SPRING
2012
MAY
is
Asian-American
History
Month
[Resources]
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2012 Election
Ideas &
Resources
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May 1: LAW DAY
The 2012 Law Day theme, "No Courts, No Justice, No Freedom," underscores the importance of the courts and their role in ensuring access to justice for all Americans.
Click here for more information and resources about this year's Law Day.
May
7-14:
World Geo STAAR
(Online campuses)
May 9:
World Geo STAAR
(Paper Campuses)
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May 16 and 17:
TCI's History Alive!
Prof. Dev. at Baker PDC.
May 19:
Social Studies teacher writers who have been accepted into the 2012 Curric101 Writers Cadre
will remain after the 9-11 a.m. kick-off breakfast for their orientation with the Social Studies curriculum staff until 3 pm. at Delco Center.Select:
- [Walk for the Water report] [T.E.A. STAAR Info.]
- [Spring '12 & Fall '11 DWSD Reports & Materials] [Staff Directory]
Service Learning project provides opportunities
to examine Social Studies themes ...
Philanthropy | Global Awareness | Civic Action
After learning in their classrooms about the importance of clean water in developing nations, students from AISD campuses who are partnering this school year with the organization A Legacy of Giving came together for a Saturday event called Walk for the Water. The goal: raise funds to build a new clean water well in Burundi, Africa.
Fundraising contributions continue to be accepted through May 11.
Over 550 students, teachers, parents, and community supporters walked 3.7 miles, which is the average distance an African person must walk 
to get clean well water. The community partner is Gilbert Tuhabonye's Gazelle Foundation. Students and teachers were able to meet, visit, and take photos with Gilbert on Saturday. Gilbert Tuhabonye will visit the school that had the most walkers (as a percentage of student body size) and the school that raised the most funds (as a percentage of student body size) and contest winners will be announced May 15.
Shirley Hartmann of Covington Middle School reports that her students did more than collect pledges for their walk. Covington students sponsored a silent auction in the teacher's lounge, sold school supplies to the students in the morning, and created original artwork to sell to teachers. "The Walk was amazing." said Shirley, "The kids were saying, 'you can learn about this in class but you don't really understand it until you actually do it." [Photo: Covington MS students Jonathan Espinosa, Sarah Traylor, and Lily Davidson meet Mr. Gilbert Tuhabonye]
See the Legacy of Giving web site for more info about this service learning project as well as lesson resources addressing these important social studies themes.
Commissioner Unveils Performance Standards
[April 24, 2012] The commissioner of education today unveiled the 
performance standards students must achieve to pass or excel on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) end-of-course tests."These standards will be challenging for our students and will push academic performance to a new level in Texas. Students who pass theSTAAR end-of-course assessments will be better prepared for success in the next course or in postsecondary pursuits," said Commissioner of Education Robert Scott.
Three performance categories have been set for STAAR EOCs.
Click here to begin familiarizing yourself with this important information.
(More links regarding STAAR EOC can be found here).
SBOT & ABA Deliver Law-Related Education
A longstanding relationship between the AISD Social Studies Curriculum Department and the Law-Related Education aims of the State Bar of Texas, Texas Young Lawyer’s Association, and Austin Bar Association has produced many valuable collaborations over the years and continues in Spring 2012.
LAW DAY STUDENT COMPETITION
Background: President Dwight Eisenhower established the first Law Day in 1958 to mark the nation's commitment to the rule of law and, in 1961, Congress issued a joint resolution designating May 1 as the official date for celebrating Law Day. Every president since then has issued a Law Day proclamation on May 1 to celebrate the nation's commitment to the rule of law and, in addressing each year’s Law Day theme, the American Bar Association has been committed to the development of quality Law Day curriculum resources.
“PICK ME! A JURY OF MY PEERS”
Background: The popular “Pick Me!” program is a three-day curriculum the Austin Bar Association developed with AISD. The program takes high school Government students through the history of juries, a mock voir dire, and a video trial. Attorney and judge volunteers conduct a mock voir dire with students followed by a discussion on why particular students were chosen or rejected. On the third day, students watch a trial on video and the student jury weighs the evidence and renders a verdict. Everyone who wasn't chosen for the jury is considered the "shadow" jury and also pronounce their verdict. T
he “Pick Me!” program provides an excellent opportunity for students to learn about the importance of juries in our justice system and why it is so important to respond to jury summons. The program is the perfect fit in the third Six Weeks of each semester when the Judicial Branch is being addressed in the Government curriculum.
"Oyez, Oyez, Oh Yay!"
As part of 2011-12 State Bar President Bob Black’s public education initiative, LRE has developed the online resource, Oyez, Oyez, Oh Yay! Civics Resources for Texas Students and Teachers, an interactive web-based project to assist Texas teachers and students in preparing for new Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) standards in social studies. Oyez, Oyez, Oh Yay! focuses on the landmark court decisions middle and high school students must know to be successful on the state assessments. The web site includes summaries of the required court cases [PDF version available for download], including discussion of the court’s decision, as well as links to other case resources, videos, and curriculum materials and strategies for teachers.
Click here to vist the Oyez, Oyez, Oh Yay! Civic Resources web page.
Click here for the LRE's 2012 Summer PD Calendar.
SPRING 2012 DWSD REPORT
The Whole Child: Creating a Culture for Increased Student Learning
FEATURED GUEST: |
Dr. Greif has been working at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial, Jerusalem and Givatayim, Israel, for more than 30 years. In his many positions at Yad Vashem he introduced pioneer projects: He established the educational contacts between Yad Vashem and the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum, and created the seminars in Yad Vashem for guides, educators and priests from Poland which have become a tradition since 1991. Dr. Greif is considered one of the world- renowned historian-experts on Auschwitz-Birkenau. A central topic of Dr. Greif's research on the Shoah is the history of the extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, and in particular the history of the “Sonderkommando”, a special Jewish prisoner detail in Auschwitz. His acclaimed book on this topic, “We wept without tears - Testimonies of the Jewish Sonderkommandos in Auschwitz”, was published in Hebrew, German, Polish, Danish and English and is a best-seller everywhere. Dr. Gideon Greif further conducts research on various Jewish themes, like the Jewish prisoners in Majdanek, the history of German Jewish immigrants in Israel (published in the book, “Die Jeckes”, Germany, 2000), Rescue of Jews in Auschwitz, The Topography of Auschwitz (together with Peter Siebers) and the deportations of Jews from Greece and Slovakia to Auschwitz. Other publications include: “Germany’s Jews under Nazi Regime 1933-1939” (Hebrew, 1983), “The Historiography of the Holocaust Period”, with Yisrael Gutman (English, 1989), “The History of the Warsaw Jewry” (ed., Hebrew, 1991). He published numerous historical articles in Israel, Germany, Poland, Australia and the United States. For many years, Gideon Greif worked at the Israeli Radio and produced numerous radio documentaries and several documentary films about the Holocaust. His documentary film on the "Sonderkommando" in Auschwitz-Birkenau will be produced in France in 2012. He has been teaching the history of Holocaust at universities and teacher training seminars in Israel, Europe, Australia and the United States. He was Visiting Professor at the Sue and Leonard Miller Center for Contemporary Judaic Studies at the University of Miami, Florida, and taught Holocaust Studies at Haifa University and the Open University in Israel. He participates in numerous international conferences world-wide on the Holocaust. Dr. Greif is famous for his oratory skills and speaks before many thousands in 3 languages all over the world. His repertoire features no less than 20 areas of expertise and we are so excited to be welcoming him as our featured speaker on February 17. The two topics he will be sharing are as follows: - Auschwitz - a death factory. The untold story of the Jewish "Sonderkommando" Based on exclusive interviews by Dr. Grief with the last survivors of the Jewish ”Sonderkommando”, who were forced to take part in the process of industrial killing in Auschwitz-Birkenau, the presentation offers a clear vision of the mass murder in the largest extermination camp of Nazi Germany. The lecture presents the “Auschwitz Album,” a unique collection of hundreds of photos, made in the last days of May and the beginning of June 1944 in Auschwitz-Birkenau by two SS-photographers. Through these pictures, we can visualize what exactly happened after the arrival of a transport at the ramp of Birkenau, the killing center of Auschwitz. |
Dr. Gideon Greif
Download Program
Nearly 300 secondary teachers of social studies attended their Spring 2012 District-Wide Staff Development on Friday, February 17 at McCallum High School.
After registering in the new McCallum Fine Arts Theater lobby, the teachers congregated in the theater for the 8:30 a.m. General Session. Members of the Social Studies Curriculum Department provided important announcements during this time and facilitated an informative discussion panel made up
of secondary Chairs and Coaches who examined two primary topics:
-
the impact this year's implementation of new Social Studies TEKS has had on instructional planning and pacing;
- strategies being adopted on various campuses to preparefor both the TAKS and STAAR EOC assessments, including methods for meaningful use of district benchmark data with particular emphasis on identified approaches seen across the district for addressing the needs of special population groups.
In addition to the full program (see download available above) of presentations that teachers were able to choose from (including that by the featured speaker, Dr. Gideon Greif, see bio on left),
all teachers of state-assessed courses attended a STAAR Presenter Session for their subject area. These presenters were selected because they are not only recognized state leaders in social studies education, they have been active in the pursuit to acquire accurate information about this year's state assessments - that is, for both TAKS (for Grades 10 and11) and the new STAAR EOC (for Grades 8 and 9) - and committed towards providing that information in high quality professional development and conferences around the state. They were as follows:
Rachel Hernandez is the Social Studies Education Specialist at Region XIII ESC where she provides professional development and technical support to districts and campuses regarding the implementation of the TEKS for SocialStudies as well as the administering of Social Studies assessments and other related content. Prior to coming to Region XIII, Rachel worked for 10 years at Northside Independent School District in San Antonio, Texas where she served that district in the capacity of Instructional Support Teacher for Secondary Social Studies.
Rachel brought herknowledge and expertise to our high school U.S. History teachers.
Amy Thibaut is a 30-year veteran of public education in Texas who has taught just about every secondary social studies subject in the catalog! butmost of us know her best for the name she has made for herself among World History colleagues in the state.
After being named a James MadisonMemorial Fellow and gaining a M.Ed., Amy
worked in curriculum and instruction departments in two different school districts, Cypress-Fairbanks ISD and Spring Branch ISD, first as an instructional coach and finally as thedirector of social studies. Amy facilitated the World History session.
Marci Smith Deal is the Social Studies Curriculum Coordinator for Hurst-Euless-Bedford ISD; President of the Texas Social Studies Supervisors association; Steering Committee Member for Texas Alliance for Geographic Education and Teacher Consultant for National Geographic Society. Marci brought her wealth of knowledge to our teachers of World Geography.
And we were so thrilled to have Dr. Rosemary Morrow included in this impressive lineup. Dr. Morrow
is a clinical assistant professor at The University of Texas at Austin, in the College of Education and the College of Liberal Arts, working with the UTeach Liberal Arts program.
She has also 
TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCY
News & Events
________
SOCIAL STUDIES CENTER
________
Newly adopted Social Studies and Economics TEKS
________
State Testing Calendars
End-of-Course Assessments
STAAR Resources
served as Social Studies Director at the Texas Education Agency and as Social Studies Supervisor for our own Austin ISD. She joined our own Jessica Jolliffe in facilitating the session for teachers of 8th Grade U.S. History.
SOCIAL STUDIES IN THE NEWS
Local Social Studies Educators Host
59th Annual Conference of State Council
CONFERENCE SUMMARY |
|
142 |
Professional Development sessions presented during the 3-day conference. |
110 |
PD Sessions directly addressing the new Social Studies TEKS and STAAR EOC Assessments. |
3 |
AISD Social Studies Teachers who served as session presenters. |
2 |
AISD Teachers who accepted one of the four state awards given each year for Outstanding Teaching. |
5 |
Reagan ROTC students who presented the colors during the 9-11 Foundation presentation. |
25 |
Austin and McCallum High students who earned service credit hours volunteering at the conference. |
60 |
Vendors who provided new and exciting Social Studies resources in the Exhibit Hall. |
15 |
Out-of-town Educators who had one remarkable tour experience at the Texas State Cemetery early Friday morning. |
50 |
Conference attendees who enjoyed a reception and private tour of the new "Left - Right: Radical Movements of the 1960s" exhibit at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Museum. |
35 |
Conference attendees who attended an evening at the State Capitol learning about the Governor's Mansion Restoration project led by Austin ISD teacher Sally Hunter who modeled the use of historical documents in classroom research. |
1 |
Texas Supreme Court Justice, Wallace Jefferson, who delivered a powerful message about Civic education and the new iCivics web-based educational game, closing the Conference on Sunday. |
Nearly 600 Social Studies educators from around the state descended on the Doubletree Hotel here in Austin October 21-23 for the 59th annual conference of the Texas Council for the Social Studies.
Chairing the conference this year was AISD Middle School Curriculum Specialist Janie Maldonado who, along with the rest of the Social Studies Curriculum Department, are all members of the local council who hosted this year's conference in Austin, the Capital Area Council for the Social Studies.Janie and the entire Social Studies team want to thank all of the CACSS-member teachers and volunteer students from AISD who participated in the conference. And, if you happen to see Janie Maldonado around district quarters, be sure to tip your hat to her - she did a fantastic job coordinating this event!
Take a look at the "By the Numbers" chart at left and you'll get a good idea of the learning, networking, and fun conference attendees experienced at this year's event-packed conference, appropriately titled "Austin - No Limits!"
The 60th Annual TCSS state conference will be in Irving, TX in October 2012.
Not a member of your local or state or national professional organization? Join today!
Photos: 1.) Glowing following the Jean Lantz Awards Ceremony held on Saturday during the October 21 - 23 Texas Council for the Social Studies Annual Conference are Martin Middle School teacher Storm Vance, TCSS Middle School 2011 Teacher of the Year, and Mendez Middle School teacher Magdalena Bustillos, TCSS 2011 NOVA Teacher.
2.) Texas Supreme Court Justice Wallace B. Jefferson closes the conference, speaking to conference attendees about the importance of Civic education in K-12 classrooms.
FALL 2011 District-Wide Staff Development
features Holocaust scholar from Jerusalem
August 16, 2011;
McCallum High School
All AISD secondary social studies staff reported to McCallum High School on Thursday, August 16, for their Fall 2011 District-Wide Staff Development. | DWSD MATERIALS: General Session.ppt Reflections on the past.ppt 2011-12 Teacher Information Sheet.pdf DWSD program "Have you seen www...?" Teachers offer their top web recommendations |
Following the 7:45 - 8:15 a.m. registration in the campus' main foyer, all staff gathered in the new McCallum Fine Arts theater for the Superintendent's convocation.
Faculty remained in the theater following Superintendent Carstarphen's remarks to hear Joe M. Ramirez, Administrative Supervisor for Social Studies, provide important information in a General Session. This presentation included information regarding this year's new state and local assessments.
Be sure you have secured your
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The Texas Instructional Materials Exchange is the best way to find and use TEKS-aligned digital teaching resources from TCEA and Learning.com!
Now available on the AISD Cloud!Teachers then had an exciting 2011 Program of over 40 DWSD Presenters to choose from for their remaining three 75-minute sessions - each of these sessions was crafted in some way to address the new standards, new assessments, or new technology teachers would need to be acquainted with in the new school year.
Headlining the list of featured speakers this year was Dr. Ephraim Kaye [photo, left] from the Holocaust Memorial - Yad Vashem (Jerusalem, Israel). 
Dr. Kaye has a first and second degree in Modern Jewish History and the History of the Holocaust from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He has taught in the Israeli high school system for 23 years. Over the past 10 years, he has taught courses on the Holocaust at three different colleges in Jerusalem. Since 1994, he has been Director of the International Seminars at the The International School for Holocaust Studies at Yad Vashem.
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Quote:
"It is frightening that in many of our high schools today, civics education is no longer required.
I don't know how long we can survive as a nation if we don't teach every generation how our government is structured and works.
I regard that as a very important thing for our public schools to teach.
Knowledge about our nation's historical origins which necessarily gave birth to its important founding documents -including the Constitution; the role of our courts; and the specific powers granted our government's leaders and the agencies they oversee -
this is not something simply handed down in the gene pool!
Each generation must learn about our system of government and the citizen’s role if our democracy is to survive."
- U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor (ret.); 2008.
Justice O'Connor invites students, parents, and teachers to the new website developed under her advisement.
Visit iCivics.org for civics lesson plans, educational web games, comprehensive resource links, civics-in-action projects, and more!
© AISD, 2011 /