Home

Praise for our coursework from Sam Wineburg – Stanford History Education Group
This course was taught by Peter Pappas
from 2013-2021

This website is supervised by Peter Pappas with contributions from his undergraduate / graduate social studies methods class ~ ED 456/576A at the University of Portland’s School of Education.  Peter also teaches ED 424 ~ Computers and Educational Technology at UP.

  1. Calendar: Find classes and assignments by date here
  2. Classes: Go directly to each class (most recent first)
  3. Student posts: all student work (most recent first)
  4. Student roster: see current (and former) students with link to their portfolio
  5. Resources: Curated lists of history teaching and ed tech resources
  6. Privacy Policy – all the stuff we have to say because Europe has some serious privacy regs

We utilize a practical, hands-on, project-based approach to mastering the art and science of teaching secondary social studies. Our course goals:

  1. Learn to think like a historian (or other social scientist).
  2. Become a skillful instructional designer.
  3. Develop skills for reflection, growth and professional networking.
Download Syllabus 2021 (pdf)

Peter Pappas, the instructor,  is a University of Portland-based educator, writer and instructional designer exploring frontiers of teaching, jazz, Macs, film, great books, and garlic. He also writes at Copy / Paste and lurks on Mastodon.

Contact Peter

Image by stokpic from Pixabay 

Calendar

2021 Class: Title | Completed work
  1. Aug 23: Teaching Methods That Work | First Post 21-A1
  2. Aug 30: Take a Closer Look | Closer Look 21-A2
  3. Sept 6: Three Keys to Student Engagement | Icebreakers 21-A3
  4. Sept 13: Evaluating Historical Sources | Sourcing 21-A4
  5. Sept 20: Looking Back – Was Lincoln a Racist? | Google Forms 21-A5
  6. Sept 27: Progress and Poverty in Industrial America | No new assignments
  7. Oct 4: Close Reading Historical Documents | Student lessons 21-A6
  8. Oct 18: Exploring Digital History | No new assignments
  9. Oct 25: Designing Inequality | Redline Stories 21-A7
  10. Nov 1: Explore Place with Digital Maps | No new assignments
  11. Nov 8: Exploring the Legacy of Redlining | No new assignments
  12. Nov 14: Teaching Hard History In Anxious Times | No new assignments
  13. Nov 22: Ideas for Civic Education | 21-A8 Final Projects
  14. Nov 29: Final Project Showcase
  15. Portfolio introductions / Course reflections 20-A9
2020 Class: Title | Completed work
  1. Aug 24: Getting Started | First post 20-A1
  2. Aug 31: Take a Closer Look | Looks 20-A2
  3. Sept 7: Three Keys to Student Engagement | Image Icebreakers 20-A3
  4. Sept 14: Evaluating Historical Sources | G Form lessons 20-A4
  5. Sept 21: Looking Back – Was Lincoln a Racist? | Graded Forms 20-A5
  6. Set 28: Progress and Poverty in Industrial America | Lesson Pitch 20-A6
  7. Oct 5: Lesson Idea Pitch Session | Lessons 20-A7
  8. Oct 19: Remote Teaching Demo Lessons | Videos 20-A8
  9. Oct 26: Close Reading Historical Documents | Close Reads 20-A9
  10. Nov 2: Who Gets to Vote? | Alt histories 20-A10
  11. Nov 9: Designing Inequality | Redline stories 20-A11
  12. Nov 16: Explore Place with Digital Maps | No assignment
  13. Nov 23: Exploring Digital History | No assignment
  14. Nov 30: Final Project Showcase | Final Projects 20-A12
  15. Portfolio introductions / Course reflections 20-A13
2019 Class: Title | Completed work
  1. Aug 26: Make a History Teacher Meme | Memes 19-A1
  2. Sept 2: Curating Historical Content | Image crops 19-A2
  3. Sept 9: Historical Thinking | Google Form lessons 19-A3
  4. Sept 16: Lesson Design | Lesson ideas 19-A4
  5. Sept 23 and Sept 30: Lesson Study I Lesson reflections 19-A5
  6. Oct 7: Close Reading Historical Sources | Lesson ideas (2) 19-A6
  7. Oct 21 and Oct 28: Lesson Study (2) | Lesson reflections (2) 19-A7
  8. Nov 4: Discussion Techniques | Discussion posts 19-A8
  9. Nov 11: Teaching Social Studies with Data Viz | Data posts 19-A9
  10. Nov 18: Design, Explore and Teach with Interactive Images
  11. Nov 25: Final Project Work Day
  12. Dec 2: Final Project Showcase | Final project posts 19-A10
  13. Dec 9: Final class | Course reflection posts 19-A11
2018 Class: Title | Completed work
  1. Aug 27:  History Teacher Meme Smackdown | Completed work A1
  2. Sept 3: Historical Thinking Skills | Completed work A2
  3. Sept 10: Virtual Class
  4. Sept 17: Crafting a Lesson
  5. Sept 24: Lesson Study 1: A3 Lessons by Nicole | Nick K | Gabe
  6. Oct 1: Lesson Study 1: A3 Lessons by  Jana |  Nick C | Jordan
    Lesson Study 1 Reflections A4
  7. Oct 8: Close Reading Historical Documents
  8. Oct 22: Lesson Study 2: A5 Lessons by Nicole  |  Nick K  |  Gabe
  9. Oct 29: Lesson Study 2: A5 Lessons by  Jana |  Nick C | Jordan
    Lesson Study 2 Reflections A6
  10. Nov 5: How to Lead a Conversation that Builds Student Understanding| Completed work A7
  11. Nov 12: Teaching Social Studies with Data | Completed work A8
  12. Nov 19: Teaching with Video | Completed work A9
  13. Nov 26: Design With Sway
  14. Dec 3: Course Wrap Up | Completed work A10
2017 Classes
  1. Aug 28: Teachers and Students
  2. Sept 4: Three Keys to Student Engagement
  3. Sept 11: Teacher as Curator
  4. Sept 18: Mission Driven PBL (class meets at Oregon Jewish Museum)
  5. Sept 25: PBL From Ideas to Action
  6. Oct 2: Teaching Historical Thinking
  7. Oct 9: Teaching Historical Thinking – Part II
  8. Oct 16: No class / Fall break
  9. Oct 23: Screencasting Techniques
  10. Oct 30: Teaching Social Studies with Data
  11. Nov 6: How to lead a conversation that builds student understanding 
  12. Nov 13: Teaching Lab I
  13. Nov 20: Teaching Lab II
  14. Nov 27: Design Lab I
  15. Dec 4: Finishing Up – Design Lab II
2016 Classes
  1. Aug 29:  Teachers
  2. Sept 5:  Visualizing Place
  3. Sept 12:  The Lesson
  4. Sept 19:  Peer Review
  5. Sept 26: Historical Thinking 
  6. Oct 3:  Sharing our Lessons
  7. Oct 10: Designing a Document Based Lesson
  8. No class  – fall break
  9. Oct 24: Using the Digital Lab
  10. Oct 31:  Digital Literacy
  11. Nov 7: Role Play
  12. Nov 14: Classroom Discussion Techniques
  13. Nov 21: Working with iBooks Author
  14. Nov 28: Proofing our iBook
  15. Dec 5:  Final Pre-pub Checklist
2015 Classes
  1. Aug 31:  Teachers
  2. Sept 7:  The Lesson
  3. Sept 14:  Peer Review
  4. Sept 21:  Historical Thinking
  5. Sept 28:  Sharing Our Lessons
  6. Oct 5:  Literacy DBL
  7. Oct 12:  The 1 to 1 Classroom
  8. Fall Break
  9. Oct 26:  Digital History
  10. Nov 2:  The Flipped Class
  11. Nov 9:  Role Play
  12. Nov 16:  Mock Trial
  13. Nov 23:  Don’t Hand It In, Publish It
  14. Nov 30:  Project Based Learning
  15. Dec 7:  Publish or Perish
2014 Classes
  1. Aug 25:  Designing a Teacher ~ Questioning a Document
  2. Sept 1: Designing Lessons / Social Media Audits
  3. Sept 8: Peer Review / WordPress Tutorial
  4. Sept 15: Historical Thinking
  5. Sept 22:  Historic Thinking Part II / Twitter #sschat
  6. Sept 29: Learning and New Digital Literacy
  7. Oct 6: Teaching with Documents
  8. Oct 17: Teaching with Your Mouth Shut
  9. Oct 27:  Work Session
  10. Nov 3: Hosting #sschat / Get Started with iBooks Author
  11. Nov 10: Using Mock Trials in the Classroom
  12. Nov 17: Role Playing Competing Visions of Human Rights
  13. Nov 24: Working with iBooks Author
  14. Dec 2: Proofing Our DBQs
2013 Classes
  1. Aug 30:  Question the Document ~ Design A Teacher  
  2. Sept 2:  Thinking About Thinking  
  3. Sept 9:  Using the Lesson Study Process  
  4. Sept 16:  Teaching With Documents 
  5. Sept 23:  Exploring Project Based Learning
  6. Sept 30:  Work Session at Nikkei Legacy Center
  7. Oct 7:  Lesson Study II Fishbowl / Nikkei Planning
  8. Oct 21: Report, Regroup, Goal Setting
  9. Oct 28: DBQ Project Showcase / Sites for Social Studies / Fishbowl Continues
  10. Nov 4: Role Playing: Beyond Manifest Destiny: America Enters the Age of Imperialism
  11. Nov 11: Mock Trials in the Classroom
  12. Nov 18: Publishing our DBQs with iBooks Author
  13. Nov 25: Working on iBooks
  14. Dec 2: Proofing our iBook