Though it may sound cliché, we believe there is no more important time for our students to have high quality social studies experiences. Struggles for social justice, divisive politics, worldwide pandemic, climate change, and a host of other important issues need attention by our students to assist them in engaging in—and working to improve upon—the daily world in which they participate. Through it all, remote, face-to-face, with or without masks, teachers across Illinois, the United States, and the world continue to rise to the challenge of educating our youth. Sleepless nights, tiring days, and the biggest curricular shift in history serve to weigh us down. Instead, we rise to the challenge. Ours has always been challenging work, engaging work, vital work. Indeed, you are essential workers, laboring to sustain democracy. With professional communities—local, state, and national— we will come out better and stronger than we had imagined possible. Together, we will continue to provide deeply meaningful social studies experiences to our students. In this issue of the Quarterly, we give you ideas and, hopefully, inspiration to continue to adapt your learning environments to the new normal. We start with a survey from the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum and Library. This fine institution seeks your input regarding curriculum and resource development. We hope you complete the survey to assist our colleagues in their important work. With the goal of “shaking things up”, we present a lesson plan by Ed Wright and Judy Failoni. Bringing music to social studies, Wright and Failoni’s lesson plan challenges students to consider the joys and challenges of the American immigrant experience through their analysis of music from West Side Story. Acknowledging you have been revolutionizing your classes for months, it is our goal to give you a different perspective on recent events impacting Illinois social studies classrooms. We present you with analysis documents for two areas impacting your classroom practice: proposed Illinois Culturally Responsive Teaching and Learning Standards and Illinois Mandated Units of study. We hope you find these documents enlightening and the analysis questions useful for your future practice.
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum and Library Survey A top-tier institution, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum and Library is seeking your input for resource development. Please take the ALPML survey and have your voice heard as its professionals work to develop curriculum, professional development, and other resources to suit your needs.
Illinoisan's Experiences during the COVID-19 Pandemic The Illinois History and Lincoln Collections (IHLC) unit of the University of Illinois Library is seeking perspectives regarding the COVID-19 Pandemic experience. This is your opportunity to memorialize your experiences, photographs, and perspectives. You are invited to submit your experiences to this institution.
Bridges, Walls, and Borders: Lessons with a Soundtrack In this lesson plan, Wright and Failoni bridge immigration concepts with music, exploring how different people view the transition to American culture differently. Employing music from West Side Story, the lesson plan challenges students to consider gender roles, economic inequality, and struggles with being first-generation immigrants. Using their text "The Hot 100+ Song Activities: How to Teach Social Studies with Music", as a foundation, Wright and Failoni bring a dimension of creativity and artistry to an important topic.
Remote Learning--Exploring the neighborhood for social studies concepts Presented are ways your students can bridge social studies concepts with their local environments. Addressing topics in geography, economics, civics, and history, these “explore your environments” bridge classroom with home.
Illinois Culturally Responsive Teaching and Learning Standards analysis Foundational to all social studies classroom experiences, culturally responsive teaching requires us to examine our positioning within the classroom, our students, their families and our shared and unique histories. The proposed standards for teacher education programs and analysis questions in this document serve to increase educator awareness of these proposed standards and to facilitate discussion of their potential influence in classroom and school practices.
Illinois Mandated Units of Study Analysis State statutes require a wide variety of topics and concepts be learned by Illinois’ students. In this professional exercise, we provide you with a mandated units of study guidance document and questions for the analysis of required units of study. To be used with either colleagues or students, the guidance document and analysis sheet promise to stimulate conversation regarding what is required learning in Illinois schools.