The weather is getting nice in Silver Spring, and that has us thinking about summer. It's not too early for you to think about summer, too! NCSS is offering a selection of professional development workshops that feature in-depth, hands on information that will strengthen your classroom teaching.
Register today!
Strengthening Your Social Studies Instruction Using Practical, Engaging, Thoughtful Teaching Strategies
July 27-29, 2011
Macalester College, St. Paul, MN
Make every lesson deep and engaging with research-based practice-proven teaching strategies. In this institute you will learn 15 powerful and practical activities to foster active engagement, excitement, and enhanced thinking in your students. Through the experience of hands-on lessons, we will model constructivist strategies in the areas of inquiry learning and substantive discussion, as well as reading, writing, and other creative processing activities. The strategies can be applied in any history, humanities, or social science lesson, and authentic resources will be provided with each lesson. Begin school in the fall with 15 new practical and exemplary teaching strategies that will strengthen your social studies instruction! Three graduate credits will be available for interested participants at an additional cost.
Using Film and Television to Teach 21st Century Social Studies Skills
July 20-22, 2011
Central Connecticut State University, New Britain, CT
Viewing and analyzing popular movies and television are incredibly effective ways of engaging students in the careful study of historical eras and themes; critical thinking and many other 21st century social studies skills can be practiced and reinforced when evaluating films and television shows from the past (and from the present). During this workshop participants will learn cutting-edge pedagogical tools on the best ways to "use" films and television shows in the classroom. During this workshop we will also have sessions on the "right" films to show when analyzing numerous historical and contemporary topics. This workshop will be especially applicable for teachers of United States history, world history, sociology, media studies, and contemporary issues. A film will be shown each evening with specific analysis following the film. Breakfast will be provided each of the three mornings.
Reading Strategies for Teaching Social Studies
June 27- June 29, 2011
Goucher College, Towson, MD
What are the important literacy strategies for the secondary social studies classroom? What are the organizational patterns of text structure that can help unlock social studies content? What impact do these strategies and patterns have on the planning, delivery, and assessment of social studies content? This practical, hands-on, three-day workshop for secondary-level educators (grades 6-12) will focus on strategies and approaches that help students with nonfiction reading in social studies. Eight organizational patterns of text structure will be examined, including description, sequence, proposition/support and goal/action/outcome. Participants will identify and then find examples of each in social studies text, acquire and apply reading strategies appropriate for each type of text structure, and determine ways of using strategies in instruction and assessment. Participants also will acquire and apply other strategies that help students unlock social studies content, including vocabulary strategies, anticipation guides, summarizing, synthesizing and evaluating information, making inferences, and assessment.
Powerful and Authentic Social Studies (PASS): A Teacher Training Institute
July 25-29, 2011
Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA
The PASS Teacher Training Institute will describe PASS criteria and standards for curriculum design, assessment construction, and effective instruction and will provide participants with the materials and expertise necessary to lead their own PASS training workshops in their schools and school districts. In small learning communities, participants will examine videotaped K-12 vignettes of teaching and create examples of curriculum units and assessment tasks to share with their learning community. This institute will interest social studies professionals at all educational levels.
Teaching with Documents and Works of Art: An Integrated Approach
July 27-29, 2011
National Archives and Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
This three-day workshop will provide a varied program of lectures, demonstrations, collaborative work, and analysis of documents and works of art in order to introduce teachers to the holdings, resources, and programs of the National Archives and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Workshop attendees will participate in and develop classroom activities that utilize both visual images and primary source documents as teaching tools in ways that sharpen students' skills and enthusiasm for history, social studies, and the humanities. The content focus will be on the development of the industrial United States.
Workshop registration includes coffee, lunches and materials. Participants are responsible for housing and transportation costs and arrangements.