Lightning Jay

Here's a story that deserves attention.

These standards push Trump talking points into school curriculum.

For real, it's the worst I’ve seen in over 100 years of right-wing school aggression.

A more complete Latin American history, including centuries of US influence, helps students understand the complexities surrounding Nicolás Maduro’s arrest High school students in the US often learn about Latin America through the lens of the US, as a main character that exerts power.

New explainer with a Ana Ros, a Binghamton colleague. If we don't teach students to understand American violence abroad, they won't understand American violence at home.
theconversation.com/a-more-compl...

Read it last year. Still thinking about it. It's such a gem.

The trend is similar in Blue, Red, and Purple states, which suggests there is something about this narrative that is politically palatable. I argue, however, that graduating students who do not know about the defining political movement of their time is a failure of social studies education.

The biggest gap is around social movements, activists, and the individual people, issues, and goals that make up the Right.

I look at the state standards for the 30 most populous states and discover a deep avoidance of the modern conservative movements in most states. There is some discussion of presidential administrations (particularly Nixon and Reagan), but few other politicians.

The modern political right in United States history standards The last decade has seen a global rise in the power of the political Right. In some countries, that has meant a shift towards centre-right traditional conservativism. In others, more radical rightw...

New Article! What do high school students learn about rightwing history? Not very much. www.tandfonline.com/eprint/C7MT4...

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

This link is paywalled, but I'm always happy to share with teachers. Email if interested.

Social Education September 2025

Should Project 2025 be required reading for high schoolers? In our new article, @abigailrd.bsky.social and I explore two ways for teachers to bring challenging texts into the classroom. www.socialstudies.org/social-educa...

Even as oppression descends, a democratic education campaign can uplift.

As always, Dan and Michael were amazing hosts on @visionsofed.bsky.social and I'm proud to write with Tim Patterson, Jenni Conrad and
@wendychanw.bsky.social

Our conversation is based on this paper. bsky.app/profile/ligh...

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…

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...

As Binghamton and the broader SUNY system invests in community schools, the democratic schools that we dream of depend on our ability to prepare teachers for those contexts. It was great working with Dr. Naorah Rimkunas on this, who has a deep understanding of that work.

Most teacher ed. programs don't help teachers learn to work with families. This paper reports on our work at Binghamton U to change that. We found that when preservice teachers talk with parents, it can help teachers AND parents!!

There's a lot of evidence that collaboration between teachers and families is one of the most powerful levers in education, BUT real collaboration is tricky.

New paper! Real Talk: Designing Practice-Based Teacher Education for Family Communication www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/15...

As always, I'm so lucky to get to work with @abbyreisman.bsky.social Tim Patterson Jenni Conrad and @wendychanw.bsky.social

The social studies discourse instrument: Validating an observation tool for classroom discussions This article introduces the Social Studies Discourse Instrument (SSDI), a novel observation tool for capturing whole-class discussions in social studies. This tool assesses three domains of classro...

The paper is our work on the Social Studies Discourse Instrument, which is a new validated observation tool for social studies classroom discussions. We're really hoping that it can help social studies teachers, scholars, and educators think more collaboratively. www.tandfonline.com/eprint/ETANM...

#AERA is such an intense conference. I always come back with so many ideas. This year, I'm also coming back with an award! So grateful to the Social Studies SIG and my co-authors for the Outstanding Paper recognition.

Supreme Court Seems Set to Allow Opt-Outs From L.G.B.T.Q. Stories in Schools (Gift Article) In a lively and sometimes heated argument, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority appeared poised to rule for parents with religious objections to storybooks with gay and transgender characters.

School people, bad news from SCOTUS.

This case is a big deal. Yes, LGBTQ rights, but much more:

It threatens basic school functions:
1.) Children's right to get the best knowledge;
2.) Schools' ability to do basic administration.
Here's an explainer thread: (1/)
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/22/u...

I'm late to the party here. Things are moving so quickly that it's hard to find the right resources. I'll keep my eye out.

Some great news!

The call for papers on Shifting Practices in History Education in Africa: Critical Perspectives and New Directions Edited by Abigail Branford, Denise Bentrovato, Johan Wasserman and Joanna Wojdon For publication from early 2026 Expressions of interest due: 1 May 2025 Due date for paper submission: 2 September 2025 Calls for improving the teaching of African history across the continent have been made by academics, activists, UNESCO, the popular press, and teachers and students themselves. These calls have identified issues such as the dominance of European history and the history of ‘great men’; the exclusion of marginalised groups; the lack of critical narratives; and the prevalence of rote-learning and teaching-to-test pedagogies. This special theme presents an opportunity to take stock of history education practices across African contexts, to identify shifts and resistance in addressing such issues. It also seeks to explore the role of different actors such as policy-makers, textbook authors, teachers and students in creating affordances and constraints in the history education space. The special theme also aspires to emphasise the voices of history teachers and students at all levels of education. Whilst curricula and policy play an important role in structuring history education, too often it is assumed rather than investigated how these are experienced by teachers and students. This special series seeks to ask how histories are navigated, internalised, ignored or resisted by teachers and students. This also includes teachers-in-training, as initial teacher education is a vital but under-emphasised arena which shapes later classroom interactions. Voices from these spaces can shed light on changing pedagogical interactions beyond the assumptions of official documents. Submit expressions of interest by May 1 2025.

HERJ has a #CallForPapers on Shifting Practices in #HistoryEducation in Africa: Critical Perspectives and New Directions.

For more information, including how to contribute, read the full call here:
journals.uclpress.co.uk/herj/news/25/

Articles will publish #OpenAccess and without APC

That's a great analogy. I think great histories do all the above, they provide knowledge and show how the knowledge is produced, what sources and questions etc. To me, the problem is making this accessible to students, not needing to create a new pathway.

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".

Surely nothing oedipal about a government run by two Penn alum with famously horrible fathers attacking their alma mater.