#r12socstud

My name is Jessica Torres and I serve as the ESC Region 12 Social Studies content specialist as well as the Assistant Director for Continuous Improvement. The purpose of the newsletter is to provide resources specific to social studies content, general instructional tools, resources, updates, and professional development opportunities that are beneficial to all.

A note from James Clear, author of Atomic Habits: Think of something you struggled with in the last year. If you step back and zoom out, what is one lesson you have learned from the experience? As long as we keep learning lessons and shifting our mindsets, we are modeling what the experience of learning at its heart is.

As always, if you ever need assistance or have a question, please do not hesitate to contact me via email (jtorres@esc12.net) or social media (@owl_b_torresedu). Be sure to check out the #r12socstud hashtag on Twitter for valuable resources all month long!

The Social Studies TEKS revision process began in January 2022 and continues today as work groups, consisting of educators, parents, business and industry representatives, and employers, convene to make recommendations to the State Board of Education (SBOE). Current Draft Recommendations can be found here >> https://tea.texas.gov/academics/curriculum-standards/teks-review/2021-2022-social-studies-teks-review

All recommendations remain in draft form. No drafts are finalized at this time.

The State Board of Education will continue discussing the work group drafts in a public hearing, August 30th-September 2nd. During these meetings SBOE will provide additional feedback, recommendations, and direction to the work groups on the frameworks that have been recommended thus far. All SBOE meetings are livestreamed for public viewing, link available here: https://tea.texas.gov/about-tea/leadership/state-board-of-education/sboe-2022/sboe-2022-september/september-2022-sboe-agenda

A public comment period will be October 7-November 11, 2022. This comment period will allow for all stakeholders to provide feedback on the frameworks prior to the second reading by SBOE. Additional information will be provided soon on the methods of public comment, but often include surveys and open discussion forums. I will include public comment period information in the September Newsletter.

• STAAR Grade 8 Social Studies Blueprint
• 2023 US History Blueprint

The State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR®) test is being redesigned to make the test more tightly aligned to the classroom experience. House Bill 3906 established a “multiple choice cap,” meaning that no more than 75% of points on a STAAR test can be based on multiple choice questions. Preliminary information has been released about the item types. I will provide updated information as we receive it. I would highly suggest bookmarking the STAAR Redesign website page >> https://tea.texas.gov/student-assessment/assessment-initiatives/hb-3906/staar-redesign

Each month during the first semester, I'll work to highlight two of the new STAAR Item Types and possibilities within the classroom. If you have ideas or examples of ways that you are embedding these in your classroom, please do not hesitate to share - we are all better together.

August - Hot Text & Short Constructed Response

September - Inline Choice & Match Table Grid

October - Hot Spot & Drag and Drop

November - Multipart & MultiSelect

Description: Student selects the correct answer(s) from one or more drop-down menu(s).

Point value: These questions can be worth a maximum of 2 points with the possibility of receiving 1 point for a partially correct response.

Social studies tests that may include these questions: Grade 8 and EOC

For both inline choice and match table grid, students will often be recalling information. It is critical that we not rely upon memorization for recall, but instead ensure our students have been provided the necessary tools to move the learning beyond surface, into deep learning. Example instructional strategies of deep learning include: graphic organizers, class discussions, close reading, metacognitive strategies, and reciprocal teaching.

A few notes about graphic organizers:

• Consider - transformation, not replication. How can students take the information you have provided and organize it in a way that is meaningful to their learning?
• Graphic organizers should be considered an intermediary step, a planning step - what will we do with the information once organized - write? discuss? create?
• Article: The Great and Powerful Graphic Organizer (Cult of Pedagogy)

Description: Student matches statements or objects to different categories presented in a table grid.

Point value: These questions can be worth a maximum of 2 points with the possibility of receiving 1 point for a partially correct response.

Social studies tests that may include these questions: Grade 8 and EOC

Explicitly teaching students how to investigate historical questions in the same manner a professional historian would should be a critical component of the start of your history instruction. How are students expected to dissect primary sources in your classroom, what annotation strategies will you be using, is there an expected way to read articles or sources? The beginning of the year is the perfect time to introduce students to your expectations and model best practices. Here are a few suggested resources to help you get started:

Stanford History Education Group - Reading Like a Historian Intro Materials

There are free posters and supports for evaluating sources. Lunchroom Fight I and II are phenomenal lessons to conduct with a variety of age levels to help them understand sourcing, corroboration, and contextualization. Free login required.

Developed by the Right Question Institute, the Question Formulation Technique, or QFT, is a structured method for generating and improving questions. It distills sophisticated forms of divergent, convergent, and metacognitive thinking into a deceptively simple, accessible, and reproducible technique.

The QFT builds the skill of asking questions, an essential — yet often overlooked — lifelong learning skill that allows people to think critically, feel greater power and self-efficacy, and become more confident and ready to participate in civic life.

It's a good time of the year to use or bookmark the popular Teaching About 9/11 collection.

With more than 25,000 pageviews since its launch last August, this collection includes four videos (two released with PBS and The New York Times,) lesson plans, student activities, an interactive timeline and the recording of an educator webinar hosted by Retro Report and PBS Newshour Classroom.

Whether you want to focus on the heroism of first responders, the war in Afghanistan or issues related to civil liberties and human rights, this collection has you covered. Not convinced? Here are five reasons to teach about 9/11 on the anniversary.

Are you an APUSH educator? These resources are helpful when teaching about the challenges of the 21st Century (Topic 9.6).

Click on the image below to access the collection.

Recognizing and celebrating historical holidays—from memorializations of monumental American figures such as Martin Luther King Jr. to remembrances of events like Juneteenth—offer entry points for a deeper exploration of the pivotal moments, key figures, and central conflicts in American history. For teachers, these holidays provide an excellent way to focus classroom study and activity.

The Gilder Lehrman Institute offers American historical holiday resources from its Collection of more than 80,000 primary source documents, essays published in its online journal History Now, videos of talks by eminent scholars, lesson plans by American history teachers, and more to help teachers guide discussion, create class projects, and gain content knowledge that can be directly applied to their curriculum.

Start your school with Constitution Day Resources here!

Join us on Wednesday, Sept. 14 at 7 PM ET for "Teach the Midterms: Your Guide to Lesser-known Elections" with our partners at New Hampshire Public Radio’s Civics 101 podcast. The webinar will feature two new films, podcast episodes and lessons that focus on historical and contemporary midterm elections. If your students have ever wondered why political parties seem to have traded places, or what makes a midterm election different, we have free resources for you.

Did you know our online collection provides access to films relating to Texas, U.S., and World History, as well as free lesson plans aligned with Texas teaching standards (TEKS) for grades K-12? https://texasarchive.org/education

As you embark upon a new school year, introduce your Texas History students to the subject with an overview of Modern Texas. This short TAMI exclusive film will give your students essential background knowledge on the various industries present in Texas today.

Just in time for the new school year, this robust collection presents a new approach to digital media for U.S. History classrooms, with attention to multiple, diverse perspectives that foster civic identity and a more complex, nuanced, and accurate understanding of the past.

Browsable by Eras in U.S. History and Historical Thinking Skills, the Collection highlights how the past is relevant to students’ lives today and supports critical analysis of traditional historical narratives and lesser known perspectives. Each resource is accompanied by a range of supports including Teaching Tips to guide you in how best to integrate each resource into your existing curriculum. https://kamu.pbslearningmedia.org/collection/us-history-collection/home/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=2022-08-17&utm_campaign=ush_2022

Are your students fans of escape rooms? Always wanted to create an escape room? Here is a great opportunity from Breakout EDU!

Bring Breakout EDU to your school with this limited-time opportunity! Apply for The Unlock Creativity MicroGrant 2022 which includes a free school-wide subscription, ten physical kits, professional development for educators involved in the implementation, PLUS ongoing support for the 2022-2023 school year- up to $3,000 per award!

Approximately $15,000 will be awarded across the United States as part of the Unlock Creativity MicroGrant 2022. Learn more and apply here >> https://resources.breakoutedu.com/grant

Texas regional social studies leaders are excited to partner with OER Project to provide a series of professional development sessions for Texas educators this school year! For the past 10 years, OER Project has been providing teachers free social studies curricula, resources, and PD. Their courses are taught by teachers throughout the state. You can learn more about OER Project here.

This free collaborative series of virtual workshops has been designed with Texas teachers in mind and will provide participants with ideas and tools that can be implemented immediately in their classrooms. Each session will explore a particular skill that helps students made sense of social studies content. Registration for the first three sessions is now open! Click on the link here to register or learn more. https://community.oerproject.com/events/tesc-strengthening-the-reading-muscle/c/e/112

Session 1: Strengthening the Reading Muscle - September 14 6:00 - 7:00 PM (ET)

Session 2: Amping up Argumentative Writing – Making Strong Claims - October 12 6:00-7:00 PM (ET)

Session 3: Comparison is the Highest Form of Flattery - November 8, 2023 6:00-7:00 PM (ET)

We look forward to seeing you on September 14!

In the fall of 2022, Humanities Texas will partner with the National Archives and Records Administration and the National Archives Foundation to hold a webinar series on primary source pedagogy.

These online professional development programs are FREE for U.S. history teachers in Texas schools.

The programs will take place online via Zoom. Participants will receive ten hours of CPE credit, a digital badge, a wealth of curricular materials, and a $500 stipend.

Dates and Requirements

The webinars will take place on September 13, October 4, and November 1, 2022, from 5:00–7:00 pm CT. Selected teachers will be required to confirm their participation, commit to attending all three sessions, and complete and submit assignments between sessions.

Eligibility

The webinar series is for U.S. history teachers new to teaching or new to teaching with primary sources. This cohort-style program will focus on student-centered pedagogy to promote the integration of primary sources into classroom instruction. Given its unique cohort-style program, attendance is limited for this webinar series.

How to Apply

Teachers may apply to attend on the Humanities Texas website. Application deadline:

Monday, August 22, 2022. Please contact us with any questions: institutes@humanitiestexas.org

Here is a great opportunity for curriculum specialists, history teachers, language arts teachers, and library specialists. Registration Deadline is Tuesday, September 27!

TEACHING WITH PRIMARY SOURCES

A Workshop for Teachers and Students

The Texas State Historical Association is sponsoring a FREE Library of Congress workshop in Waco on Saturday, October 8, 2022 from 10:00am to 4:00pm. The workshop will help teachers guide and engage their students in research using primary resources from the Library of Congress and local institutions. The workshop will be held at the Baylor University and is limited to 50 participants.

• Lunch will be provided for all attendees
• Teachers will receive 6 hours of CPE credit
• Teachers are encouraged to invite one 10th or 11th-grade student
• Please bring a laptop or tablet

Texas History Day will be on hand to facilitate the workshop and provide strategies and resources to the attendees.

Attached is a flyer for the workshop and here is the registration form link: https://forms.gle/gcm18Yp3zHJHoe7k9

National Council for the Social Studies is pleased to offer a limited number of registration scholarships to educators who have never been able to attend the NCSS Annual Conference in the past for lack of financial support. Teachers from across the United States and its territories are welcome to apply.

The deadline for applying is September 25, 2022.

More info here >> https://www.socialstudies.org/conference/scholarship

I am so excited to be part of the #sschat moderator team! I would love to have you join us for a great conversation via Twitter each Monday evening. Need help getting started with Twitter chats, reach out to me and I'll walk you through the steps. All of the Twitter chats are archived for future reference using Wakelet. Check them out here ->> https://sschat.org/archives/

Check them out here:

Volume 3 (2020-2021) Issue 1 Issue 2 Issue 3 Issue 4 Issue 5 Issue 6 Issue 7 Issue 8 Issue 9 Issue 10 Issue 11 Issue 12

Volume 4 (2021-2022) Issue 1 Issue 2 Issue 3 Issue 4 Issue 5 Issue 6 Issue 7 Issue 8 Issue 9 Issue 10 Issue 11 Issue 12

Special Editions: Celebrate Black History - Celebrate Women's History - 9/11 Remembered - Holocaust Remembrance Week - Memorial Day - Constitution Day - Juneteenth

Assistant Director for Continuous Improvement

Social Studies Content Specialist

ESC Region 12

o: 254-297-1284

Email: jtorres@esc12.net
Website: https://www.esc12.net/page/ge_socialstudies
Location: ESC Region 12, West Loop 340, Waco, TX, USA
Phone: 254-366-3856
Twitter: @owl_b_torresedu