I’ve worked in history and education on both sides of the information revolution and on both sides of the teacher/administration divide. When I started teaching in the mid 90s, we only had textbooks, what we could grab at the local library, and whatever worksheets the previous teacher left behind. Now, after 12 years as a teacher, 18 years as a K-12 Social Studies supervisor, and 35 years as a devoted reader of history, I’ve seen how the digital age has transformed our relationship with information—and widened the gap between how history is practiced as a discipline and how it’s taught in schools. Infinitude is just thinking out loud about that disconnection and how we can fix it. 

Observations and opinions expressed on this site are solely my own and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of any of my present or past employers or affiliated organizations.

The internet was just became accessible to teachers and students when I started teaching in 1996. Twelve years later I was fully enamored with all of the documents, maps, images and video that was suddenly available to us so I was an active advocate educational technology. When Frontline filmmakers visited my school about a feature documentary about growing up online, the administration directed them right to me. I still stand by some of the comments I made in the interview, but many of them sound quite naïve almost 20 years later.

New Jersey’s “Classroom Closeup” program featured my school’s use of the NJN’s Digital Classroom in 2009. The articles and video clips available in the classroom fit well into AP European History and using them allowed students to develop an information literacy. In retrospect, we were right to recognize the need for students to process information more than simply remember it, but we couldn’t have forecast what AI would do to that equation.

I worked with teachers to develop a 7th grade World Cultures and Geography lesson for the middle east unit that introduced students to the basic tenets, culture and practices of Islam, while also teaching them a critical thinking lesson about generalizations. The lesson taught about the five pillars of Islam and included music and videos about Islam. A couple parents raised questions about the lesson at a Board of Education meeting, then appeared on the Tucker Carlson program, one of them claiming that we were indoctrinating her son, trying to convert him to Islam. The national broadcast brought national attention and threats from across the country, then a lawsuit in federal court. At the next month’s Board Meeting I presented a review of the K-12 Social Studies program’s teaching about religion to an overflow crowd, detailing resources and lessons that met the requirements of the New Jersey Social Studies standards.

While school districts across the country were navigating the constantly shifting pandemic protocols of hybrid learning, many of us were also reeling from the murder of George Floyd and all of the curricular questions raised by diversity and inclusion. Questions from concerned students and parents were addressed through curricular presentations at Board of Education meetings. This presentation outlines the lessons, learning activities and instructional resources we use to have students explore issues of race and social justice in Social Studies from Kindergarten through 12th Grade.