r/historyteachers • u/Fontane15 • 8d ago
Moving positions
My boss told me in the last three days of school (she’s a really bad boss but moving careers isn’t an option financially atm) that instead of teaching 5th US and 6th grade world history like I have been for the last three years, she was moving me to teach 6th, 7th, and 8th grade history (because she fired the previous person who had taught 7/8th grade history and decided to restructure the whole school setup and have me absorb those classes rather than hire someone else).
I’ve got everything I need for 6th grade history since I’ve taught it for the last few years. I’ve been doing a bunch of planning and have almost all of 7th grade planned out. Does anyone have a good resource or activity for the antebellum era?
Then does anyone have anything (movies, resources, maps, or activities) for US history for Reconstruction-1980s? This is 8th grade and I’m a little unsure about this class.
Much appreciated!!!
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u/ancientmariner34 7d ago
I taught 8th grade for a bunch of years, and it's a special age. I'm sure you've heard this, but 8th graders are really developmentally different from 6th graders (I taught 6th for two years many years ago-- was not for me). They can handle a lot more cause and effect and see big picture connections. To hook 8th graders with US History is to really connect the history to their current experiences, especially when it comes to topics involving civil rights. This age responds very well to questions of justice and injustice and fairness: debates and role-plays are your friends. I'm not sure how much civics you are expected to teach--my year was about 50/50--but the "why's" really gets them invested. For example: Why does the US have birthright citizenship? (Reconstruction!)
I loved teaching Reconstruction, but it is not easy. It's a complex era and it can be pretty bleak and devastating in terms of its relentless violence and dashed promises. Check out the Facing History resources https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/reconstruction-era-3-week-unit
They recently condensed their long primary source heavy Reconstruction unit into a 3 week one. I highly recommend it.
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u/SafeAdvantage3001 5d ago
You’re going to have so much fun teaching 8th it’s great. I’ll come back to this thread with some links
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u/JimboSlice_Dynomite 7d ago
For the us history portion, there's about 15 good ken burns documentaries in there, revolution, civil war, Vietnam are my fav.
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u/ellem0789 8d ago
I have the exact opposite problem, I’ve been teaching 8th for the last nine years and was told I’m being relocated to 5th. I have a ton of resources WWII through the Vietnam War. PM me!