The Social Studies Connection
More than a Newsletter for Secondary Social Studies Teachers
Preparing students for success in college, career, and civic life
If you missed last month's edition of the Social Studies Connection, click here.
Matthew I. Doran
Office of Teaching & Learning
Curriculum Division
Southland Center
Email: mdoran2067@columbus.k12.oh.us
Website: http://www.ccsoh.us/socialstudies
Location: 3700 South High Street, Columbus, OH, USA
Phone: 380-997-0470
Twitter: @mdoran2067
November 2021
In this edition:
- Curriculum and Instruction: Native American Heritage Month
- Curriculum and Instruction: Veterans Day
- Curriculum and Instruction: TCI Implementation Home Base
- Curriculum and Instruction: TCI Strategy of the Month
- Curriculum and Instruction: Mastery Connect Assessment Tool
- Professional Development: Teaching with TCI Tuesdays
- Professional Development: The Social Studies Connection on Canvas
- Student Programs: Kids Voting Election 2021
- Student Programs: Civic Action Project Support
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Native American Heritage Month
In 1990 President George H. W. Bush approved a joint resolution designating November 1990 “National American Indian Heritage Month.” Similar proclamations (“Native American Heritage Month” and “National American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month”) have been issued each year since 1994.
The following teaching resources are available for Native American Heritage Month:
- National Museum of the American Indian Lessons and Resources
- American Indians Primary Sources (National Archives)
- American Indian History and Heritage Teachers Guide (EDSITEment)
- Carlisle Indian Industrial School (Reading Like a Historian)
- Native American Boarding Schools (Library of Congress)
- Native Americans and the American Revolution (EDSITEment)
- The Indian Removal Act of 1830 Lesson (C-SPAN)
- American Indians (Ohio History Central)
- Native Americans in Central Ohio (Teaching Columbus)
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Veterans' Day, November 11, 2021
Ohio Revised Code 3313.602(D) requires that each school devote at least one hour or one standard class period on or around Veterans Day, November 11, to an observance that conveys the meaning and significance of the day.
As you discuss the significance of Veterans Day with students, consider these talking points:
- Ask students about veterans in their own families and stories they may have heard.
- Until the withdrawal of troops in August this year, the U.S. had been in armed conflict in Afghanistan for the entire lifetime of your students.
- Technology has changed the nature of warfare in the 21st century (e.g., drone strikes) and communication between the war front and home front.
- Although the Selective Service System remains in place, the U.S. has relied on all-volunteer armed forces since the end of the Vietnam War.
Teaching resources include:
- Art of the American Soldier: Stories from the Soldiers (National Constitution Center)
- Veterans Day Facts (The History Channel)
- Primary Source Highlights for Veterans Day (Library of Congress)
- Veterans Day and the meaning of sacrifice (PBS NewsHour)
- Veterans Day Guide (VA)
- Veterans Day Records (National Archives)
- History of Veterans Day (U.S. Army Center of Military History)
- Women Aviators in World War II (EDSITEment)
- America's Wars Fact Sheet (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs)
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TCI Implementation Home Base
We have created a custom CCS TCI Home Base page to help teachers implement the TCI resources and pedagogy. The Home Base provides tools for Getting Started with TCI, TCI by Grade Level for Middle School, TCI by Course for High School, and TCI Six Active Learning Strategies.
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TCI Strategy of the Month: Visual Discovery
Visual Discovery transforms the passive lecture into a dynamic, student-centered, participatory experience. Students bring to life compelling visuals as they discover key social studies concepts. The strategy sharpens visual literacy skills, encourages students to construct their own knowledge through higher-level thinking, and develops deductive reasoning. Consistent with Universal Design for Learning (UDL), visual discovery allows for multiple means of representation.
The five steps for implementing Visual Discovery:
- Use powerful images to teach social studies concepts. The best images show human emotion, drama, suspense, or interaction and have the potential for students to step into the scene and bring it to life.
- Arrange your classroom so projected images will be large and clear. Typically, the best classroom configuration is parliamentary style, with two groups of desks facing each other, a center aisle, and a front staging area.
- Ask carefully sequenced questions that lead to discovery. Ask a series of questions for each image that spiral from the basic to critical thinking: Level I: Gathering Evidence (What do you see in this image?); Level II: Interpreting Evidence (What do you think is happening in this scene?); and Level III: Making Hypotheses from Evidence (How do you think these people were feeling at this time and place?).
- Challenge students to read about the image and apply what they learn. Students "read" and analyze the image, read their text to gather more information and record notes, and process what they have learned.
- Have students interact with the images to demonstrate what they have learned. Students “step into” the visuals and bring them to life through an act-it-out with scripts or role cards.
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Mastery Connect Assessment Tool
Mastery Connect is the district-adopted platform for developing and delivering assessments to students. Mastery Connect contains item banks that teachers can use to deliver standards-aligned formative and summative assessments.
The Certica Navigate item banks contain test items for all core social studies courses. The OH AIR Item Bank contains released test items from Ohio's State Tests in American History and American Government. We are in the process of adding test items to the Columbus City School District bank as well. Teachers can also create their own item banks and access items created by other teachers.
It is important to note that just because an item is identified as aligned to a particular standard, does not make it so. Most publishing companies do an alignment by keyword matching, which is not an effective approach. Consequently, a large percentage of items (including those in the Certica Item Bank) are not actually aligned with Ohio's standards. The responsibility falls to teachers to vet each item before including it on an assessment. The District curriculum documents are especially helpful in helping teachers unpack the learning targets guide assessment alignment.
Mastery Connect is accessible via CCS Clever for teachers and students. A 30-minute video tutorial below provides an overview of Mastery Connect.
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PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Teaching with TCI Tuesdays
Look for additional information on TCI professional development opportunities coming soon.
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The Social Studies Connection on Canvas
Using the Canvas LMS, we have created a collaborative virtual space, where teachers can share ideas, resources, and questions with your social studies colleagues. Working together, the space will be as useful as we make it!
Click here to join/enroll in the Social Studies Connection community on Canvas. (Log-in with Active Directory through Clever).
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STUDENT PROGRAMS
Kids Voting Double Click Democracy Election
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Civic Action Support (CAP) from the Constitution Rights Foundation
CAP is managed by the Constitutional Rights Foundation (CRF). CCS has a long history with CAP, having served as one of three pilot districts in the country with funding from Annenberg Foundation from 2004-2007.
Although CRF is based in California, CAP Senior Program Director Sarah Badawi is currently based in Akron, Ohio and available for support for CCS teachers. Please feel free to reach out to Sarah for support if you are implementing CAP in your classes this year, sarah@crf-usa.org.
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