Winter Break

It is time for a break. We all know it. The kids know it. Our families know it. What are you planning to do with your time away from work?

I am heading north to visit family!!! I must be crazy, since I remember all too well what kinds of things can happen in families around holidays. But there you have it. Airports at 6am, paying to check my luggage, and wearing my Uggs.

I wish you the best time away, whether it is in your own home or on the road. Come back refreshed and ready.

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Best Practices 101

How Many Ways Can You Use a Textbook?

1. as an excuse, OR

2. as a weight to build up flabby arm muscles OR

3. a doorstop, OR

4. to illustrate bad writing OR

5. as one of many sources of historical information for your students.

A strategy called OUT [Opening Up the Textbook], developed at Stanford University, helps students use the textbook as one source rather than the only source of information. This technique focuses on using small passages from the text juxtaposed with other texts so students can compare them. The combination of multiple texts with differing perspectives allows students to gain a better understanding of the process of historiography. Rather than accept the account of history as filtered through the lens of textbook writers and their committees, these differing accounts can open student eyes to the variety of interpretations available about past events.

One way to use this technique is to find a primary source that is the subject of a small portion of the textbook. Examining the primary source and then evaluating the text's treatment of the event will give students the opportunity to judge for themselves the validity of the textbook's interpretation of the event.

Another method is to compare multiple textbook accounts of the same event. Textbooks can be old and new, or published for classes of different levels, or even texts for different classes in the same discipline, i.e. world history and American history. How do these books tell the story of the same event? What parts are emphasized, and which are passed over lightly? What biases do the different authors have about the event?

A third method is to look at who is left out of the textbook narrative. Using the textbook and alternate sources, students can evaluate who or what is left out of the text narrative. Which voices are not being heard? Which participants in the story are included only in a sidebar? How did the authors decide who or what was important enough to include? How can the story be made more complete?

For more information about this technique, see the January 2010 issue of our newsletter.

End of the Year Stuff.....

The end of the calendar year is approaching and there are lots of things to do in addition to any holiday celebrations. One of those is check your FSA balance. If you have pre-tax money deducted from your paycheck for medical expenses, you may have a balance remaining that needs to be spent before 12/31. Eligible expenses include things like over the counter meds, glasses, eye exams, and other medical expenses. I notice that some eligible expenses are indicated on register receipts with a special mark at my drug store. Just something else to think about in these busy days.

Current Events Make Great Discussions

What kind of current events do you do with your students? There are so many stories that can be used in a social studies classroom, where does one start when choosing what to use? I noticed at least 3 stories recently making the rounds that would be great for bell ringer discussions or making social studies relevant to the lives of our students.


1. Greg Oden, the 2007 number one draft pick of the Portland Trailblazers, was seriously injured in a basketball game against the Houston Rockets. Oden, who has been sidelined with injuries during his rookie season, will now have to sit out the remainder of this season. Oden was diagnosed with a fractured right kneecap. EVen though injured during a defensive collision on Saturday, Oden continued to put his team first. He apologized for getting injured and letting the team down. He encouraged them to focus on the score rather than his injuries, and Portland won 90-89 in the last 3 seconds of the game. How could you use this story with your students?




2. Tareq and Michaele Salahi, alleged White House dinner crashers, are in the news. Their attendance at the first state dinner hosted by President Obama has created a number of inquiries. Their visit to the White House state dinner for the Prime Minister of India became widely known when the couple posted pictures of themselves at the dinner with various dignitaries on their Facebook page. The Secret Service has suspended the agents responsible for allowing them in without an invitation. Investigations have been called for by Congress, and the Salahis failed to appear before House Homeland Security hearing on December 3. Mrs. Salahi is trying to win a role on an upcoming reality series "The Real Housewives of D.C." How could you use this story with your students?


3. The Afghanistan-Pakistan War: the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a non-partisan thinktank, has published a number of monographs including "Losing the Afghan-Pakistan War? The Rising Threat" in September, 2008 and "The Afghan-Pakistan War: A Status Report 2009, A Brief Summary." [http://csis.org/files/media/csis/pubs/080917_afghanthreat.pdf and http://csis.org/files/publication/burke/090803_BriefSummary.pdf] [Map from BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7601748.stm] These documents should be required reading for anyone who wants to speak intelligently on the Afghan-Pakistan problem and the President's current plan. The site has a number of other resources, including videos, that give background information on this vital topic. How could you use this information with your students?