Session 9
(3:35 - 4:20)

Presenter & Affiliation:  Emilia Taranto & Lindsay McCrea, DC Public Schools

Session Description:  Through interdisciplinary connections and inquiry-driven approaches, social studies curriculum can powerfully build both student literacy skills and engagement. By weaving together multiple disciplines, students gain a fuller understanding of their world, are better prepared to thrive in it, and have more opportunities to bring their unique knowledge and skills into the classroom. In the session, participants will explore the role of knowledge building in literacy and learn about a curricular approach pioneered at DCPS that combines knowledge building with interdisciplinary inquiry. They will leave with a roadmap for developing their own interdisciplinary, knowledge-building units, as well as 2-3 identified opportunities for interdisciplinary connection.

Room: William Penn

Presenter & Affiliation:  Annie Evans, BunkHistory,org

Session Description: Data visualizations and interactive mapping projects enhance student engagement connecting local history classrooms, museums, and historical sites. Innovative OER digital scholarship embeds data literacy and historical thinking skills. Building on Ed Ayers’ 2021 essay, “All History is Local,” freely accessible digital scholarship tools and resources will be explored, allowing participants to drill down to local historical data, and then widen the lens to see how their community is part of the story of our shared American past. Join this BYOD interactive launchpad for local explorations of our collective stories from America’s past.

Room: Robert Fulton

Presenter & Affiliation:  Juliet Morris & Nicole Maffei, Supreme Court Historical Society

Session Description:  This session will examine the short and long term impacts of the Brown v. Board of Education (1954). The session will deepen teachers' understanding of the Supreme Court’s landmark decision outlawing segregation in schools and take away new strategies and resources for teaching this case. Specifically, presenters will workshop a Socratic seminar lesson based around the resource Brown as the Beginning on civics.supremecourthistory.org.

Room: Ben Franklin

Presenter & Affiliation: Sarah Lane & John Snoad, SphereEd

Session Description:  Discover and explore how educators can support students in connecting the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement – critical pieces to our country’s tapestry - to modern societal issues. Educators will consider the impacts of civil rights milestones and examine how they continue to shape perspectives and reform today. Educators will gain instructional strategies to foster viewpoint-diverse civil discourse and resources in teaching the past, such as the Civil Rights Act, and the present, such as addressing stereotypes and bias in AI. The session equips teachers with tools to inspire students as changemakers in the ongoing push for equality.

Room: Pennsylvania C

Presenter & Affiliation:  Stephane Manual, TrueFiktion

Session Description:  The presentation will cover how to use comics to teach history using comics as a case study. We discuss how to connect comics to an inquiry and use them as a discussion point for primary sources.

Room: Pennsylvania D