Social Studies for a Better World

“This preeminent guide on teaching for justice in the elementary classroom is a rare and invaluable gift to those of us working— too often in isolation— to invite young children to struggle mightily alongside us for a better world. Speaking as scholars, educators, mothers, and human beings, the authors offer the support and inspiration we 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

"An immediately applicable and essential text for anyone teaching humanity from the perspectives of those it is denied. Practical, thought-provoking and timeless, this text offers a breadth of teachable possibilities and insightful unlearning that every critical educator in community with young children should have.”

Ki Gross, Founder, Woke Kindergarten

“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, host of the podcast “Teaching Hard History,” and Associate Professor of History, The Ohio State University

“No one should step into a 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, former classroom teachers, know what they are talking about. Inviting, warm, and deeply humane, Social Studies for a Better World is the book that all teachers need in these hard times.”

Bill Bigelow, Curriculum Editor, Rethinking Schools

“With the increased scrutiny on educators who aim to teach from an anti-oppressive stance, precise tools and strategies for liberatory education are needed now more than ever. Enter Social Studies for a Better World. By critiquing social studies as it is while sharing a vision for what it could be, Rodríguez and Swalwell provide elementary educators with creative solutions for transforming the discipline. This book is a must-have resource for current and aspiring teachers.”

Bree Picower, author of Reading, Writing and Racism: Disrupting Whiteness in Teacher Education and the Classroom