New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

Social Studies Curriculum

Peter Feinman: Civics and High School History Education

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Institute of history archaeology and educationIn the previous post, I raised the issue of the state of civics in education. I examined the situation in some states including Virginia, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.

At the beginning of this school year in September, the Connecticut High School History Council (CTHSHC) issued a call to high school students. CTHSHC, a program of the Connecticut Public Affairs Network (CPAN), is a statewide student group conceived by Glastonbury High School seniors. It is made up of students from all around the state who share a passion for history and civics and want to create constructive change using their interest. [Read more…] about Peter Feinman: Civics and High School History Education

New York History: Reaching Out to Social Studies Teachers

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Historical societies, history museums, and local government Historians often seek ways to expand the range of people they reach and serve. They might want to consider expanding their work of reaching out to and cooperating with school social studies teachers. We also need more opportunities for the state’s history community and its social studies community to dialog with each other. [Read more…] about New York History: Reaching Out to Social Studies Teachers

New Netherland History Teacher Workshops Set

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New-France_2_6_Map-of-New-Belgium-or-New-NetherlandThe New York State Social Studies frameworks for grades K-8 place a greater emphasis than ever before on the history of the Dutch colonies in the Americas. Teachers and students are being asked to trace colonial history from New Netherland through to the English colonies and to recognize lasting Dutch contributions to American life and history.

But what is that history? And how can it best be taught? [Read more…] about New Netherland History Teacher Workshops Set

Local History And The Power of Place

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teaching geographyThere is lots of discussion these days about the “power of place” – the importance of geography and the influence of locales and surroundings. The concept dovetails naturally with local history, which explores the historical development of communities.

New York is in an excellent position to explore the connection between the power of place and local history. Our state has hundreds of local historical societies and other public history programs and is the only state in the nation with officially designated local historians. [Read more…] about Local History And The Power of Place

NYS History, The Common Core, And Social Studies

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State Education Building by Matt Wade Photography (Wikimedia User UpstateNYer)The Common Core continues to be in the news, so recently I attended “Uncommon Approaches to the Common Core 2: Inquiry-based Learning Access across the Disciplines” held August 12-13 at the Office of Education in Albany.

One session included 10 breakout groups by geographic area. In the Mid-Hudson discussion group there were about 13 people, double that number in New York City including 10 people from the Queens Library who were not on the attendance list, and over 60 people at the Capital Region group. Some of the other regions were even less attended than the Mid-Hudson group. [Read more…] about NYS History, The Common Core, And Social Studies

Bruce Dearstyne: New York History And Education

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State Education Building by Matt Wade Photography (Wikimedia User UpstateNYer)How, and how much, should New York’s young people learn about the history of their own state and community?

The answer to the question of what young people learn about history comes down mostly to what they learn in school social studies classes. New York revised its social studies curriculum from 2012 to 2014 and you can review the results, adopted by the Regents last April online. There is more New York history at the 4th grade level than in the older standards, but almost nothing about local history. [Read more…] about Bruce Dearstyne: New York History And Education

Educators: State Ed Department Needs Your Feedback

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State Education Building by Matt Wade Photography (Wikimedia User UpstateNYer)The Board of Regents adopted the New York State K-12 Social Studies Framework at their April 2014 meeting. Since then, the K-12 Social Studies Resource Toolkit project has begun and the creation of a field guide to provide guidance on the instructional impacts of the Framework is underway.

In addition to this work, the State Education Department (SED) is also thinking about how best to restructure the Global History and Geography and United States History and Government Regents examinations. In tackling this task, SED is looking for help informing their decision making. In order to gain the valuable feedback educators in the field can provide, four questions are being asked: [Read more…] about Educators: State Ed Department Needs Your Feedback

Notes On A High School Local History Conference

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SchoolThe high school local history conference is something I recommend every county should do. For the past two years, Rockland County has held such a conference. I attended both conferences and spoke briefly at the first one. This post is dedicated to some of the lessons I learned from the conference.

First, the Historical Society of Rockland County and the County Historian are to be congratulated for organizing the conference and for the people who did attend. The list includes the County Executive, the County Clerk, the County District Attorney, the County Legislative Chair, along with various town supervisors and municipal historians. One never knows where one will find history. For example the District Attorney, who in this case followed in his father’s footsteps, may have tales to tell about prosecutions which became part of the fabric of county history. Certainly the presence of these officials delivered a powerful message in support of local history. [Read more…] about Notes On A High School Local History Conference

Event: Uncommon Approaches to the Common Core

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State Education Building by Matt Wade Photography (Wikimedia User UpstateNYer)The NYS Education Department’s Office of Cultural Education has announced Uncommon Approaches to the Common Core, the second conference bringing together classroom teachers and educators from all types of cultural institutions to support implementation of the Common Core Learning Standards. The conference will take place in Albany on August 12 and 13, 2014. [Read more…] about Event: Uncommon Approaches to the Common Core

Common Core: New York History in New York Schools

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SchoolShould New York students learn about the history of their own state in New York schools?

The question has not been resolved. The State Education Department has been seeking reactions to the latest draft of the New York State Common Core K-12 Social Studies Framework.

The current social studies curriculum dates from the 1990’s. A draft revision completed in 2012 was discussed a number of times in this New York State History Blog over the past couple of years. [Read more…] about Common Core: New York History in New York Schools