njcssjournal

Era 12 Postwar United States: Cold War (1945 to early 1970s)

New Jersey Council for the Social Studies

www.njcss.org

Engaging High School Students in Global Civic Education Lessons in U.S. History

The relationship between the individual and the state is present in every country, society, and civilization. Relevant questions about individual liberty, civic engagement, government authority, equality and justice, and protection are important for every demographic group in the population. In your teaching of World History, consider the examples and questions provided below that should be familiar to students in the history of the United States with application to the experiences of others around the world.

These civic activities are designed to present civics in a global context as civic education happens in every country. The design is flexible regarding using one of the activities, allowing students to explore multiple activities in groups, and as a lesson for a substitute teacher. The lessons are free, although a donation to the New Jersey Council for the Social Studies is greatly appreciated. www.njcss.org

Era 12 Postwar United States: Cold War (1945 to early 1970s)

The middle of the 20^th century marks the zenith of American power in the world. Following World War 2, international organizations were established to maintain a stable world order. The United States developed alliances to counter the threat of communism and authoritarian governments. The cost of the arms race and role as ‘global policeman’ was costly for the government of the United States and as a result its defense of democracy and human rights faced criticisms from its elected representatives and people.

Activity #1: Bay of Pigs Invasion and Crimean Peninsula Invasion

In 1959, Fidel Castro came to power in an armed revolt that overthrew Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. The U.S. government distrusted Castro and was wary of his relationship with Nikita Khrushchev, the leader of the Soviet Union. President Eisenhower approved the training of a small army for an assault landing and guerilla warfare. The success of the plan depended on the Cuban population joining the invaders.

On April 17, 1961 the Cuban-exile invasion force landed at beaches along the Bay of Pigs and immediately came under heavy fire. Within 24 hours, about 1,200 members of the invasion force surrendered, and more than 100 were killed. The Bay of Pigs invasion was a disaster for the United States and President Kennedy.

In 2014, Russia invaded the Crimean Peninsula in Ukraine. Russia annexed Ukraine but the international community did not support or recognize the actions of Russia. Since 2014, Russia has tightened its grip on Crimea. It has transformed the occupied Ukrainian peninsula into a military base, utilizing it for the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Crimea currently serves as an important logistical hub for the Russian military, acting as an airbase and naval base while playing a key role in the resupply of the Russian army in Ukraine.

Bay of Pigs Invasion

Russia’s Invasion of Crimea in 2014

Questions:

Did the United States have a right to overthrow an unelected ruler in Cuba who supported the Soviet Union?
To what extent does geography, national security, or economic stability justify actions of large sovereign states interfering in domestic affairs in smaller states?
Why did the international community fail to challenge Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2014?
Why does Russia want territory in Crimea and Ukraine?
How can the international community best address the situation in Ukraine?
If the international community accepts Russia’s illegal annexation of territory in a neighboring state, does this allow or encourage other countries to annex territories. (i.e. China, United States, etc.)

Activity #2: Human Rights Issues and Asylum Policies

As Americans enjoyed their new prosperity and role as the leader of the free world, there were voices for equality from women, African Americans, and people of color. The US also embraced global responsibilities and the threat posed by the expansion of communism.

Most Americans believe that freedom is a fundamental human right. In the post-World War 2 era, The United States found that the cost of defending democracy and human rights was expensive and difficult. In the first quarter of the 21^st century, the United States experienced a state sponsored terririst attack on New York City and Washington D.C., threats of international terrorism, a divided Congress, unprecedented national debt, and conflicts in the Middle East. In 2025, there were 59 violent conflicts in the world. The interests of Russia and China are in conflict with the interests of the United States to defend democratic values and institutions and human rights.

The United States has not ratified the following international agreements on human rights:

International Criminal Court
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)
Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)
Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance
Mine Ban Treaty
Convention on Cluster Munitions
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)
Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture

Source

Before 1950, the United States had no stated policy on asylum. However, between 1933-1945, about 200,000 refugees fleeing the violence of war, immigrated to the United States. The American people were opposed to changing the National Origins Quota System enacted in 1924.

The 1952 McCarran-Walter Act was passed over President Truman’s veto. It continues to serve as the basis of our immigration laws and policies.

“The bill would continue, practically without change, the national origins quota system, which was enacted, into law in 1924, and put into effect in 1929. This quota system—always based upon assumptions at variance with our American ideals—is long since out of date and more than ever unrealistic in the face of present world conditions.

This system hinders us in dealing with current immigration problems, and is a constant handicap in the conduct of our foreign relations.”

In 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act (Hart-Celler Act) eliminated the quota system that was part of the McCarran-Walter Act. The Act opened immigration to people of different racial and ethnic populations, especially Asians and Africans, it continued the quotas for Mexicans and Hispanic populations and favored visas for skilled workers over agricultural or domestic workers.

According to the UN refugee agency, a record-breaking 3.6 million new individual asylum applications were registered worldwide in 2023 with most new asylum claims made by nationals of Afghanistan, Colombia, Sudan, Syria, and Venezuela. At the close of 2023, 6.9 million asylum seekers worldwide still had pending asylum claims.

In the United States in 2023, nearly half of all asylum approvals were for people fleeing Afghanistan, China, El Salvador, and Venezuela from violence, poverty, and political upheaval.

Questions:

Why has the United States refused to support international laws on human rights and crimes against humanity since World War 2?
Is there evidence that the United States violates the human rights of some of its own citizens?
Why have the American people reflected a restrictive immigration policy over time, even for refugees facing death or abuse in their home country?
Who should be granted asylum in the United States?

History of Child Labor in the United States

Truman Library Institute

Brown University’s Slavery and Justice Report

The National Council of La Raza

The War Refugee Board

The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952(McCarran-Walter Act)

The 1965 Immigration Act: Opening the Nation to Immigrants of Color(Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History)

How Should Americans Remember the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act?(Organization of American Historians)

How the U.S. Asylum Process Works(Council on Foreign Relations)

Activity #3: The Deportation of People for Their Political Views

In the years after World War 2, especially after Churchill’s Iron Curtain Speech in 1946, the United States feared a global domination of communism. This belief gained popularity after China became communist in 1949. The current administration of President Trump is identifying the Democratic party with Marxist-Leninist ideology or progressive ideas for universal health care, helping students to repay college loans, raising the minimum wage, labor unions, and deporting immigrants with legal visas and some who are not documented.

This has a ‘chilling effect’ on people, especially educators and college professors who teach about communism and Marxist socialism. It is important to understand the historical perspective over time regarding how the government of the United States has responded to situations which have called for a change in our government through elections and the violent overthrow of our Constitution and democratic institutions.

Historical Context

Congress has the power to protect the Government of the United States from armed rebellion. The Insurrection Act of 1807 combined a series of statues to protect the United States from angry citizens following the Embargo Act. The issue for debate is when does the protection of free speech regarding criticism of government policies and organizing plans to change government policies or elected leaders become a matter permitting the government to use military force to protect itself.

The Posse Comitatus Act forbids the U.S. military, including federal armed forces and National Guard from enforcing civil law. The reason for this is to protect the First Amendment rights of citizens to express their beliefs. The Stafford Act (1988) permits the use of the military in times of natural disasters or public health epidemics.

Section 252 the Insurrection Act allows the president to deploy troops without a request from the state and provides the authority to send in troops against the state’s wishes to enforce the laws of the United States or to suppress rebellion. President Eisenhower used this power to enforce the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court to desegregate the public schools in Little Rock, AK. In 1992, the governor of California requested President George H.W. Bush to send troops to control the rioting in Los Angeles following the acquittal of four white police officers on the beating of Rodney King. Section 253 allows the president to suppress domestic violence, a conspiracy to overthrow the government, or an insurrection. John Brown’s raid in 1859 and the Civil War are examples.

The Smith Act was passed in 1940 making it a crime for any person knowingly or willfully to advocate the overthrow or destruction of the Government of the United States by force or violence. This Act led to the arrest of leaders of the Communist Party who were advocating to overthrow the government of the United States by force.

In 1951, the Court ruled in a 6-2 decision that the conviction of Eugene Dennis of conspiring and organizing for the overthrow and destruction of the United States government by force and violence under provisions of the Smith Act. In 1967, the decision was overturned by the Brandenburg v. Ohio when the Supreme Court held that “mere advocacy” of violence was protected speech.

In New York, the Feinberg Law banned from the teaching of the violent overthrow of the government of the United States. Several other states adopted similar measures. When a group of teachers and parents challenged this law, the Supreme Court upheld it in Adler v. Board of Education of the City of New York, (1952) In 1967, another Supreme Court overturned the Adler decision.

Questions:

If the Declaration of Independence states the right of people to dissent and overthrow an unjust government, should school teachers be allowed to teach this to young students?

“That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”

2. Why do you think the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Dennis and Adler decisions years later? Do these reversals have a strong foundation in American law?

3. Is it possible to use the Smith Act and the Insurrection Act to bring about a change in government that would embrace a more authoritarian government and a less democratic one?

4. How can the Smith Act and Insurrection Act be abolished? Should they be abolished?

5. What is the biggest threat facing the United States in the future? (natural disaster, political violence, artificial intelligence, public health emergency, economic crisis, etc.) Will the best solutions to this threat come from the Executive, Legislative, or Judicial branch of our government?

Thomas Jefferson Signs the Insurrection Act into Law, March 3, 1807

The Insurrection Act Explained (Brennan Center for Justice)

Dennis v. United States

Supreme Court Rules on Communist Teachers (Adler v. Board of Education of City of New York)

Insubordination And ‘Conduct Unbecoming’: Purging New York’s Communist Teachers at the Start of the Cold War (The Gotham Center for New York City History)

Mass Deportation: Analyzing the Trump’s Adminsitration’s Attacks on Immigrants, Democracy, and America(American Immigration Council)

Activity #4: The Return of Veterans from World War 2 in the United States and Japan

Japan officially surrendered on September 2, 1945. More than 400,000 Americans, and an estimated 65 million people worldwide, died during the war. After the surrender, the repatriation of the soldiers to their home country began. Refugees also began to return to their homes. The return of the soldiers to Japan, Soviet Union, European countries, and the United States was very different. In this activity, you will compare the return of 7 million soldiers to Japan and the United States. The United States had 16 million soldiers in uniform and 8 million of them were overseas. Operation Magic Carpet was the program to transport Japan’s soldiers to their homeland. There were also millions of Korean and Chinese civilians the Japanese used as slave labor during the war who needed to be repatriated.

Japan’s navy and merchant marine navy had been destroyed during the war. The carriers Hosho and Katsuragi, the destroyer, Yoizuki, and the passenger ship, Hikawa Maru, were able to transport some Japanese soldiers. The United States, Soviet Union, and England used their ships to bring 6.6 million Japanese soldiers back to Japan. The Japanese government designated 18 ports to receive their soldiers. The U.S. role was completed by the end of 1947. The Soviet Union’s role continued through 1957. The port of Maizuru was the largest port.

The Japanese soldiers were sprayed with the chemical DDT (dichloro-diphenyl-trichloro-ethane) to kill fleas and lice. At the time, DDT was considered a ‘safe’ chemical but in 1972 it was known to be harmful. Welcome towers were erected where citizens welcomed the retuning soldiers.

The United States also used Nisei interpreters during the years after the surrender of Japan (1945-1952) to prosecute Japan’s military leaders for war crimes, detect subversive activities and help with the drafting of Japan’s new constitution.

Most cities and homes in Japan were destroyed as a result of the war and the destruction of the two atomic bombs. Almost every family experienced the death of a loved one and they did not have a proper burial or the return of their personal belongings (sword, identification, notebooks, clothing, etc.) The new government in Japan changed the family structure which encouraged marriage and children.

The Return of Soldiers to the United States

The return of veterans to the United States began in 1944, shortly after D-Day. The government instituted a point system based on battles for the return home after the war ended and the GI Bill, which provided for education and vocational training, credit towards loans, one year of unemployment compensation, and counseling. The purpose of the GI Bill was to avoid the high unemployment and inflation that followed World War I.

“Veterans Prepare for Your Future thru Educational Training, Consult Your Nearest Office of the Veterans Administration,” n.d. Courtesy of NARA, 44-PA-2262, NAID

The repatriation of American soldiers was very successful and the income taxes from their wages paid back the cost of the GI Bill within the first few years. Veterans also purchased new homes which also increased the GDP. Similar benefits were provided to American soldiers who served in Korea and Vietnam. New car sales also quadrupled in the first ten years following World War 2 and by 1960 about 75 percent of American households owned a car.

Questions:

Why did the United States spend millions of dollars to repatriate Japanese soldiers to Japan after the surrender and why did our government pay for the inoculations and transportation of Korean and Chinese from Taiwan?
What would the post-war years in Japan be like without the financial and technical assistance of the United States and the Allied Powers?
As a member of Congress, would you have supported the GI Bill in 1944 knowing that the national debt of the United States was 120% above our GDP?

Was it fair to provide ships to transport Japanese soldiers home before all of the American soldiers were repatriated?
Should the United States have done more (or less) to repatriate the soldiers from Japan?

Maizuru Repatriation Memorial Museum

Return to Maizuri Port: Documents Related to the Repatriation and Internment Experiences of Japanese (1945-1956) (UNESCO)

The Afterlife of Families in Japan (Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi)

U.S. Naval Institute

The American Soldier in World War 2

Veterans Return Home From World War 2 (U.S. Army Documentary)

Serviceman’s Readjustment Act, 1944 (National Archives)

Can you Pass the Oklahoma Anti-Woke Test?

Can You Pass the Oklahoma Anti-Woke Teacher’s Test?

Alan Singer, Director, Secondary Education Social Studies
Teaching Learning Technology
284 Hagedorn Hall / 119 Hofstra University / Hempstead, NY 11549
(P) 516-463-5853 (F) 516-463-6196 Bluesky @zaydealan.bsky.social

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/12/31/2360791/-CAN-YOU-PASS-THE-OKLAHOMA-ANTI-WOKE-TEACHER-S-TEST

In August 2025, worried that WOKE educators from higher paying unionized states might move to Oklahoma to take jobs as teachers, Oklahoma implemented an “America-First Assessment” for new teachers. The assessment, created by the PragerU, a conservative group that is definitely not a university, was dropped three months later by a new state education superintendent.

As a WOKE teacher educator from a WOKE state with almost fifty years of teaching experience and indoctrination, I was interested to see if I could pass the “America-First Assessment” and qualify to teach in Oklahoma. But not to worry, it is much easier than the test immigrants take to become United States citizens, the New York State Teacher Certification Exam, and the United States History Regents Exam for 11th grade students in New York State.

A reporter for the Oklahoma Voice took the online test and intentionally picked the most ridiculous choices. It turns out that when you got a wrong answer, the test allowed you to try again and again until you picked the choice they wanted so it was impossible to fail. It makes you wonder about the poor quality of teaching and learning in the Sooner State.

The test has a number of questions about defining sex but no questions about Oklahoma history. Teachers don’t have to know about the Trail of Tears forcing East Coast Native American tribes onto Oklahoma Territory reservations or race riots that destroyed the Tulsa African American community.

Don’t be nervous. I highlighted the answers Oklahoma wants you to pick to prove you aren’t WOKE.

1. According to the Supreme Court cases Meyer v. Nebraska (1923) and Pierce v. Society of Sisters (1925), who has the ultimate right to direct a child’s education?
a. The Superintendent of Schools
b. The parents
c. The Board of Education
d. The federal Department of Education

2. What is the fundamental biological distinction between males and females?
a. Height and weight
b. Blood type
c. Personal preference
d. Chromosomes and reproductive anatomy

3. How is a child’s biological sex typically identified?
a. Parental affirmation of child’s preference
b. Personal feelings
c. Visual anatomical observation and chromosomes
d. Online registration

4. Which chromosome pair determines biological sex in humans?
a. AA/BB
b. XX/XY
c. RH/AB
d. XE/XQ

5. Why is the distinction between male and female considered important in areas like sports and privacy?
a. For equity in minority communities
b. To preserve fairness, safety and integrity for both sexes
c. To increase participation in sports
d. To enhance the self-esteem of transgender children

6. Should teachers be allowed to express their own political viewpoints in the classroom In order to persuade the students to adopt their point of view?
a. Yes, teachers have freedom of speech, too, which does not stop at the classroom door
b. No, once you become a teacher, your freedom of speech in and out of the classroom is restricted
c. Yes, sometimes – when the issue includes civil rights or social justice
d. No, the classroom is not an appropriate venue for political activism

7. What did the Supreme Court rule in the 2025 case of Mahmoud v. Taylor?
a. Gender-affirming medical procedures are allowed in America
b. Students must recite the Pledge of Allegiance in schools
c. Religious schools must hire non-religious staff
d. Public schools cannot require participation in LGBTQ-themed instruction without a parental opt-out

8. What are the first three words of the U.S. Constitution?
a. In God We Trust
b. We the People
c. Life, Liberty, Happiness
d. The United States

9. Why is freedom of religion important to America’s identity?
a. It protects religious choice from government control
b. It makes Christianity the national religion
c. It bans all forms of public worship
d. It limits religious teaching in the public square

10. What are the two parts of the U.S. Congress?
a. The House of Lords and The House of Commons
b. The judiciary and the Senate
c. The Executive and the Legislative
d. The Senate and the House of Representatives

11. How many total U.S. senators are there?
a. 435
b. 535
c. 100
d. 50

12. Why do some states have more representatives than others?
a. Representation is allocated by population
b. They cover a larger geographic area
c. They have held statehood for a longer period
d. The number is determined by Congress

13. What is the primary responsibility of the president’s Cabinet?
a. Approve Supreme Court justices
b. Pass legislation
c. Sign executive orders
d. Advise the president

14. Who signs bills into law?
a. The vice president
b. The chief justice
c. The president
d. The speaker of the house

15. What is the highest court in the United States?
a. The Federal Court
b. The Court of Appeals
c. The District Court
d. The Supreme Court

16. In the United States, which of the following is a responsibility reserved only for citizens?
a. Serve on a jury
b. Own a home
c. Pay taxes
d. Possess a driver’s license

17. Which of the following are explicitly listed in the Bill of Rights?
a. Freedom of speech and religion
b. Voting and public education
c. Reproductive rights and healthcare
d. Freedom from data collection and surveillance

18. Which right does the Second Amendment protect?
a. The right to hunt and fish
b. The right to arm the military
c. The right to restrict certain kinds of speech
d. The right to keep and bear arms

19. What is the supreme law of the United States?
a. Presidential Executive Orders
b. Laws passed by Congress and signed by the president
c. Laws passed by state legislatures and signed by state governors
d. The Constitution

20. Who wrote the first draft of the Declaration of Independence?
a. John Adams
b. Thomas Jefferson
c. John Hancock
d. Thomas Paine

21. When was the Declaration of Independence adopted?
a. July 4, 1778
b. July 4, 1787
c. July 4, 1776
d. July 4, 1619

22. What was the primary reason the colonists fought the British?
a. To resist expansion of the British Empire
b. To maintain slavery
c. To resist taxation without representation
d. To resist forced military service

23. Who were the first three U.S. presidents?
a. George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton
b. George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson
c. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison
d. George Washington, John Adams, Abraham Lincoln

24. Who is called the “Father of Our Country”?
a. Benjamin Franklin
b. Abraham Lincoln
c. Martin Luther King Jr.
d. George Washington

25. What did the Emancipation Proclamation do?
a. Ended Prohibition
b. Freed Confederate generals
c. Freed the slaves in the North
d. Ended slavery in the rebelling Confederate states

26. What was Abraham Lincoln’s primary reason for waging the Civil War?
a. To preserve states’ rights
b. To abolish slavery
c. To preserve the Union
d. To end the Union

27. What cause is Martin Luther King Jr. best known for?
a. Advocating for segregation
b. Advocating for the abolition of slavery
c. Advocating for diversity, equity and inclusion
d. Advocating for racial equality under the law

28. How did the Cold War end?
a. The U.S. prevailed in the Cuban Missile Crisis
b. Russia invaded and occupied Ukraine
c. The Soviet Union Collapsed
d. The U.S., the European Union, and the Soviet Union signed a peace treaty

29. Who was president during the Great Depression and WWII?
a. Woodrow Wilson
b. Harry S. Truman
c. Franklin D. Roosevelt
d. Theodore Roosevelt

30. What is the name of the national anthem?
a. “The Star-Spangled Banner”
b. “America the Beautiful”
c. “This Land is Your Land”
d. “God Bless America”

31. Why are there thirteen stripes on the American flag?
a. One for each signer of the Declaration of Independence
b. To honor the Thirteenth Amendment
c. To commemorate America’s fallen soldiers
d. To symbolize the original colonies

32. Which national holiday honors those who died while serving in the U.S. military?
a. Armistice Day
b. Memorial Day
c. Veterans Day
d. Flag Day

33. Which of the following is a phrase from the Pledge of Allegiance?
a. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness
b. Of, by and for the people
c. One nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all
d. One nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all

34. From what does the United States government derive its power?
a. The Supreme Court
b. The people
c. The president

Proven Climate Solutions: Leading Voices on How to Accelerate Change

Proven Climate Solutions: Leading Voices on How to Accelerate Change

Edited by BF Nagy

Reviewed by Hank Bitten, NJCSS Executive Director

Our world made a monumental change during the Industrial Revolution when homes and buildings converted from wood-burning fireplaces to coal and oil furnaces allowing for heat and hot water. This change came 4,000 years after the invention of fire and revolutionized the way people live. Eventually, it brought electricity and light into their homes. Every aspect of home life became more efficient than it had been when people split wood for fireplaces.

Around 1950 the world converted to natural gas. As a young boy I shoveled coal into the two furnaces in our basement around 6:00 a.m. each morning. In 1957, I remember the backhoes and tractors digging up our Paterson, N.J. street to install natural gas lines. By 1970, most areas of New Jersey were using natural gas for heating and cooking. This change took about 20 years.

By 2,000, we began to realize that combustion engines and fossil fuels were harming our environment and were a cause of respiratory and cancer-related deaths. We understood that “natural” gas was not natural because the release of methane was even more harmful than the soot and smoke from coal and oil. We began to look for new sources of energy in solar, wind, nuclear, biomass, geothermal, tidal, and hydrogen.

From the perspective of a social studies educator, our students need to focus on the solutions to these problems. Proven Climate Solutions includes nineteen concise chapters that take less than ten minutes to read. Each chapter provides a solution on the technology, economics, and empirical examples of how and where they are working. For teachers who use classroom debates or a simulated congress, the chapters in the book provide information on the advantages of solar and wind over every other source of renewable energy!

An example of factual information for a classroom debate is in the chapter, “Opportunity Costs and Distractions” by BF Nagy, editor of this book. Here are some examples:

“In 2022, massive leaks of oil in Thailand, Peru, Ecuador, and Nigeria led to explosions, fatalities, fires, and extensive water pollution.” (Page 50)

“The world’s biggest tanker containing 1.1 million barrels of oil began leaking after being abandoned in the Red Sea near Yemen by a Chevron subsidiary.” (Page 50)

“In 2023, Massachusetts state regulators denied a permit modification that would allow discharge of more than one million gallons of toxic wastewater into cape Code Bay.” (Page 50)

“Nuclear power costs about $180 per megawatt/hour compared with $50 for wind and $60 for solar.” (Page 51)

“Just two generations ago, in 1979, the United States built the Runit Dome in the Marshall Islands. Below an eighteen-inch concrete cap, they stored 111,000 cubic yards of radioactive debris from twelve years of nuclear tests. It is already cracking and leaking into the sea.” (Page 52)

The chapter on VPP (Virtual Power Plants) fascinated me because I had never heard about them. As I learned more about the need to use a decentralized electric grid and the technology that is making this feasible, I realized the connections for students in their lessons on the Industrial Revolution and the efficiency of how VPP and DERs (Distributed Energy Resources) are making a difference in our economy and environment. In addition, they foster community engagement and shared resources.

The information on artificial intelligence in constructing pre-fab housing units, passive house designs meeting low carbon standards, virtual power plants, and the recent research on battery technology will engage students in thinking ten years into the future. The possibilities of airplanes and homes powered by batteries is transformative in the ways we are currently conditioned to think about travel, energy, and home heating systems.

“Sendero Verde means ‘green path’ and is among the signature achievements of two brilliant women: engineer Lois A. from Steven Winter Associates and architect Deborah M. from Handel Architects.

The duo designed Sendero Verde within the confines of an affordable housing budget, and their companies also collaborated on The House, a twenty-six story passive house certified student residence for Cornell University’s tech school on New York’s Roosevelt Island. Another of their projects is the massive fifty-three story Winthrop Center in Boston, which in the early 2020s, was considered the biggest passive house office project in the world.” (Page 110)

“The House” Cornell University’s Student Residence using a Passive House design.

Teachers who use an interdisciplinary approach will find helpful research on the new carbon sinks being formed as the ice caps are melting. These polar foodwebs are helpful as deforestation has reduced the amount of carbon being absorbed by rainforests. The information on biodiversity and the impact of how our planet is adapting to a warmer climate with melting ice is an area of research that students should find interesting.

“Less than half of all carbon captured by polar phytoplankton or macro algae is stored in foodwebs, and nearly all the rest is recycled into the water column by bacteria in what is termed the microbial loop (rotting). Vast numbers and biomass of water column (pelagic) zooplankton, such as copepods or krill, which are shrimp-like crustaceans, store much of this carbon.” (Page 136)

Perhaps the most informative chapter in this book is titled “Circular Food Systems: Feeding the Urban World” because it identifies small innovative companies that are implementing important solutions. Examples for students to research include the White Moustache Yogurt Company, Back of the Yards Algae Sciences, Spare Foods Company, LivinGreen, Evergrain, TripleWin, and Portland Pet Center. When I was a 16-year-old high school student, my Earth Science teacher’s lesson about the impact of the end of civilization as we knew it with the birth of the 3 billionth person had a lasting impact on me. In just ten years, the world’s population will be 9 billion and in 2050 it will likely be 10 billion. As the population increases, the urban density will also increase from 55 percent today to 63 percent by 2050 and provide an urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Solutions are needed!

Year	Population	Net Change	Density (P/Km²)
2025	8,231,613,070	69,640,498	55
2026	8,300,678,395	69,065,325	56
2027	8,369,094,344	68,415,949	56
2028	8,436,618,886	67,524,542	57
2029	8,503,285,323	66,666,437	57
2030	8,569,124,911	65,839,588	58

Students need to understand how hydroponic agriculture and circular food systems can sustain life on our planet in the future. Our current dependence on rice, wheat, soybeans, and corn contribute significant amounts of carbon and methane into our atmosphere through their production and distribution. The current agricultural revolution needs to produce food in urban areas and reduce food waste. Source

“The food system we have in place today, one we have nurtured for a half-century and that produces some 43 percent of the world’s calorie supply, is itself in jeopardy due to the growing climate crisis, rising temperatures and prolonged droughts are withering crops; frequent floods are destroying them. The reliance on intensive farming practices such as tilling and heavy fertilizer and pesticide use robs the soils of their productivity, jeopardizing yields necessary to continue feeding rising populations.” (Page 150)

An important thread throughout this book is that proven climate solutions are likely to be local. Heating and electric power will be de-centralized, food production will be on urban rooftops and in parks, and transportation will be redesigned. The school curriculum needs to include case studies from urban ‘smart’ cities. One suggestion for the next edition of Proven Climate Solutions might be to include information on the importance of recycling clothing.

State of Green

Top 12 Smart Cities in the U.S.

World Economic Forum

Ten Cities Tackling Climate Change

World Resources Institute

Men at Work: The Empire State Building and the Untold Story of the Craftsmen Who Built It

Men at Work: The Empire State Building and the Untold Story of the Craftsmen Who Built It

by Glenn Kurtz

Reviewed by Dr. Alan Singer, Hofstra University

In this book published by Seven Stories Press, Glenn Kurtz uncovers the identities of the Empire State Building construction workers, made famous by Lewis W. Hine’s legendary portraits. The book features more than 75 photos and other illustrations, some by Hine that have never been previously published. Astonishingly, no list of workmen on this historic landmark was ever compiled. While the names of the owners, architects, and contractors are well known, and Lewis Hine left us indelible images of the workers, their identities—the last generation of workmen still practicing these time-honored trades, have not been identified until author Glenn Kurtz unearthed their individual stories for this book. Drawing on eclectic sources — census, immigration, and union records; contemporary journalism; the personal recollections of their descendants — Kurtz assembles biographies of these workers, providing not only a portrait of the building’s labor force, and a revolutionary re-interpretation of Hine’s world-famous photographs, but also a fundamental reimagining of what made the Empire State Building a fitting symbol for the nation, built as it was at the very height of the Great Depression.

According to Erik Loomis, author of A History of America in Ten Strikes, “Capitalists build nothing. Workers build everything. Glenn Kurtz recovers the stories of the brave men who constructed the Empire State Building masterfully using Lewis Hine’s famous photographs of them. A wonderful book for anyone who cares about the stories of real workers.” Alastair J. Gordon, author of Naked Airport, praises Kurtz for “Working with a minimum of historical data, Kurtz has broken through the urban mythologies and written an insightful social history, not about the capitalist owners, investors, architects or contractors, but about the every day mortals — ironworkers, carpenters, crane operators and other unsung heroes — who actually built the Empire State Building during the height of the Great Depression… a revelatory contribution to the legacy of New York’s built environment.”

Revolutionary New York: 250 Years of Social Change

Revolutionary New York: 250 Years of Social Change

Edited by Bruce Dearstyne

Reviewed by Dr. Alan Singer, Hofstra University

Revolutionary New York celebrates the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution and the many historical changes that have occurred since, as reflected through the history of the state. This book explores “unfinished revolutions” in the Empire State: the two-and-a-half century struggle to realize the revolution’s ideals and bring increased freedom and opportunities to previously marginalized populations. It is an Excelsior Edition published by SUNY Press. It includes sixteen essays that explore different aspects of New York State history starting with a chapter on “The Oneida Rebellions, 1763 to 1784.” Editor Bruce Dearstyne provided chapters on the birth of New York State in 1777 and September 11, 2001. There are also chapters on the Erie Canal, slavery in New York State, the Triangle Fire and workplace safety, the Harlem Hellfighters, the struggle by women to win the right to vote, prohibition, the origins of the United Federation of Teachers union, Stonewall, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Jennifer Lemak, Chief Curator of History, New York State Museum, “From Indigenous uprisings and the building of the Erie Canal to suffrage and LGBTQ+ rights, New York State has long been at the forefront of America’s most significant social transformations. This book explores the people, places, and pivotal moments that shaped a more just and inclusive society—revealing how New Yorkers challenged injustice, redefined freedom, and left a lasting impact on our nation.”

An Education: How I Changed My Mind About Schools and Almost Everything Else

An Education: How I Changed My Mind About Schools and Almost Everything Else

by Diane Ravitch

Reviewed by Dr. Alan Singer, Hofstra University

According to Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, “Diane Ravitch’s telling of her remarkable journey — from a child of working-class immigrants to one of the most vital national education treasures and leaders — tells us so much about her unwavering support for public education and its role in our society. That would be beautiful enough, but the second thrill is how she brings her curiosity — an essential trait we nurture in students — to question her own views and change her mind. The result is this clarion call to protect and strengthen public schooling in America as the foundation of our young people — and our democracy. If you care about the future, read this book.”

Diane Ravitch has spent five decades analyzing and advocating for national and state education policies designed to reform and reshape public schools. Her work supporting school choice made her the intellectual darling of the right. But when she renounced school choice as a failure, she was abandoned by many old friends and colleagues. Today she is a champion for public schools, a foe of standardized testing, and proclaims herself to be “woke.” Her latest book, An Education: How I Changed My Mind About Schools and Almost Everything Else is published by Columbia University Press

Ravitch was one of eight children from a Jewish family in Houston, Texas, where she grew up with no television, no air conditioning, and, often, no shoes. In college she met and married a man from a wealthy and connected New York City family, where they lived and raised a family. She began working for a socialist magazine, which led to writing about education and, eventually, a PhD in education history.

Ravitch’s writings favored strengthening and expanding school choice and rigorous testing, ideas that aligned well with conservative donors and think tanks who supported her work and led to positions in the George H.W. Bush and Clinton administrations. Meanwhile, a chance encounter at an education conference with a New York City high school social studies teacher, Mary Butz, led to a clandestine romance. Ravitch’s new relationship upended her previous “life of comfort and plenty” and led to her marriage to Mary.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg sought Ravitch’s support and counsel for the changes he and school commissioner Joel Klein instituted during his administration, but it was at this time that Ravitch began to question the results of standardized testing and school choice programs like charter schools. Improved test scores at lauded schools proved illusory and charter schools only seemed to thrive because they were able to weed out the most challenged pupils. Gradually, Ravitch abandoned her long-held views on the power of testing or the promise of choice. She began to write and speak out in favor of saving America’s besieged public schools.

Ravitch’s involvement in education idea and policy have earned her a reputation as education’s best-known living historian and its most controversial figure. An Education is the story of the making, unmaking, and remaking of a public intellectual and a remarkable testament to the importance of a mind open to truth and possibility in a world, she writes, “of masks and artifice”.

The Slow Death of Slavery in Dutch New York by Michael Douma

The Slow Death of Slavery in Dutch New York

by Michael Douma

Reviewed by Dr. Alan Singer, Hofstra University

The Slow Death of Slavery in Dutch New York

Original and deeply researched, The Slow Death of Slavery in Dutch New York: A Cultural, Economic, and Demographic History, 1700–1827 (Cambridge University Press, 2025) provides a new interpretation of Dutch American slavery which challenges many of the traditional assumptions about slavery in New York. With an emphasis on demography and economics, Michael J. Douma shows that slavery in eighteenth-century New York was mostly rural, heavily Dutch, and generally profitable through the cultivation of wheat. Slavery in Dutch New York ultimately died a political death in the nineteenth century, while resistance from enslaved persons, and a gradual turn against slavery in society and in the courts, encouraged its destruction.

This important study is expected to reshape the historiography of slavery in the American North. It joins several recently published works in the same subject area:

A Hudson Valley Reckoning: Discovering the Forgotten History of Slaveholding in My Dutch American Family by Debra Bruno (Cornell University Press, 2024) which documents the author’s journey uncovering the forgotten history of slavery in the Hudson Valley and among her own ancestors;

Bearing Witness: Exploring the Legacy of Enslavement in Ulster County, New York (Black Dome Press, 2024), a companion piece to A Hudson Valley Reckoning;

Spaces of Enslavement: A History of Slavery and Resistance in Dutch New York by Andrea C. Mosterman (Cornell University Press, 2021), which challenges the myth of a more humane form of Dutch slavery and explores how the enslaved resisted control in their living and working spaces; and

In Defiance: Runaways from Slavery in New York’s Hudson River Valley 1735–1831 by Susan Stessin-Cohn and Ashley Hurlburt-Biagini (Black Dome Press, 2016) which documents the stories of enslaved people who escaped bondage in the Hudson River Valley.

Nazis of Long Island

Nazis of Long Island

by Christopher Verga

Reviewed by Dr. Alan Singer, Hofstra University

Christopher Verga is a social studies teacher at the East River Academy for incarcerated youth on Rikers Island, an instructor of Long Island history and Foundations of American History at Suffolk Community College, and an instructor in Politics of Terrorism at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Nazis of Long Island: Sedition, Espionage and the Plot Against (The History Press,2025) is his seventh book on Long Island History. It is about the American Nazi movement prior to and during World War II and is a timely book because there is a resurgence of Nazi like ideology in the world today. While Verga argues that Long Island, New York was a breeding ground for an “American Reich,” the story as he spells out is much broader encompassing the entire New York metropolitan region in the midst of the Great Depression. New York City and its metropolitan area in this period was also a target for German spies and a center of anti-Nazi resistance.

Long Island in the 1930s was a Republican Party and America First stronghold. Verga attempts to draw connections between them and Nazi sympathizers, but the connection may have been tenuous and certainly dissolved once the United States entered the war.

Like in all the local histories written by Christopher Verga, this book is richly documented and easy to read. The village of Breslau, later renamed Lindenhurst, was originally established as a New York City commuter suburb for German immigrants with beer halls and traditional German festivals. It also had a strong pro-German following before the war. Glen Head, Long Island resident Cornelius Lievense was the American financial manager for German industrialist Fritz Thyssen, who was the financial backer of the early Nazi Party activities in the United States. The Nassau County chapters of the America First Committee in the Five Towns, Freeport, Hicksville and Valley Stream hosted the pro-Nazi members of Congress on speaking tours. In the early spring of 1941, Freeport organized a 1,600-person rally for the committee in the Freeport High School auditorium. Guest speaker Republican Senator Gerald Nye of North Dakota called on the audience to do “all in your power to prevent the proposed assignment of American warships to convoy duty.” He declared that “this is nothing but madness.”

The best known pro-German and pro-Nazi facility on Long Island was Camp Siegfried, operated as a vacation point, for pro-German rallies, and for training Hitler Youth. Camp Siegrfried and the town of Yaphank were considered “a little piece of German soil—a Sudetenland in Amerika—planted on this side of the ocean.” The roads at the camp and in the town were named after high ranking Nazis including Adolf Hitler Street, Joseph Goebbels Street and Hermann Göring Street. During the summer, the Long Island Railroad provided special train service on weekends for visitors to Yaphank and Camp Siegfried. Camp Siegfried’s annual August rally attracted an estimated forty thousand people

Because Long Island was home to Army-Air Force bases and major war industries, it was targeted by Nazi spy rings. The Ludwig ring was the second spy operation discovered in New York. German spies imbedded themselves in Republic Aviation, Grumman, and Brewster factories and the smaller defense plants in the Nassau County Roosevelt Field area like the Sperry Gyroscope Company in Garden City. Shortwave radio and telegram transmission stations on the north shore of Eastern Long Island and in Nassau County sent industrial intelligence to Hamburg, Germany.

During wartime, German prisoners of war were incarcerated on Long Island at Camp Upton, Mason General Hospital in Deer Park, and Mitchel Field in Uniondale. If they died the German prisoners were buried in section 2C of Long Island National Cemetery. The local POW camps had open dorms and prisoners were assigned to work on farms. Camp Upton in Brookhaven with 1,500 POWs was the largest facility on Long Island. Heavyweight boxing champion Joe Lewis was the most famous guard at the Upton POW camp.

Book Review – The Tourist’s Guide to Lost Yiddish New York City

The Tourist’s Guide to Lost Yiddish New York City by Henry Sapoznik

Edited by Alan Singer

Henry Sapoznik is a Peabody Award-winning coproducer of NPR’s Yiddish Radio Project, a five-time Grammy-nominated producer and performer, and the author of Klezmer! Jewish Music from Old World to Our World. The Tourist’s Guide to Lost Yiddish New York City (SUNY PRESS, 2025) is a history of New York’s Yiddish popular culture from 1880 to the present. In twenty-three chapters on theater, music, architecture, crime, Blacks and Jews, restaurants, real estate, and journalism, it retells the story of Jews in New York City by focusing on Yiddish, a Germn dialect that was the language of Ashkenazy Jewish immigrants, and the center of their culture. Sapoznik’s research draws on Yiddish and English language newspapers from the period and previously inaccessible materials to offer fresh insights into the influence of Yiddish culture on New York City. The book includes fifty images and is linked to an online interactive Google Map with over one hundred sites discussed in the book.

Enhancing Social Studies Instruction through Disciplinary Literacy Practices Aligned to the Science of Reading

Enhancing Social Studies Instruction through Disciplinary Literacy Practices Aligned to the Science of Reading

by Dean Bacigalupo

The New York State Portrait of a Graduate, finalized in July 2025, emphasizes preparing students who are academically skilled, literate across disciplines, and capable of critical thinking, independent learning, and effective communication (New York State Education Department, 2025). Central to this vision is culturally responsive-sustaining (CR-S) education, which ensures that students build respectful relationships, value diverse perspectives, and engage meaningfully in inclusive learning communities. Graduates who demonstrate both cultural responsiveness and academic readiness are well-positioned to thrive in a diverse and rapidly changing world.

These planned types of creative engagement open the door to new ideas in students. It also empowers students to take intellectual risks that challenge assumptions and spark curiosity. These behaviors form the basis for sustained and meaningful critical inquiry. Critical inquiry then enables them to analyze information, evaluate evidence, and understand complex issues from multiple angles. In addition, building strong communication skills support students in articulating their thinking with clarity, and intentional lessons designed to build students self-reflection nurtures metacognition. These are essential to helping them recognize strengths and identify areas for growth. When coupled with a developing sense of global awareness, these competencies equip students to become “lifelong learners” and contribute meaningfully to an interconnected world.

To realize this vision, literacy instruction must extend beyond English Language Arts (ELA) to encompass all content areas, including social studies. The NYS Science of Reading (SoR) literacy initiative, woven into the finalized NYS Portrait of a Graduate, offers research-based strategies for building foundational skills such as decoding, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension (Lesaux & Carr, 2023). SoR is not a single curriculum or program. Instead, it reflects decades of interdisciplinary research on how children acquire reading and writing skills and provides guidelines for effective instruction. In this context, SoR represents the “how” of literacy development, while the Portrait of a Graduate articulates the “why.” Instruction should empower students to transfer literacy skills across disciplines and engage critically with academic content.

Social studies provides an especially strong context for building disciplinary literacy through engagement with academic texts and primary sources. Unlike fictional narratives, which often feature familiar vocabulary and predictable plots, these texts pose unique challenges. They introduce abstract concepts beyond students’ everyday experiences and typically employ complex sentence structures and specialized organizational patterns. Additionally, they integrate both academic and discipline-specific vocabulary (Cervetti & Hiebert, 2011; Shanahan, 2021; Lesaux, 2020; McKeown et al., 2021). As students move from reading narrative fiction to academic and historical texts, they must navigate dense information, interpret primary and secondary sources, analyze cause-and-effect relationships, track chronological sequences, and consider multiple perspectives (Lee, 2022; Fisher & Frey, 2021).

Writing in social studies reflects a similar shift. Students are asked to construct coherent explanations, synthesize information across sources, and present reasoned arguments that reflect historical thinking (Fisher & Frey, 2021; Moje et al., 2022). Disciplinary literacy instruction supports students in meeting the academic demands of each discipline. By explicitly teaching subject specific vocabulary, sentence structures, discourse conventions, and organizational strategies, teachers help students build the knowledge and skills necessary for deep understanding and clear communication (Lesaux, Kieffer, & Kelley, 2021; McKeown et al., 2021). By embedding such instruction, teachers create classrooms in which students move beyond memorizing facts to reasoning and producing knowledge in ways that mirror historians and social scientists (Shanahan, 2021; Moje et al., 2022).

Disciplinary Literacy in Social Studies

At its core, disciplinary literacy involves developing the specialized ways of reading, writing, and reasoning that characterize experts in each academic field. Each content area demands specific cognitive skills, including attention, working memory, and reasoning strategies. Students also need to master the linguistic features unique to the discipline, such as specialized vocabulary, complex syntax, and distinctive discourse structures, to engage successfully with academic content (Shanahan & Shanahan, 2020; Moje et al., 2020; Lesaux et al., 2021). Focusing on disciplinary literacy helps students move beyond relying solely on personal experience or background knowledge. It enables students to engage meaningfully with historical work. Through this process they analyze primary and secondary sources, evaluate evidence, consider multiple perspectives, and construct arguments grounded in evidence (Wineburg, 2001; Lee, 2022; Moje et al., 2022).

Providing explicit instruction in how historians read, write, and reason gives students the strategies they need to create meaning from complex texts and make historically grounded inferences. The principles of disciplinary literacy align closely with the Science of Reading, as both highlight vocabulary, syntax, and comprehension as foundations for deep understanding. (Castles et al., 2018; Seidenberg, 2017; McKeown et al., 2021). By integrating these approaches, teachers help students develop strong word-level decoding, higher-order comprehension and the reasoning skills necessary to think, read, and write like experts in history and the social sciences.

In social studies, disciplinary literacy requires students to develop several core language skills. These include mastering both academic and subject-specific vocabulary. Academic vocabulary encompasses words that appear across multiple subjects. This allows students to engage in higher-order thinking and cross-disciplinary reasoning (August & Shanahan, 2022; Lesaux et al., 2021). Content-specific vocabulary, in contrast, is unique to social studies and supports students in analyzing and interpreting historical texts.

Disciplinary literacy expands to include instruction in language functions within an academic discipline. Language function refers to how students use language to think, reason, and interact with content. These skills are integrated into learning objectives and reflected in classroom activities. By applying these skills consistently, students deepen their understanding and mirror the work of historians—comparing events, analyzing causes and effects, interpreting sources, and synthesizing information across texts (Wineburg, McGrew, Breakstone, & Ortega, 2020; Lee, 2022).

Syntax is another critical component of disciplinary literacy. Historical and academic writing often features complex sentences with multiple clauses, embedded phrases, and relational markers such as because, although, and therefore. These are used in writing to signal logical relationships like cause and effect, contrast, or comparison. Understanding syntax allows students to follow intricate reasoning, interpret nuanced arguments, and construct their own ideas with clarity (Shanahan & Shanahan, 2021; McKeown et al., 2021).

Discourse is the final part of disciplinary literacy. Discourse refers to the larger structures of communication that guide how knowledge is shared. In social studies, discourse encompasses how historians organize evidence, sequence ideas, and construct arguments. Recognizing these patterns enables students to produce organized, purposeful writing and strengthen their ability to reason critically and communicate effectively (Fisher, Frey, & Hattie, 2023; Moje et al., 2022).

By explicitly teaching both academic and content vocabulary, language function, syntax, and discourse, educators create learning environments where students move beyond superficial understanding and engage in authentic historical inquiry. These skills not only support disciplinary thinking within social studies classes, but also foster transferable literacy skills across other subjects and multiple grade levels (Moje et al., 2020; McKeown et al., 2021).

Strengthening Vocabulary Instruction

Vocabulary instruction in social studies must address the layered nature of the words students encounter. According to the Science of Reading framework, vocabulary can be grouped into three tiers. Everyday conversational terms form the first tier, while the second includes academic words that recur across disciplines. Research by Averil Coxhead (2000) provides a widely used Academic Word List, which can be used to map high-frequency academic words across subjects and grade levels. The list is available online through Victoria University of Wellington (Victoria University of Wellington, n.d.) at https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/lals/resources/academicwordlist. Examples of Tier 2 words include analyze, influence, and structure. Effective instruction in academic vocabulary requires more than providing definitions. Students need opportunities to explore how these words function within texts and discussions. Planned alignment and instruction in academic vocabulary helps students notice subtle differences in meaning and recognize common word pairings. These strategies support students in applying academic language confidently in reading, discussion, and writing tasks across different contexts. (August & Shanahan, 2022; Lesaux et al., 2021).

Tier 3 words are discipline-specific and central to historical reasoning. These include terms like reform, diplomacy, and industrialization. These are most effectively learned through carefully chosen primary sources, historical narratives, contemporary accounts and other authentic text. Exploring these words in context helps students develop a precise understanding of their meaning and significance. Seeing how words function in authentic reading, discussion, and writing tasks helps students to deepen their comprehension and learn to use language accurately and confidently (McKeown et al., 2021; Moje et al., 2022).

Teachers can scaffold discipline-specific vocabulary using a variety of strategies aligned with the Science of Reading. Frayer Models, word maps, and charts that incorporate synonyms, antonyms, text-based examples, and opportunities for students to create original sentences are all effective tools. Sentence frames provide students with language support that guides the use of both academic and content vocabulary. For example, “I can analyze ___ by ___” or “This structure helps ___ because ___” give students a clear structure for expressing their ideas. Teachers can also leverage morphology and word families to help students predict the meanings of new words. For instance, influence can become influential or influencer, and structure can become structural or restructure. Understanding the suffix -ism, which denotes a system, ideology, or practice allows students to analyze and apply terms such as feudalism, mercantilism, capitalism, communism, and socialism.

Visual supports, such as anchor charts, offer reference points for key terms across lessons. Vocabulary journals encourage learners to record new words, include text examples, write original sentences, and reflect on how each word connects to the topic. These personalized exercises reinforce both literacy growth and historical reasoning (Fisher, Frey, & Hattie, 2021).

Teaching Academic Language Functions in Social Studies

The New York State K–12 Social Studies Framework (NYSSED, 2023) outlines a range of academic functions that students should develop to think, communicate, and reason like historians and social scientists. These functions are embedded in the framework’s disciplinary practices and include gathering and using evidence, analyzing and interpreting information, reasoning and argumentation, communication and expression, and problem solving or decision making. Within these practices, students learn to formulate questions, design inquiries, and evaluate sources as part of historical investigations (New York State Education Department, 2023; https://www.nysed.gov/curriculum-instruction/social-studies). These functions are central to disciplinary thinking and must be aligned from instruction through assessment. Doing so connects comprehension to expression and deepens understanding (Wineburg, Martin, & Monte-Sano, 2020; Langer & Applebee, 2020).

Teachers can support language function through a variety of strategies informed by the Science of Reading. Graphic organizers help students compare perspectives or categorize causes and effects. Timelines clarify chronological relationships. Structured prompts encourage evidence-based argumentation. For example, in a unit on the Civil Rights Movement, students might hypothesize causes, examine primary sources, and revise interpretations based on evidence. These tasks mirror historians’ methods and promote critical thinking over memorization (Singer, 2021).

Additional Science of Reading strategies include analyzing contemporary political speeches to identify rhetorical techniques and historical parallels. Peer debates provide opportunities for learners to justify their positions using evidence. Historical simulations, such as mock congressional hearings or town hall meetings, immerse students in applying analytical and inferential skills in authentic contexts. Connecting history instruction to current social issues further enhances relevance and fosters civic engagement (Singer, 2019).

Targeted prompts make language functions explicit. Examples include:

“Compare the motivations of these two historical figures using evidence from primary sources.”

“Sequence these events and explain how one led to another.”

“Based on this speech, what inferences can you make about public opinion at the time?”

“Evaluate the credibility of these sources and justify your reasoning.”

By integrating these strategies, students will move beyond surface-level recall and engage deeply in evidence-based reasoning. They learn to interrogate sources, construct coherent arguments, and articulate well-supported claims. Developing these skills is critical for cultivating historical literacy and preparing students to participate as informed, active citizens (Reisman, 2020; Singer 2021).

Teaching Syntax for Disciplinary Literacy in Social Studies

Syntax instruction plays a vital role in helping students navigate complex texts and articulate sophisticated ideas. When students understand how different sentence structures function, they become more confident readers and writers. Subordinate clauses, cause and effect constructions, and embedded modifiers each offer ways to convey nuance and complexity. As students learn to recognize and use these structures, they strengthen both comprehension and written expression. These skills also enable them to read more analytically and construct clearer arguments (Shanahan & Shanahan, 2019).

Consider the sentence: “Although governments have pledged to reduce emissions, many countries continue to rely on fossil fuels, which has delayed progress on climate goals.”

Subordinate clauses and modifiers help students make sense of contrasts, causal relationships, and the sequence of events. These skills are fundamental to the ways students engage in historical and civic thinking. In the classroom, teachers can build this understanding through brief focused mini-lessons. These lessons might guide students through the role of dependent clauses, transitions, and modifiers as they appear in authentic texts. By slowing down and examining these structures together, teachers help students see how syntax shapes meaning in ways that support deeper reading and writing.

Close reading and annotation provide valuable opportunities for students to analyze how authors construct meaning through syntax. As students mark up a text, they begin to notice how authors signal causality, highlight contradictions, and add meaningful layers of detail. These insights help students read more intentionally and understand how structure supports meaning.

When teachers model these strategies in their own writing, students gain a clear example of how syntax works in practice. They can observe how deliberate sentence structures clarify ideas and reinforce arguments. Seeing these techniques in action helps students apply them in their own writing with greater confidence and skill.

Modeling logical connections in writing reinforces syntax. For example: “Young activists are organizing global climate strikes. Therefore, governments are facing increased pressure to act.”

Classroom applications can be interactive. Students might collaboratively build sentences combining ideas from multiple sources. Peer syntax review encourages attention to clarity and logical flow. Analyzing historical documents or political speeches helps learners notice argumentative structures and rhetorical strategies (Singer, 2019).

Explicit instruction in syntax gives students the skills they need to read critically and think analytically. As they learn how sentence structures work, students begin to make sense of complex texts and strengthen their ability to craft evidence-based arguments. Intentional instruction in this area also helps them to build disciplinary literacy aligned to the Science of Reading. This will support meaningful engagement with content and ideas across subjects. By weaving these practices into daily teaching, educators can empower students to approach learning with confidence and build a deeper understanding of the material.

Promoting Academic Discourse in Social Studies

When academic discourse is deliberately structured, students articulate their reasoning and engage in evidence-based dialogue with classmates (Fisher, Frey, & Hattie, 2023; Singer, 2021). They engage with texts, data, and visual sources to make sense of complex information together. Carefully designed discussion protocols elevate classroom talk from simple recall to deeper, concept-driven conversations. Students strengthen their understanding of content and develop habits of disciplinary thinking. By creating space for purposeful dialogue, educators help students to communicate more clearly and connect ideas meaningfully (Singer, 2021).

Academic discourse supports higher-order cognitive processes, including critical thinking, perspective-taking, and evaluative reasoning. For example, when students analyze the causes of the American Revolution in a Socratic seminar, they have opportunities to articulate and defend their interpretations. They can also question and evaluate the reasoning of their peers. In addition, multimedia debates that draw on oral, written, and visual sources require students to synthesize evidence from a variety of sources. These activities help to further develop understanding and strengthen students’ ability to communicate complex ideas.

Classroom extensions bring these practices to life. Students work together to analyze primary sources and build arguments collaboratively, learning from each other’s reasoning in the process. Structured peer feedback encourages reflection on their own thinking and rhetorical choices, which strengthens metacognitive skills. When teachers connect discourse to contemporary social and civic issues, students see the relevance of their learning and understand themselves as active participants in society (Singer, 2021).

Teachers can scaffold academic discourse through a range of Science of Reading informed practices that strengthen students’ reasoning and communication skills. Strategies such as think-pair-share, small-group discussions, Socratic seminars, and debates create structured opportunities for students to verbalize their thinking. Discourse prompts help learners express complex ideas clearly while maintaining academic rigor. For example, posting sentence frames for students to refer to during a lesson like, “A historical event that connects to this is ___ because ___” helps to guide learners in articulating more nuanced interpretations. Through these approaches, classroom talk becomes a space where students communicate more effectively by using the reasoning and language of historians and social scientists (Shanahan & Shanahan, 2020; Reisman, 2012).

By integrating structured dialogue with Science of Reading principles and CR-S practices, teachers create environments where students develop both disciplinary literacy and cultural awareness. Students practice reasoning like historians by examining evidence and constructing claims in both discussion and writing. Students grow more confident in analyzing complex ideas as they collaborate, question, and explain their thinking. These experiences make learning interactive, meaningful, and relevant. With this students are able to connect their historical thinking to the broader world.

Conclusion

Integrating the Science of Reading, disciplinary literacy, and CR-S pedagogy gives teachers a clear framework for preparing students to think and work like historians and social scientists. When students receive explicit instruction in academic vocabulary, syntax, language functions, and structured discourse across K–12 social studies, they build the skills to reason critically, communicate evidence-based ideas, and engage deeply with complex content (Shanahan & Shanahan, 2019; Wineburg, Martin, & Monte-Sano, 2020).

High-impact instructional practices enable teachers to support students in working with information presented in text, visuals, and spoken language. When we guide students in reading and annotating complex texts, we help them analyze sources and deepen their comprehension. Structured group discussions provide opportunities for students to practice oral reasoning and consider multiple perspectives. Writing essays encourages them to synthesize ideas and develop well-supported arguments, while presentations that blend visual and spoken components strengthen their ability to communicate effectively. Together, these practices mirror how professional historians and other social scientists think and work to help to prepare students to interpret and construct knowledge independently (Reisman, 2020; Fisher, Frey, & Hattie, 2023).

CR-S pedagogy helps students engage meaningfully with diverse perspectives while building the skills they need to succeed across content areas (Singer, 2021). By integrating literacy supports with culturally responsive teaching, classrooms become inclusive environments where all learners can access rigorous content and participate in evidence-based discourse. This approach not only deepens historical reasoning and literacy but also fosters civic competence.

Equally as important, this approach aligns with the recently adopted NYS Portrait of a Graduate, which emphasizes critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and civic engagement (New York State Education Department, 2025). By weaving together explicit literacy instruction, disciplinary literacy strategies, and CR-S practices, teachers prepare students to become academically confident and socially conscious graduates that are ready to contribute thoughtfully to contemporary society.

Addendum: Applications Across Elementary, Middle, and High School

Elementary School: Instruction emphasizes foundational content knowledge, vocabulary development, and comprehension strategies. Graphic organizers, role-playing, and guided discussions support learning (Lesaux, Crosson, & Kieffer, 2020). Activities such as historical story mapping, primary source observation, and age-appropriate explorations of current events help students begin engaging in historical thinking. Cause-and-effect relationships, sequencing events, and identifying multiple perspectives are introduced in developmentally appropriate ways. Linking content to students’ lived experiences fosters engagement and civic understanding (Singer, 2019).

Middle School: Students encounter more complex texts, historical arguments, and analytical tasks. Instruction emphasizes annotation, sentence frames, and graphic organizers that support higher-order thinking, analysis, and synthesis (Moje et al., 2020). Structured debates, document-based journals, and comparative analyses connecting contemporary issues to historical contexts encourage evidence-based argumentation. Culturally responsive strategies ensure students critically engage with diverse narratives and social issues (Singer, 2021).

High School: Instruction centers on authentic historical inquiry, requiring analysis of multiple primary and secondary sources, evaluation of evidence, and synthesis of findings in written, oral, and multimedia formats (Wineburg, Martin, & Monte-Sano, 2020). Explicit instruction in syntax, transitions, and argumentation supports coherent and persuasive expression. Thematic writing, multimedia presentations, reflective oral history projects, and civic engagement initiatives allow students to practice the habits of historians. Civic engagement projects link historical analysis to contemporary democratic participation (Singer, 2021).

By scaffolding disciplinary literacy practices across developmental levels, educators ensure students build the cognitive, linguistic, and analytical skills needed for rigorous historical reasoning and civic engagement. This continuum supports a trajectory from content comprehension in elementary school to authentic historical inquiry and civic participation in high school.

References

August, D., & Shanahan, T. (2022). Developing academic language in content-area classrooms. Educational Researcher, 51(2), 90–101.

Castles, A., Rastle, K., & Nation, K. (2018). Ending the reading wars: Reading acquisition from novice to expert. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 19(1), 5–51.

Cervetti, G., & Hiebert, E. (2011). What differences in narrative and informational texts mean for the learning and instruction of vocabulary. The Reading Teacher, 65(8), 544–552.

Coxhead, A. (2000). A New Academic Word List. TESOL Quarterly, 34(2), 213–238.

Victoria University of Wellington. (n.d.). Academic Word List. https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/lals/resources/academicwordlist

Fisher, D., Frey, N., & Hattie, J. (2021). Visible learning for literacy, grades 6–12: Implementing the practices that work best to accelerate reading and writing. Corwin.

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