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.<\/p>\n
Why incorporate social history in the classroom?<\/h4>\n\n- History becomes more relevant to students studying issues related to their own daily lives.\u00a0 Students learn the historical background of everyday experiences.<\/li>\n
- Students develop an analytical perspective to examine their own lives and culture.<\/li>\n
- Aligns with current standards and instructional approaches including<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
\n- \n
\n- Thematic Instruction<\/a><\/li>\n
- Essential questions<\/a> (also known as compelling questions)<\/li>\n
- Placed-based Learning<\/a><\/li>\n
- Inquiry learning<\/a> (also known as project-based, problem-based, or discovery learning)<\/li>\n
- Common Core Standards for Literacy<\/em><\/a><\/li>\n
- National Council of the Social Studies C3 Framework<\/em><\/li>\n
- Culturally Responsive Teaching<\/a>\u00a0–\u00a0A History in Which We Can All See Ourselves<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\n![\"Wearing](\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\")
<\/a>Wearing Three Pairs of Glasses: Social History and Culturally Responsive Teaching<\/h3>\nBlog post from Connected <\/em>by the National Council of the Social Studies<\/p>\nReferences to lenses as unique ways of seeing the world are increasingly common, especially in pedagogical texts that describe culturally responsive teaching.\u00a0 Incorporating social history themes in the classroom is an excellent way to introduce new ways of seeing the world through three sets of culturally responses lenses, or glasses.<\/p>\n
The first pair of glasses refers to how students originally see the world through their own cultural framework. This framework is formed by students\u2019 experiences within their own family, culture, and community. The second set of glasses helps students \u201csee\u201d similarities and differences between their own experiences and those of other individuals, families, cultures, communities, and nations. Students are asked to analyze why, when, and how differences occur and consider the implications in economic, political, and social situations.<\/p>\n
A culturally responsive approach using social history adds a third set of lenses – social history glasses. Students explore how daily routines in the past were responses to historical realities and cultural expectations for men, women, and children; just as modern differences are a product of unique circumstances and cultures. Historical concepts are measured again the present. Discussion and critical analysis take place on three levels; students compare and contrast human experiences in the past, in modern culture, and their own lives.<\/p>\n
Consider these three different pairs of glasses using a social history theme such as vacationing – first in students\u2019 own lives, second in modern popular culture, and finally in the past. Essential questions such as\u00a0How do ethnicity, race, sex, or social class impact vacation choices today? In the past?\u00a0<\/em>serve to focus inquiry on key issues.<\/p>\nFirst, students examine their own experiences. Teachers often start the school year by asking students about their summer vacations.\u00a0 Advice about how, when, where, and what to do on a vacation is a popular media topic that suggests\u00a0everyone<\/em>\u00a0takes a vacation. But\u00a0a recent poll\u00a0<\/a>found that 43% of Americans don\u2019t plan to take a vacation this summer. Why? The cost and inability to take time off work are key reasons. Many working Americans do not receive paid time off for holidays or vacations.<\/p>\nSecond, students analyze\u00a0how the media portrays vacations, vacation policies in the workplace, and government regulations related to vacation time. Do all Americans get guaranteed paid vacation time? How is the modern American experience of vacationing the same or different from other cultures and nations?<\/p>\n
Finally, students explore vacationing in the past. Time off from work for leisure is relatively new in human history. For most of human history, only the wealthiest could take time away from daily routines or afford to travel for leisure. \u00a0Students can explore how technological and economic changes in the late 19th<\/sup> century enabled a growing number of Americans to take annual vacations. Middle-class employees began to earn enough to pay the expenses for a short vacation and some employers began to make at least one or two weeks of paid or unpaid vacation a standard practice. Vacationing was a sign that one had achieved middle-class status but it was still a luxury not typically available working-class Americans. Even as vacations became more common, many were excluded because of sex, race, ethnicity, or social class.<\/p>\nConsider asking your students to investigate\u00a0social history themes through “three pairs of glasses.”<\/p>\n
\nAbout the header image:<\/em> Panoramic postcard of the plaza and esplanade of Lakeside Park, Denver, Colorado. 1908.
\nLibrary of Congress <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
- \n
- \n
- \n
- Thematic Instruction<\/a><\/li>\n
- Essential questions<\/a> (also known as compelling questions)<\/li>\n
- Placed-based Learning<\/a><\/li>\n
- Inquiry learning<\/a> (also known as project-based, problem-based, or discovery learning)<\/li>\n
- Common Core Standards for Literacy<\/em><\/a><\/li>\n
- National Council of the Social Studies C3 Framework<\/em><\/li>\n
- Culturally Responsive Teaching<\/a>\u00a0–\u00a0A History in Which We Can All See Ourselves<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\n<\/a>Wearing Three Pairs of Glasses: Social History and Culturally Responsive Teaching<\/h3>\nBlog post from Connected <\/em>by the National Council of the Social Studies<\/p>\n
References to lenses as unique ways of seeing the world are increasingly common, especially in pedagogical texts that describe culturally responsive teaching.\u00a0 Incorporating social history themes in the classroom is an excellent way to introduce new ways of seeing the world through three sets of culturally responses lenses, or glasses.<\/p>\n
The first pair of glasses refers to how students originally see the world through their own cultural framework. This framework is formed by students\u2019 experiences within their own family, culture, and community. The second set of glasses helps students \u201csee\u201d similarities and differences between their own experiences and those of other individuals, families, cultures, communities, and nations. Students are asked to analyze why, when, and how differences occur and consider the implications in economic, political, and social situations.<\/p>\n
A culturally responsive approach using social history adds a third set of lenses – social history glasses. Students explore how daily routines in the past were responses to historical realities and cultural expectations for men, women, and children; just as modern differences are a product of unique circumstances and cultures. Historical concepts are measured again the present. Discussion and critical analysis take place on three levels; students compare and contrast human experiences in the past, in modern culture, and their own lives.<\/p>\n
Consider these three different pairs of glasses using a social history theme such as vacationing – first in students\u2019 own lives, second in modern popular culture, and finally in the past. Essential questions such as\u00a0How do ethnicity, race, sex, or social class impact vacation choices today? In the past?\u00a0<\/em>serve to focus inquiry on key issues.<\/p>\n
First, students examine their own experiences. Teachers often start the school year by asking students about their summer vacations.\u00a0 Advice about how, when, where, and what to do on a vacation is a popular media topic that suggests\u00a0everyone<\/em>\u00a0takes a vacation. But\u00a0a recent poll\u00a0<\/a>found that 43% of Americans don\u2019t plan to take a vacation this summer. Why? The cost and inability to take time off work are key reasons. Many working Americans do not receive paid time off for holidays or vacations.<\/p>\n
Second, students analyze\u00a0how the media portrays vacations, vacation policies in the workplace, and government regulations related to vacation time. Do all Americans get guaranteed paid vacation time? How is the modern American experience of vacationing the same or different from other cultures and nations?<\/p>\n
Finally, students explore vacationing in the past. Time off from work for leisure is relatively new in human history. For most of human history, only the wealthiest could take time away from daily routines or afford to travel for leisure. \u00a0Students can explore how technological and economic changes in the late 19th<\/sup> century enabled a growing number of Americans to take annual vacations. Middle-class employees began to earn enough to pay the expenses for a short vacation and some employers began to make at least one or two weeks of paid or unpaid vacation a standard practice. Vacationing was a sign that one had achieved middle-class status but it was still a luxury not typically available working-class Americans. Even as vacations became more common, many were excluded because of sex, race, ethnicity, or social class.<\/p>\n
Consider asking your students to investigate\u00a0social history themes through “three pairs of glasses.”<\/p>\n
\nAbout the header image:<\/em> Panoramic postcard of the plaza and esplanade of Lakeside Park, Denver, Colorado. 1908.
\nLibrary of Congress <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" - Essential questions<\/a> (also known as compelling questions)<\/li>\n
- Thematic Instruction<\/a><\/li>\n
![\"Wearing](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/teachingwiththemes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/eye_glasses_-300x98.jpg?resize=300%2C98\")
<\/a>Wearing Three Pairs of Glasses: Social History and Culturally Responsive Teaching<\/h3>\n