Instruction and Pedagogy

In response to the need to support adolescents as they acquire and use literacy in and out of school, many districts in the United States are hiring "literacy coaches" to lead school-based professional development of subject area teachers in middle and high schools. In a project supported by the Carnegie Corporation, the International Reading Association has joined with the National Council of Teachers of English, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, National Council for the Social Studies, and the National Science Teachers Association to delineate standards for what effective literacy coaches must know and be able to do.  read more »

A Position Statement of National Council for the Social Studies

The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically… Intelligence plus character–that is the goal of true education.
~Martin Luther King Jr.

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Rationale

A Position Statement of National Council for the Social Studies

Prepared by the Religion in the Schools Committee and Approved by the NCSS Board of Directors, 1984.
Revised by the Curriculum Committee and Approved by the NCSS Board of Directors, 1998.

National Council for the Social Studies, in its Curriculum Standards for Social Studies, declares that:  read more »

• Make your students active, eager learners?
• Align your social studies curriculum with state or national standards?
• Design assessments that help students master subject matter?
• Energize both experienced and new teachers?
• Offer social studies instruction that is systematic and valuable?
• Graduate informed students who will be active citizens?

Articles from the "Teaching with Documents" series are available free online to NCSS members. Click on the ones you want to view and print. Teaching with Documents articles, published originally in Social Education over the last decade or so, were written by staff at the National Archives and Records Administration. Each article features a primary source document accompanied by teaching activities and lessons that focus on history, civics, and many other social studies disciplines.

The books that appear in these annotated book lists were evaluated and selected by a Book Review Committee appointed by National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) and assembled in cooperation with the Children's Book Council (CBC). NCSS and CBC have cooperated on this annual bibliography since 1972.  read more »

Current Events: Iraq and 9/11

Global educators respond to the possibility of war with Iraq by having students:  read more »

1. Learn up to date historical, political, economic, and geographic background of the conflict;
2. Recognize stereotypes and misinformation they may have about Iraqis and other people in the region;
3. Examine issues that led to U.S. policy decisions and research possible outcomes of a war;