Category Archives: Primary Sources

Teaching the Constitution with Political Cartoons

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September 13, 2017, 7-8 p.m. ET

refer to captionAnyone Home? Cartoon by Clifford Berryman, 2/24/1920

Register today

Join the Center for Legislative Archives to discover how to use political cartoons to teach about the United States Constitution. This webinar will draw from the collection of Clifford K. Berryman cartoons from the U.S. Senate Collection. Berryman’s career as a political cartoonist in Washington, DC, spanned five decades and his cartoons are a rich resource for history and civics lessons.

During this interactive webinar, you will practice techniques for helping students evaluate visual content and explore ideas for how to use political cartoons to illustrate the “Big Ideas” of the Constitution, such as separation of powers and representative democracy. You will also explore additional resources from the National Archives for integrating political cartoons in the classroom, such as DocsTeach.org. This webinar is designed for middle school and high school educators. Register for the webinar here.

 

Information about other upcoming webinars offered by our friends at the National Archives is available here! Check it out today.


National Archives Berryman Webinar Coming Soon!

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Friends in Social Studies, we are excited to announce that the Florida Joint Center for Citizenship has partnered with the National Archives Center for Legislative Archives to host a webinar around the legendary Clifford Berryman political cartoons! This webinar will be led by specialists from the National Archives, and is based in part on workshops that NARA’s fantastic Dr. Charles Flanagan has done in the past. Check out the description below, and please be sure to register! You will be sent a link to access the webinar prior to November 2.

Politics in Perspective: Teaching Elections Using the Cartoons of Clifford K. Berryman
Wednesday, November 2, 2016 at 4:30 p.m.ET

In this interactive webinar, discover how political cartoons can engage students in today’s elections by introducing the process and issues at a safe historical distance. Practice techniques for analyzing political cartoons in the classroom and learn about additional resources from the Center for Legislative Archives, part of the National Archives and Records Administration.
This webinar will last approximately one hour. Registration required.

berryman

We hope to ‘see’ you there! Questions on the webinar can be directed to me or to Ms. Val McVey, and we will be happy to answer them!


Resources for Constitution Day and Freedom Week

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sips-11

Here in Florida, we are required by state statute to teach about the important documents of this country during Freedom Week at the end of September. This is in addition to what is expected for Constitution Day. Over the past year, the Florida Joint Center for Citizenship, in collaboration with teachers and leaders from some counties and with the National Archives, has been working on a new set of lessons and materials that include primary sources. We wrote about this effort here. We are happy to announce that as of this week, we have a number of new lessons that target grades 2-12 and are intended to help teach our state benchmarks that can be connected to Freedom Week and Constitution Day!   You do, of course, need to register on our main site in order to access these new free resources. You can visit each lesson directly from the links below. Each one is intended to give students some hands on experience with primary sources and everything you need for instruction is provided for you (though you do need to use your own technology!).

 

Thinking Through Timelines: Inching Toward Independence

A Short Activity for Second Grade

Question: Why do we celebrate Independence Day?

Thinking Through Timelines: Creating the Constitution

A Short Activity for Third Grade

Question: Why do we celebrate Constitution Day?

Guidance on Government: State Edition

A Short Activity for Fourth Grade

Question: How does the Florida Constitution organize the government?

Guidance on Government: Federal Edition

A Short Activity for Fifth Grade

Question: How does the U.S. Constitution organize the government?

Decoding the Declaration, Celebrate Freedom Week Part I

A Short Activity for High School and Middle School

Question: What did declaring independence say about the importance of rights?

Intentions for Independence, Celebrate Freedom Week Part II

A Short Activity for High School and Middle School

Question: Were the colonists justified in declaring independence?

Rhetoric of Revolution, Celebrate Freedom Week Part III

A Short Activity for High School and Middle School

Question: How does language intensify the message of the Declaration of Independence?

Forward to the Future, Celebrate Freedom Week Part IV

A Short Activity for High School and Middle School

Question: How are the ideas from the Declaration of Independence connected to our government today?

In addition to our original lessons, We have also created brand new lessons that feature the work of legendary cartoonist Clifford Berryman! These are intended to be used at the 6-12 level. 

Anyone Home?

A Short Activity for High School and Middle School

Question: How does this political cartoon illustrate the lawmaking process?

Picturing Separation of Powers

A Short Activity for High School and Middle School

Question: How do the political cartoons relate to the concept of separation of powers?

Suiting Up

A Short Activity for High School and Middle School

Question: How does this political cartoon illustrate the concept of checks and balances?


SOURCES at UCF Annual Conference Call for Proposals

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sources 1

I have had the great pleasure of attending the past two SOURCES conferences, and our Dr. Terri Fine and Dr. Michael Berson have presented there. I encourage you to consider attending this fantastic one day conference!

SOURCES Annual Conference
http://www.sourcesconference.com
University of Central Florida
Orlando, Florida
Saturday, January 14, 2017

The Teaching with Primary Sources Program at the University of Central Florida (TPS-UCF) is pleased to announce a call for proposals to present at the SOURCES Annual Conference at the University of Central Florida to be held on January 14, 2017.  The SOURCES Annual Conference Program Committee welcomes proposals that focus on presenting strategies for using primary sources to help K-12 students engage in learning, develop critical thinking skills, and build content knowledge, specifically in one or more of the following ways:

•    Justifying conclusions about whether a source is primary or secondary depending upon the time or topic under study;
•    Describing examples of the benefits of teaching with primary sources;
•    Analyzing a primary source using Library of Congress tools;
•    Accessing teaching tools and primary sources from loc.gov/teachers;
•    Identifying key considerations for selecting primary sources for instructional use (for example, student needs and interests, teaching goals, etc.);
•    Accessing primary sources and teaching resources from loc.gov for instructional use;
•    Analyzing primary sources in different formats;
•    Analyzing a set of related primary sources in order to identify multiple perspectives;
•    Demonstrating how primary sources can support at least one teaching strategy (for example, literacy, inquiry-based learning, historical thinking, etc.); and
•    Presenting a primary source-based activity/lesson that helps students engage in learning, develop critical thinking skills and construct knowledge.

Inclusion in the SOURCES Annual Conference program is a selective process, so please be specific in your descriptions.  It is important that you provide clear and descriptive language to assist the reviewers in their task.  Professional attire is required for all presenters, and all sessions will last one hour.  Proposals must be submitted by midnight on September 30, 2016, by using the following submission form: http://ucf.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_cLPHuj9feYKb0yN.  If you submit a proposal, you will be notified, by the end of November, as to the committee’s decision regarding your proposal.  If you have any questions or need any additional information, please contact Dr. Scott Waring (swaring@ucf.edu).


A Quick Look at Three Ways to Approach Picture Analysis

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As educators, we are always looking for new ways to approach our content and engage our students. A few weeks ago, the FJCC had the pleasure of providing professional development to teachers in Highlands County, a small rural county here in Florida very similar to where your humble blog host spent much of his early career. While there, I had the chance to speak with Holly Ard. Holly basically functions as the social studies specialist in the district while still teaching her own classes, and does excellent work.

One of the most difficult tasks for students to do, particularly at the lower grades, is to interpret primary sources, especially visual sources. While we stress the importance of primary sources, we often fail to actually provide teachers or students with the tools necessary to use them! This, in a time when disciplinary literacy has re-emerged as an important element of social studies teacher education thanks in part to the C3 Framework. Holly has attempted to address this issue by integrating a Picture Analysis Strategy. The strategy she uses is aimed at students of differing ability levels, and in talking with her, it seems to work well in engaging students with somewhat difficult content!

Working with partners, students individually break down the image, using the guide below. Note that the four ‘boxes’ represent the four quadrants of the image, a popular approach for image analysis. Having students create a title for the image does a nice job getting to the Common Core/Florida Standards expectation that students should be able to summarize text of all kinds. What else is a good a title than a really short and really strong summary of text?

I see

Another way to approach image analysis is seen below. This version of the analysis template can be done with a partner or individually. I appreciate how it seeks to have students connect it directly to what they are learning. Relations between content and context is important.

what do others see

I especially love this version of the picture analysis activity, which may be most useful for paintings or photographs of a perhaps persuasive bent.

picture analysis1

Thanks, Holly, for sharing these approaches. We look forward to more goodness from you!:)

By the way, if you are looking for resources in Civics or History that can help kids with primary sources, I encourage you to check out the Stanford History Education Group!


Free Resources and PD on Arab-Israeli Conflict & Peace Process

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Our content specialist, Dr. Terri Fine, is a wonderful resource for teachers in this state and beyond on issues concerning civic education. However, Dr. Fine has also made it a priority to provide content-oriented professional development connected to history and foreign policy, particularly on modern Israel. She recommends the Institute for Curriculum Services: National Resource Center for Accurate Jewish Content in Schools and has asked to share the following opportunity for professional development around the Arab-Israeli Conflict and the Peace Process. This is a free PD opportunity!

June 28 – 30, Portland State University

$300 stipend available (for attendance and travel) for first 25 registered participants.

The Institute for Curriculum Services, in collaboration with the Library of Congress and Portland State University, invites middle and high school social studies teachers to attend a dynamic 3-day workshop, Teaching the Arab-Israeli Conflict and Peace Process.

With an emphasis on inquiry based learning using Teaching with Primary Sources strategies and content-specific lectures from university scholars, this institute will enhance your professional practice and deepen your historical content knowledge.

For more information and to request applications materials please contact Jacqueline Regev, jregev@icsresources.org.


SOURCES Annual Conference

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Good morning, civics friends. This post is just a reminder that the SOURCES Annual Conference, put on by Dr. Scott Waring here at UCF, is coming soon, and it is worth your time and energy to attend. I went last year, and it was simply fantastic. If you are looking for excellent professional development on using primary sources in the classroom, this is what you are looking for. Information on the conference is below, and you can register here! The main conference page is here. Take a look at the overview below, and we hope to see you there!

SOURCES Annual Conference
University of Central Florida
Orlando, Florida
January 16, 2016
The Teaching with Primary Sources Program at the University of Central Florida (TPS-UCF) will be hosting the second annual SOURCES Annual Conference at the University of Central Florida on January 16, 2016.  The SOURCES Annual Conference is a free opportunity available to any educators interested in the utilization and integration of primary sources into K-12 teaching.  Presenters will focus on providing strategies for using primary sources to help K-12 students engage in learning, develop critical thinking skills, and build content knowledge, specifically in one or more of the following ways:
  • Justifying conclusions about whether a source is primary or secondary depending upon the time or topic under study;
  • Describing examples of the benefits of teaching with primary sources;
  • Analyzing a primary source using Library of Congress tools;
  • Accssing teaching tools and primary sources from www.loc.gov/teachers;
  • Identifying key considerations for selecting primary sources for instructional use (for example, student needs and interests, teaching goals, etc.);
  • Accessing primary sources and teaching resources from www.loc.gov for instructional use;
  • Analyzing primary sources in different formats;
  • Analyzing a set of related primary sources in order to identify multiple perspectives;
  • Demonstrating how primary sources can support at least one teaching strategy (for example, literacy, inquiry-based learning, historical thinking, etc.); and
  • Presenting a primary source-based activity that helps students engage in learning, develop critical thinking skills and construct knowledge.
Dr. Joel Breakstone, of Stanford University, will provide the Keynote Presentation, Beyond the Bubble: A New Generation of History Assessments.  In this session, he will discuss about and present ways in which educators can use assessments designed by the Stanford History Education Group to incorporate Library of Congress documents. Participants will examine assessments and sample student responses.  Additional session titles include the following:
  • Designating for Assignment: Using Baseball to Tell the Story of Race in America Socratic Circles and Primary Sources: Students Generate Essential Questions
  • Galaxy of Wonder
  • Education Resources from the Library of Congress focused on the Social Sciences & Literacy
  • How do I know If It’s Primary? Research Questions and Primary Sources
  • ESRI Story Maps and Integrating LOC Resources
  • Mapping the American Revolution
  • Primary Sources: Find Them, Choose Them, and Use Them Well
  • Sites of African-American Memory
  • Who Is Bias: the Media or Us?
  • A Professional Development and Curriculum Model for the Use of Historical Literacy
  • Magnifying How We See, Think, and Wonder: Fostering Critical Literacy Among Young Learners Using Library of Congress Primary Sources
  • Sourcing in a Flash!
  • Primary Sources: A Lens to View History
  • Bringing Fiction to Life Using Primary Sources
  • Playing with Primary Sources: Game-Based Learning with Resources from The Library of Congress
  • Engage English Learners and Other Diverse Learners with Primary Sources
  • Creating a Sound Argument Using Primary Sources
  • Teaching with Primary Sources: African American Sacred Music
  • Veterans History Project: Learning About US Conflicts Through the Eyes of a Veteran
  • Is North Up? : Exploring the Nature of Maps
  • Differentiation Using Primary Sources from the Library
  • Using Primary Sources for Digital DBQs and other Assessments to meet Literacy Standards.
  • Vetting or Developing Text Sets to Teach Rich Content
Registration is free and is now open for the SOURCES Annual Conference.  Please visit the conference web site to register: http://www.sourcesconference.com/registration.html

Upcoming SOURCES Conference: Teaching with Primary Sources!

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TPS

Friends, it is time once again to alert you to a fantastic primary source driven conference that is held here at UCF. Dr. Scott Waring, Program Coordinator and Associate Professor for the Social Science Education Program at the University of Central Florida, is organizing his SOURCES conference, and I encourage you to register and attend. Registration is free, and having attended last year’s conference myself, well worth the time. Information on the conference and the registration link is provided below. I hope to see you there!

The Teaching with Primary Sources Program at the University of Central Florida (TPS-UCF) will be hosting the second annual SOURCES Annual Conference at the University of Central Florida on January 16, 2016.  The SOURCES Annual Conference is a free opportunity available to any educators interested in the utilization and integration of primary sources into K-12 teaching.  Presenters will focus on providing strategies for using primary sources to help K-12 students engage in learning, develop critical thinking skills, and build content knowledge, specifically in one or more of the following ways:
 
  • Justifying conclusions about whether a source is primary or secondary depending upon the time or topic under study;
  • Describing examples of the benefits of teaching with primary sources;
  • Analyzing a primary source using Library of Congress tools;
  • Accssing teaching tools and primary sources from www.loc.gov/teachers;
  • Identifying key considerations for selecting primary sources for instructional use (for example, student needs and interests, teaching goals, etc.);
  • Accessing primary sources and teaching resources from www.loc.gov for instructional use;
  • Analyzing primary sources in different formats;
  • Analyzing a set of related primary sources in order to identify multiple perspectives;
  • Demonstrating how primary sources can support at least one teaching strategy (for example, literacy, inquiry-based learning, historical thinking, etc.); and
  • Presenting a primary source-based activity that helps students engage in learning, develop critical thinking skills and construct knowledge.
 
Registration is free and is now open for the SOURCES Annual Conference.  Please complete the information on the following linked page to register for the SOURCES Conference: http://ucf.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_02M6I0hSrdTDGPb

Upcoming SOURCES Conference: Teaching with Primary Sources!

Posted on by
Reply

TPS

Friends, it is time once again to alert you to a fantastic primary source driven conference that is held here at UCF. Dr. Scott Waring, Program Coordinator and Associate Professor for the Social Science Education Program at the University of Central Florida, is organizing his SOURCES conference, and I encourage you to register and attend. Registration is free, and having attended last year’s conference myself, well worth the time. Information on the conference and the registration link is provided below. I hope to see you there!

The Teaching with Primary Sources Program at the University of Central Florida (TPS-UCF) will be hosting the second annual SOURCES Annual Conference at the University of Central Florida on January 16, 2016.  The SOURCES Annual Conference is a free opportunity available to any educators interested in the utilization and integration of primary sources into K-12 teaching.  Presenters will focus on providing strategies for using primary sources to help K-12 students engage in learning, develop critical thinking skills, and build content knowledge, specifically in one or more of the following ways:
 
  • Justifying conclusions about whether a source is primary or secondary depending upon the time or topic under study;
  • Describing examples of the benefits of teaching with primary sources;
  • Analyzing a primary source using Library of Congress tools;
  • Accssing teaching tools and primary sources from www.loc.gov/teachers;
  • Identifying key considerations for selecting primary sources for instructional use (for example, student needs and interests, teaching goals, etc.);
  • Accessing primary sources and teaching resources from www.loc.gov for instructional use;
  • Analyzing primary sources in different formats;
  • Analyzing a set of related primary sources in order to identify multiple perspectives;
  • Demonstrating how primary sources can support at least one teaching strategy (for example, literacy, inquiry-based learning, historical thinking, etc.); and
  • Presenting a primary source-based activity that helps students engage in learning, develop critical thinking skills and construct knowledge.
 
Registration is free and is now open for the SOURCES Annual Conference.  Please complete the information on the following linked page to register for the SOURCES Conference: http://ucf.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_02M6I0hSrdTDGPb

Bringing the Constitution to Life: The Joe Foss Institute

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Today’s post is a guest post from Audrey Mazzota, the Southeast Regional Coordinator for the Joe Foss Institute. She joins us this morning to discuss how the Joe Foss Institute can help you and your students grow in your understanding of American history and civics through the programs they offer. As a veteran, I especially admire their integration of active duty and former military members into classrooms. Please remember that this is a national organization, so it serves more than just Florida!

As teachers know, stories transport children to a new level of understanding. The Joe Foss Institute (JFI), a national nonprofit organization, and their Veterans Inspiring Patriotism (VIP) program, uses the power of a “living history” story to inspire students and bring the concepts of citizenship and freedom to life.
 
Military veterans visit classrooms and speak of their service, in addition to delivering free education material on the Flag, Constitution, Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence. These corresponding videos and lesson plans are fun, engaging, aligned to clear learning objectives and are age appropriate. Florida history teacher Evy Fernandez says, “Having a veteran talk about their experience helps students put my lectures and lessons into perspective.”
 
Teachers solely seeking materials to supplement their civics and history lessons will find a resource in JFI’s You Are America civics series. In addition, classroom-size Flags and poster-size copies of the Founding Documents are offered free to schools.
 
Since its founding, JFI has enriched the education of more than 1.6 million, K – 12 students nationwide and more than 53,000 students in Florida.
 
JFI was founded in 2001 by Medal of Honor recipient General Joe Foss, and his wife Didi, to help educate young Americans on responsible citizenship and prepare them for civic engagement. In addition to classroom presentations and educational resources, the Institute offers college scholarships.
 
For more information on the JFI and their programs, or to volunteer, please visit joefossinstitute.org or contact Audrey Mazzotta, JFI Regional Coordinator – Southeast Region, at amazzotta@joefossinstitute.org
Thank you, Audrey, for the post and for the work that you do!