Social Education October 2007

Editor's Notebook

Secondary Level    

Surfing the Net

How to Teach about Aligning Elections Using the Internet C. Frederick Risinger

The author investigates the re-aligning elections theory that certain elections transform the political landscape. Will this happen in 2008? These websites will engage students and challenge them to call the election. Secondary Level    

Looking at the Law

Supreme Court Preview Charles F. Williams

Teaching Activity by James Landman Secondary Level    

Guardians of the Past: Using Drama to Assess Learning in American History Charles F. Howlett

Students learn how to analyze legal cases and gain a deeper understanding of judicial reasoning when they write and perform classroom plays based on historical cases. Secondary Level    

Learning Early Twentieth-Century History through First-Person Interviews Lisa A. Lark

Carrying out face-to-face interviews with American seniors can make U.S. history more relevant to students, and especially those who are first- and second-generation citizens. Secondary Level    

Promoting Historic Preservation in the Classroom Paul LaRue

High school students learn that there is much more to history than the textbook when they interview World War II veterans and transcribe the stories for the Library of Congress's Veterans History Project. Secondary Level    

Denmark 1943: Using Music to Teach Holocaust Rescue David Lindquist

Though Holocaust rescue efforts were limited, they are certainly noteworthy; this lesson offers a creative approach to teaching about the unique Danish rescue of 7,000 Jews. Secondary Level    

Learning History through the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Hilary Landorf and Martha Fernanda Pineda Secondary Level    

Reading in the Social Studies: Using Subtitled Films Kerry Holmes, William B Russell III, Allison Movitz

Foreign films not only engage students with other countries and other cultures, but can also promote reading through their subtitles. Secondary Level    

Teaching with Documents

October 1957 Memorandum Related to Sputnik Missy McNatt, David Traill

This month marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Soviet launch of Sputnik, which fueled American panic that the Soviet Union could fire intercontinental ballistic missiles. The featured document highlights President Eisenhower's reaction and the government's response. Secondary Level