Engaging Minds in Social Studies Classrooms: The Surprising Power of Joy, Feb/2014

The joyful learning framework from Engaging Minds in the Classroom: The Surprising Power of Joy is a great approach for transforming tuned-out students into enthusiastic learners of social studies content. Discover strategies that help you connect social studies to real life while maintaining integration with standards, including the Common Core standards. In this guide you'll find

1. Examples of social studies questions that further students' conceptual growth.
2. An overview of the essential elements that influence social studies learning.
3. Types of social studies projects that develop classroom community and reflect experiences beyond school.
4. Ideas for engaging students in learning that includes authentic audiences and outcomes.

Find out how to create a student-centered classroom that enhances your own joy of teaching social studies.

About The Author:

James A. Erekson is an associate professor of reading at the University of Northern Colorado. He has been teaching in the field of languages and literacy for more than 20 years, teaching four foreign languages in addition to reading and language arts courses. Erekson collaborates with K–12 educators to teach and do research on reading, writing, and oral language. He taught elementary grades and collaborated with middle school teachers to coordinate a successful reading center for eight years, where the vitality of social studies content helped young readers make breakthroughs in reading and writing. Erekson has presented his work both nationally and internationally, and he recently worked with Denver Public Schools' elementary teachers on a three-year state-funded learning experience on social studies and literacy.