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On Wednesday, January 20, 2021, Joe Biden will be sworn in as the United States' 46th President.  Kamala Harris, formerly US Senator from California and our Attorney General, will be sworn in as Vice President.  The inauguration will be historic and unprecedented, given the recent insurrection on Capitol Hill and subsequent impeachment of Donald Trump, as well as the pandemic, protests over racial injustice, and economic suffering. 

We condemn all actions and actors that encouraged or participated in the insurrection and desecration of our nation’s Capitol and endangered our democracy’s long history of peaceful transfers of power. As a statewide network of history-social science educators, the California History-Social Science Project is resolved to defend our democratic ideals in order to take a stand against this and any demonstration of racism, injustice, and abuse of power.

Do you remember what you were doing a year ago?  Were you busy trying to conclude teaching that last unit so that grades would be finished before break?  And were you nearly as excited for winter break as your students, so that you could finally spend some time at home?  A year ago, we had just wrapped up a couple of Framework implementation conferences, and we were busily organizing more for 2020.  We were also so excited for winter break. 

The song Mother Blue’s is sometimes wildly inappropriate, but I can’t help but feel inspired when Ray Wylie Hubbard gets to one of the last lyrics. “And the days that I keep my gratitude higher than my expectations,” Hubbard sings, “well, I have really good days." 

Last week marked the start of the Grade Groups for K-2, 5, and 7.  As I Zoomed in and out of each group, I observed teachers sharing stories about what’s been going on in their classrooms – the good, the frustrating, the sad, and the glimmers of hope.  Grade Groups is an experiment for us in the CHSSP network.   We didn’t know what it would be like to pull together teachers from Poway, Kern, Santa Barbara, Santa Rosa, Stockton, and dozens more cities, and strategically plan for so many teaching contexts.  What I’ve seen so far has confirmed what we hoped could happe

Starting Thursday, November 5, three of our nine statewide grade-level series, Grade Groups, will begin.  Educators will reflect, connect, and strategize about how the history-social science material from their grade level can best engage their students. 

“How did we get the world we have today? How do we make it better?”  These are core questions that Nicole Gilbertson, Director of the UC Irvine History Project looks forward to addressing with the 10th Grade Group, which is scheduled to begin in just a few weeks.  Nicole, who holds a Ph.D. in Modern European history, will lead the 10th Grade Modern World History Group.

“Relevance, urgency, interest, and a time where change is both accepted and expected by many educators.”  This is how Brianna Padilla, a Kindergarten teacher at Venetia Valley School in San Rafael, and Teacher Leader with the UC Berkeley History-Social Science Project (UCBHSSP) describes her interest in the K-2 Grade Group, which she will lead with Rachel Reinhard, the UCBHSSP Director.

“With the reduced time to teach, being purposeful and selective is critical.”  This is how Katharine Cortes, Associate Director of the UC Davis History Project recently explained one of her goals for the 8th Grade Group that she will lead with Mary Robillard, a veteran 8th grade teacher from Rancho Medanos Junior High School in Pittsburgh.  Katharine and Mary will work with 8th-grade teachers to select, prioritize, and map essential content and skills that are especially important right now.&nb

Alison Waterman is really excited about 6th grade this year.  The veteran teacher from Orinda is determined to help her students connect the past with their current reality.