Altering the Traditional American History Landscape: Incorporating Culturally Relevant Biographies in Social Studies

The purpose of this article is to provide guidance to teachers on how to incorporate Latinx culturally relevant biographies into their social studies classrooms with English learners (ELs). In the social studies curriculum, United States history often is regarded as one of the hardest courses for newly arrived immigrants to learn due to the unfamiliarity of American history content (Dunne & Martell, 2013). Using a culturally relevant approach to teaching social studies has the potential to connect EL students to content in powerful and meaningful ways. As the number of Spanish speaking EL students grows in the American public school system (Cruz & Thornton, 2008), the use culturally relevant Latinx biographies allows teachers to incorporate different reading levels, bilingual narratives, and historical photographs in their sheltered (EL only) or mainstream (traditional) classroom. Teachers can differentiate assignments for students based on English proficiency, as well as challenge students who are learning new English skills. Additionally, the use of culturally relevant biographies can help teachers change the landscape of American history s/heroes and these shifts can be impactful for native-born students also (Wineburg & Monte-Sano, 2008). In this article, we provide a sample lesson where EL students in United States history study female Latinx activists to construct body biographies

Helping ESOL students find their voice in social studies

In this self-reflective essay, an experienced secondary social studies teacher and her professor reflect on the new challenge the teacher embraced during the school year—teaching a sheltered English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) World History course to recently immigrated students. The teacher, who is certified to teach social studies and is also ESOL endorsed, and her professor examine continued teacher resistance to working with ESOL students in the context of the teacher’s school, which includes an International Baccalaureate program. Using Noddings’ model of care in schools, they examine teaching practices that the teacher found successful and others that she learned were less effective over the course of the year with her English Language Learners (ELL) students. The voices of the ELL students are conveyed by providing examples of notes the students wrote to the teacher during the year-long journey. The teacher will be able teach the students for a second year in a row, in a push-in model in a U.S. History classroom. Thus, the exploration of helping ESOL students find their voice in social studies classrooms will continue

Hello from the Other Side: Social Studies Faculty Teaching Biography within State History Courses

This paper explores the opinions and interests of pre-service social studies students at two universities enrolled in a state history course taught by a socials studies faculty member. Findings include similar motivation for learning state history and opinions on interactive history lessons, while showcasing different interests in historic figures

Sí, Se Puede (Yes, We Can), Culturally Relevant Biographies: A study on the impact of culturally relevant biographies on social studies instruction.

The EL (English learner) population is rapidly growing in the United States. ELs most often are finding themselves placed in classrooms without ESOL trained teachers. In the social studies curriculum, United States History often is regarded as one of the hardest courses for newly arrived immigrants due to the unfamiliarity of the content (Dunne & Martell, 2013). The absence of culturally relevant instruction also contributes to the potentially overwhelming nature of the social studies curriculum for ELs. The purpose of this study is to determine the extent teachers’ and tutors’ use of culturally relevant biographies during social studies instruction fosters engagement in social studies instruction among Latino English language learners. The research study was inspired by the work of Margaret Peters, retired Dayton, Ohio United States History teacher and author. In 1969 Peters wrote a book entitled, Striving to Overcome, Negro Achievers. The book featured twenty-one short biographies and pictures of African Americans who had impacted the history of the United States. Peters’ purpose for creating the book was to “free” young Americans from prejudice (Watras, 2012). In significance to this study, eight culturally relevant biographies were available to the participants. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the value of incorporating culturally and linguistically relevant biographies into ESOL social studies instruction. The study answered two questions: (1) How do ESOL teachers and tutors perceive culturally relevant biography integration during United States History instruction? and (2) How does the use of culturally relevant biographies impact teacher and tutor reported student engagement with EL Latino students? The following research methods were employed: participant interviews, field notes, observations, and participant reported student engagement questionnaires. The findings of this study showed benefit for student engagement among Latino ELs. The participant base largely echoed that studying historical individuals relatable to students was better than studying historical events. Participants all said they would use culturally relevant biographies in future instruction

Hello from the Other Side: Social Studies Faculty Teaching Biography within State History Courses

This paper explores the opinions and interests of pre-service social studies students at two universities enrolled in a state history course taught by a socials studies faculty member. Findings include similar motivation for learning state history and opinions on interactive history lessons, while showcasing different interests in historic figures

Searching for cosmic-ray air showers with RNO-G

The Radio Neutrino Observatory – Greenland (RNO-G) is an in-iceneutrino detector currently under construction. The detector is designed to make the first measurement of neutrinos beyond energies of $\sim$10 PeV.Each of the planned 35 stations of the detector includes threelog-periodic dipole array antennas (LPDA) pointing towards the sky. The stations cover an area of $\sim$ 50 km$^2$ and enable RNO-G to measure the radio emission of cosmic-ray induced air-showers, thus making it a cosmic-ray detector as well. As other experiments have shown, such radio emission can be used to make precision cosmic-ray measurements. Additionally,the location of the experiment at Summit Station, at a height of $\sim$3000 m, enables RNO-G to study the phenomena of shower cores hitting the air/ice boundary and further developing in the ice itself. Moreover, RNO-G is also able to study high energetic muons, created in cosmic-ray induced air-showers, which penetrate into the ice from above. In this contribution, we will give an overview of the cosmic-ray analysis of RNO-G and report the current status. This includes outlining the method used for identifying the air-shower signals using signal templates, showing thefirst cosmic-ray candidate events and discussing systematic uncertainties