My name is Jessica Torres and I serve as the ESC Region 12 Social Studies content specialist as well as the Continuous Improvement Liaison. 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 question from Barrett Brooks on choosing your heroes:

“Here’s the thing about your heroes: You have to know about them to look up to them. The candidate pool is 100% limited by your exposure. That’s why so many kids look up to athletes, I think. They haven’t been exposed to enough other people to look up to them.

Here's how I think about that: Who haven’t I been exposed to that would inspire me if I knew they existed or knew the details of their lives? And how could I learn about those people?”

Which heroes are we including for our students? #RepresentationMatters

Be sure to check out the resources for both Black History Month and Women's History Month in the resources at the bottom of the newsletter. 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).

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. Texas educators are helping design new question types that reflect classroom test questions and allow students more ways to show their understanding. All possible new question types are being field-tested with students to ensure validity before they are incorporated into the redesigned summative tests beginning in spring 2023.

Social studies TEKS review Group A convened for a series of meetings to develop recommendations in response to Senate Bill (SB) 1063 from the 87th Texas Legislative Session, Regular Session, 2021. SB 1063 requires the SBOE to adopt TEKS for a new combined personal financial literacy and economics course that may fulfill a student's graduation requirement for economics.

Work Group A’s recommendations are currently available for review and feedback on the 2021-2022 Social Studies TEKS Review Work Group Drafts web page under the heading Work Group A: Personal Financial Literacy and Economics.

Feedback on work group recommendations will be accepted throughout the review process for the proposed new course. When providing specific comments and recommendations, please identify the work group in the subject line of the email. For example, in the subject line, please indicate "Social Studies TEKS Review Work Group A Feedback." Please submit comments to TEA at teks@tea.texas.gov.

TEA is seeking classroom teachers, instructional coaches, campus and district content specialists, and campus administrators to serve on a variety of assessment-related committees. The involvement of Texas education professionals supports TEA in designing and building the best quality assessments. TEA is accepting applications for the following teacher committees:

• Early passage review meetings
• Educator item review meetings
• Essay rangefinding meetings
• Subject-area advisory groups
• STAAR redesign focus groups

Teacher and instructional specialists or coaches for the following grades and subject areas are encouraged to apply:

• English language arts and reading, grades 3–8 and English I-II
• Mathematics, grades 3–8 and Algebra I
• Science, grades 5 and 8 and Biology
• Social studies, grade 8 and U.S. History
• Spanish language arts and reading, grades 3–5
• Spanish mathematics, grades 3–5
• Spanish science, grade 5

To apply to participate in these committees, educators should complete the Educator Committee Application Form at https://www.txetests.com/edc/.

If you are in search of great TX History slides or activities, look no further than amazing teacher Amy Marshall @AmyMars33607087. Not only does she create amazing resources, but she graciously shares them with Twitter followers! I have linked the Cattle Drive one below, but be sure to follow her on Twitter for constant access.

I've been diving into a new book, 50 Strategies for Cognitive Engagement, and I'd like to devote a section in each newsletter to think about thinking. Oftentimes educators tend to misidentify the level of instruction that they are using to engage students in higher levels of thinking. If we understand our levels better then we are able to better select strategies at various critical-thinking levels. Last month we started with Thinking at the Understand Level, let's continue looking at the cognitive processes involved with this level.

At the Understand level, students begin establishing new connections with the content. There are seven cognitive processes associated with the Understand level:

• interpreting
• exemplifying
• classifying
• summarizing
• inferring
• comparing
• explaining

Today let's expand on the remaining four of them:

1. When summarizing, students simplify information into a succinct statement. The summary could be about reading, watching a video clip, or observing a natural event. Summarizing the content of a lesson as an exit ticket is a common go-to.
2. With inferring, students use evidence and reason to make a conclusion. For example, after teaching students about a specific primary source type, i.e. map, have them infer why the author/creator developed such a document.
3. When comparing, students examine two different ideas or items to assess their similarities and differences. Students will often find it easier to find differences, so consider having them find similarities first.
4. With explaining, students must understand cause-and-effect relationships. For example, after having students read about the Boston Tea Party, instruct them to explain how they think England might react.

Take a moment and evaluate the tasks you ask your students to complete. Thinking about the four cognitive processes shared, how often are students thinking at the Understand level. What do student responses from this level teach us? Each month we'll take a look at a different level and what we can do to increase cognitive engagement in our classrooms.

The Virtual Museum of Texas' Cultural Heritage

Texas Beyond History (TBH) is a public education service of the Texas Archaeological Research Laboratory at the University of Texas at Austin, and in partnership with the Department of Anthropology at Texas State University and 15 other organizations. Begun in 2001, its purpose is to interpret and share the results of archaeological and historical research on the cultural heritage of Texas with the citizens of Texas and the world. Two of our favorite tools on TBH are the Site Explorer Map and the interactive Prehistoric Texas Map.

The Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People is an annual project of the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) and the CBC running since 1972. This bibliography features K-12 annotated titles published in the previous calendar year that are exceptional books for use in social studies classrooms, selected by social studies educators. The book review committee is appointed by the NCSS. I am currently a member of the committee.

Please note that this is a preview of the 2022 Notable Social Studies Trade Books list. The final list will be published by NCSS in the May-June 2022 issue of Social Education, and include annotations for each title, illustrations, and connections to the National Standards for Social Studies. Prior year lists are available as well.

https://www.cbcbooks.org/readers/reader-resources/notable-social-studies-list/

Lots of great summer social studies opportunities coming soon!

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 1 (2018-2019) Issue 1 Issue 2 Issue 3 Issue 4 Issue 5 Issue 6 Issue 7 Issue 8 Issue 9 Issue 10

Volume 2 (2019-2020) Issue 1 Issue 2 Issue 3 Issue 4 Issue 5 Issue 6 Issue 7 Issue 8 Issue 9 Issue 10 Issue 11 Issue 12 Issue 13

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

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

Instructional Leadership/Continuous Improvement Liaison

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