about us

"The greatest gift that we can give ourselves is the willingness to ask. Ask for help. Ask to work together. Ask for feedback. Ask for what you need. Just trust yourself enough to ask."

Joe Schmidt is the founder of Joe Schmidt Social Studies LLC where he provides support and professional development to educators and districts across Maine and the country. He is co-author of the 2022 book Civil Discourse: Classroom Conversations for Stronger Communities.

Joe is currently the vice president for the National Council for the Social Studies  and will serve as NCSS president beginning in 2026. He is currently or has served as chair or co-chair for multiple committees including the NCSS Government and Public Relations Committee, the Advocacy Task Force, the C3 Framework Task Force, the Task Force on Inquiry, and the Task Force on Innovation. Joe has also served on the state social studies council executive boards in Wisconsin and Maine.

Joe served as a high school social studies classroom teacher for nine years in rural Wisconsin before leaving the classroom to be the social studies teacher leader for the Madison Metropolitan School District. He later transitioned to the the Maine Department of Education as a social studies specialist and is currently the senior director of teacher programs for the Bill of Rights Institute.

As a speaker, Joe is a frequent presenter at state, regional, and national conferences with presentations focusing on civil discourse, disciplinary literacy, inquiry, assessment, and the use of primary sources, among others. He has presented for or consulted with organizations and school districts in states representing more than half the country, including giving featured talks at multiple social studies conferences. 

Joe lives in Maine with his wife Peggy and is Dad to two adult children and one teenager. He can be found on almost all social media: @madisonteacher. Learn more about his work at joeschmidtsocialstudies.com.

"I have an intense belief in the power that educators have as agents of change in the world. We have the ability to literally modify the future through our interactions with kids."

Glenn is the president of History Tech Consulting, providing professional learning opportunities, curriculum coaching, and assessment support for teachers, schools, and districts across the Midwest and the country. 

Glenn’s teaching career began at Derby Middle School, finding ways to help 13-year-olds dig deeply into social studies and reading. He earned a graduate degree in American History while continuing to develop innovative practices and sharing them with his students. He spent several years teaching at a small midwestern liberal arts college before transitioning into a social studies specialist position a regional educational service center.

Glenn now travels across the country, working and learning alongside both elementary and secondary teachers onsite, virtually, and at state and national conference throughout the United States. He is the past president of the National Social Studies Leaders Association, acted as co-chair for the 2013 and 2020 Kansas State Department of Education Social Standards Writing Committee, and is a past president and current board member of the Kansas Council for the Social Studies. He also serves on the advisory board of the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources program, is a state representative on the National Geographic Advisory Committee, the NCSS Publications Committee, the NCSS Resolutions Committee, and is a member of the iCivics Educators Network.

Glenn lives in southern Minnesota with his wife Maura and will admit to visiting Gettysburg National Military Park no more than nine times. You can find him online at @glennw98 and at glennwiebe.org.