Annie McMahon Whitlock, Ph.D

Happy to be in DC again (this time it’s not 400 degrees outside!) for the National Council for the Social Studies Conference. I’m here until Saturday— flag me down and say hello if you’re here too! #ncss25 #cufa25

In their edited volume Drs.Clark and van Kessel use technoskepticism to frame their discussions on the uses and drawbacks of generative AI. Read Dr. @anniewhitlock.bsky.social's review here: buff.ly/XmAALeq @tcpress.bsky.social

CUFA 2025 is going! Day One is here. We are looking forward to the dynamic sessions that will expand our perspectives and practices. This is a space for critical dialogue, bold ideas, and fostering a community that will inspire and sustain us!

I'm looking for a good lead on a literary agent--preferably someone that works with public history, education, quasi-journalistic authors :) DM me if anyone has suggestions! @historians.org @gliamericanhistory.bsky.social #publishing #literaryagents

Susan Ford Bales is speaking at #mcss25 about the legacy of her father Gerald Ford and her mother Betty Ford.

It's my last day meeting with my students. This group has been amazing to try new things on this semester and now I have a bunch more ideas to come. I've had 99 problems this semester, but social studies methods ain't one. I'm going to miss them!

I know my bio says I’m a Lions fan but I’m really a Detroit sports fanatic in general. Although the Pistons couldn’t pull it off for Game 1, we looked good! @detroitpistons.bsky.social

Next week is our final meeting! I am going to miss both of these classes of future teachers!

And of course I made a plug for the Michigan Council for the Social Studies, which offers FREE membership to pre-service teachers.

Since TikTok is so huge, they recommended good accounts to follow of teachers they see on that app. Now I’ll need an account I guess!

It was also our last week of classes at GVSU so we made a Professional Learning Plan where we recommended reading for our own content knowledge/PCK. We also recommended children’s books for our classroom libraries.

AI came up with some good ideas for activities but couldn’t link them to Michigan Social Studies standards or inquiry questions. We talked about the fact that teachers still have to do the hard thinking—even if AI can make some things easier

We read “Pinning with Pause” which has a great checklist for vetting online resources. I also walked them through a ChatGPT generated lesson and vetted it with them together

Since their inquiries are due next week we spent this week in SS methods talking about where to get resources for lesson planning, building on our visit to the CML last week.

I also held a class at the “Curriculum Materials Library” so students can see what’s available for them to check out. And maaaan do some of those resources need to be vetted. I now have another idea for next semester… 😀😀😀

Yet inquiry-based social studies with multiple perspectives, rich diversity, and critical thinking incorporates ELA without even trying.

Yes we still talked about children’s books. Yes we still talked about writing. But I wanted them to realize that the argument of “just integrate” SS into our regularly scheduled Science of Reading scripted program isn’t doing SS justice

Last week we talked about integration of ELA and SS but I’m talking about it differently than I have in the past. I taught them about planning SS first then integrating ELA skills and showed how easy it is to incorporate ELA into SS rather than the other way around

I’ve also been planning the Michigan Council for the Social Studies Annual Conference, held on the GVSU downtown GR campus. Very excited for our lineup!

The centers mixed literacy (comprehension, graphic organizers, and vocabulary) with social studies (timelines, primary sources)

We then moved into talking about “centers” as an instructional strategy to incorporate play as well as integrate social studies with literacy. I read aloud “Finding Winnie” and then in groups, they designed a center to go with that book

Maybe we are doing something right guys!

We read the chapter in SSFABW about Gamification and talked about simulations, especially those that are problematic. I am happy to say that each semester when I ask students if they participated in an offensive simulation as a kid that the number gets fewer each time.

Our favorite were Arthur’s Park, City Island’s Adventure, and anything Molly of Denali. However, I was bummed to see that PBS removed the social studies collection of games. They had Science, Math, Art, and many others— no SS. It was there in November…

Last week in PK-3 SS methods we talked about play. We reviewed the benefits of play on brain development and then talked about social studies digital games appropriate for young kids. They got to play with @pbs Kids Games that feature SS concepts

We talked about cultural universals and how we shared many similar experiences but HOW we experienced them differ.

It was maybe 4 people! Then I had them bring an artifact to share that represents their family and we did a good old fashioned show and tell. 😀

Last week in PK-3 methods we read about Normalization of families and holidays from Social Studies for a Better World. We identified the dominant narrative of a “normal” family and (mom, dad, married with 2 kids and a dog) and then took a poll of how many of us actually grew up with that structure

My FAVORITE part was having Gabi Likavec from the Michigan Geographic Alliance come to campus and bring her giant map of Michigan. Big maps are also developmentally appropriate and Gabi showed my students fun activities to build map skills