Region 10 Social Studies Support
January 2022
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
WELCOME TO 2022!
I truly hope that your break was happy, healthy and full of memorable times with family and friends. Each year in the classroom I would spend a few minutes reflecting on what I had accomplished with my students, what I wanted for them for the year and beyond and how I could continue to build relationships with them. Over the last couple of years, that reflection takes me back to one word over and over - FLEXIBLE. What lessons in flexibility are we giving our children right now given the ongoing state of health in our world? What lessons in flexibility are we giving our children right now in how to learn about and treat each other? Are we teaching our children GRACE, KINDNESS, EMPATHY in addition to our content? I believe as Social Studies teachers we are in a unique position to include these ideas within our classrooms. We are so fortunate to be teaching a content area that, at its core is about human nature. How do we build up our children to be FLEXIBLE, GRACIOUS, KIND & EMPATHETIC humans? These are just some thoughts I have had as this new year has begun.
I hope that you are staying healthy, taking care of yourself and your families along with your kiddos in your classroom. My wish for you these remaining months of this school year is that you are able to find times to connect to the human side of our content. In addition, I wish for you a healthy and happy 2022. I know you don't hear it enough in all the noise of these trying times, but the work you do is IMMENSELY valuable!!
Here are just a few items to bring to your attention in this issue:
- TEKS Revision Work Group Information and Application
- TEA Updates
- Upcoming Professional Development Opportunities
Social Studies Work Group Application
The SBOE is now accepting applications to serve on social studies TEKS review work groups. The SBOE's TEKS review and revision process calls for multiple, separate work groups. Applicants do not need to be educators to apply. Please enter information in the application that best reflects your experience. A link is provided below to the application.
https://tea.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_39LY0ZqSaPRQO6a
Work Groups
Throughout the revision process, applications are submitted to SBOE members for their review and approval. TEA then builds work groups from the pool of approved applicants and notifies selected applicants of their invitation to serve on a work group.
- Work group members will be expected to complete an online orientation session prior to their work group meeting.
- Work group members may be asked to complete pre-work exercises prior to their meeting.
- Work group members may be asked to provide invited testimony at SBOE meetings.
Questions related to the application for the social studies TEKS review and revision process can be directed to teks@tea.texas.gov.
Resources for Martin Luther King Jr. Day
REGION 10 SPRING PD OPPORTUNITIES
REGISTRATION OPEN NOW!
OTHER UPCOMING SPRING OPPORTUNITIES...
- Feb. 9 -- Teaching with DBQs: Engaging Students in Historical Inquiry and Thinking
- March 23 - Understanding the Federal Budget: Debt & Deficits (Breakfast and Lunch provided)
- April 29 - Exploring the Past, Imagining the Future with the Frisco Heritage Museum
- May 18 -- Understanding Our Students and Making Geography Learning Authentic w/ Powerful Geography (Virtual)
Ethnic Studies Cohort
Join us for a series of monthly cohort meetings this Spring to explore the process of implementing Ethnic Studies courses (specifically the Mexican American and African American Studies courses) in your district. If you have already implemented these courses but would like to join to share your experiences and learn new ideas to implement next year, we encourage you to join in with us. We will discuss proposal ideas, planning the courses, instructional resources, and strategies for teaching with cultural sensitivity. Find support from educators in both Region 10 and Region 11 to create curriculum that will be ready to implement in the 2021-2022 school year.
These sessions are open to teachers, curriculum specialists, coordinators either currently teaching, implementing or planning either Ethnic Studies course or those that have plans to do so.
UPDATE:
OUR COHORT WILL CONTINUE THIS SPRING WITH DATES ON JANUARY 18, FEBRUARY 15, APRIL 12 & MAY 17. REGISTRATION IS OPEN NOW.
Humanities Texas FREE Professional Development - Spring 2022
This spring, Humanities Texas will hold FREE professional development webinar series for social studies and ELA teachers in Texas schools.
*This is just the beginning of our 2022 programming. Stay tuned for more announcements on additional opportunities for both social studies and ELA teachers.*
Teachers can apply to attend on the Humanities Texas website.
Teaching the Civil Rights Movement
Tuesdays • January 25 and February 1, 2021 • 5:15–6:30 pm CT
These webinars will offer a nuanced understanding of the civil rights movement, incorporating significant primary documents from a number of the movement’s major figures. The first webinar will consider the traditional historical understanding of the movement, providing a broad overview before complicating the story. The second webinar will focus on Martin Luther King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Malcolm X’s “The Ballot or the Bullet,” and Fannie Lou Hamer’s testimony before the 1964 Democratic National Convention’s credentials committee, considering each document's presentation of American democracy. Both webinars will highlight the most important takeaways for middle and high school students.
Teaching U.S. History with Primary Documents, 1963–2000
Wednesdays • January 26–March 2, 2022 • 5:00–6:15 pm CT
Each weekly webinar will cover a document that is crucial to understanding U.S. history in the final decades of the twentieth century: the 1965 Voting Rights Act, the Pentagon Papers, the House Articles of Impeachment for Nixon, a document relating to the 1977 National Women’s Conference, and Reagan’s “Evil Empire” speech. Each webinar will focus on one of these documents, addressing both its context (how it came to be and its impact/significance) and its actual contents (the most important things for teachers to know and share with their students).
Teaching the Transformation of Texas, 1930–1945
Mondays • January 31–February 28, 2022 • 5:00–6:30 pm CT
This webinar series will offer teachers insight into the profound changes that remade Texas during the 1930s–1940s as the Great Depression, New Deal, and World War II collectively transformed it from a region of rural farmers into a modern, urbanized state. Team-taught by a historian and two master teachers, the sessions will provide a collection of curriculum materials geared toward bringing innovative perspectives into the classroom.
Tuesdays • February 8 and 16, 2022 • 5:00–6:15 pm CT
The two webinars will offer a nuanced understanding of how Reconstruction reunited a war-torn nation, destroyed chattel slavery, and remade the American state against a backdrop of racial terrorism and radical economic upheaval. These webinars will explore how teachers can turn cutting-edge historical research into classroom-ready pedagogy. Particular emphasis will be placed on key questions, terms, and primary sources to share with students.
Teachers can apply to attend here:
http://www.humanitiestexas.org/education/teacher-institutes/application.
Please contact us with any questions: institutes@humanitiestexas.org
Texas Law Related Education Opportunities
Texas Law Related Education (LRE) provides an awesome opportunity (and some phenomenal resources) each year to showcase students' U.S. history knowledge. It's also a great way to review your kids before the STAAR administration. All events will be virtual, and you can find more information in the links below:
- Written -- March 29th, 5:00 - 6:00 p.m.
- Oral -- March 30th, 5:00 - 6:00 p.m.
Region 10 Bee in a Box (Middle School)
- Written -- April 26th, 5:00 - 6:00 p.m.
- Oral -- April 27th, 5:00 - 6:00 p.m.
Items of Interest ...
Past Issues...
2018-2019:
September 2018, November 2018, February 2019, March 2019, April 2019, May 2019, June 2019
2019-2020:
August 2019, September 2019, October 2019, November 2019, December 2019, January 2020, February 2020, March 2020, April 2020 (Part 1), April 2020 (Part II), May 2020 (Part I), May 2020 (Part II) June 2020, July 2020
2020-2021:
August 2020, September 2020, October 2020, October 2020 (Part II), November/December 2020, December 2020, January 2021, February 2021, March 2021 (Part I), March 2021 (Part II), April 2021 (Part I), April 2021 (Part II), May 2021 (Part I), May 2021 (Part II), July 2021, August 2021, September 2021, September 2021 (Part II), October 2021, November 2021, December 2021
KELLY BELLAR - Region 10 K-12 Social Studies Consultant - Teaching & Learning
Email: kelly.bellar@region10.org
Website: https://www.region10.org/programs/social-studies/service-offerings/
Location: Richardson, TX, USA
Phone: 972-348-1432
Twitter: @Region10SS







