The C3 Framework by NCSS has caused a great deal of change over the last decade. The lead authors of the C3 Framework stress that K-12 social studies teachers need to develop their students’ disciplinary literacy, thinking, and argumentation skills in the four core disciplines of the field: history, civics, geography, and economics (Lee & Swan, 2013; NCSS, 2013). To accomplish these goals, social studies teachers need to meaningfully integrate primary and secondary sources for their students to analyze and use evidence from their research to take civic action (Levinson & Levine, 2013; VanSledright, 2013). The goal of the Social Studies Trade Book Collaborative is to suggest an appropriate method to accomplish this outcome by utilizing high-quality trade books as instructional tools in the social studies K-12 classrooms.

Drs. Caroline Sheffield and Jeremiah Clabough have built their classroom instruction and research on the power and potential of social studies trade books. The Social Studies Trade Book Collaborative is a partnership that the two researchers entered into as they designed and implemented their research at the i3 Academy in Birmingham, Alabama. Their project explores the potential benefits of thematically teaching U.S. history with trade books. In light of the student population of the i3 Academy this past academic year, which was 93% African Americans, thematically teaching the struggle for civil rights following the U.S. Civil War seemed a logical topic to explore.

Our approach to thematic teaching in the history classroom continues to utilize a chronological approach to instruction but explores a specific theme across time periods. In this project, it was the struggle for civil rights. There are numerous thematic topics that can be explored with trade books from the NCSS Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People, Carter G. Woodson Award Books, and Septima Clark Book Awards. Example thematic topics include women’s rights issues, environmental issues, and civil rights issues.

There are numerous benefits to thematic teaching. Thematic teaching helps students make the connections among related issues over time. Students often struggle to see the connections among historical issues and events because they view these topics in isolation from each other. Thematic teaching helps to address this struggle by aiding students to see how historical and contemporary figures and issues are connected. In the Social Studies Trade Book Collaborative, we intentionally designed unit plans to make thematic connections about civil rights issues from Reconstruction through the 1960s. This required carefully constructed supporting questions and analysis prompts for students designed to highlight the commonalities among civil rights activists explored. For example, the sixth graders answered analysis prompts that encouraged students to make connections between the racially-motivated violence described in both Ida B. Wells: Let the Truth Be Told (Myers & Christensen, 2008) and Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre (Weatherford & Cooper, 2021).

A second example of these thematic connections made by the students was in the efforts to integrate public schools in the 1950s and 1960s.  Students first read Thurgood (Winter & Collier, 2019), which highlights Thurgood Marshall’s efforts to desegregate public schools though the court system in Brown v. Board of Education. In a follow-up unit, students explored the actions taken by Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth in Birmingham, Alabama to advocate for the civil rights of African Americans, including his attempt to integrate a Birmingham high school. Students made the connection between the Brown v. Board of Education decision highlighted in Thurgood and actions taken by Rev. Shuttlesworth described in Black and White: The Confrontation between Reverend Fred L. Shuttlesworth and Eugene “Bull” Connor (Brimner, 2011). Rev. Shuttlesworth attempted to actualize Thurgood Marshall’s legal victory within Birmingham’s schools by trying to integrate Phillips High School. Students made the connection that Marshall and Shuttlesworth were both attempting to desegregate different facets of U.S. society. We gave students numerous opportunities to articulate these connections among historical figures’ civil rights advocacies. Students consistently and accurately communicated how those studied worked toward similar ends and in some cases picked up the work for civil rights of those that came before them.

Thematic teaching also helps students not only connect historical issues together but also articulate how the past connects to the present. Through many of the students’ summative assessments last academic year, they connected historical events and topics to civil rights issues in contemporary U.S. society. It was not uncommon for many students to include phrases connected to the contemporary civil rights movement such as Black Lives Matter. Students consistently saw parallels with historical topics of civil rights issues to modern corollaries.

These type of connections could especially be seen in their last one week of the 2021-2022 academic year. The last project focused on the Birmingham Children’s Crusade and was driven by the trade book Let the Children March (Clark-Robinson & Morrison, 2018). After reading this trade book and primary sources about the Birmingham Children’s March, students created protest posters either in support of the children who participated in this act of non-violent civic disobedience, or to highlight contemporary civil rights issues. Many of the students focused their topic on a contemporary civil rights issue. Some of the contemporary topics that the students focused on included global warming, gun violence, and most notably Black Lives Matter. Many students included phrases connected to Black Lives Matter in their protest posters as seen below. One of the students also focused on challenging the racism directed toward Asian Americans connected to COVID-19 as seen below. The students’ protest posters demonstrated that they connected what they learned about the past and what is occurring in the present.

The Social Studies Trade Book Collaborative has reaffirmed our beliefs in the power of trade books. There are many powerful trade books provided on the NCSS Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People, Carter G. Woodson Award Books, and Septima Clark Book Awards that the social studies teacher could construct her or his own thematic list of books. We encourage social studies teachers to select lesser-known figures. By focusing on lesser-known figures, students are able to see the agency that all democratic citizens possess to be change agents. Our selected trade books focused on civil rights activists that confronted racial discrimination African Americans faced for the century after the U.S. Civil War. We encourage teachers to carefully design questions that encourage meaningful conversations addressing the systemic racism that impacted every facet of African Americans’ daily lives in both the Jim Crow South and in the present. These learning activities equip students with the knowledge to be civil rights activists to address issues in their local community. In this way, social studies teachers are working to prepare their students to be democratic citizens to confront social injustices and work to build a more equitable democratic society for all.

References

Brimner, L. (2011). Black and white: The confrontation between Reverend Fred L. Shuttlesworth and Eugene Bull Connor. Calkins Creek.

Clark-Robinson, M., & Morrison, F. (2018). Let the children march. Clarion Books.

Lee, J., & Swan, K. (2013). Is the Common Core good for social studies? Yes, but… Social Education, 77(6), 327-330.

Levinson, M., & Levine, P. (2013). Taking informed action to engage students in civic life. Social Education, 77(6), 339-341.

Myers, W.D., & Christensen, B. (2008). Ida B. Wells: Let the truth be told. Amistad.

NCSS. (2013). The College, Career, and Civic Life Framework for Social Studies State  Standards: Guidance for enhancing the rigor of K-12 civics, economics, geography, and history. Author.

VanSledright, B. (2013). Can assessment improve learning? Thoughts on the C3 Framework.

Social Education, 77(6), 334-338.

Weatherford, C.B., & Cooper, F. (2021). Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre. Carolrhoda Books.

Winter, J., & Collier, B. (2019). Thurgood. Anne Schwartz Books.