Anthony Pellegrino, Joseph L. Adragna and Kristien Zenkov
Music has been an integral part of humanity’s culture for millennia. Like many other artifacts of culture, songs have: expressed a range of feelings, informed listeners of…
Abstract
Music has been an integral part of humanity’s culture for millennia. Like many other artifacts of culture, songs have: expressed a range of feelings, informed listeners of historical and political issues, and provoked social awareness and change at every level of sophistication. In nearly all corners of the globe, music is woven deeply into the fabric of life and significantly affects and reflects the contexts in which it is written and shared. Our almost universal passion for music, bolstered by its importance as an artifact of culture and history, has not resulted in the integration of musical forms and texts in our classrooms in any systematic or conspicuous way. In that context, we propose a framework for integrating music in the social studies classroom. Our example comes from two individuals who lived very different lives, yet experienced some tragic parallels confronting fascism at various points in history. The music and writing these individuals left behind enable us to explore best practices in social studies and literacy in particularly engaging ways.
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Anthony M. Pellegrino, Kristien Zenkov and Nicholas Calamito
This paper describes an integrated unit of study conducted with middle school students who— after being asked to consider the profound and potentially nebulous question, “What…
Abstract
This paper describes an integrated unit of study conducted with middle school students who— after being asked to consider the profound and potentially nebulous question, “What does it mean to be an American citizen?”—were directed to respond by developing performance poetry and highlighting themes with visual images they created, found, or manipulated. The goal of our project was to engage youth in what might be understood as a noncontroversial exploration of their conceptual considerations of citizenship. But we hoped to engage them in considering the topic more deeply and in new ways. We appealed to the tools of today’s visual culture, which resulted in creative outputs attentive to contentious early 21st century notions of national identity. We present findings and outline the steps taken to develop and deliver this unit to these students and thus aid other practitioners interested in helping young people to cultivate richer concepts of citizenship.
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Anthony Pellegrino and Clara Lee Brown
The number of English learners (ELs) has increased dramatically in the public schools across the nation. In 2000, 3.8 m students, or approximately 8% of the US public school…
Abstract
Purpose
The number of English learners (ELs) has increased dramatically in the public schools across the nation. In 2000, 3.8 m students, or approximately 8% of the US public school student population, were identified as ELs. In 2016, the number reached 4.9 m or 9.6% of the general student population. In some states, the rise in the EL population has been even more pronounced. Their increased presence in content classes poses opportunities as well as great challenges for teachers. As these learners are learning fundamental language skills, they are also responsible for learning content and skills associated with various disciplines. In social studies, it includes developing a foundational understanding of US history, geography and government, while also developing the ability to comprehend, analyze and evaluate complex informational texts, which include contextualized language, low-incidence concepts and discrete facts.
Design/methodology/approach
One way schools are adapting practice for ELs is through collaboration between general education and EL resource teachers. This article reports findings from interviews with a high school social studies teacher and an English as a second language (ESL) colleague.
Findings
The collaboration between these two teachers illustrated how specific strategies thoughtfully designed, yet sensibly implemented, can help teachers feel effective and empowered in their social studies classes. Their story also highlighted ways they have worked together in spite of the system confines.
Originality/value
Together, the authors hope their experiences inform teachers, teacher educators and school leaders about the importance of adapting practices for ELs in social studies and the power of collaboration to make those efforts successful.
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Margaret P. Weiss and Anthony Pellegrino
Both broad and discipline-specific curriculum standards have shifted from a focus on learning discrete content material to a broader understanding of the processes used by…
Abstract
Both broad and discipline-specific curriculum standards have shifted from a focus on learning discrete content material to a broader understanding of the processes used by disciplinary experts. Using the example of historical thinking in history/social studies, we discuss how this shift may impact students with disabilities and their participation in the general education curriculum and classroom. Specific examples of what close reading and sourcing look like in the classroom and how researchers in special education have addressed them are provided. We conclude with how this shift in thinking about process over the regurgitation of facts may be both advantageous and overwhelming to students with disabilities and their teachers.
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Stewart Waters and William B. Russell III
Cultural geography is a unique, diverse, contested, and at times, confusing branch of study in the geography curriculum. Much like many other sub-branches of the social sciences…
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Cultural geography is a unique, diverse, contested, and at times, confusing branch of study in the geography curriculum. Much like many other sub-branches of the social sciences, there has been significant controversy and struggle over the place of cultural geography in the curriculum. This article encourages social studies teachers to consider new approaches to teaching cultural geography concepts, while also utilizing a variety of instructional methods to engage students in a meaningful and enriching exploration of cultures all over the world. A rationale is discussed for incorporating the use of monuments and memorials as an instructional tool to teach cultural geography. In addition, this article provides teachers with a classroom tested activity on how monuments and memorials can be used as instruments to study cultural geography and how this topic can be implemented into a secondary geography or history classroom.
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Edmund D. Pellegrino and Richard A. Gray
A species of moral malaise afflicts the professions today, a malaise that may prove fatal to their moral identities and perilous to our whole society. It is manifest in a growing…
Abstract
A species of moral malaise afflicts the professions today, a malaise that may prove fatal to their moral identities and perilous to our whole society. It is manifest in a growing conviction even among conscientious doctors, lawyers, and ministers that it is no longer possible to practice their professions within traditional ethical constraints. More specifically, the belief is taking hold that unless professionals look out for their own self‐interest, they will be crushed by commercialization, competition, government regulation, malpractice actions, advertising, public and media hostility, and a host of other inimical socio‐economic forces. This line of reasoning leads the professional to infer that self‐interest justifies compromises in, and even rejection of, obligations that standards of professional ethics have traditionally imposed.
Tessa Withorn, Carolyn Caffrey, Joanna Messer Kimmitt, Jillian Eslami, Anthony Andora, Maggie Clarke, Nicole Patch, Karla Salinas Guajardo and Syann Lunsford
This paper aims to present recently published resources on library instruction and information literacy providing an introductory overview and a selected annotated bibliography of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present recently published resources on library instruction and information literacy providing an introductory overview and a selected annotated bibliography of publications covering all library types.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper introduces and annotates English-language periodical articles, monographs, dissertations, reports and other materials on library instruction and information literacy published in 2018.
Findings
The paper provides a brief description of all 422 sources, and highlights sources that contain unique or significant scholarly contributions.
Originality/value
The information may be used by librarians and anyone interested as a quick reference to literature on library instruction and information literacy.
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Anthony F. Camilleri and Anne-Christin Tannhäuser
Open Courseware, in many ways, was the starting point towards mainstream discussion and adoption of open learning, particularly in higher education. In its first iteration, the…
Abstract
Open Courseware, in many ways, was the starting point towards mainstream discussion and adoption of open learning, particularly in higher education. In its first iteration, the concept specifically excluded assessment recognition, and credentialisation, which aims to ‘liberate’ knowledge without shattering the designing, teaching and awarding processes traditional education has relied upon for decades, if not centuries.
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Julie Petrokubi and Sarah Pierce
In the past five years, state education agencies (SEAs) have increased the number of social and emotional learning (SEL) policies, oftentimes engaging stakeholders across the…
Abstract
In the past five years, state education agencies (SEAs) have increased the number of social and emotional learning (SEL) policies, oftentimes engaging stakeholders across the state. However, few use multiple sources of stakeholder engagement data to develop and improve their SEL standards and resources (Yoder, Dusenbury, Martinez-Black, & Weissberg, 2020). This chapter describes the experience of a nonprofit research organization supporting an SEA and a volunteer workgroup in Washington state to gather and use several forms of stakeholder input and feedback in developing statewide SEL guidance for K-12 educators. Operating from a research–practice partnership framework (Coburn & Penuel, 2016), the team assisted the workgroup members in applying both an ecological systems theory perspective (Bronfenbrenner, 1979; Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006) and an equity lens to their work through an iterative process of data collection, interpretation, and use. This chapter describes the process and outcomes of this research–practice partnership and provides examples of how the workgroup incorporated stakeholder input and feedback into the development of SEL guidance and resources. We offer insights and lessons learned from these efforts to expand the perspectives represented in SEL research and policymaking. Our aim is to highlight the importance of stakeholder engagement to ensure that SEL guidance considers the priorities and values of diverse communities, especially historically marginalized communities. We hope to encourage more research–practice partnerships to investigate and amplify community perspectives in SEL.