Building Community: Social Studies in the Middle School Years

by Tim Gillespie (Editor)

Mary Burke-Hengen and Tim Gillespie shared an eighth grade teaching position at Beaumont Middle School in Portland, Oregon, where they worked with other teachers to build curriculum that integrated social studies with language arts and other subject areas. In this volume, Mary and Tim have collected ideas and stories from over a dozen of their middle school colleagues, revealing the challenges and satisfactions teaching an integrated social studies program can offer. Building Community is written in the spirit of collegial sharing, confirming the power of teachers involved in dialogue with one another. Though most of the contributors advocate student centered, process-oriented approaches to teaching, they do not necessarily agree on the issues, nor do they have one definitive point of view about integrated curriculum. The authors recognize that there are different approaches and different students, teachers, places, and times and honor the fact children can learn and grow in all kinds of situations. Their stories offer useful insights and suggestions, practical strategies, and provocations to further thought.

228 pages, Paperback

First published October 16, 1995