Teaching with Themes Philosophy

Teaching With Themes promotes social history or the history of average people and daily life for history enthusiasts, social studies teachers, education or humanities professors, museum educators, and anyone wanting to know about the lives of average people in the past. The information and activities on this website and Cynthia Resor’s books are based upon the following ideas and instructional approaches.

Wolcott, Marion Post, photographer. One-room school showing overcrowded conditions and need for repairs and equipment. Breathitt County, Kentucky. Sept, 1940. the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/fsa2000036431/PP/.

Essential Questions: Making History Meaningful

Essential questions are the magic glitter glue for teaching social studies! These key questions focus facts and concepts into something meaningful to modern learners. History becomes relevant if the essential question requires students to examine a big issue in their own lives, culture, and in the past. A good essential question sticks everything together (the glue) and makes the information memorable (the glitter) and interesting (the magic) to modern students. Continue reading “Essential Questions: Making History Meaningful”

Students in geography class at Thaddeus Stevens School

Inquiry Learning in History & Social Studies

What is inquiry learning?

In a nutshell, inquiry learning is the equivalent of a teacher saying to students “You need to learn how to solve problems and answer important questions on your own. So, I’m giving you a question or problem and some clues, and you have to practice your thinking skills to come up with conclusions or answers.” The teacher provides students with resources, hints. Ideally, students are taught a step-by-step process to figure out the answer or solution. Continue reading “Inquiry Learning in History & Social Studies”

On the beach at Coney Island, 1902 by Detroit Photographic Co. Detroit Photographic Co. On the beach at COn the beach at Coney Island, 1902 by Detroit Photographic Co.Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2008678167/.

Social History

Social history is:

  • the study of the lives of groups of ordinary people, the people that are not the elite, wealthy, or politically powerful.
  • the study of trends that occur over time that shape everyday life and society

Primary sources used for the study of social history include written documents and official records, images, and everyday objects such as toys, tombstones, or household furnishings. Continue reading “Social History”

Thematic Instruction

Thematic teaching or thematic instruction highlights a theme through a thematic unit, or a course, or a series of courses within the social studies, or across disciplinary lines to make connections to other courses.

When teaching with themes, choose a theme that reoccurs throughout human history and is present in modern life. It can be a topic, such as vacation, quacks, cemeteries, utopias, or etiquette. Or themes can be overarching questions (essential questions or compelling questions). Continue reading “Thematic Instruction”

Class photo of African American 6th graders at a segregated school in Muskogee, Oklahoma, 1917.

Place-Based Education

Place-based education is an interdisciplinary approach to education that immerses students in the history, culture, landscapes, and experiences of their own communities. The geographic concept of place, at the heart of place-based education, has three aspects representing the objective and subjective – location, locale, sense of place.[1]

Continue reading “Place-Based Education”

Lexington KY Sanborn Map 1896

Making a theme local with primary sources

Historical societies and small museums are overlooked treasure troves of primary sources for local history and themes—letters, diaries, scrapbooks, photographs, local publications, ephemera, and more. All of these primary source documents and images can be used to teach a social history theme in a local context. These local institutions are usually thrilled to work with teachers to showcase their collections and the staff will know about local history and have primary sources that you didn’t even know existed! They may also be eager to work with your students on projects related to their collections. Continue reading “Making a theme local with primary sources”