NEBRASKA CITY – Civic Nebraska recognized Lacey Glasford of Nebraska City High School as an innovator in social studies instruction in 2021 and now she has a teacher of the year award to keep her on task.

Glasford introduced a water project in her civics classroom that encourages students to analyze the composition of local streams and lakes and seek solutions to any problems they find.

Glasford: “We are doing a semester project right now on water quality issues in Nebraska and it’s really showing kids what they need to use so that when it is time for them to vote and when it is time for them to become really civically engaged they’ll have the tools to do that.”

 

 Lacey Glasford

A self-proclaimed history buff, Glasford has been with the Nebraska City High School for 15 years and has been teaching social studies since 2006.

She said students are nearing completion of the data gathering portion of the project.

Glasford: “So now we’re moving on to the second step and it’s, now they are identifying what solutions we have here in Nebraska to combat our water quality problems.”

Carol Mathias of the Nebraska State Council for the Social Studies said there are many topics from economics to civics that fall under the umbrella of the social studies teacher.

Mathias: “We are meeting the needs of our communities. We are meeting the needs of our state and we’re meeting the needs of our nation right now in the classroom. There’s a lot happening in social studies. It has become a bit of lightning rod, but we’re teaching history.”

Glasford’s students are encouraged to identify problems, study proposed solutions and then use their civics training to advocate for lasting and informed change.

She partnered with Taylor Hamblin of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln on the water project. In his nomination of Glasford for the Teacher of the Year Award, he calls the instruction an opportunity to translate learning from the field into political action.

Mathias: “Ms. Glasford is a great example of how those lessons work.  Teaching how to learn about issues, how to act on issues in a civically appropriate way.”

Glasford was presented the award at a teacher in-service at the high school Monday.

Glasford: “I think it’s a way for me to also kind of keep myself in check too. Now that I’ve been recognized, I need to keep these kinds of things up so that I don’t get complacent.”