The Digital Broadside
News You Can Use
The End of SOLs?
This could end the rest of the Social Studies SOLs just like they ended the 6th and 7th grade SOLs. This has a huge impact on Social Studies content and teachers, especially in elementary schools.
Please follow this legislation and do what you believe is necessary when contacting the General Assembly.
They are also proposing Government students to take the Naturalization Test. It's HB 36, and failed last year.
Extreme Prejudice: An Article
I was made aware of this article by another Social Studies Specialist in the state because of anti-Muslim activities happening in the schools and classrooms, which may make the news.
I'm sure we all saw the news prior to the Christmas break about the calligraphy lesson in Virginia which resulted in an early day off, Counties across the state are often questions by parents about the Islam curriculum, and we even had issues with a 9/11 movie in Hanover which has caused a lot of political turmoil (resulting in my briefly running for Board of Supervisors).
Anyway, I just want everyone to be aware of these growing issues and what I thought was a very interesting article.
Schoology
But in April, all teachers will have access and from then, you'll see how things are being organized.
This is the analogy I'm using with this tool:
I want folks to think of Schoology as a place like Starbucks, where you can go for an hour, join up with folks, talk, and get work done. I don’t want Schoology to be a soda machine. See the difference?
I asked a group of Social Studies teachers from across the country who use Schoology about their thoughts on it as an instructional tool, and I got 63 responses. Of those, 48 said it, "has greatly improved my social studies classroom."
2015 Curriculum Framework
Hopefully we will know by the end of January of the new Framework has been approved. Also, they have practice TEI items for teachers and students online. These practice TEI items will be on the 2008 Curriculum, but field tested.
Teacher|Student Opportunities
World War One @ the Virginia Historical Society
How has our understanding of the war changed in the last century? How do historians view the legacies of the war today? How can teachers make the most of primary sources from
the era, particularly local sources in Virginia?
March 1, 2016
FREE
12pm to 4pm
To register online, please visit their page.
Teaching World War One: 100 Years Later is the first program in the Virginia Historical
partnership with the University of Richmond’s Department of History.
NCSS in DC 2016: Volunteer and Get in Cheaper
The Local Arrangements Committee Co-Chairs for the NCSS 2016 Conference in Washington, D.C and are looking for volunteers to help during the conference. In exchange for volunteering, participants receive a discount registration rate for the conference. The discount received directly correlates with the time one volunteers. This can be a good deal, particularly for pre-service teachers.
The NCSS 2016 Conference in DC will take place at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, December 2-4, 2016. We will need help beginning with preparations on Wednesday morning, November 30th and ending with closing on Sunday morning, December 4th.
More details about discounts and specific jobs will come later. If you or anyone else has questions about this, please feel free to email me. Your help is greatly appreciated!
If interested, email Wesley Hedgepeth at wesleyhedgepeth@trinityes.org
Virginia Holocaust Museum Has TONS of Stuff
- “The American Response to the Holocaust.” This one day workshop will be taught by Facing History and Ourselves’, senior historian Dr. Mary Johnson. This year’s topic will focus on deepening our understanding of the Holocaust as we examine the response of the United States to the events that were unfolding in Europe from 1933 to 1945.
- Visual Arts Contest. The concept of survival will be the focus of the Virginia Holocaust Museum’s 2016 Visual Arts Contest. Millions of people were affected by the Holocaust. During the Holocaust people lost their civil liberties, were forced from their homes, families and countries, into ghettos, concentration camps and killing centers. Many went into hiding, tried to immigrate to other countries or sent their children away in hopes that they would survive. It is important for students to know about these individuals and their varied personal experiences during the Holocaust in order to understand the importance of individual decision making, the dangers of intolerance and the diverse experiences of those affected by the Holocaust. Submissions are due March 18.
- The Summer School Program in Grodzka Gate - NN Theatre” Centre, Lublin, Poland is pleased to announce the call for applications for the second edition of the summer student program “Memory – Place – Presence”, coordinated by the ‘Grodzka Gate – NN Theatre’ Centre in cooperation with The University College of Enterprise and Administration in Lublin, Poland. The program will start on June 23, 2016, and will continue through July 3, 2016. The summer school program is created for all those who want to experience and explore the lost Yiddishland and its fascinating history, the forgotten continent of shtetls and cities, the cradle of the Jewish diaspora, a source of inspiration for countless writers and artists, and a mute witness to the Holocaust. The program offers a unique, complex 10-day seminar on the Jewish cultural heritage of the Lublin region – located in the heart of Yiddishland.
- The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Teacher Fellowship program is designed to immerse participants in advanced historical and pedagogical issues relating to the Holocaust. Join the program’s exclusive national corps of skilled teachers who serve as leaders in Holocaust education in their schools, communities, and professional organizations. If you are a secondary school educator or community college professor who has been teaching about the Holocaust for at least five years, please consider applying. For more information about the program, or to access to the online application, please visit this link.
Instructional Ideas
Martin Luther King Day Resources
Gami's
Free is limited: it can only be 30 seconds and choices for the avatar are limited. But the full blown app is only $4.99. That might seem like a lot, but poster costs almost $5 also, but you only use that once.
Leveled Readers
They are free and in PDF format. Download them and see how you can use them in class.
Bill of Rights Resources
Within the half-billion pages of records in the care of the Center for Legislative Archives, there are some special treasures from the First Congress that show how the ratification of the Constitution necessitated the creation of the Bill of Rights, and how the creation of the Bill of Rights, in turn, completed the Constitution. The remarkable story of the relationship between two of our Charters of Freedom is told in Congress Creates the Bill of Rights.
Congress Creates the Bill of Rights consists of three elements: an eBook, a mobile app for tablets, and online resources for teachers and students. Each provides a distinct way of exploring how the First Congress proposed amendments to the Constitution in 1789.
538
"Republicans contend that the 2016 election will be about Americans’ desire for change after eight years of a Democratic president. Democrats hope the election will tell a different story of change: a continued march toward a more diverse electorate that is ever more hostile to the GOP’s Electoral College fortunes.
We’ve built an interactive tool to help you draw your own conclusions about whether, as is often said, demographics truly are destiny. You can use it to see how changes in turnout and partisanship within five demographic groups would affect the outcome of the 2016 election. Paying homage to the BBC’s iconic tracker of vote swings in British parliamentary elections, we’re calling it the 2016 Swing-O-Matic. Check it out:"
Trivia and Other Balderdash
Trivia 2015 - 2016: Teachers- 6 and Me- 6
Last year:
A mystery from history:
- Originally, it was Amazon
- It's not about pizza
- It could have been a Sherlock Holmes case
The answer is the ship, the Mary Celeste. Amazon was the first name of the ship. Sir Arthur Canon Doyle wrote a story about it.
This week:
Below is a picture of a man whose most famous song you all know. He's the one in the middle. Clues:
- The song was sung with his son, who may or may not be a little red-headed kid
- You probably first heard this song on Feb 26, 1977, or April 9 1977, or July 15 1978.
- Because of him, you know that buses need to stop at railroad tracks
Podcasting and Learning
Podcasting is transforming to an amazing venue for storytelling. While podcasts range on many topics, many historical, some are fictitious or investigative.
Last year, Serial hit the Internet in a big way investigating the murder of Hae Min Lee and Adnan Syed, who was imprisoned for her murder.
This year, it's about Bowe Bergdahl and started on Dec. 10 with one episode a week to learn more about this case.
Click here for the Podcast.
Contact Information
Email: mjhasley@henrico.k12.va.us
Website: blogs.henrico.k12.va.us/mjhasley
Location: 3820 Nine Mile Road, Richmond, VA, United States
Phone: 804 652-3752
Twitter: @MikeHasley