National Hispanic Heritage Month 2023 6 Sep 2023, 8:46 pm

National Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs from September 15 to October 15, celebrates the contributions and history of Latino Americans. This year’s theme is “Latinos: Driving Prosperity, Power, and Progress in America.” Use this Research List to learn about some of the people, events, and movements of Latino Americans.

1. Hispanic and Latino Identity (Reference Article)

2. Dolores Huerta (Biography)

3. Puerto Rican Day Parade (Photos & Illustrations)

4. Mexican-American Civil Rights Movement (Reference Article)

5. Latino Contributions to Science (Reference Article)

6. Mario Molina (Biography)

7. The Latino Vote (Topic Overview)

8. Latino Members of the House of Representatives, 1822-Present (Facts & Figures)

9. Sonia Sotomayor (Biography)

10. Day of the Dead celebration in California (Photos & Illustrations)

11. Latinos and the Origins of Rock and Roll (Commentary)

12. Bilingualism in Literature (Reference Article)

13. Chicano Art (Reference Article)

14. Detail from The Great Wall of Los Angeles mural (1976) (Photos & Illustrations)

15. Roberto Clemente (Biography)

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Mindfulness in the School Library 21 Mar 2023, 10:22 pm

Are your students stressed, anxious, distracted, or competing for who can be the busiest? Mindfulness, the practice of bringing your full attention to the present moment with compassion, can provide students another method for managing stress, reducing anxiety, improving focus, and increasing their chances of not missing a delightful moment because their attention is elsewhere. In this webinar, high school librarian Wendy Degroat will discuss ways in which your middle school and high school library can support mindfulness, including teaching students mindfulness techniques, whether in a few minutes or a series of workshops.

Watch this webinar on-demand to:

• Learn multiple approaches to mindfulness integration, including
  • self-directed using library resources
  • incorporating mindful moments into a lesson or daily routine
  • opt-in workshops
  • multi-lesson units in AP Psychology or another course

• Strategize about potential pitfalls
• Reflect on collaborative possibilities 

Download the Webinar Handout

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The Fight against Book Bans: Perspectives from the School Library 13 Mar 2023, 10:57 pm

Book bans and challenges frequently make the news, but when the reporting ends, how do we put them in context? This webinar brings together school and youth library professionals Jamie M. Gregory, Kelly Mayfield, and Kristin Pekoll, contributors to the upcoming The Fight against Book Bans, in a roundtable conversation moderated by the book’s editor Shannon Oltmann. They will share their views regarding the recent flood of book challenges across the United States, reflect on first-hand accounts of facing book challenges, dig into the importance of intellectual freedom in the library, and offer guidance on responding to challenges in your communities.

Watch this webinar on-demand to learn about:

• The significance of intellectual freedom to school libraries
• How different librarians have responded to challenges 
• Strategies to respond to challenges in your library

Download the Webinar Handout

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How to Spot a High-Quality Ethnic Studies Resource: Three Key Features 28 Feb 2023, 6:27 pm

Ethnic Studies is no longer exclusive to colleges and universities; it’s a quickly growing field of study in K-12 education. As of 2021, nine states had passed legislation supporting the adoption of diverse coursework in public schools[1], with California becoming the first state to require Ethnic Studies for graduation[2].

As states around the country begin to phase in new requirements, educators are in need of supplemental resources that infuse the curriculum with diverse subject matter. The challenge is finding resources that are high-quality, credible, and compatible with existing standards. To aid the selection process, this post identifies three key features you should expect to find in a high-quality resource for Ethnic Studies.

1. It takes a global view

All too often, social studies curriculum confines its focus to a few centuries of history in Western Europe and North America. As a simple glance at the map can tell you, this emphasis neglects important developments in Africa, Asia, South America, and the Islamic world, as well as the histories and cultures of Indigenous people.

Moreover, the history of America’s diverse communities is deeply connected to the history of peoples and cultures around the world and across time. In order to properly contextualize the experiences of Asian Americans, for instance, students need to learn about the many regions, countries, and cultures that make up the cultural legacy of different AAPI identities. The story of a particular group of people did not begin when they arrived in the United States, and neither should the curriculum.

In this way, the concept of diversity in social studies is closely related to geography. By expanding the lens of study to include the histories and cultures of people around the world, social studies curriculum “tell[s] a richer, more accurate story that helps all students feel seen and included in their learning”[3].

2. It does not shy away from difficult subjects

Big topics like American and world history are full of painful subject matter, and in order to develop a nuanced understanding of history, students need to engage with these subjects. Of course, age appropriateness should always be a consideration when designing a social studies lesson; but when age and content are aligned, “being forthright about the nation and world’s history is absolutely necessary in providing students true, robust, and authentic social studies classes that are culturally responsive.”[4]

Some teachers may feel that introducing difficult subjects in the classroom means taking a political stance. However, omitting certain chapters of history is as much a political decision as the choice to include them. What is left out of a historical narrative affects the interpretation and ultimate meaning of what is left in—and these kinds of omissions can reinforce forms of cultural isolation and ignorance.

Writing on this phenomenon in the Brown Political Review, Michael O’Neill explains:

…people are more likely to be skeptical about the validity of certain ideas – even if they are undeniably true – if they spend most of their early life unaware of its existence. These are realities that Americans face every single day, and leaving them out of social studies curriculum invalidates their struggles to many of those who don’t experience them first-hand. [5]

3. It provides ample context

Context is a key ingredient for all responsible historical inquiry. Students need to be able to situate what they’re learning in the proper historical and cultural context. When it comes to sensitive subjects, the importance of context is magnified.

Consider the use of historical primary sources in the classroom which may contain offensive images or language. Incorporating these kinds of sources can be a powerful way to help students understand how prejudice was institutionalized at various points in history. However, situating such documents in the broader historical context is absolutely essential to avoid misunderstanding of their purpose in the lesson. Historical background essays, guiding questions, and sources that present multiple points of view can help students think critically about these sources and arrive at informed conclusions.

We hope this guide proves helpful in your selection of high-quality Ethnic Studies resources. For a digital solution that meets all three criteria, try The American Mosaic databases from Bloomsbury/ABC-CLIO—available for a free 30-day preview at this link.

[1] National Education Association. (2021). “Movement Grows to Require Ethnic Studies in Public High Schools, Despite California Veto.” EdJustice. https://neaedjustice.org/2021/01/22/movement-grows-to-require-ethnic-studies-in-public-high-schools-despite-california-veto/

[2] Fensterwald, J. (2021). “California becomes first state to require ethnic studies in high school.” EdSource. https://edsource.org/2021/california-becomes-first-state-to-require-ethnic-studies-in-high-school

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ferlazzo, Larry. (2022). “8 Practical Ideas for Teaching Social Studies in Culturally Responsive Ways.” EducationWeek. https://www.edweek.org/leadership/opinion-8-practical-ideas-for-teaching-social-studies-in-culturally-responsive-ways/2022/10

[5] O’Neill, Michael. (2016). “Time to be Heard: Diversifying Social Studies Curricula.” Brown Political Review. https://brownpoliticalreview.org/2016/12/diversifying-social-studies-curricula/

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Finding Our Bearings: Centering Local History in the Classroom 1 Feb 2023, 9:44 pm

A community’s history can have the most immediate and direct effect on students’ lives. “Local history helps students better understand their community, as well as the inequities in education, poverty, health outcomes and other issues that they see around them every day,” writes Coshandra Dillard in “Recovering and Teaching Local History.”[1] Given these histories are often not easily accessible in textbooks, it’s up to educators to bring place-centered resources into the classroom, as well as teach students the skills to uncover and contextualize the events of their community’s past. And even if you are teaching world history, there are still many connections you can create to local history, such as “the history of indigenous settlements, patterns of im/migration, or how geography/culture has shaped the settlement and economy of your community today and in the past.”[2]

Here are some other tips to center local history in the classroom:

1. Make it Relevant!

Use place-centered resources with your students. Making meaningful connections between their world and the past has the potential to deepen student inquiry skills and overall historical context and understanding. According to the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), “A place-responsive approach to teaching U.S. history and culture can bring lessons alive for students and help close gaps that emerge when looking to answer the question of relevancy and application in students’ lives.”[3]

Some local spaces students can engage with to set the foundation for these local connections include:

• Museums
• Local historical sites
• Newspapers
• Local First Nations community centers and organizations
• Cultural associations and clubs
• Parks
• Local schools and universities, archives and records
• Libraries
• Oral history collections
• Family history archives
• Local senior centers and communities

For a strong example of a “place-responsive” resource, view this student activity from ABC-CLIO’s The Asian American Experience database, “The History of San Francisco’s Chinatown.”

2. Ground Students in Time and Space

Use local historical photographs and maps to give students the “lay of the land” of their communities across time. In collecting primary source materials from their families or local agencies and “in analyzing these primary sources, students examine the interplay between national, state, local, and personal history,” states the Library of Congress[4], which houses many of the nations’ historical maps and images.

To get started, students will need support and scaffolding tools—like this activity on analyzing historical maps. This activity from ABC-CLIO’s United States Geography database also offers a place-centered model for how to bring deep questioning to photograph analysis.

3. Go to the Source: Bring Human Stories into the Classroom

Research oral narrative archives and engage in community interviews to get to know local voices, past and present. Oral narratives can take many forms, so in addition to letters, diaries, and interviews, open the classroom to poems, songs, and more. In analyzing these primary sources, students not only get to know the lesser-known stories of their community, but they also gain an understanding of various oral traditions and interviewing techniques.

For inspiration, this interview with Barbara Stripling and Ruth Mitchell, a librarian in Eureka, California, discusses a human library program where guest speakers from the community share their stories with students. This Oral History Analysis Guide offers students a template of questions to ask when analyzing an oral narrative.

4. Use the Local News

Explore local, contemporary news stories to make meaningful connections to the past. “History is happening in the world around us but the issues are rooted in the past,” Maureen Costello, director of Teaching Tolerance at the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), tells the National Education Association[5]. Looking deeper at current events and tracing issues in the community back in time can be a meaningful exercise in inquiry that encourages “big picture” connections, even when these connections lead to hard places. Exploring newspaper archives for local stories and historical cartoons is also a sure way to analyze historical perspectives and biases.

For hands-on applications, try this activity breaking down news headlines and examining potential journalistic bias, or this activity on historical cartoons offering valuable tools for visual analysis.

5. Creating Content like a Historian

Many students are already out in the world creating content; now how about creating content like a historian?

Encourage students to engage deeper with their local histories by taking their research outside the classroom in an enduring way. Students can participate in historical excavation, documentation, and preservation projects within their communities. Use the Library of Congress “Memory Project” as a template: students collect primary sources from their personal and community spaces then create a community archive. The website Asian American History on the Central Coast is also a strong example of a student-led, place-centered documentary project. Created by Emily Pan, a second generation Chinese American and senior at San Luis Obispo High School, the website is a localized geographic archive of Asian American history in California.

[1] “Recovering and Teaching Local History.” Teaching Tolerance, https://www.learningforjustice.org/magazine/recovering-and-teaching-local-history

[2] Berkeley History-Social Science Project. https://ucbhssp.berkeley.edu/

[3] “Teaching the ‘Hard History’ Behind Today’s News.” National Education Association, https://www.nea.org/advocating-for-change/new-from-nea/teaching-hard-history-behind-todays-news

[4] “Creating a Primary Source Archive: All History Is Local.” Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/creating-a-primary-source-archive-all-history-is-local/

[5] “Teaching the ‘Hard History’ Behind Today’s News.” National Education Association, https://www.nea.org/advocating-for-change/new-from-nea/teaching-hard-history-behind-todays-news

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Avoiding Self-Censorship: How to Be a Brave Librarian 18 Jan 2023, 11:59 pm

When we talk about censorship, we often focus on defending against book challenges, but our own day-to-day actions can have just as significant an impact on limiting students’ intellectual freedom.

You pull a book off the shelf and stick it in your desk drawer, you don’t purchase “controversial” titles, you put restrictions on what books can be checked out, you use a black marker to line through “bad” words or pictures–if any of these sound familiar, it’s time for a self-censorship intervention. In this webinar, Mona Kerby, professor and School Librarianship program coordinator at McDaniel College, highlights detrimental and censoring behaviors that lie close to home and shares successful strategies to beat them. Librarian, know thyself: it’s time for an intervention.

Watch this webinar on-demand to:

• Recognize self-censoring behaviors
• Practice strategies to fight censorship without fighting
• Learn what to say when faced with a challenge

Sponsored by OverDrive Education

Download the Webinar Handout

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EdTrends 2023: What to Look for in the New Year 10 Jan 2023, 12:17 am

Dear Educator,

Happy 2023! We hope your term is off to a great start. To kick off the New Year, we’re excited to introduce Educator Insight, a monthly blog dedicated to all things K-12 education. Check this space for new topics ranging from differentiated learning strategies to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices and student-centered curriculum. Each post also features links to open-access learning resources that will help you apply these ideas in your teaching practice.

This month, we look forward to some of the broad trends in K-12 education you can expect to hear more about in 2023. Look below for a discussion of each trend and related resources for your classroom or library.

1. Student-centered learning

Nearly three years after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, most teachers are eager to return to something approaching “normal” classroom instruction. Nonetheless, the rise of distance learning during the pandemic highlighted student-centered approaches to learning as a vital part of any student’s education, regardless of the space where learning is taking place.

The International Society for Technology in Education defines student-centered learning as an approach that shifts students from “passive receivers of information to active participants” in the learning process; a shift that requires content, instructional methods, and assessments to be based on “each individual student’s needs and abilities.”[1] This framing helps illustrate the importance of an equity mindset when introducing student-centered practices into the classroom.

Student-centered learning is also closely related to the concept of inquiry learning. While not perfectly interchangeable, student-centered learning and inquiry learning both assign to students the role of “investigator,” placing them in the driver’s seat of the research and learning process[2]. Student-generated research topics and questions are a great way to initiate a student-centered inquiry learning process in your classroom. Click here for an academic skill-building module that walks students through the process of developing meaningful research questions.

2. Diversity in the curriculum

Growing support for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) at all levels of education has encouraged serious reflection on the conventions that shape our modern educational system—and this movement has an extra layer of significance for teachers of social studies. The inclusive study of history requires an honest and sensitive approach, as well as curricular materials that offer a diverse range of historical perspectives.

The need for diverse social studies curriculum is real and growing. In 2021, California became the first state to require the completion of a semester-long ethnic studies course as part of its core requirements for high school graduation.[3] Several other states, including Florida and Texas, have implemented requirements for ethnic studies electives. At the same time, the lens of diversity is expanding to include a wider range of racial and ethnic groups; as of January 2023, four states have adopted Asian American history requirements.[4]

One of the challenges educators face in this area is curating resources that are culturally sensitive and historically accurate. Here are three student activities from ABC-CLIO’s American Mosaic databases that model the framing of sensitive topics with content and context:

• The American Indian Experience: Boarding Schools and Assimilation
• The Asian American Experience: Who Was Wong Kim Ark?
• The African American Experience: Jim Crow Laws

3. Civic engagement

Civic engagement has long been an objective of high school civics and government courses, but educators are beginning to recognize the value of this standard to engaged learning in multiple subject areas. In its civics mission for schools, The National Council of State Legislatures states that students should “act politically,” participating not only in voting but “public speaking, petitioning and protesting.”[5] Educating for American Democracy, a research project dedicated to improving civics education, calls on educators to develop students’ understanding of contemporary political debates[6].

All of these objectives are enhanced and supported by a deeper understanding of the history of American society and politics. By drawing connections between the past and present, students can place modern political debates in the larger historical context and develop more nuanced opinions. The challenge, of course, is framing political debates in a way that is conducive to respectful and constructive classroom discussion. For an engaging introduction to political topics, consider this activity from ABC-CLIO’s American Government database on the influence of mass media on politics.

That’s a wrap on our first post of 2023. Have a wonderful January, and we’ll see you next month!

[1] International Society for Technology in Education. “Student-Centered Learning.” https://www.iste.org/standards/essential-conditions/student-centered-learning

[2] SplashLearn. “What is Inquiry-Based Learning? Types, Benefits, Examples.” https://www.splashlearn.com/blog/what-is-inquiry-based-learning-a-complete-overview/

[3] Fensterwald, J. (2021). “California becomes first state to require ethnic studies in high school.” EdSource. https://edsource.org/2021/california-becomes-first-state-to-require-ethnic-studies-in-high-school/662219

[4] Bellamy-Walker, T. (2022). “Rhode Island becomes fourth state to require Asian American history in schools.” NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/rhode-island-becomes-fourth-state-require-asian-american-history-schoo-rcna46720

[5] NCSL. “The Civic Mission of Schools.” https://www.ncsl.org

[6] Educating for American Democracy. “Interactive Roadmap.” https://www.educatingforamericandemocracy.org/

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Bibliotherapy in the School Library: Meaningful Collaborations 19 Dec 2022, 10:49 pm

The mental health of students is a pressing challenge for schools. Students are struggling with a variety of emotional and psychological issues. Libraries, as one of the last bastions of equitable access, often emerge as a place of safety for students in crisis. However, few librarians have the mental health training to help these students. What we do have is books, programming, and a productive relationship with our counseling departments. To respond to this crisis, librarians and school counselors can work together to create a variety of programs around bibliotherapy. In this webinar, school librarian Ida Mae Craddock and school counselor Ouida Powe will talk about how these two demonstrably different departments can work together to support the mental health of all of our students.

Watch this webinar on-demand to learn:

• More about bibliotherapy and how it can support student mental health and the wellness of your school community
• Strategies to implement bibliotherapy programming in your school library
• How to implement and sustain meaningful collaboration practices between the library and school counselors 

Download the Webinar Handout

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Sustaining Joyful Reading in a Time of Book Challenges 4 Oct 2022, 5:32 pm

School librarians across the United States are feeling the physical and emotional effects of an increase in book challenges, including new legislation, affecting materials in school and classroom libraries. Sustaining the joy of reading can feel difficult in the best of circumstances, and can feel almost impossible when faced with a threat of censorship that goes against a student’s freedom to read, as outlined in the ALA Library Bill of Rights. As in many times of strife, taking time to focus on joy can beat back the darkness and bring light—to our students and to ourselves. Join Melissa Thom, Amanda Jones, and Courtney Pentland as they discuss ways to continue celebrating the joy of reading with students of all ages.

Watch this webinar on-demand to:

• Learn about what school librarians are facing across the country
• Find community in shared experiences & resources for support
• Leave with student-centered strategies to implement in your library today to sustain the joy of reading

Download the Webinar Handout

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Engaging Students with Scholarly Articles: Active Learning Strategies 21 Sep 2022, 9:24 pm

Scholarly journal articles can be intimidating to teach with. Students may find their length discouraging, be overwhelmed by the author’s formal topic vocabulary, or assume all documents within a scholarly journal represent original research or analysis. In this webinar, high school librarian Wendy DeGroat shares strategies you can use to prepare students to recognize a range of document types they’re likely to encounter, scaffold their understanding of topic vocabulary before they read a lengthy source, and quickly evaluate articles for their usefulness. Along the way, you’ll learn about free resources to support students’ engagement with scholarly journal articles as well as expert sources that may serve as useful stepping stones.

Watch this webinar on-demand to: 

• Learn ways to improve students’ success in using scholarly journal articles
• Engage with lesson ideas you can adapt to any topic or database
• Discover free resources you can add to your library’s research toolbox

Thank you for your interest in this webinar! Complimentary access has ended, but the video and PD certification quiz are available to School Library Connection subscribers here. Learn more about School Library Connection and sign up for a free preview here!

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