The Digital Broadside
Putting U in Education
August 30 PD Day
- August 30, 8:15 - 3:30 at Henrico High School, just like last year
- The format will be similar, but there will be no visits to museums like in the past 2 years
- The first half of the day will include multiple session you can attend given by fellow teachers, ITRTs, and museums who will provide lesson plans based on their expertise
- Afternoon content sessions as we have done in the past
- AP sessions similar to last year
- IB content sessions. Since IB teachers usually meet during teacher week, you will do this in the afternoon with fellow social studies/IB teachers
- Afternoon sessions with museums folks who will share with you what they can provide for classroom resources
I asked teachers what kind of sessions they'd like, but a consensus was difficult. Of about 70 suggestions, 60 were unique. So I probably should have phrased the question differently. But there will be sessions on Schoology, new technology, ESL, collaboration, and much more.
Oct 9, 2017 is a student half-day and staff PD day, but I'm unsure of what type of PD it will be.
Service Learning Done Right
This sort of ends the first Service Learning pilot in the county. In September 2015, 45 10th grade students (Mr. Pete Anderson's class) learned about Critical Service Learning and created a service learning proposal based on their own passions (photography, fishing, singing, etc ...), did research into their community, found community partners, and designed a project to help their local issue. After this 10 week lesson, students then had the option to complete their project by implementing it.
In all, 20 groups of students voluntarily completed their project. Some examples include: River Safety, providing professional photos of dogs for a local animal shelter to help them get adopted, helping end senior isolation by singing for senior citizens, creating a PSA for middle school students to protect them from online predators, addresses food issues in the local area, and many more.
While these pilot activities are finished now, their work will continue. Students groups that were created will still continue next school year. Two students found internships based on their projects and will continue to fight for their cause on their own. And fund raising efforts/PSAs will still continue. If in the next few weeks, you see a river safety flyer at the local REI store, that's a Glen Allen student.
Here's an example of a website a student created to help people understand the take care of recently adopted pets: Pawsitive Care.
#STEAMrolled
A trend that's been around for the last few years is STEM/STEAM. In fact, it will be seen more in HCPS in the next few years. So the question is, how do Social Studies teachers prepare for a STEAM focus? Where do we fit since there is no H in STEAM despite the fact that social studies is the root of STEM/STEAM.
It will be an ongoing question as I try to find best practices and models we can use to help create SHTEAM, or STEAMSS, or STHEAM.
The best way that I can think of now is by making History classes more "investigative" and inquiry led lessons, which, as SOL testing fades away, would be the natural next step.
Anyway, this conversation will continue in the Discussion Board in the Schoology group. If you see ways to integrate with STEAM, please share your ideas there.
VCSSE Conference is Open
That's the theme of the 51st Annual Virginia Council of Social Studies Educator's conference this November 3 and 4 in Richmond, VA this year. It will be at the Richmond Marriott hotel.
If you're interested, you can register here. It's $150 before October 1st, and $175 after that date.
SOL Update
Just prior to Spring Break, Dr. Staples spoke to the Virginia Social Studies Leaders Consortium about the future of SOL testing in the Social Studies.
As of now, there is no definite plan. But, the wheels are slowly grinding until changes are signed by the Governor. As for now, it appears that we will still have an SOL test in the Spring of 2018, but based on the 2008 Framework, not the 2015 Framework. It also appears that TEI items will not be on the SOL in 2018.
The plan is still for the Freshman class of 2019 to be the first students who will not have an SOL test in their high school classes. These students will have to complete Local Alternative Assessments similar to 6th and 7th grade this year. As of now, this would just be in one year of high school. So if that's done in their 11th Grade US History class, students only need to pass their 9th and 10th grade classes, just like Government class today.
The fate of the Civics SOL is still unknown.
As things change, I will let you know.
Teacher|Student Opportunities
James Madison's Montpelier
James Madison's Montpelier has two great teacher seminars lined up for this summer!
The U.S. Constitution in Wartime - July 19-21 - Taught by David Gray Adler of The Alturas Institute.
Immigration and the U.S. Constitution - July 31-August 2 - Taught by Tom K. Wong of UCSD and Claire Guthrie Gastañaga of the ACLU.
Full time, K-12 teachers are encouraged to apply early!
Middle School Summit: June 19
- Rethinking Social Studies with noted author, Bruce Lesh
- We the People for Middle Schools, Ben Fabian
- Creating a Maker Culture, unidentified ITRT
- Schoology to support Anytime Learning, unidentified ITRT
- Unpacking Authentic and Connected, unidentified ITRT
There are other sessions that you may be interested in, but at first glance, these seemed like they might be the most useful.
Instructional Ideas
Amazing Race: World History Edition
Students basically create Detours and Roadblocks for the television show based on cultures they've studied in class. They then present their challenges to the class as a whole. The idea is for students to do research in a fun way, to either uncover the past or even explore modern times.
Here's the link to the assignment and rubric. If you feel it needs editing, let me know.
Solicit Student Responses
The key to student engagement is getting EVERY student in your class responding to questions. Not just the few who always raise their hands. A great way to warm up your students, or close out a class, is to use Answer Garden.
Answer Garden allows you to get answers from students in either 20 or 40 character answers. If kids answer the same, the answers appear bigger. You can simply include the link to your Answer Garden Question in Schoology. Here was the example I used earlier this week.
Trivia and Other Balderdash
Trivia 2016 - 2017: Teachers- 10 and Me- 11
Last week had no winners!
- David Bowie's city where she's a total blam blam (Suffragette City)
- The city Parliament sings about in "Chocolate City" (Washington, DC)
- Jack Nicholson's move famous line from 1992 (You can't handle the truth!"
- The Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy's war (WW2)
- He never meant to cause you any sorrow, he never meant to cause you any pain (Prince)
What do they all have in common? Wonder Woman! Wonder Woman's creation was based on the writings of 1920s Suffragettes. DC Comics printed her. Her created invented the lie detector machine (magic lasso), her first stint was fighting against NAZIs, and her secret identity was Diana Prince.
This week (Last one, worth 2 points):
- What these are ...
- Who's flag is this ...
- The musical for this famous song ...
- An early form of writing ...
- This guy ...
What do they have in common?
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