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To The Past @tothepast.bsky.social · 10d

What a useful process! I think we often assume that telling/reading about historical thinking and possible classroom strategies is sufficient. It takes expertise, practice, and reflection!

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To The Past @tothepast.bsky.social · 13d

You may.

To The Past @tothepast.bsky.social · 15d

Is there a link I can follow up on without scanning a QR code and continuing with my phone?

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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 23d

History curious? You don't need to be in London (or the UK) to attend many Institute of Historical Research seminars, although if you're in Bloomsbury you'll enjoy doing so. Most are hybrid (online/in person). They're free, usually fortnightly and open to the public.

Starting this week:

Events

Stay up to date with the upcoming events organised or hosted by the Institute of Historical Research

www.history.ac.uk

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To The Past @tothepast.bsky.social · Sep 5

The 2025-2026 Social Studies cohort is fortunate to have you!

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To The Past @tothepast.bsky.social · Sep 1

“It’s about recognizing how the past is used and how that impacts society today"

Grateful for this feature of an excellent teacher guiding students towards a deeper understanding of history as a discipline. I've learned a lot from Carly and use some of the lessons she developed and describes here.

Thinking Historically for Canada's Future @thinkhist.bsky.social · Aug 11

Carly teaches at St. George’s School, a large, independent, non-denominational all-boys school in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Learn more about Carly's experiences at: thinking-historically.ca/carly-wenner/

@carlapeck.bsky.social
@ualbertaed.bsky.social
@carlywenner.bsky.social

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National Council for History Education @historyed.bsky.social · Aug 29

Teaching history means asking tough questions and uncovering new perspectives. This fall, NCHE is offering back-to-school webinars to put those ideas into action.

Please share so history educators in need of great PD can find the support they deserve.

Learn more and register here: buff.ly/WhembxH

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To The Past @tothepast.bsky.social · Aug 29

Canadian Social Studies Educators Network of Canada has released their Fall 2025 Salon Newsletter! @actioncanada.bsky.social shares their Public Policy 101 resources on why policy matters, how it gets created, and the role of citizens in the process: ssencressc.ca/publications... #sschat #bced

Salon - SSENC

These are our archived issues of Salon, our newsletter.

ssencressc.ca

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To The Past @tothepast.bsky.social · Aug 27

Good thinkers having good discussions. As we gear up for another year in the classroom, how can we make our classrooms hubs of rich discussion? #sschat #cdnhistory #historyeducation #historicalthinking #bced

Lightning Jay @lightningjay.bsky.social · Jul 22

New podcast!!! You can listen to @abbyreisman.bsky.social and I discuss the importance of discussions in the social studies classroom! It get meta!! visionsofed.com/2025/07/21/e...

Episode 216: Observing Classroom Discussions with Lightning Jay & Abby Reisman

In episode 216, Dan and Michael chat with Lightning Jay and Abby Reisman about their article published in Theory & Research in Social Education, “The social studies discourse instrument: Valida…

visionsofed.com

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To The Past @tothepast.bsky.social · Aug 25

Sometimes when conducting research, you get a glimpse into the imaginations of former readers. The legacies of shared textbooks. #Kilroy, bookworms and pencil imprints of pennies❤️.
archive.org/details/hist... #cdnhistory #historicalthinking #sschat

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Canadian Historical Association | Société historique du Canada @cndhistassoc.bsky.social · May 15

The CHA is proud to announce the books that are shortlisted for this year’s Best (English-Language) Scholarly Book in Canadian History prize! #cdnhist #prize

Shortlist: Best (English-Language) Scholarly Book in Canadian History Prize | Canadian Historical Association | Société historique du Canada

The CHA is proud to announce the books that are shortlisted for this year’s Best (English-Language) Scholarly Book in Canadian History prize. (In alphabetical order). Crystal Gail Fraser, By Strength,...

cha-shc.ca

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Canadian Historical Association | Société historique du Canada @cndhistassoc.bsky.social · May 15

The CHA is proud to announce the books that are shortlisted for this year’s Wallace K. Ferguson prize! #cdnhist #prize

Shortlist: Wallace K. Ferguson Prize | Canadian Historical Association | Société historique du Canada

The CHA is proud to announce the books that are shortlisted for this year’s Wallace K. Ferguson prize. (In alphabetical order). Jacob Blanc, The Prestes Column: An Interior History of Modern Brazil. D...

cha-shc.ca

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To The Past @tothepast.bsky.social · May 5

Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts (Wineburg), Why Won't You Just Tell us the Answer? (Lesh), New Possibilities for the Past (Clark), Knowing, Teaching, and Learning History (Stearns, Seixas, Wineburg).

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Joe Schmidt @madisonteacher.bsky.social · Apr 16

For the #FIELDGuide primary sources are the heart of Foundational Evidence. How do you use them to bring history to life? Share your favorite primary source and how you use it in your classroom and check out socialstudiesfieldguide.com to learn more
#PrimarySources #Inquiry @glennwiebe.bsky.social

Social Studies Field Guide

Foundational evidence, inquiry-based instruction, & edtech tools

socialstudiesfieldguide.com

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To The Past @tothepast.bsky.social · Apr 5

Working with primary sources is not a "spot the bias" game. Encourage students to attend to source metadata and contextual information to better understand why sources don't always agree with one another: tothepast.ca/contextualiz...

Contextualization: Stalag XI - To the Past

Stalag XI Topic: Canadian History, WWII Historical Thinking Skills: Contextualization Time Period: 1939-1945 Contextualizing a primary source is the process of utilizing an understanding of historical...

tothepast.ca

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Lindsay Gibson @lsgibson.bsky.social · Apr 5

Support Heritage Fairs in schools

Ariel Troster @arieltroster.com · Apr 4

Today I went to my kid’s middle school heritage fair, which featured a project on the history of drag in Canada, a Lego reproduction of the Oka Crisis, a display about the history of abortion rights, and two children dressed as different versions of Trotsky.

A+, no notes, the kids are alright.

A school project in the history of drag in Canada

Two children dressed as Trotsky in front of a poster board presentation about the history of Trostskism

A kid’s project on the history of abortion rights in Canada

A project on the Oka Crisis, featuring a Lego reenactment

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To The Past @tothepast.bsky.social · Mar 30

“I always tell my visitors that history is not the past — it is an interpretation of the past…It is fine to have good-faith disagreements about historical figures and events; that is what the historical process is about”

Contingent Magazine @contingent-mag.bsky.social · Mar 30

“'Excuse me,' a visitor asked as they tapped my shoulder . . . 'Is this one of those woke tours?'"

Our latest, a new mailbag from Nick DeLuca.

When Is History Advocacy?

Advocacy should not be a dirty word.

contingentmagazine.org

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To The Past @tothepast.bsky.social · Mar 21

But for me the episode revealed that what allows grandmasters to play with such tactical acumen is not only skills, and practice, but as you note, knowledge. How have historians approached similar problems in the past, how does their produced work help me better understand my current inquiry?

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To The Past @tothepast.bsky.social · Mar 21

When games do finally go out of book, it's a real dramatic moment, wonderfully illustrated in the podcast episode.

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To The Past @tothepast.bsky.social · Mar 21

Both players have already consulted the database, and have so much of "The Book" memorized that whole portions of the game are played in a noticeably rote manner, not dissimilar to the way a child who has played too much tic-tac-toe. Sometimes, whole games are played “within The Book”.

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To The Past @tothepast.bsky.social · Mar 21

For years afterwards he is booed booed by chess fans at major tournaments. For now, when two players face off in a major tournament, a certain phenomenon occurs:

The Rules Can Set You Free

Play is something we all do--it seems so natural, it feels a little bit ridiculous to ask why we need it.

www.radiolab.org

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To The Past @tothepast.bsky.social · Mar 21

Hi @lightningjay.bsky.social, @radiolab.bsky.social has a particularly memorable episode in which they describe how Frederic Friedel convinced the Russian Chess Federation in the 1980s to upload their database of games played onto an online database. www.radiolab.org/podcast/1538...

The Rules Can Set You Free

Play is something we all do--it seems so natural, it feels a little bit ridiculous to ask why we need it.

www.radiolab.org

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To The Past @tothepast.bsky.social · Mar 21

10 years in and I'm still figuring out what sourcing means in the context of historical inquiry. Thinking about assessment often means a rethink of our pedagogy as well: tothepast.ca/blog-what-is... #sschat #canadianhistory #bced #socialstudies

Blog: What is Sourcing? And why are we doing it again? - To the Past

In our previous post, I described how typical historical thinking assessments such as DBQs might just be assessing too much at one time, and that we would do well to break down the component skills, h...

tothepast.ca

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To The Past @tothepast.bsky.social · Mar 20

A little louder for the people in the back! Sourcing, close reading, and questioning without robust historical knowledge is unlikely to generate robust demonstrations of historical thinking. @lightningjay.bsky.social directing us appropriately towards "skills, practice, AND knowledge".

Lightning Jay @lightningjay.bsky.social · Mar 20

New Article! Better thinking about online information requires skills, practice, AND knowledge. I make the case that this new crisis highlights just how badly we need great history classes.

theconversation.com/why-history-...

Why history instruction is critical for combating online misinformation

Critical thinking involves specific skills for assessing evidence, but background knowledge about the subject is also essential.

theconversation.com

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Lindsay Gibson @lsgibson.bsky.social · Mar 13

We're looking for historians and history teachers in Canada to share their beliefs about history and presentism.

If you're interested in participating in this study, please click the following link:

ualbertauw.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

Includes an image of a bookshelf in the background and the following text: Are you a historian or history teacher in Canada?

We'd love to hear from you to learn more about your beliefs about history and its relationship to the present.

Click the above link to take the survey.

Advertisement from the University of Alberta and UBC that features an image of a bookshelf in the background adn the following text:

We're conducting a survey and interview research study at the University of Alberta focused on how teachers and historians thinking about the problem of presentism. University of ALberta Research Ethics ID (Pro00144497)

Please be aware that interacting with the social media post via "liking" or "following," will publicly identify you with the study.

Dr. James Miles, Principal Investigator, jamiles@ualberta.ca
Dr. Lindsay Gibson Co-Investigator, lindsay.gibson@ubc.ca

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