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Genevieve Erker Caffrey, Ed.D.
Elementary Social Studies Curriculum Specialist Curriculum Designer | PD Facilitator | Instructional Coach 12-Year Classroom Teacher | University Instructor | Researcher Creator of The P.O.W.E.R. Framework |
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AN EARLY RADIOACTIVE SPIDER BITE
When I was in third grade, my teacher asked each student in the class to pick a number from a hat. The students who picked 1s received soda and chips; the 2s got pretzels and water; the 3s got nothing. It was a lesson about global poverty.
I still remember the devastation I felt when I picked a 3, and the jealousy that followed as I sat on the floor with many of my classmates, empty-handed, watching two students eat Doritos and drink Orange Crush. But I also felt surprised and sad about what I was learning. It began to change the way I looked at the world and my place in it.
Social studies caught my attention—and emotions—early on, and it never let go!
When I was in third grade, my teacher asked each student in the class to pick a number from a hat. The students who picked 1s received soda and chips; the 2s got pretzels and water; the 3s got nothing. It was a lesson about global poverty.
I still remember the devastation I felt when I picked a 3, and the jealousy that followed as I sat on the floor with many of my classmates, empty-handed, watching two students eat Doritos and drink Orange Crush. But I also felt surprised and sad about what I was learning. It began to change the way I looked at the world and my place in it.
Social studies caught my attention—and emotions—early on, and it never let go!
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BECOMING A TEACHER
I grew up in the University City area of St. Louis, MO and attended Our Lady of Lourdes, St. Joseph’s Academy, and Washington University in St. Louis. I became serious about a career in elementary education after taking a critical literacy course at Wash U with Dr. Rebecca Rogers, and became involved in an organization she founded, which is now called Educators for Social Justice (ESJ). Through my work with ESJ, I began to see more clearly how profoundly elementary education shapes children’s understandings of themselves, others, and the world—often for the rest of their lives. I also discovered that I love collaborating with elementary educators to think critically, creatively, & courageously about social studies curriculum. 
DOCTORAL WORK Across my 12 years as an elementary teacher, I became increasingly frustrated by how consistently social studies was marginalized and dismissed. Social studies was routinely denied instructional time, professional development, coherent curriculum, and sustained care across schools, districts, and cities. My realization that this is a nationwide, systemic problem demanding serious attention led me to pursue a Doctorate in Learning, Teaching & Curriculum with an emphasis on Social Studies Education at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Through my doctoral coursework, I also served as a lead Elementary Social Studies Methods Instructor. I redesigned the course so that its structure, resources, and assignments were coherent, practical, and equity-oriented. I worked closely with preservice teachers—facilitating reflective dialogue, processing their fears about teaching social studies, and strengthening their confidence in designing and enacting high-quality elementary social studies curriculum and instruction. In 2022, I received the Graduate Student "Excellence in Teaching" Award from the Department of Learning, Teaching, and Curriculum. 
THE P.O.W.E.R. FRAMEWORK My research and professional work culminated in the development of the P.O.W.E.R. Framework—a curricular design framework created in direct response to teachers’ need for a structure that could sustain critical commitments without sacrificing clarity or coherence. The framework translates dense theory into a usable design schema that helps educators plan social studies instruction that is critically grounded, sequence-sensitive, emotionally balanced, and transferable across topics, identities, and grade levels. Rather than functioning as a checklist or prescriptive model, P.O.W.E.R. offers a generative rhythm for curriculum design—one that balances truth with care, critique with creativity, and structure with flexibility. I am thrilled to now be working as a full-time Elementary Social Studies Curriculum Designer and Professional Development Facilitator, utilizing the P.O.W.E.R. Framework as the conceptual and structural heart of the curriculum I'm building. |
CLASSROOM TEACHING In 2005, I took a position as a 4th-grade teacher in Guadalajara, Mexico—my grandmother's hometown. In 2007, I moved to Chicago for a Master’s degree in Instructional Leadership & Elementary Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where I also earned certificates in Bilingual Education and ESL. In 2009, I returned to St. Louis and to become a 4th grade teacher in the Ritenour School District, where I was awarded Diamond Circle Teacher of the Year and recognized as a Model Teacher for Culturally and Linguistically Relevant Teaching. In 2012, I took a position as a 6th grade teacher at Maplewood Richmond Heights School District where creative equity-oriented curricular approaches were more openly embraced and cultivated. In 2014, my partner's job took me back to Chicago, where I was a 2nd grade teacher at Coonley Elementary, and, later, served as a literacy/social studies interventionist. 
NATIONAL LEADERSHIP From 2018-2020, I served as Graduate Forum Chair of the College and University Faculty Assembly (CUFA) of the National Council on Social Studies (NCSS), where I collaborated with scholars across the field, working to ensure that emerging social studies researchers and teacher educators were meaningfully mentored and supported. Alongside my university teaching and service to the field, I published and presented a variety of social studies topics in peer-reviewed journals, book chapters, and conferences. One piece about teaching controversial issues received particular attention, and was feature on the Visions of Education podcast. 
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