Last week, Spenser and I headed to St. Louis, MO for the annual National Council for History Education (NCHE) conference. I took some time on the plane home to reflect on my time there and thought it was worth sharing with all of you!
Another airplane (long 😬 ) post as I’m now headed back home from NCHE. Well, National Council for History Education, you curated quite the conference. I was continually humbled by the number of people who came up to me to share how they engage with Thinking Nation. To those of you who came up and shared, thank you. It meant so much!
Sometimes, we continue to press into a vision, seeing its worth but unsure of its impact. Hearing impact stories was like caffeine for the tired soul. Professors of History came and shared how they utilize our historical thinking skill icons as references in their classrooms. Professors of Education shared how they provide our Source Analysis protocols (available for free :)) to the future teachers in their methods class. Thinking Nation has become a framework for understanding how to teach the discipline of history. A vision for systemic change in social studies is taking shape!
Teachers came up to Spenser and me and shared how they embed our historical thinking skills into their classes to provide consistency through the discipline. Scholars showed me how they cite our white paper in their own work. Museum educators even came and shared how they use our framework in their own spaces! Several people came up just show gratitude and provide encouragement for our mission. Honestly, I could go on. I left so encouraged and excited for how Thinking Nation can and does support schools and the broader social studies landscape and am thrilled for the continued work to be done.
Speaking of continued work, being able to sit down and talk collaboration with so many fellow colleagues just continued to fuel my fire to do this work.
Finally, to end the conference presenting alongside Ebony McKiver of Social Studies Accelerator about how we can build better bridges between museums and K-12 institutions and having people come up to us and thank us and tell us it was the best session they attended, or that they plans for how to do more explicit integrations in their own community, was so encouraging.
Again, I’m so humbled and encouraged. Thank you for a dynamic NCHE 2025. Can’t wait for 2026!