Abstract
How are history teachers teaching about rightwing movements in this current moment of increasing authoritarianism? Join Rob Martinelle, Lightning Jay, and I tomorrow at our #AERA2026 roundtable. Sat, April 11, 1:45 to 3:15 pm, JW Marriott Los Angeles L.A. LIVE, Ground Floor, Gold 2.
Now with an open-access link www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/epdf/10....
In many cases, discussions about students' social identities, race, and class are not directly connected to teaching. This study makes the case that engaging in the connection between practice and imagining students more directly may improve teacher education.
I found that teacher educators are constantly prompting teachers to imagine their future students, and that preservice teachers are happy to oblige! They celebrate students' capacity for inquiry, for learning, and for insight.
New paper! When teachers are learning about what to do in the classroom, they are also implicitly learning about students. What do their teacher education methods courses tell them about their future pupils? www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/epdf/10....
Here's a story that deserves attention.
These standards push Trump talking points into school curriculum.
For real, it's the worst I’ve seen in over 100 years of right-wing school aggression.
New explainer with a Ana Ros, a Binghamton colleague. If we don't teach students to understand American violence abroad, they won't understand American violence at home.
theconversation.com/a-more-compl...
Read it last year. Still thinking about it. It's such a gem.
The trend is similar in Blue, Red, and Purple states, which suggests there is something about this narrative that is politically palatable. I argue, however, that graduating students who do not know about the defining political movement of their time is a failure of social studies education.
The biggest gap is around social movements, activists, and the individual people, issues, and goals that make up the Right.
I look at the state standards for the 30 most populous states and discover a deep avoidance of the modern conservative movements in most states. There is some discussion of presidential administrations (particularly Nixon and Reagan), but few other politicians.
New Article! What do high school students learn about rightwing history? Not very much. www.tandfonline.com/eprint/C7MT4...
Good thinkers having good discussions. As we gear up for another year in the classroom, how can we make our classrooms hubs of rich discussion? #sschat #cdnhistory #historyeducation #historicalthinking #bced
This link is paywalled, but I'm always happy to share with teachers. Email if interested.
Should Project 2025 be required reading for high schoolers? In our new article, @abigailrd.bsky.social and I explore two ways for teachers to bring challenging texts into the classroom. www.socialstudies.org/social-educa...
Even as oppression descends, a democratic education campaign can uplift.
As always, Dan and Michael were amazing hosts on @visionsofed.bsky.social and I'm proud to write with Tim Patterson, Jenni Conrad and
@wendychanw.bsky.social
Our conversation is based on this paper. bsky.app/profile/ligh...
New podcast!!! You can listen to @abbyreisman.bsky.social and I discuss the importance of discussions in the social studies classroom! It get meta!! visionsofed.com/2025/07/21/e...
As Binghamton and the broader SUNY system invests in community schools, the democratic schools that we dream of depend on our ability to prepare teachers for those contexts. It was great working with Dr. Naorah Rimkunas on this, who has a deep understanding of that work.
Most teacher ed. programs don't help teachers learn to work with families. This paper reports on our work at Binghamton U to change that. We found that when preservice teachers talk with parents, it can help teachers AND parents!!
There's a lot of evidence that collaboration between teachers and families is one of the most powerful levers in education, BUT real collaboration is tricky.
New paper! Real Talk: Designing Practice-Based Teacher Education for Family Communication www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/15...
As always, I'm so lucky to get to work with @abbyreisman.bsky.social Tim Patterson Jenni Conrad and @wendychanw.bsky.social
The paper is our work on the Social Studies Discourse Instrument, which is a new validated observation tool for social studies classroom discussions. We're really hoping that it can help social studies teachers, scholars, and educators think more collaboratively. www.tandfonline.com/eprint/ETANM...
#AERA is such an intense conference. I always come back with so many ideas. This year, I'm also coming back with an award! So grateful to the Social Studies SIG and my co-authors for the Outstanding Paper recognition.
School people, bad news from SCOTUS.
This case is a big deal. Yes, LGBTQ rights, but much more:
It threatens basic school functions:
1.) Children's right to get the best knowledge;
2.) Schools' ability to do basic administration.
Here's an explainer thread: (1/)
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/22/u...
I'm late to the party here. Things are moving so quickly that it's hard to find the right resources. I'll keep my eye out.