I’m almost fully recovered from an insanely busy time at the National Council for Social Studies annual conference in Washington, D.C. Thinking Nation came in full force with Annie Jenson, Valerie Nesmith-Arechiga, Spenser Mix, and myself (Zachary Cote) all flying to D.C ready to meet inspiring educators.
After a quick trip to the U.S. Capitol for a tour, Annie and I presented on how to effectively facilitate PLCs at the National Social Studies Leader Association’s (NSSLA) Annual Meeting, which happens the day before the NCSS festivities begin. At NSSLA it was great to catch up with partners like Carly Donick at Ventura Unified School District in Ventura, CA and Danyael Graham at Loudoun County Public Schools in Loudoun County, VA. These social studies leaders are thinking deeply about how to impact systems in their own contexts and I’m continually encouraged by their work.
On Friday, December 5, NCSS kicked off! The Exhibit Hall was bustling and we got to chat with so many people! We also kicked off our New Minimum Standard campaign! We had over 50 educators sign the pledge to commit to a new minimum standard in history education, one that every educator can achieve. While many initiatives try to break through the ceiling of what is possible (and we love them for it!), this initiative is about establishing a better floor for what the minimum should look like for our students. It’s about calling ourselves back to the definition of our discipline, quality pedagogy, and sustainable collaboration.
If you have not signed the pledge, please do!
Annie and I both presented at NCSS, which is always such a treat. Annie presented with our colleague, Ebony McKiver at the Social Studies Accelerator on Historical Fiction and Graphic Biographies. I had one presentation with Joanna Capps at the National Archives Foundation on their "America's 100 Docs" initiative and another one with Emi Iwatani and Angela Hardy from Digital Promise on strategies to enhance student discussion. If you weren’t at any of these sessions but you want the resources we went over, we created a whole landing page for the conference where you can access the materials! Head over there and see what all the buzz was about.
There was so much more that was exciting (and draining!) at the conference, but in all, it served as a great way to end 2025 and build momentum to 2026, the 250th anniversary of the United States of America. I’m excited about the collaborative projects we are a part of, like the National Archives Foundation’s “America’s 100 Docs” game and iCivics’ Civic Learning Week.
In the next blog, I plan to take some time to outline the importance of our New Minimum Standard and what that looks like for teachers, but I do want to remind you all of our NCSS Special in this post. From now until 12/31, we are providing student access to our platform for the rest of the school year for just $5/student. We hope that this significant discount provides you the opportunities to use Thinking Nation’s platform to empower your students with the tools necessary to sustain our democracy and thrive in our world.