Social Education

 

CONTENTS

Social Education
May/June 2013, Volume 77, Number 3

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116
Letters to the Editor

117
Looking at the Law
The Rule of Law and Civil Disobedience: The Case Behind King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail
Howard Kaplan
A class lesson on Walker v. Birmingham, the legal case related to Martin Luther King Jr.’s arrest in Birmingham, can lead to a stimulating exploration of civil disobedience and its role in a democratic society.

122
A Novel Approach: Historical Fiction in the Elementary Classroom
Bárbara C. Cruz
Two elementary units on the Great Depression and on civil rights illustrate how historical fiction can advance literacy while bringing history to life for students.

127
Reaching across the Color Line: Margaret Mitchell and Benjamin Mays, An Uncommon Friendship
Jearl Nix and Chara Haeussler Bohan
The unusual correspondence between the white author of Gone with the Wind and the president of a black college in Atlanta in the 1940s offers students a unique perspective on segregation.

132
Science Fiction in Social Education: Exploring Consequences of Technology
Lance E. Mason
Examining a well-chosen science fiction film in the classroom can serve as an excellent entry point for exploring the psychological and social effects of technological advancements.

136
The Carter G. Woodson Book Awards
The 2012 Carter G. Woodson Award winners include books about Native American resistance to assimilation, race relations during World War II, and composer Leonard Bernstein’s struggle against anti-Semitism.

Center Pullout Section (This file is available for members in the Notable section of the publication archive.)
Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People
The NCSS Book Committee and the Children’s Book Council present this year’s list of exceptional books for young people that explore social studies themes.

138
Travel to Learn: How, When, and Why to Apply for a Travel Grant
Erika Cook and Aaron Becker
These basic tips can help educators obtain travel and research grants and experience some of the best professional development opportunities available.

143
Using Competing Visions of Human Rights in an International IB World School
William J. Tolley
A teacher at an International Baccalaureate school in Brazil describes how a human rights unit exploring U.S. or UN decisions from multiple viewpoints helped reinvigorate his social studies courses.

148
Surfing the Net
Teaching Social Studies with National Anthems Using the Internet
C. Frederick Risinger
The highlighted websites feature national anthems of countries around the world, and offer unique insights in the history, international relations, ethnic make-up, religions, and ideologies of these countries.

150
Water Education in The Netherlands: An Integrated Curriculum Using NCSS Standards for Social Studies
Jeroen Bron and Eddie van Vliet
A curriculum developed in The Netherlands offers exciting opportunities for students to consider domestic water use, its impact on other countries, and the global need for water conservation.

157
NCSS Position Statement
Revitalizing Civic Learning in Our Schools

160
NCSS Position Statement
Technology

163
NCSS Notebook
2012 House of Delegates Resolutions

Editor’s Notebook
Michael Simpson

Social Education
May/June 2013, Volume 77, Number 3

Summer ushers in a welcome period of freedom and discovery in which we can escape our daily routines, follow our imaginations, and indulge in reflection on ideas that really matter. To launch the season, this issue of Social Education, the last of the school year, follows its traditional emphasis on creativity and learning through literature, the arts, and grand social studies themes.

Readers of this issue will enjoy our annotated lists of award-winning books, articles presenting the use of literature and documents in the classroom, and coverage of important social studies topics.

In this fiftieth anniversary year of some milestones in the struggle for civil rights, our readers will find several suggestions for teaching about civil rights in the classroom. In his Looking at the Law column, Howard Kaplan examines a well-known episode in the civil rights struggle that culminated in Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”—the demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama, in April and May 1963 in which thousands of protesters were arrested. Kaplan examines how the Supreme Court adjudicated the issue of civil disobedience that arose from the Birmingham protests.

Bárbara C. Cruz demonstrates the valuable potential of historical fiction for generating student interest in the civil rights period (as well as another major twentieth-century era, that of the Great Depression). She presents the example of a fifth-grade unit in which students who had read historical fiction were challenged to develop a creative project of their own. The result was an engaging Powerpoint presentation on the civil rights movement and a student film based on the book The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963.

Jearl Nix and Chara Haeussler Bohan examine the relationship that Morehouse College President Benjamin Mays established with Margaret Mitchell, the author of Gone with the Wind, which provided her with a greater understanding of the problems faced by African Americans in the fields of education and healthcare, and persuaded her to become a donor to Morehouse. Excerpts from their correspondence enable a greater understanding of the era when segregation was the law of the land in the South.

Lance E. Mason shows how science fiction can raise some very pertinent questions when “it presents a possible future world in order to comment on the actual present” (132). Using the film Surrogates, starring Bruce Willis, as an example, Mason suggests ways in which Neil Postman’s six questions about using new technologies can be used to stimulate class discussions both about this film and about major historical developments based on technologies that once seemed futuristic.

This issue presents the books that won the latest annual Carter G. Woodson awards for their exceptional educational value in enhancing students’ knowledge and understanding of ethnicity and race relations in the United States. This year’s selections tell the stories of Zitkala-Ša, a Native American musician and activist, boxing legend Joe Louis, the young Leonard Bernstein, the saga of the Sioux, and the confrontation between Bull Connor and the Reverend Fred L. Shuttlesworth in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963.

The centerfold of this issue is a colorful pull-out presenting the annotated list of this year’s Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People, selected for their outstanding social studies value and literary qualities by a committee of NCSS members in cooperation with the Children’s Book Council. The selected books include both fiction and non-fiction, and their use in class can advance the Common Core Standards for Reading. The annotations match the books with the themes of the social studies standards that they promote.

Getting a travel grant for professional development overseas can result in “a wonderful learning experience that can enhance your classroom, school, and life,” (142) as Erika Cook and Aaron Becker enthusiastically point out. Their article provides helpful tips on programs that offer travel grants and arrange teacher exchanges across the globe.

William J. Tolley describes a human rights unit he taught in his International Baccalaureate school in Brazil. Using resources from the Choices program, Tolley’s class examined the complex challenge of identifying a vision of international human rights whose implementation can gain the support of countries with divergent interests and policies. Students increased their awareness of the competing visions of human rights, and gained a better sense of the historical impact of human rights violations, which “allowed them to discern and understand the long-term implications of historical events.” (147)

In his Internet column, C. Frederick Risinger recommends websites that can help teachers to use national anthems as a means of introducing students to the history of different countries. Anthems, he points out, often “include interesting insight into the history, struggles to escape colonization, and relations with other nations, as well as the multiplicity of ethnicities, religions and ideas that are represented within [a country’s] borders.” (148)

Water education is one of the great twenty-first-century challenges. Jeroen Bron and Eddie van Vliet describe a water curriculum that has been developed in the Netherlands, “a country famous for having been ‘claimed from the sea.’” (150) The curriculum is linked to the themes of the social studies standards and deals with issues of water management that range from the challenges of providing clean water to the problems of flood prevention and planning (including a case study of the disastrous impact of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans in 2005).

This issue concludes with the text of NCSS Position Statements on “Revitalizing Civic Learning in our Schools” and “Technology,” as well as resolutions of the NCSS House of Delegates from its last meeting during the NCSS annual conference in Seattle from November 16 to 18, 2012.

As always, the editors of Social Education welcome the comments of readers on any of the contributions to this issue at socialed@ncss.org.

Articles from the "Teaching with Documents" series are available free online to NCSS members. Click on the ones you want to view and print. Teaching with Documents articles, published originally in Social Education over the last decade or so, were written by staff at the National Archives and Records Administration. Each article features a primary source document accompanied by teaching activities and lessons that focus on history, civics, and many other social studies disciplines. Remember, too, that other articles from back issues of Social Education, Middle Level Learning, and Social Studies and the Young Learner are available to members at the online archives, www.socialstudies.org/members/ [2]. The articles listed here include the primary source documents and complete lesson plans for middle and secondary classrooms. They are all presented in PDF format.

• The First Act of Congress [3]
  Lee Ann Potter
  In the early days of this nation, Congress considered numerous acts as it established the laws of the land. Yet the first ever act of Congress concerned an oath to support the Constitution.
  
  
• On the Other Side [4]
  Lee Ann Potter
  The value of an historical document goes far beyond its obvious content, and includes such obscure clues as notations scribbled hastily on the back.
  
  
• Buttons to Bumper Stickers: Political Campaign Memorabilia [5]
  Lee Ann Potter
  From George Washington to George W. Bush, politicians have used campaign memorabilia to capture the attention of voters. By studying these items, students can learn a great deal about historical issues and candidates.
  
  
• Robert E. Lee's Demand for the Surrender of John Brown [6]
  Daniel F. Rulli
  John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry--considered treasonous by some and heroic by others--helped strengthen the anti-slavery movement. Students can gain a deeper understanding of this event by studying General Lee's demand for Brown’s surrender.
  
  
• 1863 Letter from Ralph Waldo Emerson about Walt Whitman [7]
  Lee Ann Potter
  During the Civil War, poet Walt Whitman was eager to work for the government. Though federal jobs weren't easy to come by, a letter of recommendation from Ralph Waldo Emerson was able to push open government doors.
  
  
• Letter from President Millard Fillmore to the Emperor of Japan [8]
  Marvin Pinkert and Lee Ann Potter
  A letter from President Fillmore plays a key role in overcoming Japan's "closed country" policy.
  
  
• Order of Argument in the Case Brown v. Board of Education [9]
  Kahlil Chism, contributing author, and Lee Ann Potter, editor
  The Order of Argument in Brown v. Board of Education is a short document, but it can launch students on a long voyage of understanding of this milestone case.
  
  
• Connecting with the Past [10]
  Lee Ann Potter
  History becomes much more than past events and important dates, when students investigate the subtle clues buried in primary sources.
  
  
• Big and Famous is Not Always Better [11]
  Daniel F. Rulli
  Documents do not need to be elaborate to be useful classroom tools. Short, lesser-known documents can teach students a world of history.
  
  
• The Words We Live By: The Constitution in Context [12]
  Linda R. Monk
  When students understand the historical context of a given document, they learn much more than simply the words of a text.
  
  
• From Attics to Graveyards: Where to Locate Documents for Your Classroom [13]
  Tom Gray and Susan Owens
  The most valuable information may be in the least obvious places--attics, file cabinets, or the local cemeteries.
  
  
• Online Resources from the National Archives [14]
  Lee Ann Potter
  This article provides practical tips for finding key sources on the National Archives website.
  
  
• Online Resources from the Library of Congress [15]
  Judith K. Graves and Marilyn Parr
  The authors outline major areas and search tools for navigating the Library of Congress website.
  
  
• Archival Facilities Across the Nation [16]
  Here's a useful list of National Archives facilities around the country. Also included is a list of state archives that are responsible for preserving valuable records.
  
  
• Primarily, It's Serendipity [17]
  James A. Percoco
  The correspondence between a baseball commissioner and President Franklin Roosevelt offers a creative approach to teaching World War II during baseball season.
  
  
• My Reward: Outstanding Student Projects Based on Primary Sources [18]
  John Lawlor
  Students research their homes, local ruins, or urban ecology--among other fascinating subjects--as part of term projects that challenge them to investigate history using primary sources.
  
  
• Suggested Methods for Integrating Primary Sources into Classroom Instruction [19]
  National Archives and Records Administration
  
  
• Document Analysis Worksheets [20]
  National Archives and Records Administration
  
  
• Affidavit in the Case of Orville and Wilbur Wright vs. Glenn H. Curtiss [21]
  Kahlil G. Chism and Lee Ann Potter
  Orville and Wilbur Wright were not the only inventors working on airplane innovations. But the Wright brothers' patent gave them a tremendous advantage and inhibited manufacturers from producing planes for a time just before World War I.
  
  
• Letter from Archibald MacLeish about Relocating the Charters of Freedom during World War II [22]
  Michael Hussey and Lee Ann Potter
  During World War II, the Library of Congress went to extraordinary lengths to protect the nation's founding documents in case of an attack on the capital.
  
  
• Letter from President Lyndon B. Johnson to John Steinbeck [23]
  Lee Ann Potter
  The letter featured in this article offers insight into the mutual respect shared between author John Steinbeck and former U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson. Although Steinbeck's opinion on the Vietnam War varied, he was a strong supporter of Johnson's position on the war at the time the letter was written.