NCSS 2007
This fall, five teachers attended the National Council for Social Studies annual conference, held in San Diego, California. Even though I was unable to attend, I know they were well taken care of! Thanks to Diane Reid, a history buff herself, for taking my place on this trip. I know the attendees have lots of good stuff to share!
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After arriving in San Diego on Wednesday, our adventure began on Thursday when our group decided to go sightseeing since our tour got cancelled. We went aboard the longest-serving aircraft carrier in U.S. Navy history–a 47 year odyssey that spanned the end of WWII and the liberation of Kuwait in 1991 — the USS Midway! We took a self-guided audio tour and we amazed by the sheer magnitude of the ship and the planes that were parked on the top deck.
The first session I went to talked about scrapbooking the Civil War and Reconstruction. I came away from that session with some good ideas and websites. Scrapbooking gives the students an eyewitness perspective of history and helps to bring history to life for the students. I also didn’t know that scrapbooking came about in the second half of the 19th century because of the availability of primary source documents.
The next session was about Effective Geography Strategies for All – A Toolbox of 101 Ideas. Unfortunately they chose not to give handouts until the end of the session after the room was overflowing and they did not prepare enough handouts. So I will try to locate the presenter’s email to request a handout. One of her ideas was to use a mind map for a visual representation of content that is presented.
Another session I went to was on “Historical Droughts in the West” in which they discussed how and when droughts occur therefore causing regions and places to change. They also had a Geographic Inquiry Process that is similar to the Scientific Inquiry Process. They also let us know there was a daily U. S. drought monitor that is available online from the USGS.
One session I have always enjoyed was titled, “Powerful American History – Using Digital Storytelling for Historical Investigations”. This was presented by a group from Houston that also has a teacher grant. I learned a few more tricks to make my Photostory videos better and even better made a connection with the lady who writes the tutorials for Photostory as well as creates their webpage! Glad to have her email address!
The other awesome session I attended, even though it was meant for upper secondary teachers, was the Chinese Exclusion Acts and the Federal Courts. The gentlemen who presented told us about how the Federal Judicial Center is having summer institutes to write historical narratives for cases and then develop curriculum components. They emphasize three curriculum components: simulations, using primary sources, and a comparative analysis of that case to other similar cases. They have learned that to really understand these cases, you need to understand the people involved and the decisions of the lower courts. The historical narrative does just that!
The final experience we had was to have the honor of listening to retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. She discussed the value ot a merit system for the election of federal judges – one where judges would be carefully selected by a bipartisan committee evaluating a judge’s decision record. She also made the comment that “It is only education that can keep citizens involved in civic education.”
Upon leaving the conference we saw Justice O’Connor at the San Diego airport. She was gracious enough to allow us to take a photo with her! What an awesome moment that was…getting to speak with her AND get a photo taken with her!
This was an absolutely wonderful, enriching trip to NCSS in San Diego…wish Danna could have gone, but Diane was great and hope she can travel more with our group!
The trip to San Diego was wonderful and very educating.. The visit to the Midway was great… I learned a great deal from the guide about how to drive the ship (cool).. During the confernce I attended the seminar about how religion could and might be the separating ideal between the races….although it was well thought out i did not come away convinced…another sessin I attended was about how the holocaust and the civil rights monvement had similar breakdowns….. I recieved many powerpoints and resources from the session…overall the trip was amazing and very educational and worthwhile….missed you dana….had fun with diane….