SOCIAL STUDIES FOR A BETTER WORLD:
AN ANTI-OPPRESSIVE GUIDE FOR ELEMENTARY EDUCATORS
By Noreen Naseem Rodríguez & Katy Swalwell
Plan and deliver a curriculum to help students connect with the humanity of others!
In the wake of 2020, we need today’s young learners to be prepared to develop solutions to a host of entrenched and complex issues, including systemic racism, massive environmental problems, deep political divisions, and future pandemics that will severely test the effectiveness and equity of our health policies. What better place to start that preparation than with a social studies curriculum that enables elementary students to envision and build a better world? In this engaging guide two experienced social studies educators unpack the oppressions that so often characterize the elementary curriculum—normalization, idealization, heroification, and dramatization—and show how common pitfalls can be replaced with creative solutions. Whether you’re a classroom teacher, methods student, or curriculum coordinator, this is a book that can transform your understanding of the social studies disciplines and their power to disrupt the narratives that maintain current inequities.
Order here and visit www.ssfabw.com for additional resources and information.
In the wake of 2020, we need today’s young learners to be prepared to develop solutions to a host of entrenched and complex issues, including systemic racism, massive environmental problems, deep political divisions, and future pandemics that will severely test the effectiveness and equity of our health policies. What better place to start that preparation than with a social studies curriculum that enables elementary students to envision and build a better world? In this engaging guide two experienced social studies educators unpack the oppressions that so often characterize the elementary curriculum—normalization, idealization, heroification, and dramatization—and show how common pitfalls can be replaced with creative solutions. Whether you’re a classroom teacher, methods student, or curriculum coordinator, this is a book that can transform your understanding of the social studies disciplines and their power to disrupt the narratives that maintain current inequities.
Order here and visit www.ssfabw.com for additional resources and information.
Advance Praise for Social Studies for A Better World
"Brilliantly conceptualized, Social Studies for a Better World offers essential insights for understanding the ability of social studies to help students decipher the past and make sense of the present. Equally important, it provides an easy-to-follow blueprint for classroom implementation. This is essential reading for anyone who believes in the power of social studies to transform society."
—Hasan Kwame Jeffries, Associate Professor of History, The Ohio State University
“Speaking as scholars, educators, mothers, and human beings, Noreen Naseem Rodríguez and Katy Swalwell offer the support and inspiration educators need to skillfully practice anti-oppression in our classrooms and to prepare children to carry that practice into their lives outside of school.”
—Carla Shalaby, author of Troublemakers: Lessons in Freedom from Young Children at School
"No one should step into an elementary classroom without first reading Social Studies for a Better World. The book sings with possibility about creating classrooms of justice and kindness. It is utopian in the absolute best sense of the term. So many teaching books are dry as dust, and pedagogically unhelpful. But Noreen Naseem Rodríguez and Katy Swalwell know what they are talking about. Inviting, warm, and deeply humane, Social Studies for a Better World is the book that all elementary teachers need in these hard times."
—Bill Bigelow, Curriculum Editor, Rethinking Schools
"Brilliantly conceptualized, Social Studies for a Better World offers essential insights for understanding the ability of social studies to help students decipher the past and make sense of the present. Equally important, it provides an easy-to-follow blueprint for classroom implementation. This is essential reading for anyone who believes in the power of social studies to transform society."
—Hasan Kwame Jeffries, Associate Professor of History, The Ohio State University
“Speaking as scholars, educators, mothers, and human beings, Noreen Naseem Rodríguez and Katy Swalwell offer the support and inspiration educators need to skillfully practice anti-oppression in our classrooms and to prepare children to carry that practice into their lives outside of school.”
—Carla Shalaby, author of Troublemakers: Lessons in Freedom from Young Children at School
"No one should step into an elementary classroom without first reading Social Studies for a Better World. The book sings with possibility about creating classrooms of justice and kindness. It is utopian in the absolute best sense of the term. So many teaching books are dry as dust, and pedagogically unhelpful. But Noreen Naseem Rodríguez and Katy Swalwell know what they are talking about. Inviting, warm, and deeply humane, Social Studies for a Better World is the book that all elementary teachers need in these hard times."
—Bill Bigelow, Curriculum Editor, Rethinking Schools
ANTI-OPPRESSIVE EDUCATION IN 'ELITE' SCHOOLS: PROMISING PRACTICES & CAUTIONARY TALES FROM THE FIELD
Edited by Katy Swalwell & Daniel Spikes, afterword by Paul Gorski
This collection of groundbreaking essays brings together a diverse group of experts who are researching, theorizing, and enacting anti-oppressive education in “elite” schooling environments—that is, schools imbued with wealth and whiteness. This volume explores how those who are in a position of power can be educated to take active steps that reduce and disrupt oppression. From unique points of view as educators, students, or researchers, the contributors address why this work matters, what is needed to sustain it, what are common pitfalls and how can they be avoided? Readers are encouraged to mull over various perspectives and experiences to find answers that fit their own contexts.
- -- Identifies ethical and effective pedagogical and curricular approaches to use with students in “elite” school settings.
- -- Examines what it means to work or learn in “elite” educational spaces for those who hold non-dominant identities.
- -- Explores the special obligations and responsibilities these schools require furthering justice.
- -- Looks at how teachers can navigate the unique challenges that arise, the conditions needed to support them, and what counts as success for anti-oppressive education in “elite” schools.
EDUCATING ACTIVIST ALLIES
One of CHOICE Magazine’s 2013 Outstanding Academic Titles and an Honorable Mention for the 2014 AERA Division B-Curriculum Studies Outstanding Book Award
Praise for Educating Activist Allies (Routledge, 2013):
"In this accessible, story-rich volume, Swalwell offers example after example of how educators in different elite contexts attempt to teach for social justice—described in many instances through her own careful observations of their teaching. Interviews with students offer a window into how this teaching was received. This is a valuable book for any educator trying to clarify what it means to teach for social justice, but especially for those who find themselves teaching the children of the wealthy." —Rethinking Schools Editorial Board
"In this book, Katy Swalwell reminds us that critical consciousness is not just the purview of the marginalized, and that lasting social change based on equity and justice requires a transformation in consciousness of all people, including elites. Filled with eloquently written prose, sharp political analysis, and powerful story, Educating Activist Allies grounds us in the challenges of teaching for social justice while providing concrete hopeful models of practice."
—Wayne Au, Author of Unequal By Design
Praise for Educating Activist Allies (Routledge, 2013):
"In this accessible, story-rich volume, Swalwell offers example after example of how educators in different elite contexts attempt to teach for social justice—described in many instances through her own careful observations of their teaching. Interviews with students offer a window into how this teaching was received. This is a valuable book for any educator trying to clarify what it means to teach for social justice, but especially for those who find themselves teaching the children of the wealthy." —Rethinking Schools Editorial Board
"In this book, Katy Swalwell reminds us that critical consciousness is not just the purview of the marginalized, and that lasting social change based on equity and justice requires a transformation in consciousness of all people, including elites. Filled with eloquently written prose, sharp political analysis, and powerful story, Educating Activist Allies grounds us in the challenges of teaching for social justice while providing concrete hopeful models of practice."
—Wayne Au, Author of Unequal By Design
THE CRITICAL SOCIAL EDUCATOR
Along with Sarah Pamperin, Katie Payne, Carla Shalaby, Noreen Naseem Rodríguez, and Sarah Shear, Katy serves as one of the founding members of the Editorial of The Critical Social Educator.
The Critical Social Educator is an open access, peer-reviewed, multidisciplinary journal designed to connect practitioners and researchers interested in documenting the challenges and possibilities of critical social education at the elementary level. By critical, we mean an examination of power relations with a focus on injustice and oppression in terms of how these operate within sites of learning as well as efforts to disrupt them. By social education, we mean all experiences through which children learn about the social world and their participation in it. By elementary, we mean educational experiences that include children ages 5-12 and/or prepare adults teaching and learning with this age group. The journal aims to provide a space for researchers and practitioners to be in dialogue about the possibilities and challenges of critical social education at the elementary level.
The Critical Social Educator is an open access, peer-reviewed, multidisciplinary journal designed to connect practitioners and researchers interested in documenting the challenges and possibilities of critical social education at the elementary level. By critical, we mean an examination of power relations with a focus on injustice and oppression in terms of how these operate within sites of learning as well as efforts to disrupt them. By social education, we mean all experiences through which children learn about the social world and their participation in it. By elementary, we mean educational experiences that include children ages 5-12 and/or prepare adults teaching and learning with this age group. The journal aims to provide a space for researchers and practitioners to be in dialogue about the possibilities and challenges of critical social education at the elementary level.
AMAZING IOWA SERIES
Named to the Library of Congress Great Places, Great Reads Special Collection
Winner of the 2021 Loren Horton Community History Award Certificate of Recognition for Outstanding Research or Publication from the Iowa State Historical Society
Click here to access information about the books, traveling exhibits, and supplemental curriculum for the Amazing Iowa series launched in 2018. Illustrated by Iowa artists, the books include kid-friendly biographies of incredible Iowans from diverse backgrounds. For purchasing the books, check out RAYGUN.
Winner of the 2021 Loren Horton Community History Award Certificate of Recognition for Outstanding Research or Publication from the Iowa State Historical Society
Click here to access information about the books, traveling exhibits, and supplemental curriculum for the Amazing Iowa series launched in 2018. Illustrated by Iowa artists, the books include kid-friendly biographies of incredible Iowans from diverse backgrounds. For purchasing the books, check out RAYGUN.
COMING SOON...
SELECTED PEER REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS
Swalwell, K., Rodríguez, N.N., Updegraff, A., & Winters, L. (2023). Distracting, erasing, and othering: A critical analysis of the Teachers Pay Teachers' Teach for Justice Collection. Harvard Educational Review, 93(1), 104-130.
Dodman, S. L., Swalwell, K., DeMulder, E. K., & Stribling, S. M. (2021). Critical data-driven decision making: A conceptual model of data use for equity. Teaching and Teacher Education, 99, 103272.
Swalwell, K. & Sinclair, K. (2020). The appeal of a controversial text: Who uses A People’s History of the United States in the U.S. history classroom and why. Journal of Social Studies Research.
Gallagher, J., Swalwell, K., & Almond-Bellows, E. (2019). Pinning with pause: Supporting teachers’ critical consumption on sites of curriculum sharing. Social Education, 83(4), 217-224.
Howard, A. Swalwell, K., & Adler, K. (2018). Making class: Children’s perceptions of class through illustrations. Teachers College Record, 120(7).
Swalwell, K. & Schweber, S. (2016). Teaching through turmoil: Social studies teachers & local controversial events. Theory and Research in Social Education, 44(3), 283-315.
Swalwell, K., Pellegrino, A., & View, J. (2015). Teachers' curricular choices when teaching histories of oppressed people: Capturing the U.S. Civil Rights Movement. Journal of Social Studies Research, 39(1).
Swalwell, K. (2013). "With great power comes great responsibility": Privileged students' conceptions of justice-oriented citizenship. Democracy & Education, 21(1).
Dodman, S. L., Swalwell, K., DeMulder, E. K., & Stribling, S. M. (2021). Critical data-driven decision making: A conceptual model of data use for equity. Teaching and Teacher Education, 99, 103272.
Swalwell, K. & Sinclair, K. (2020). The appeal of a controversial text: Who uses A People’s History of the United States in the U.S. history classroom and why. Journal of Social Studies Research.
Gallagher, J., Swalwell, K., & Almond-Bellows, E. (2019). Pinning with pause: Supporting teachers’ critical consumption on sites of curriculum sharing. Social Education, 83(4), 217-224.
Howard, A. Swalwell, K., & Adler, K. (2018). Making class: Children’s perceptions of class through illustrations. Teachers College Record, 120(7).
Swalwell, K. & Schweber, S. (2016). Teaching through turmoil: Social studies teachers & local controversial events. Theory and Research in Social Education, 44(3), 283-315.
Swalwell, K., Pellegrino, A., & View, J. (2015). Teachers' curricular choices when teaching histories of oppressed people: Capturing the U.S. Civil Rights Movement. Journal of Social Studies Research, 39(1).
Swalwell, K. (2013). "With great power comes great responsibility": Privileged students' conceptions of justice-oriented citizenship. Democracy & Education, 21(1).
SELECTED PRACTITIONER PUBLICATIONS
Swalwell, K. (2015). Strike! Teaching and learning labor history in a right-to-work state. Rethinking Schools, 29(2), 47-55.
Gorski, P. & Swalwell, K. (2015). Equity literacy for all. Educational Leadership.
Swalwell, K. (2011). Why our students need equity literacy. Teaching Tolerance Blog.
Gorski, P. & Swalwell, K. (2015). Equity literacy for all. Educational Leadership.
Swalwell, K. (2011). Why our students need equity literacy. Teaching Tolerance Blog.
SELECTED AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS
2021 Iowa State Historical Society Loren Horton Community History Award for Outstanding Research or Publication
Amazing Iowa Women and Amazing Iowa Athletes
2020 ISU College of Human Sciences, Faculty Award for Inclusive Achievement
State Library of Iowa selection of Amazing Iowa Women for the Library of Congress Great Reads Great Places list
2016 National Council of Social Studies, Research Into Practice Award, Honorable Mention for Swalwell, K. & Schweber, S. (2016)
2014 Outstanding Faculty Award, Iowa State University Greek Community
AERA Division B-Curriculum Studies, Outstanding Book Award, Honorable Mention for Educating Activist Allies
2013 Kipchoge Kirkland Social Justice Award, College & University Faculty Assembly - National Council of Social Studies
CHOICE Magazine Outstanding Academic Title for Educating Activist Allies
2012 Outstanding Dissertation Award, American Educational Research Association - Division B (Curriculum Studies)
Amazing Iowa Women and Amazing Iowa Athletes
2020 ISU College of Human Sciences, Faculty Award for Inclusive Achievement
State Library of Iowa selection of Amazing Iowa Women for the Library of Congress Great Reads Great Places list
2016 National Council of Social Studies, Research Into Practice Award, Honorable Mention for Swalwell, K. & Schweber, S. (2016)
2014 Outstanding Faculty Award, Iowa State University Greek Community
AERA Division B-Curriculum Studies, Outstanding Book Award, Honorable Mention for Educating Activist Allies
2013 Kipchoge Kirkland Social Justice Award, College & University Faculty Assembly - National Council of Social Studies
CHOICE Magazine Outstanding Academic Title for Educating Activist Allies
2012 Outstanding Dissertation Award, American Educational Research Association - Division B (Curriculum Studies)