways to engage history students as writers. 
    Meg's website: https://www.megwiviott.com/
    Paper Hearts:  https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Paper-Hearts/Meg-Wiviott/9781481439848
    Benno and the Night of Broken Glass: https://www.karben.com/assets/images/eSources/eSource_Benno.pdf
    Virginia Holocaust Museum: https://www.vaholocaust.org/education/
    Echoes and Reflections: https://echoesandreflections.org/
    Virginia Museum of History and Culture: https://www.virginiahistory.org/learn
    VCSS: http://www.vcss.org/
    November VCSS Scholars' Hour: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/126124035385
    1 hr 11 min
  • Addressing Elections and Equity in the Classroom
    It's that time of year again. The leaves are changing, everyone is dressed in cozy sweaters, warm apple cider fills the air, and it's time to vote.  
    And if it's time to vote, it's time to teach kids in classrooms across the country about the American electoral process-- a job that can have it's challenges at any time, but seems to be particularly difficult in 2020-- it's a presidential election year. We're in a pandemic. The West is burning. The South is flooding. And the nation is fraught with racial tension after the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and others by unchecked police. 
    So, how are social studies educators supposed to balance teaching elections and not coming across as biased, while championing equity?
    Listen to this episode, and let Bianca Moore, a defense attorney in NOLA, and Wesley Hedgepeth, a high school social studies teacher in Richmond, VA guide you through all things election and equity in the classroom. 
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    Don't forget to register for the first VCSS Scholars' Hour!
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    Links from today's discussion:
    Avid Conversation Starters
    411 Vote
    Political Compass
    iSideWith
    1619 Project
    U.S. Census Database
    The Harkness Method
    NCSS
    54 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…