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K-12 history teaching

The Conference on Faith and History secondary school teaching initiative is hosting a virtual panel this week

John Fea   |  September 28, 2022

The Conference on Faith and History is sponsoring a virtual panel on secondary school history teaching this Friday, September 30. If you teach history feel free to join the conversation. More info below. More info: Paul Thompson will be hosting...

Misha Matsumoto Yee is the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History National History Teacher of the Year!

John Fea   |  September 28, 2022

Congratulations! Here is the press release: NEW YORK, NY (September 27, 2022) –The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History announced today that Misha Matsumoto Yee, a history teacher at St. Andrew’s Schools in Honolulu, Hawaii, has been named the 2022 National History Teacher of...

The American Historical Association wants to help K-12 history teachers navigate so-called “divisive concepts” laws

John Fea   |  March 29, 2022

Here is more from the American Historical Association website: To date, at least 14 states have passed legislation prohibiting the teaching of concepts associated with race and slavery in the United States. At least another 16 states have similar bills...

Putin and Ohio Republicans are rewriting history

John Fea   |  March 21, 2022

Here is Bowling Green State University historian Andrew Shocket at Ohio Capital Journal: Americans are united in denouncing Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, including how he has justified it with a warped view of Ukrainian history and has crushed Russian...

What Florida history students may not learn if Gov. Ron DeSantis gets his way

John Fea   |  February 11, 2022

Here is Gillian Brockell at The Washington Post: The Florida state legislature kicked off Black History Month by advancing bills that would allow parents to sue a school if any instruction caused students “discomfort, guilt or anguish.” The bills have...

How two Illinois history teachers are using Twitter in the classroom

John Fea   |  February 9, 2022

Robert Seidel Jr. and Kurt Weisenburger of Barrington (IL) High School offer some helpful tips. Here is a taste of their piece at Zocalo Public Square: For most teachers, social media has no place in a classroom. When they do use...

How the debate over CRT has led three states to alter their history standards

John Fea   |  January 24, 2022

This is an important study: Education Week reviewed hundreds of standards and thousands of pages of public comment relating to the standards-writing processes in South Dakota, Louisiana, and New Mexico, all of which took up revisions in 2021, and interviewed...

New Hampshire’s “An Act Relative to Teachers’ Loyalty” has little to do with the teaching of American history

John Fea   |  December 7, 2021

Here is Eileen O’Connor of the Concord Monitor: Just one year after New Hampshire legislators first introduced a bill that banned the teaching or discussion of “divisive concepts” like systemic racism, another bill will be debated this legislative session that...

David Blight: “Trust the teachers!”

John Fea   |  November 23, 2021

The Yale historian and Pulitzer Prize-winner spun his recent tweets into a piece at The Atlantic. Here is a taste: The curriculum, however, is another matter. Trained teachers, curriculum directors, and school principals are responsible for organizing the content and...

North Dakota bans critical race theory in K-12 schools. How should the state’s history teachers respond?

John Fea   |  November 16, 2021

North Dakota governor Doug Burgum just signed a bill that bans the teaching of critical race theory in K-12 schools. Here are a few of the pertinent sections: Each school district and public school shall ensure instruction of its curriculum...

Teaching “opposing” views of the Holocaust in a history class is not that far-fetched of an idea. Let me explain.

John Fea   |  October 16, 2021

A Superintendent of a Texas school has apologized for telling his faculty that they had to teach “opposing” views on the Holocaust. Get up to speed here. Here is Mary Papenfuss at Yahoo News: A north Texas school superintendent has apologized for...

Does Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States” make students hate America?

John Fea   |  September 25, 2021

As longtime readers of this blog know, I have my issues with Howard Zinn‘s A People’s History of the United States. I stand by what I have written about this book over the last decade or so. We’ve covered him...

Are the culture wars in schools worse than ever before?

John Fea   |  September 21, 2021

Historian of education Jonathan Zimmerman thinks so. Here is a taste of the University of Pennsylvania professor’s recent piece at Politico: Steve Bannon is right: The road to saving the nation runs through our schools. The real question is which...

Nataliya Braginsky is the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History National History Teacher of the Year!

John Fea   |  September 15, 2021

Here is the press release: The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History is delighted to announce that Nataliya Braginsky, a social studies teacher at Metropolitan Business Academy in New Haven, Connecticut, has been named the 2021 National History Teacher of the Year. Braginsky...

What happens when an Illinois middle-school history teacher wears a pro-vaccine mask to a “meet and greet” with parents?

John Fea   |  September 4, 2021

I have been working with and training K-12 teachers for nearly two decades and Matt Lakemacher is one of the best middle school history teachers I know. His passion for the study of the past is contagious and his creativity...

History teachers: The “skills-versus-content” debate rests on a false dichotomy

John Fea   |  August 27, 2021

Over the last few decades, history educators and the scholars who shape the field of history education have stressed the teaching of historical thinking skills as essential to good pedagogy. This emphasis, I would argue, emerged as a response to...

Chris Rufo of the Manhattan Institute and Ralph Richard Banks of Stanford debate critical race theory

John Fea   |  August 19, 2021

Some of you may remember Chris Rufo as the guy who triggered Donald Trump’s opposition to critical race theory. Ralph Richard Banks is a Stanford University law professor. Joan Coaston, the host ofThe New York Times‘s podcast “The Argument,” moderated...

The anti-Critical Race Theory bills keep coming

John Fea   |  August 14, 2021

Last week we took a close look at Josh Hawley’s “Love America Act.” Now we have the Protect Equality and Civics Education (PEACE) Act. The Senate sponsors are Republicans Marco Rubio, (FL), Kevin Cramer (ND), and Mike Braun (IN). Here...

Tennessee governor calls on schools to teach “unapologetic American exceptionalism”

John Fea   |  August 13, 2021

Here is Yue Stella Yu at the Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee wants schools to teach “unapologetic American exceptionalism” — an idea that American values are intrinsically different from those of other countries. Touting Tennessee’s education standards, Lee made the comment...

History Essentials: “Rethinking Colonial America”

John Fea   |  August 11, 2021

Back in 2019, I spent a week traveling up and down the eastern seaboard with with a film crew from the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History as part of the Institute’s “History Essentials” series, online lectures for the professional...

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