Social Studies
Recent Newsletter Articles
Engage Learners in Preventing Food Waste
Save the Food! – a free curriculum developed by public health practitioners who specialize in cross-cultural and immigrant health – provides interactive instruction, games and exercises that deliver both useful language instruction and relevant environmental health information, enabling learners to identify and prevent food waste as well as save money in the process. Read More
Civics/History Curriculum: An Introduction to the CILIA-T Curriculum Project
Adult ESOL teachers: When choosing resources, what makes a curriculum “teachable”, and what tells you that it just won’t work? Check out this introduction to the CILIA-T Project, a new open-source, tech-integrated civics content curriculum being built for adult ELLs, and how educators in our field are already contributing input on its development! Read More
A Resource for “Staying Wealthy and Wise”
The Federal Reserve Education website is a searchable collection of materials that includes lesson plans, videos, and infographics for learners from elementary school age through adult. The materials are fantastic for teaching financial literacy and provide an engaging way to bring Critical Thinking and Navigating Systems skills into your ABE classroom. Read More
Classroom Resource: The New York Times Learning Network
The New York Times Learning Network offers a variety of learning activities that are relevant to adult education learners – from reading, writing, and discussion to geography and current events. Consider these resources to supplement your current instruction. Read More
Believe It or Not! Information Literacy and Adult Learners: Part 2
"Don't believe everything you read." This reminder is truer today than ever! Adult Basic Education can take the lead by promoting instructional strategies to make ABE students at all levels into more critical readers, listeners, and thinkers in this age of mass information. Here are some specific resources you can use to do exactly that. Read More
Believe It or Not! Information Literacy and Adult Learners: Part 1
"Don't believe everything you read." This reminder is truer today than ever! With this in mind, Adult Basic Education can take the lead by promoting instructional strategies to make ABE students at all levels into more critical readers, listeners, and thinkers in this age of mass information. Read More
Election Lessons Shouldn’t (and Don’t) End on November 3rd! – Part 2
While teachers often pivot away from political themes after an election, we have a great opportunity to continue the discussion and teach some of those often overlooked topics that correspond to events that start happening on November 4 - such as the Electoral College, transition of power, the first 100 days, and the presidency. Read More
Election Lessons Shouldn’t (and Don’t) End on November 3rd! – Part 1
While teachers often pivot away from political themes after an election, we have a great opportunity to continue the discussion and teach some of those often overlooked topics that correspond to events that start happening on November 4 - such as the Electoral College, transition of power, the first 100 days, and the presidency. Read More
Teaching Critical Thinking Skills through a Social Justice Lens
It is safe to say that 2020 has left us with a lot to unpack as individuals and as educators. As our classes continue to look so different as they take place online, I am thinking about the need to find and use materials that help my students and me to process everything that is going on around us. The resources in the Zinn Education Project are perfect for building the ACES skill of Critical Thinking. Read More
The 3rd “C” in CCRS – Focusing on Community Right Now
College & Career (and Community) Readiness Standards are very much in play right now as we all help our students to navigate this landscape of COVID-19. This article has links to several MN-created math and ELA instructional activities and ideas for how to use them with your own students! Read More