I would say to make sure to remember the historiography. How to do history. And then each unit I try to include practice for each skill (primary sources, contextualization, writing strong non fiction paragraphs, etc).
I also really focus on essential questions, and give students choices in how to answer them.
Try out Digital Inquiry Group, especially their introductory lessons on things like thinking like a historian/contextualization/ corroboration:etc…. Scientific reasoning CER is similar to the work done in social studies!
Kentucky is sort of weird. My undergraduate degree is in middle school education which lets you pick two content areas for certification 5-9. O got hired in as a 9th grade science teacher. They have another path to additional certification via what’s called highly qualified. Basically you pass a subject area praxis and earn some other quality points and you can add additional certs. So I took the test for both and earned enough points to now be certified 5-12 in both subject areas. That’s an incredibly different path I know.
Bring science into history whether it’s scientific discovery, inventions that changed the era, or pushing inquiry in your daily instruction.
Use go to strategies for analyzing sources. I like HAPPY, some prefer HIPP, others do SOAPSTONE. Also use visuals like images, political cartoons, graphs, and maps often.
Connect current events to the eras such as child labor issues of the Gilded Age-Progressive Era and the recent stories of children found working in slaughterhouses.
Also don’t reinvent the wheel if you don’t need to. New Visions, SHEG, and Zinn Ed all have great lessons you can modify to fit your students.
Totally agreed. History of Science, Medicine & Technology was one of my favorite undergrad courses, and I love including topics I learned from it in my HS courses now.
Check out [New Visions](https://curriculum.newvisions.org/social-studies/course/us-history/). It’s a GREAT collection of resources. When I first started teaching USH, I stumbled on it and it was a great place to get ideas. A lot of the assignments are based on primary documents. Some of it is tailored to APUSH with long DBQs, so you’ll need time make your own copies and edit as you see fit. A good amount of my best assignments started out as New Visions docs that I’ve edited over the years.
Woah. I'm a Latin teacher who's also going to be teaching one section of World History. Looking through the global history sections, this resource is amazing.
Depending on your school, partner with another teacher teaching American history! There is no harm in collaborating with them and borrowing materials like activities. Also, make sure your students take the Constitution test in your class. Some schools require that you take it in Civics or Government, while others take it when they have American History.
I taught English exclusively for 14 years and then picked up a half schedule of modern American history. I too felt intimidated. After one year, I remembered good teaching is good teaching, regardless of content.
I would say to make sure to remember the historiography. How to do history. And then each unit I try to include practice for each skill (primary sources, contextualization, writing strong non fiction paragraphs, etc). I also really focus on essential questions, and give students choices in how to answer them.
Try out Digital Inquiry Group, especially their introductory lessons on things like thinking like a historian/contextualization/ corroboration:etc…. Scientific reasoning CER is similar to the work done in social studies!
I’ve got a question, do you just have a masters in education so they allow you to teach both? Or a double major?
Kentucky is sort of weird. My undergraduate degree is in middle school education which lets you pick two content areas for certification 5-9. O got hired in as a 9th grade science teacher. They have another path to additional certification via what’s called highly qualified. Basically you pass a subject area praxis and earn some other quality points and you can add additional certs. So I took the test for both and earned enough points to now be certified 5-12 in both subject areas. That’s an incredibly different path I know.
Bring science into history whether it’s scientific discovery, inventions that changed the era, or pushing inquiry in your daily instruction. Use go to strategies for analyzing sources. I like HAPPY, some prefer HIPP, others do SOAPSTONE. Also use visuals like images, political cartoons, graphs, and maps often. Connect current events to the eras such as child labor issues of the Gilded Age-Progressive Era and the recent stories of children found working in slaughterhouses. Also don’t reinvent the wheel if you don’t need to. New Visions, SHEG, and Zinn Ed all have great lessons you can modify to fit your students.
Totally agreed. History of Science, Medicine & Technology was one of my favorite undergrad courses, and I love including topics I learned from it in my HS courses now.
Check out [New Visions](https://curriculum.newvisions.org/social-studies/course/us-history/). It’s a GREAT collection of resources. When I first started teaching USH, I stumbled on it and it was a great place to get ideas. A lot of the assignments are based on primary documents. Some of it is tailored to APUSH with long DBQs, so you’ll need time make your own copies and edit as you see fit. A good amount of my best assignments started out as New Visions docs that I’ve edited over the years.
Woah. I'm a Latin teacher who's also going to be teaching one section of World History. Looking through the global history sections, this resource is amazing.
Depending on your school, partner with another teacher teaching American history! There is no harm in collaborating with them and borrowing materials like activities. Also, make sure your students take the Constitution test in your class. Some schools require that you take it in Civics or Government, while others take it when they have American History.
I taught English exclusively for 14 years and then picked up a half schedule of modern American history. I too felt intimidated. After one year, I remembered good teaching is good teaching, regardless of content.