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…

Agriculture in the Economics Classroom? It absolutely goes together! Issues of environment, sustainability, food production, population growth, and connections to our local and global communities are essential components of today's ever-changing world, and those same issues directly tie to economics. In this session, participants will learn about online resources, educational websites, teacher programs, student-led virtual partner exchanges, international collaboration opportunities, and community involvement activities that all bring together agriculture and economics. A focus will…

New connections are beginning to be made between technology, civics, and media literacy in courses across the K-12 spectrum. But how do you navigate and find the right tools to use as an educator? In this session, learn about the development of the Cyber Citizenship Portal, a cross-disciplinary portal for K-12 educators, free to all, designed in partnership with the National Association of Media Literacy Education (NAMLE), New America, Cyber Florida, and FCIT.

In partnership, the National Council for History Education and the National Council for the Social Studies present “In Pursuit of Equity.” The purpose of this Equity Summit is to engage multiple communities in deliberative discussions about opportunities for and challenges to equity in the United States’ past, present, and future. Drawing upon the complex history of race, ethnicity, enslavement, poverty, and immigration in the American experience, sessions will emphasize opportunities, activism, and student empowerment. This Equity Summit fosters actively engaged and informed…

This two-part, interactive webinar series discusses key strategies and essential resources for teaching the upcoming mid-term elections and it's importance at the local and national levels. Series led by Allison Norrie, Social Studies Teacher at Andrew Warde High School in Fairfield, CT and Stephen Armstrong, Social Studies Consultant for the Connecticut Department of Education and Past President of the National Council for the Social Studies with special guest presenter, Sally Whipple, Executive Director of the Connecticut Democracy Center at Connecticut’s Old State House in Hartford, CT.…

Dan Krutka and Ryan Smits share how to teach their "unfolding a smartphone" lesson that encourages K-12 students to explore the long histories of the clock app and technologies of time, maps app and technologies of wayfinding, and messaging apps and technologies of communication. The session comes with ready-to-use explanations, sources, and activities.

Documenting the human experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic is crucial to preserving the history of this extraordinary time in which we live. Documenting youth experiences during the pandemic is beneficial to not only gaining insights from our youngest citizens about how they were impacted by COVID-19, but also how student research about the causes and impact of the pandemic can promote historical empathy. Research is growing about the challenges and, in some cases, potential benefits that students, teachers, schools, and communities faced during the COVID-19 pandemic. This presentation…

In this two-part series, teachers will be provided with the tools to promote digital literacy and analyze public policy. Join Allison Norrie, high school social studies teacher for the Fairfield Public Schools, and Stephen Armstrong, past president of the Connecticut Council for the Social Studies and current education consultant for Connecticut’s Department of Education as they share strategies and resources for educators to aid in teaching and monitoring election cycles leading up to and including the upcoming presidential elections of 2024.   Presentation Slides

How can educators ensure immigrant-origin students feel safe, supported, and valued, with the chance to put down roots and build new futures—so they can become full participants in their new home? Learn with award-winning teacher and author Jessica Lander about historic laws, cases, and movements that transformed immigrant education, explore innovative and creative approaches in classrooms and districts across the country today working with immigrant-origin students, and listen to the inspiring stories and voices of young immigrant students. Trace with Lander the threads that connect the past…

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…