In today’s environment, how should teachers help students understand immigration? How can they create a classroom culture in which students can discuss these kinds of highly sensitive and personal controversial issues? And why is it important that we give students the chance to talk about these issues?

To examine these issues, Brett speaks to Zorielle Rodriguez-Alcazar, a veteran high school teacher at Peekskill High School in Peekskill, New York. Zorielle, who is also a doctoral student in the University at Albany’s School of Education, is a creative and thoughtful veteran social studies educator who gets to know her students well and adjusts the curriculum to engage their interests. In this episode, Zorielle shares her experiences and suggestions for how to develop a positive democratic classroom culture that enables teachers to generate powerful discussions of challenging public issues.

Episode Resources

Immigration Stories Project from U. of Minnesota

Resources for Teaching about Immigration from Learning for Justice

ESD Resources

Brett Levy's Open Access Research Articles

Education for Sustainable Democracy Site

ESD Facebook Page (Please like!)

ESD YouTube Channel (Please subscribe!)


Related ESD Episodes

Current Events Instruction in Early 2025, with Kyle Dalton (Lansingburgh High School, Lansingburgh, NY)

Integrating History & Current Events and Creating an Open Classroom Climate, with Amber Joseph (East Side Community School, New York City)

Engagement & Equity in Civic Education, with Professor Jane Lo (Michigan State University)

Guiding Productive Political Discussions, with Diana Hess (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

Support the show

How can technology enhance students' engagement in classroom learning? When are technologies helpful, and when are they harmful? 

In this episode, I talk to Dr. Dan Krutka, associate professor of social studies education at the University of North Texas. Dan's research sits at the intersection of technology, education, and democracy. 

We discuss how teachers can decide which technologies would strengthen their teaching or whether technologies would even be helpful at all. We also discuss many specific online tools and how they can be useful for enhancing student engagement and learning. 

In our conversation, Dan touches on a variety of other issues, as well, such as how to teach effectively in online learning environments.

This episode was originally released in 2021.


Links Related to this Episode:

Dan Krutka's Homepage

PICRAT Model for Tech Integration in Teacher Ed (CITE Journal)

Glenn Wiebe's Blog - Technology in Social Studies Ed


Teacher Resources:

Padlet Site (digital creation tool)

DocsTeach Site (primary sources & activities)

Chronicling America (historical newspapers)

Smithsonian Learning Labs (documents, recordings, images, & more)

The Redistricting Game (simulation about gerrymandering)


ESD Podcast Resources:

Education for Sustainable Democracy Site

Brett's Open Access Research Articles

Education for Sustainable Democracy Facebook Page (Please Like!)

Support the show

In classrooms around the country and beyond, teachers and students are navigating how to discuss the quick and often surprising actions of our current federal administration. How can and how should teachers help students understand and think critically about these issues? In this episode, Brett speaks with Kyle Dalton, a veteran teacher at Lansingburgh High School in Troy, New York. Kyle is a high-energy social studies educator who prioritizes his relationships with his students and generating their long-term interest in civic and social learning. He teaches various subjects, including sociology, psychology, civics, and economics. Listen as Kyle shares his experiences and suggestions for not only how to get students engaged in civic issues but also how to foster their informed critical thinking and how to create a strong, trusting classroom community.

Episode Resources

Kyle Dalton's Instructional Resources (coming soon)

Lansingburgh High School site

ESD Resources

Brett Levy's Open Access Research Articles

Education for Sustainable Democracy Site

ESD Facebook Page (Please like!)

ESD YouTube Channel (Please subscribe!)


Related ESD Episodes

Integrating History & Current Events and Creating an Open Classroom Climate, with Amber Joseph (East Side Community School, New York City)

Engagement & Equity in Civic Education, with Professor Jane Lo (Michigan State University)

Guiding Productive Political Discussions, with Diana Hess (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

Support the show

How can educators create more holistic learning experiences for students? How can higher education better prepare students to become active civic participants? In this episode, Brett speaks with two educational leaders and innovators from Prescott College, based in Arizona. Emily Affolter is the director of Prescott’s doctoral program in sustainability education and an expert in culturally responsive teaching, and Pavel Cenkl is Prescott’s dean of academic affairs. In our conversation, we discuss how Prescott integrates its core principles of regenerative sustainability, experiential learning, creativity, and justice into their programs; and we also discuss what brought Pavel and Emily to this work after their varied prior experiences in education. 

Resources Related to this Episode

Emily Affolter's Website

Pavel Cenkl's Website

Prescott College Website

ESD Podcast Resources

Education for Sustainable Democracy Homepage

Brett Levy's Open-Access Research Articles (Free Downloads)

Education for Sustainable Democracy Facebook Page (Please Like!)

YouTube Channel for Education for Sustainable Democracy (Please Subscribe!)

Support the show

We all know that we could be doing a better job preparing young people for civic participation – and government officials and the public largely agree, but few organizations focus primarily on addressing this problem. Democracy Ready New York is one of the groups that’s taking action on this issue – advocating for government policies to better support civic education and broadening public engagement in the issue. This episode features the leader of Democracy Ready New York, Michael Rebell.

Since 2005, Michael has served as the Executive Director of the Center for Educational Equity at Teachers College, Columbia University. Over the past few years, he and other staff at the Center have built a coalition of individuals and organizations with an interest in civic education. Today this coalition, Democracy Ready New York, is working to improve various aspects of civic education, including media literacy, classrooms discussions, equity, and more. In his conversation with Brett, Michael talks about the goals of the organization, the accomplishments of its various committees, and the group’s plans to diversity its efforts to improve civic education.

This episode was originally released in May, 2022.

Resources Related to this Episode

Michael Rebell's Website

Democracy Ready New York Website

CivXNow (Civic Education Advocacy)


ESD Podcast Resources

Education for Sustainable Democracy Homepage

Brett Levy's Open-Access Research Articles (Free Downloads)

Education for Sustainable Democracy Facebook Page (Please Like!)

YouTube Channel for Education for Sustainable Democracy (Please Subscribe!)


Related ESD Episodes

A Congressional Bill to Strengthen Civic Education, with Cat McDonald (DC Lobbyist for Civic Ed)

Guiding Productive Political Discussions, with Diana Hess (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

Engagement & Equity in Civic Education (with Prof. Jane Lo)

Support the show

Educators around the country have been increasingly interested in expanding the teaching of African-American history, and many resources have been created to help. At the same time, scholars have begun to explore how African-American history is represented in these resources, in standards, in popular textbooks, and beyond. One emerging scholar in this area is Brittany Jones, an assistant professor at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York. Her work explores how emotions are represented in the curriculum, how we can help students consider the lived emotions of those in the past, whether or not some types history should be deemed "difficult" for students, and much more. On this episode, Brittany discusses these issues and how she arrived at these questions.


Episode Resources

Brittany Jones's Faculty Page

Brittany's Google Scholar Page

The 1619 Project Curriculum


Key Articles by Brittany Jones

Feeling fear as power and oppression: An examination of Black and white fear in Virginia’s U.S. history standards and curriculum framework

What is the word “difficult” doing in social studies research?: A systematic literature review of empirical research on difficult knowledges and histories, 2004–2022

ESD Resources

Brett Levy's Open Access Research Articles

Education for Sustainable Democracy Site

ESD Facebook Page (Please like!)

ESD YouTube Channel (Please subscribe!)


Related ESD Episodes

Integrating History & Current Events and Creating an Open Classroom Climate, with Amber Joseph (East Side Community School, New York City)

Engagement & Equity in Civic Education, with Professor Jane Lo (Michigan State University)

Guiding Productive Political Discussions, with Diana Hess (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

Support the show

How can we teach about elections in ways that support students' political engagement and also strengthen their willingness to consider diverse perspectives? In this episode, Brett draws on his own research to address this question, offering practical tips for the classroom.


Related Resources

Teaching Elections Site

Education for Sustainable Democracy Homepage

Brett Levy's Open-Access Research Articles

Education for Sustainable Democracy Facebook Page (Please Like!)

YouTube Channel for Education for Sustainable Democracy (Please subscribe!)


Related ESD Episodes

The Seal of Civic Readiness for High School Diplomas, with Lisa Kissinger (New York State Council for the Social Studies)

Lateral Reading & Other Media Literacy Skills, with Sarah McGrew (University of Maryland)

Teaching Elections & Modeling Political Tolerance, with Wayne Journell (University of North Carolina, Greensboro)

Support the show

This is a rebroadcast of an interview with Professor Wayne Journell about teaching elections, recorded in 2020.

How should educators teach about elections? How can they maximize student learning, foster engagement, and minimize overly heated exchanges among students? Professor Wayne Journell from the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, has conducted research on how high school teachers help students learn about elections. He describes how teachers can frame productive discussion of elections, integrate election-related content into other aspects of the curriculum, and model a tolerant attitudes towards different political perspectives. Dr. Journell also explains how educators can help students navigate our complex media landscape and avoid falling victim to misinformation. 

Resources Related to this Episode

Teaching Elections Website

Wayne Journell's Website

Theory & Research in Social Education



ESD Podcast Resources

Brett Levy's Open-Access Research Articles (Free Downloads)

Education for Sustainable Democracy Facebook Page (Please Like!)

YouTube Channel for Education for Sustainable Democracy (Please Subscribe!)

Brett Levy's Twitter/X Handle: @brettlmlevy

Education for Sustainable Democracy Homepage

Support the show

How should secondary school teachers help their student learn about the election during this heated political moment? In this episode, Brett speaks to Dan Hornick, who teaches high school government in a politically diverse district in upstate New York. Dan shares his insights, experiences, and suggestions on teaching about elections in the current era. He also explains how to get students to develop good media literacy habits and become engaged in local civic issues. Dan brings to this discussion over two decades of classroom experience and years working in local government in various positions.

Episode Resources

New York State's Seal of Civic Readiness Site

Brett Levy's Teaching Elections Site


ESD Podcast Resources

Education for Sustainable Democracy Homepage

Brett Levy's Open-Access Research Articles

Education for Sustainable Democracy Facebook Page (Please Like!)

YouTube Channel for Education for Sustainable Democracy (Please subscribe!)


Related ESD Episodes

The Seal of Civic Readiness for High School Diplomas, with Lisa Kissinger (New York State Council for the Social Studies)

Lateral Reading & Other Media Literacy Skills, with Sarah McGrew (University of Maryland)

Teaching Elections & Modeling Political Tolerance, with Wayne Journell (University of North Carolina, Greensboro)

Support the show

As the central adults in children’s lives, what should be the role of parents in creating well-informed and active civic participants? This episode's guest wrote a book to help answer that question. Lindsay Cormack is an associate professor of political science at Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey, and this month, she released a new book entitled, “How to Raise a Citizen (and why it’s up to you to do it).” Her book and this episode are full of practical advice and rules of thumb that can be useful to many parents uncertain of how to support their children's civic development.


Episode Resources

How to Raise a Citizen

Lindsey Cormack faculty homepage

National Association for Media Literacy Education


ESD Podcast Resources

Education for Sustainable Democracy Homepage

Brett Levy's Open-Access Research Articles

Education for Sustainable Democracy Facebook Page (Please Like!)

YouTube Channel for Education for Sustainable Democracy (Please subscribe!)



Popular ESD Episodes

Lateral Reading & Other Media Literacy Skills, with Sarah McGrew (University of Maryland)

Integrating History and Current Events & Creating an Open Classroom Climate (with teacher Amber Joseph)

Building a Movement for Civic Education, with Michael Rebell (Teachers College, Columbia University)

Support the show