When teachers create lessons that include historical sources, it’s important to pay attention to source choice and source attribution. 

The Ken Burns Classroom Collection on PBS LearningMedia offers hundreds of standards-aligned classroom lessons based on films by Ken Burns, Lynn Novick, and their collaborators, including The Civil War, The Roosevelts, The West, The Vietnam War, and many more. This webinar will showcase inquiry-based strategies for integrating documentary film clips and primary sources into instruction. You will hear from experienced educators who have developed lesson materials for the collection and implemented the lessons in their classrooms. Participants will emerge inspired with new ideas for how to…

This webinar is designed for social studies educators at all levels; from upper elementary and middle to secondary and university social studies and literacy methods teachers, instructional coaches, supervisors, and administrators seeking to leverage ChatGPT's strengths while effectively dealing with its limitations. In this webinar, teachers will discover how to effectively integrate ChatGPT into their classroom and instructional practices, how to detect student use of ChatGPT on student essays, as well as enhance students’ learning experience using the concept of “lateral reading” in order…

This webinar will use the C3 Framework with television sitcoms to teach narrative versus counter-narrative issue-centered topics in the classroom. The webinar will review the C3 Framework, discuss how television sitcoms align with C3 (what dimension to use it with), discuss how to use narratives and counter-narratives in the classroom, and experience an example lesson utilizing dimensions one through four consisting of two television sitcom episodes on the topic of voting. At the end of the webinar, audience members can ask questions and/or brainstorm with the presenter about how to create…

In Pursuit of Equity: Book Banning and Censorship Book bans in schools and libraries are on the rise. Last school year, more than 850 individual titles were impacted by censorship efforts of local groups and state decision-makers. How can educators and students navigate censorship in their communities? NCHE and NCSS united for a fourth virtual Equity Summit in October 2023 in support of our history and social studies educators and students, with a focus on book-banning and censorship. These are the session recordings from the Summit. 

Today the grandchildren of Vietnam War veterans are attending middle and high schools throughout America, sitting side-by-side with the children of those who served more recently in Desert Storm and the Iraq War. But how much do they really know about these conflicts and the sacrifices their dads, moms and grandparents proudly made? Joining with social studies departments throughout the Country, the Veterans National Education Program (V-NEP) is teaching the lessons of these wars in the classroom. During the 2018-2019 school year, V-NEP will provide teachers with a free, collection of video…

In this evidence-based webinar, answer the questions "How and why were the “Black” and “White” “races” developed? and "How and why was anti-Black Racism developed? Using primary sources, visual diagrams, and historian quotes, trace the historical evolution of the social construction of race--through laws--during the Colonial era. Review historical evidence suggesting that racism did not lead to slavery; rather, slavery lead to racism. Discuss the narrative of racism as the myth of Black racial inferiority that white elites/slave owners created (“the story we tell”) to both uphold slavery,…

In this webinar, we will introduce participants to argument mapping - a research-backed method students can use to organize and evaluate claims using reasoning and evidence. Participants will see how argument mapping can help teachers facilitate discussions around controversial issues, such as whether communities should defund the police or abolish ICE. How We Argue Webinar Series Educators often want to discuss current issues and empower students to engage as active citizens. Yet, when discussing controversial topics, some students rely on unsubstantiated…

Justice engaged youth face a multitude of barriers when trying to re enter their schools and classrooms after being incarcerated. Social Studies teachers and their classrooms are uniquely situated to help prevent justice engaged youth from going back to jail. This talk addresses how social studies teachers can become trusted and positive youth influences to these students. In addition, teaching hard histories and valuing lived experiences through storytelling can change the lives of justice engaged youth forever. It connects them to their past, grounds them in their present and allows them to…

How can classroom teachers prepare for classroom discussions going into next school year on teaching about the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision overturning Roe v. Wade? NCSS presents Member Chat, a new series on breaking issues. In partnership with the American Historical Association (AHA) and the Center for Civic Education, this NCSS Member Chat shares the perspectives of a professional historian, methods professor, and Constitutional scholar to help us understand and discuss the historic and pedagogic implications of this major Supreme Court action.