This past May, the inaugural Elementary Social Studies Education Summit (ESSES) was held at the University of North Carolina Wilmington’s Watson College of Education. Appalachian State University’s Reich College of Education associate professor Elizabeth Bellows was one of the summit’s organizers.
The theme of the inaugural summit was What we do next matters: Elementary Social Studies teacher education in contentious times. Led by faculty members from 30 different colleges and universities, presentations, sessions, and clinics focused on one of three sub-themes: rethinking contents and contexts, critical dialogues, and public scholarship. In addition a new social studies journal, The Critical Social Educator was announced.
The Elementary Social Studies Education Summit's organizers: Dr. Elizabeth Bellows (Appalachian State University), Dr. Lisa Brown Buchanan (University of North Carolina Wilmington), Dr. Sarah Shear (University of Washington-Bothell), Dr. Christina Tschida (East Carolina University), and Dr. Liz Saylor (University of Georgia)
Dr. Noreen Naseem Rodríguez, assistant professor of elementary social studies at Iowa State University, was the keynote speaker at the summit. Her address was titled, “Why We Can't Wait: Toward Transformative Elementary Social Studies Teacher Education.”
“Dr. Rodriquez concluded her keynote by asking three things of participants: 1) Engage in abolitionist teaching, so that uplifting humanity is at the center of all pedagogical decisions; 2) Disrupt the canon and rethink the books and readings you assign; and 3) Pass the mic,” said Bellows.
Bellows noted in Rodríquez's address, Rodríquez said, “By creating this opportunity for me, the leadership team here at ESSES absolutely embodied the third ask of passing the mic. They’ve also created a space here that many of us were yearning for. They brought us together, and then they stepped back to let others do the talking.”
“The summit was attended by 75 researchers and teachers from 19 different states, and we have already begun planning for next year,” said Bellows. A review of the summit was released via the “Visions of Education” podcast on June 27, 2019.
Related article: https://uncw.edu/newsletters/watson-chronicle/2019/06/wce-hosts-national-social-studies-education-summit.html
Summit Organizers
