Kirsten [00:00:00] This is the Social Studies Teacher Podcast, a show for busy elementary teachers looking for fun and engaging ways to easily add social studies into their classroom schedule without feeling overwhelmed or pressed for time. I'm Kirsten of the Southern Teach, an educator and mom who is passionate about all things social studies.

[00:00:30] I love sharing ideas and strategies that are low prep and easy to implement, so let's dive in together.

[00:00:47] Hi there, and welcome to another episode of the Social Studies Teacher podcast. I am currently in my cozy mode because I am tired. I ran a half [00:01:00] marathon a couple days ago, so I am taking it very easy today. I hope you've had a wonderful week and you're enjoying your march so far. I love when this time of year comes up because it's.

[00:01:13] Finally getting warmer, and finally the days are getting longer and soon it'll be the end of daylight savings time. And now we can have late evenings where it doesn't feel like we have to go to bed at 6:00 PM So that is something I'm looking forward to this month, and whatever you're looking forward to, I hope you have an enjoyable one, whether that's Spring Break or even St.

[00:01:38] Patrick's Day, or a little bit of both, whatever it is. I'm all here for it and I'm sure you are too. So today we are going to be talking about a topic that I have not talked about on the podcast at all or on my website. It's how to think like a historian, thinking about teaching the why behind history.

[00:01:58] If we're honest, [00:02:00] it's really easy to turn history that we teach into a timeline of events. First this happened, then this, then this, and this and this, and this. But history isn't about what happened. It also needs to be thinking about why it happened. When we start focusing and teaching more about the why, there's that shift to students just memorizing dates to truly understanding things in context.

[00:02:26] Today I'm going to be walking you through how to teach and help your students understand the why and think like historians so that you can also continue and build that mindset during your social studies block. This episode is perfect for upper elementary and middle school. I'm going to quickly do my little spiel of making sure you subscribe and.

[00:02:50] Like this podcast, follow along. I am on YouTube wherever you're watching this. You can also listen [00:03:00] to the podcast episode on your favorite device, or you can read the version of the podcast episode by going to the southern teach.com/blog. When we focus only on the what in history, students are only thinking and learning about surface level facts.

[00:03:19] For example, the American Revolution began in 1775, and the Civil War ended in 1865. The Great Depression started in 1929, but if we stop there, history just feels random, almost like disconnected events in time. And students might pass a quiz with these facts, but there's no historical reasoning. With that they're not building the skills that are required to truly understand the meaning and connection between all of the different events in history.

[00:03:49] So here's the key. History makes more sense. When students understand the causes and effects, the motivations, consequences, and [00:04:00] perspectives. That is the why. So what does it actually mean to think like a historian? It means students learn to ask questions instead of just accept information, analyzing evidence, considering multiple perspectives cause and effect, recognizing biases that might occur and come up and connecting past decisions to present consequences.

[00:04:29] Historians don't just memorize events. They investigate them and teaching students to think like this is possible, even in upper elementary, as young as third grade. I'm gonna give you five strategies to help you out today, starting with strategy number one, start with questions and not answers. One of the easiest and simple ways to teach the why is to start with a question rather than just saying a statement.

[00:04:59] So very [00:05:00] beginning of the lesson is when you're going to do this. Let's give the example of your teaching about the American Revolution instead of saying. Today we're going to talk about the American Revolution. You could say something like, why would colonists risk everything to fight the most powerful empire in the world?

[00:05:20] Here's another example related to westward expansion. Instead of saying, oh, today we're gonna talk about westward expansion, you could say something like, why would families. Risk their lives and leave everything to travel into unknown territory. When you start with a compelling question, students start to lean in.

[00:05:38] It's almost like solving a mystery rather than just taking notes. And the best part is that you can keep returning to that question that you pose to your students at the beginning of the lesson, throughout the lesson to keep engagement up. Strategy number two is to teach cause and effect explicitly upper elementary and middle school.

[00:05:58] Students need to be [00:06:00] explicitly taught the process of the causes and effects. It needs to be modeled and show the chain of events and decisions that led to the ultimate effect and potential causes of other events. So kind of on the track of the American Revolution, thinking about one specific event. At the Boston Tea Party, I'm gonna share with you some example questions that you could explicitly talk about related to cause and effect.

[00:06:27] So you've got what caused the Boston Tea Party? What happened because of it? How did Britain respond and what happened next? When students are visually mapping out cause and effect through timelines or flow charts, then they start to really see those patterns and you're training their brains to think historically instead of memorizing.

[00:06:49] Different facts. Strategy number three is bringing in multiple perspectives. This is where your lessons go from good to powerful. We know that history [00:07:00] looks different depending on who is telling it and what perspective it's in. Let's say you're teaching about westward expansion. Think about this. How did settlers view it?

[00:07:12] How did Native American tribes experience it? How did the government justify it? And thinking more closer to the turn of the century. Industrialization, here are some more perspectives you can think about. How did factory owners benefit? What was life like for child laborers? How did immigrants experience this period?

[00:07:34] When students see that history is layered, they begin to see that history is more complex than just one perspective, one point of view, and they will start building empathy with that strategy. Number four is to use primary sources to help with evidence. If you really want students to think like historians, give them real.

[00:07:58] Evidence. It does not have to be [00:08:00] complicated. It can be a short letter, a political cartoon, an excerpt of a speech or diary entry. A photograph, and you can ask these questions. Who created this? When did they create it? Why did they create it? What does this reveal and what might be missing with this? You are teaching students to analyze, which goes way beyond social studies, and it's an important social studies skill in general.

[00:08:27] The fifth and final strategy I'm gonna talk about today is to connect the past with the present. I feel like I've talked about this a lot, but students truly do connect to the past when they see how it connects to their lives. And present time and what they're experiencing today. You can ask questions like, how do decisions from this time period still affect us today?

[00:08:54] What systems began during this era? And what lessons can [00:09:00] we apply to modern society? So an example, let's say you're teaching about the reconstruction period after the Civil War. You can talk about how it connects to civil rights and. People's rights today in this current landscape, or maybe if you have something related to the Bill of Rights that you're talking about, or the US Constitution, you can talk about current laws and freedoms and different protests that might be happening in our community or in the country.

[00:09:31] Next, what I'm going to do is share with you a simple lesson structure that you can utilize. For any topic related to structuring and understanding or having students understand the why behind history. So it's seven parts that I'm going to put on the screen right now. So number one, starting with a big question.

[00:09:56] Number two, providing more context to the [00:10:00] question. Number three, examining evidence. Number four, analyzing cause and effect. Number five, discussing multiple perspectives. Number six, connecting it to today. And number seven, top it all off with a reflection. So if you notice all of the strategies I share with you fit super nicely into this seven step structure.

[00:10:29] At the end of the day, teaching The why behind history is not about adding more content to the content you already have. It's really about going deeper with what you're already teaching. When students. Are thinking like historians, they are going to ask better questions, have deeper complexity and understanding.

[00:10:51] They're going to be more empathetic, and it's going to help build their critical thinking skills. So I have a challenge for you. I want you to take an upcoming lesson [00:11:00] that's happening in the next couple of weeks. Or more, maybe you decide to do this for everyone. Add just one why question and see how the discussion changes.

[00:11:11] Well, that is it for today. I hope you enjoyed it. If you liked this video, make sure to subscribe for more upper elementary and middle school social Studies strategies. Thanks for watching and tuning in, and I hope you have a wonderful rest of your week. Thanks for listening to the Social Studies Teacher podcast.

[00:11:31] If you enjoyed listening to this episode, hit that subscribe button and leave a review. I would love to hear your thoughts. You can also find me on Instagram at the Southern Teach. I can't wait for you to join me in the next episode for more teacher tips and strategies.