Teachers love our workshops!
Contact us to schedule of the workshops described below, or to design a custom workshop for your school or district. All our workshops can be delivered remotely or in person. We also do keynote addresses for large audiences.
Story First! Teaching and Learning Narrative History
Historical narratives — stories — form the basis of all good social studies instruction: students can’t think critically about what they don’t know. But historical narration is a challenging intellectual task, for both teachers and students! This workshop introduces teachers to proven techniques to help students learn historical stories, and to engaging and powerful ways to help them practice telling those stories themselves.
“Document Analysis” Done Right
History and social studies teachers know they’re supposed to use primary sources in the classroom, but often struggle to make those lessons effective. Our workshop takes teachers through the entire process of choosing, excerpting, and coaching students to interpret primary sources.
Social Studies for Elementary School
The science of learning has led to a renewed emphasis on teaching history and social studies in the elementary grades. Most elementary teachers know that social studies is important, but have little training in social studies content or pedagogy. This workshop introduces elementary teachers to the basic structure of history and social studies as academic subjects, and gives them specific techniques to engage young students in meaningful work that they’ll enjoy.
Effective Unit Planning
Every history teacher confronts the content challenge: There’s just so much content! How do we figure out what to teach and what to leave out? This workshop demonstrates how to use a six box storyboard to create a coherent unit narrative, which then provides the foundation for the questions students will ask and answer as they learn the unit. Unit planning becomes effective, powerful, and, dare we say it — fun!
