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NCSS Conference Insights. Social Studies Literacy.

Kristin Rimal

I recently attended the National Conference for Social Studies in Boston. During one of the breakout sessions we learned about what the Tribute System was and what it was not during trade along the Silk Road. At one point, the presenter stopped and as an aside said, "Can we all agree to start using the word POLITY  during instruction when talking about any kind of government? 

 Do you know any new specific words in Social Studies that we should be using throughout the year? 

I know that using B.C.E and C.E. Is preferable to B.C and A.D.  

  • Going from BCE/CE from BC/AD has been an ongoing process for me, but I'm in.  It just took a while, I still catch some of the old labels in some of my materials. I'll be honest, polity is new to me.  Am I the only one? Worth a Google search for me and certainly a conversation with colleagues. 

    I know it's not a new term, but one term I have found myself using a lot more in my classes over the past few years has been: zeitgeist.  I've found that it really shows me that students understand a topic, unit, time period, etc. if they can describe the zeitgeist for a time, place or group of people.  

  • in reply to Todd Nussen

    I'm now going to being using the word zeitgeist. Whet a great word for my students to know. Me too.  

  • in reply to Kristin Rimal

    Yeah, it's not totally universal - hard for students to explain the zeitgeist for what I teach them about Mesopotamia but it definitely worked for our units on nationalism, the Meiji Restoration, and parts of the the World War I unit.  

  •   , thanks for this post. What a great question. I tell students if they want to understand modern World History the word to know is resentment. It's surprising how much it helps to explain. A great book is the Age of Anger by Pankaj Mishra.

  • in reply to John Vidoli

    The book is in my 'basket' at Amazon. Thanks for the recommendation.

    Right now, my class is learning about the Mongol destruction of Baghdad. According to some sources it led to the growth of ultra conservative Islam. Muslim people wondered how Allah could have allowed such destruction. They came to the conclusion that they were responsible because they were not adhering to strict religious policies. Can ideas in the book by Mishra be applied to way in the past? Or, does it deal with stricly modern events.  

  • in reply to Kristin Rimal

    Hi  , Mishra's book does look at more modern history -- say mid-18th century on, though there could be some parallel's to contemporary history in SW Asia. It would be interesting analyze the role  ultra-conservative Islam in played in the restructuring of communities after collapse. Or are you in Unit 6?

  • Was polity preferred by the presenter because "nation" and "state" et cetera are too specific? I'm curious what their tone was...

    There was a hearty debate a few years back when our central office tried to rebrand Social Studies as Social Science. Technically not wrong, but confusing. And "studies" doesn't always give an air of seriousness.

  • in reply to Will Nash

    It sounded like this is something new that all teachers are going to be doing. And, in fact, since the conference, I have heard the word 'polity' used over and again. I wonder if anyone else has heard an uptick in the use of the word? 

  • in reply to Kristin Rimal

    I'm not sure it would be very helpful for my students. It seems rather specialized. I like how we use community to cover a range of human organizations.

  • in reply to John Vidoli

    Does this mean that the words community and polity are interchangeable? Can the term community refer to a form of government?