Kentucky Teacher

Amy Madsen talks with seniors Brittany Monique Ford, Heidi Bradley, Maranda Dawson and Amber Kidd about W.E.B. Du Bois during her African American History class at George Rogers Clark High School (Clark County). Photo by Amy Wallot, April 11, 2013

By Susan Riddell
susan.riddell@education.ky.gov

When Amy Madsen was a student at the University of Kentucky, she took a class on black history taught by associate professor Fon Gordon.

“It proved to be one of my favorite classes,” said Madsen, who now teaches history at George Rogers Clark High School (Clark County). “Dr. Gordon was so amazing, and she made me see how fascinating African American history is.

“I knew that I wanted to teach a class like that someday.”

Years later, Madsen is getting her wish.

Madsen began teaching African American History in January. The semester-long class goes beyond the traditional unit studies of black history that tend to concentrate on the slavery era. Madsen’s class included units on the colonial period, the Civil Rights movement and a heavy emphasis on the modern era.

“There’s just so much more out there for students to learn,” Madsen said.

Charles Hall, social studies consultant for the Kentucky Department of Education, said black history should be taught throughout U.S. History and not be taught solely as an individual unit in U.S. History. Read the full story

Karen Kidwell, left, director of Program Standards for the Kentucky Department of Education, and Office of Next-Generation Learners Associate Commissioner Felicia Cumings Smith address the Kentucky Board of Education regarding the new science standards. 
Photo by Amy Wallot, April 10, 2013

By Matthew Tungate
matthew.tungate@education.ky.gov

The Kentucky Board of Education reviewed  at its meeting last week  proposed  Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) one day after they were released.

Kentucky was one of 26 states that partnered in developing the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) as part of a collaborative state-led process. About 40 Kentuckians, including P-12 science teachers, state science and policy staff, higher education faculty, scientists and engineers were involved. Two drafts of the standards were released for public comment.

Karen Kidwell, director of the Kentucky Department of Education’s Division of Program Standards, said the Kentucky team gave detailed and descriptive feedback on the early drafts.

“Our feedback was very well received, and much of our feedback was incorporated in the standards,” she said.

The new standards, which have been in development for two years, meet the mandate for new standards in Senate Bill 1 (2009). They are internationally benchmarked, rigorous, research-based and aligned with expectations for college and careers; and they provide for deeper understanding of content and application. Read the full story

The Social Studies Assessment, Curriculum, and Instruction (SSACI) collaborative, a consortium of 22 states and organizations, including Kentucky, convened by the Council of Chief State School Officers, is working to publish a new Framework for Social Studies in preparation for new standards.

SSACI is working to explicitly ensure that the Framework for Social Studies will support the Common Core English/language arts standards and is working to identify resources and criteria for resources that will support teachers in meeting both sets of standards.

The anticipated completion date of the Framework for Social Studies is spring 2013. KDE will convene a standards revision/development team to identify standards that will align to and address the Framework for Social Studies in the summer of 2013. Look for details in the spring.

By Susan Riddell
susan.riddell@education.ky.gov

Eighth-grade students Laylee Burchell, Blake Turner and Hannah Harrison display their Civil War bullets during Sharon Graves’ 8th-grade American History class at Clark-Moores Middle School (Madison County). Each student in the class was assigned a bullet and wrote a narrative about it. Photo by Amy Wallot, Oct. 15, 2012

Blake Turner, an 8th grader at Clark Moores Middle School (Madison County), is flying through the air. He’s scared. He doesn’t want to hit anything or anyone. Luckily, he doesn’t.

Turner, in this case, is a bullet misfired just as the Battle of Perryville is getting underway back in the Civil War days. The bullet is thankful it didn’t hit anyone “but disappointed that I would not be able to help out my master at all.”

As the bullet’s journey comes to a close, it is retrieved by a man after being buried in the ground for 150 years “thinking and oxidizing.”

Turner’s narrative of a bullet is one of many in Sharon Graves’ social studies class, where students are studying the Civil War.

As part of their studies, students were given bullets from other Civil War battles like Gettysburg and Vicksburg. Graves has collected several of these from various trips, she said.

Some bullets were mangled, while others had teeth marks or were in mint condition. Students were told what type of bullet they had and where it was found. Read the full story

By Susan Riddell
susan.riddell@education.ky.gov

Toni Perry helps Colby Key and William Dyekman with their election scrapbooks during 8th-grade civics class at T.K. Stone Middle School (Elizabethtown Independent). The scrapbooks have seven categories of information in them, including information about the presidential candidates, political parties and the Electoral College. Photo by Amy Wallot, Oct. 19, 2012

In 2008,Toni Perry and fellow social studies teachers at T.K. Stone Middle School (Elizabethtown Independent) had their students create in-depth scrapbooks on the presidential election.

What they didn’t realize at the time was the lasting impact compiling those scrapbook would have on many of their students, who will be casting their first votes in this year’s presidential election.

“I’ve had students who completed the scrapbook in 2008, and they still have it,” Perry said. “Feedback from them and their parents indicated they were glad they went through the process of completing the election scrapbook, and it helped plant the seeds of being a more informed citizen, the value of doing their civic duty of voting and being a responsible citizen.”

The scrapbooks were such a success the social studies teachers decided to repeat the unit again this year.

The unit guides students on creating seven-part scrapbooks that are graded on a scoring rubric including candidates, presidential duties, commentary, political cartoons, political parties, Electoral College and election outcome. Read the full story

Registrations are being accepted for the Kentucky Council for the Social Studies (KCSS) Annual Conference, Oct. 10-11 in Bowling Green.

There will be more than 40 content sessions, covering all things social studies. Full registration includes the luncheon on Thursday.

Accommodations can be made through Holiday Inn, University Plaza. Mention KCSS for a special room rate.

Register online at www.kcss.org. Purchase orders are accepted. For more information, contact Rick Daniel at (502) 485-3054.

Adam Adkins

Adam Adkins has been teaching social studies at Menifee County High School for five years. During that time, he also has coached the high school academic team.

Adkins’ academic teams have seen much success, winning back-to-back district championships.

He also has coached the high school’s History Bowl team and individual participants since 2011. The bowl team qualified for nationals in 2011 and 2012 and placed second in Kentucky State History Bowl Championships in February.

Adkins was recently named National Coach of the Year award for the National History Bee and Bowl and is Kentucky Teacher’s Leader of the Month.

He also coached the state junior varsity champion. Under Adkins’ guidance, then-sophomore Skyler Cantrell earned a top-10 finish in the national History Bowl competition.

Adkins said the History Bowl and Bee competitions allow students to excel in a subject with a wide variety of topics. Read the full story

Derrick Graham taught social studies at Frankfort High School (Frankfort Independent) for 27 years. He recently retired from teaching, but is still serving District 57 as a state representative. Graham said balancing his teaching job and his state representative duties was one of his biggest challenges the last 10 years. Photo by Amy Wallot, Aug. 3, 2012

For the past ten years, Derrick Graham has led a double life of sorts, serving both as a full-time high school social studies teacher and an elected state representative.

The two roles are definitely not mutually exclusive. Graham says he has always been a student of politics and government, participating in political campaigns as early as his junior and senior years in high school.

He would come to share that love of government and politics with his students, teaching social studies at Frankfort High School (Frankfort Independent) for 27 years, until his retirement  at the end of this past school year. 

Graham, a graduate of Frankfort High, Kentucky State University and Ohio State University, was not just content to teach his students about politics and government. He also practiced it, campaigning and winning several elected positions, including his current one as state representative for District 57. The Frankfort Democrat is serving his fourth term.

During his time in the General Assembly, Graham has chaired the House Budget Review Subcommittee on Primary and Secondary Education. He’s also a member of several other legislative committees. Read the full story

By Matthew Tungate
matthew.tungate@education.ky.gov

Kentucky Chautauqua performer Obadiah Ewing-Roush, as Berea founder John G. Fee, talks to Sioux Finney, a social studies teacher at Woodford County Middle School, after Ewing-Roush’s presentation at Boone Tavern in Berea. Photo by Matthew Tungate, July 13, 2012

Abraham Lincoln was a native Kentuckian, as Sue Breeding teaches her 8th-grade social studies students at Monticello Middle School (Monticello Independent). That he was an attorney, became president, freed the slaves and was assassinated are among the other highlights of his life Breeding shares with her students.

He was not, in any way or under any circumstances, a vampire hunter.

“I’m always saying, ‘Don’t learn history from Hollywood. They’re out to make money. The movies are fine for fun, but go to the primary sources to learn history,’” Breeding says, laughing and shaking her head.

She also encourages her students to visit historical sites, of which Kentucky has plenty.

“It just comes alive. It puts you there how it would have been 100 years ago or 200 years ago. You can’t get that from just reading,” Breeding said.

Breeding and about 30 other teachers visited several sites important to the history of emancipation in July as part of a tour organized by the Kentucky Historical Society (KHS) following the Kentucky History Education Conference in Frankfort. Read the full story

The Kentucky Literacy Leaders Academy for History and Social Studies, provided in partnership by the Kentucky Department of Education and the Kentucky Historical Society, will be June 19-21 in Frankfort.

This event will kick off a year-long project designed to train history/social studies literacy leaders who will focus on the integration of Common Core literacy standards/skills into history and social studies.

The academy will consist of the three-day session; two virtual academy sessions in the fall; and one virtual academy session and one face-to-face academy meeting in the spring of 2013.

Only 24 teachers will be selected statewide (preferably an elementary, middle and high school teacher from each of the eight educational cooperative regions in Kentucky) to participate.

Teachers will be required to train other teachers within their districts and education cooperative regions. Travel expenses, hotel accommodations, meals, stipend and books/resources will be provided to all participants selected. Read the full story