Bayard Rustin was twentieth-century America’s great radical voice. His vision contained multitudes, fusing labor rights, racial justice, sexual equality, socialism, and pacifism. He may well have been America’s first intersectional radical. But in the 1960s, Rustin’s attempt to weave the strands of his activism together into a broad-based program for transformative change fell victim to the centrifugal forces of racial, ethnic, class, and antiwar identifications, forcing him into a series of “awful choices” among the causes that had defined his life. We will use speeches, letters, essays, and…

Monuments are often ignored; what they commemorate tends to be forgotten a generation or two after their construction. Sometimes, though, their meanings become matters of urgent debate. This webinar will begin with an overview of how monumentalization has manifested across different societies, asking: what do monuments do, and why do we make them? In the context of ideas of collective memory, heritage, history, we will then consider recent crises in the U.S. and Europe. This series is a partnership between the National Humanities Center (NHC) and the National Council for the Social Studies…

In this era of disinformation and denial, truth seekers are challenged at every juncture to discover authentic and documented facts. After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the opening of their archives revealed a wealth of proof of orders given by Stalin and his regime to confiscate all of the foodstuffs from parts of Ukraine. Stalin’s Five Year Plan required capital to industrialize and quickly modernize his nation. In this webinar, we will: Examine the steps the Soviet Union took to confiscate all foodstuffs from areas of Ukraine in 1932-1933 Learn how some Western journalists became…

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.” As NCSS leaders, you are powerful beyond measure. You may not realize it or you may not yet fully embrace this power, but I want you to think about the possibilities.   This is a moment for social studies. How can you use your power as a leader to turn this moment into a movement? How can you use your voice to point out when you see social studies marginalized in your school, district, community, or state and take action to make a change? How can you engage others to take up the cause…

March 3, 2021 marked the 100th anniversary of the National Council for the Social Studies. Wow! 100 years! In thinking about our past 100 years and what this means for our association, a range of emotions comes to my mind. It is humbling, inspiring, momentous, and evokes questions about what the next 100 years may bring.  When we incorporated as an association, our purpose was: “...to promote the study of the problems of teaching the social studies to the best advantage of the students in the classroom, to encourage research, experimentation, and investigation in these fields; to hold…

A Position Statement of National Council for the Social Studies Approved March 2018 Introduction What is the intent of civic education? At its core, civic education should provide students with the ability to take informed action to address problems relevant to life in a democratic republic. It should target the knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary to ensure that young people are truly capable of becoming active and engaged participants in civic life.1 Authentic assessment in civic education should thus reflect the importance of the three core components of civic…

Students engage in learning best when you give them a voice and orchestrate conversations where they are able to connect their personal experiences with academic content. Aligned to the C-3 Framework’s Inquiry Arc, this one-hour webinar introduces a 3-Step teaching method for holding online SEL conversations with claims, counterclaims and questions, and shows how to connect these conversations with the curriculum. Participants leave this workshop with a scalable go-to routine AND the practical tools for starting and managing an online conversation using a famous quote from women's rights…

The Rho Kappa E-Newsletter is the official newsletter of Rho Kappa. The Rho Kappa E-Newsletter features the chapter spotlights, news, resources, and FAQ. The Rho Kappa E-Newsletter is a resource that is published six times a year.

Unladylike2020 is convening the Where Are the Women? Summit, in partnership with PBS American Masters, WNET, National Women’s History Museum, National Council for the Social Studies, National Council for History Education, National Women’s Hall of Fame, and National Women’s History Alliance, and in collaboration with PBS LearningMedia, with funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, to investigate why women are vastly underrepresented in U.S. history and social studies curriculum. Inspired by a 2017 report published by the National Women’s History Museum, Where Are The Women? will…