FEATURES:
[Professional Development] [Field Trip Recommendation] [Awards & Recognition] [Middle School In the News]
NEW TEACHERS:
It was a pleasure meeting each of you during New Teacher Academy Week. Below you will find several of the informational pieces that were shared during our time with you on Days 3 and 5. Should you not find an item here that you would like to have in electronic form or should you have further questions, please don't hesitate to email us.
Day 3
- "Curriculum".ppt
A very special thank you goes out to our veteran teachers Adam Miller from Covington MS; Clane Hayward from Burnet MS; and Megan Mabry from Dobie MS for graciously accepting the call to be our presenters this year and for sharing their knowledge and experience with us.
Professional Development
Social Studies Professional Development Opportunities for Fall
Get Ready for History Fair!
The Central Texas Regional History Competition is February 2, 2009. Teachers who have had students participate in the past, or who are interested in participating this year should
register now to reserve their spot at the LBJ Library's FREE workshop for teachers. The deadline for registration is September 26th. Students, parents, and teachers are encouraged to attend the October 4th event to learn more about how to have a successful History Day project.
T.C.I. Helps Bring Learning Alive!
The Social Studies Department in Austin ISD's Bureau of Curriculum & Instruction is committed to fulfilling the district's vision of professional learning and proud to bring to our Austin teachers the quality coaching, materials, and strategies developed by our long-time friends at the Teacher's Curriculum Institute.
From their beginning in 1989 to present TCI’s mission has remained the same: "to create, disseminate, and put into practice instructional strategies and accompanying social studies curricular materials so that educators can engage all students in the diverse classroom."
We're exited about our continued relationship with TCI and are looking forward to seeing you at one of the following professional learning experiences in the 2008 Fall semester.
AUSTIN ISD
Professional Development
Vision Statement:
Professional learning in the Austin Independent School District advances student learning by enhancing the knowledge, skills, and performance of all individuals to create a strong and effective district learning community committed to the philosophy that
all children can learn.
LEVEL 1: September 16 - 18, 2008
Austin ISD Professional Development Center
If you are a Social Studies teacher who has yet to experience TCI's Level 1 training, contact our office now about registering for this 3-day workshop, one jam packed with strategies that, when implemented with fidelity, have the power to transform your classroom into a truly engaging learning environment.
LEVEL 2: October 7 - 8, 2008
The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
In 2007 TCI added TCI Academy to meet the demand for high quality professional development. This innovative approach allows a school district's curriculum support staff to work closely with TCI Academy Trainers, who are classroom teachers and education experts with years of experience helping their peers become highly successful and effective teachers. We are thrilled to announce that this year Dr. Bert Bower, one of the founders of TCI will be conducting the 2-day TCI Academy for our advanced teachers in the TCI approach to learning. Contact our office now to ensure your registration.
Message from Janie and Jessica. Welcome back Middle School teachers! We hope that you had a restful summer and are looking forward to a new year. We would like to extend a special thank you to all of our teachers who presented at DWSD on August 20th. Your hard work contributed to a successful day.We have two great TCI sessions planned for the fall as well as a wealth of resources for Constitution Day, Celebrate Freedom Week, and the 2008 election. We are in the process of adding YOUR best lessons to our webpage. Please email Jessica Jolliffe lesson plans you would like to share. We are looking forward to working with all of you as we begin the 2008-2009 academic year. Please contact us to let us know how we can best serve you and your campus.
Field Trip Recommendation
Fighting For Democracy:
Who is the "We" in "We, the People"?
Traveling Exhibit Comes to Texas
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT SAN ANTONIO
INSTITUTE OF TEXAN CULTURES
JULY 29, 2008 -
JANUARY 18, 2009
Fighting for Democracy traces the real-life stories of seven young men and women whose lives were forever changed by the events of World War II. Denied their fundamental rights, each of them, in his or her own way, chose to fight for equality, freedom, and justice overseas and at home.
The exhibition features Hector Garcia, along with individuals who served in segregated units such as
the Tuskegee Airmen, 442nd Regimental Combat Team, Navajo Code Talkers, and Women's Air
Force Service Pilots.
Aimed at middle and high school students, Fighting for Democracy is an experiential exhibition that uses World War II as a case study to begin discussion about how women and minorities have expanded the meaning of “we” in “we, the people.”
The purpose of this interactive exhibition is to provide a teaching tool and discussion piece for educators and their students. When visiting Fighting for Democracy, teachers and group leaders facilitate their students’ experience in the exhibition space, allowing educators to custom-tailor an educational experience to meet their curricular goals and to deepen their students’ understanding of democracy. Unlike a traditional museum exhibition, Fighting for Democracy is designed to engage youth participants in the content and to provide a safe space for them to vocalize their opinions through a facilitated experience. This exhibition offers a multimedia resource for educators, presenting information in photographs, pull-out cards, quotes, oral history clips, educational activities and discussions.
- To learn more and find Teacher Resource Guides, Unit Plans, and a Lesson Plan Database, go here.
The Japanese American National Museum and its National Center for the Preservation of Democracy, headquartered in Los Angeles, California, proudly sponsors this engaging educational experience. The presentation at the Institute of Texan Cultures will be the first of ten sites to which the exhibition will travel over the next five years.
AWARDS & RECOGNITION
Burnet Teacher Wins $5,000 Education Grant
Congratulations to Lisa Mielke! Earlier this semester she applied for a $5,000 Education Grant from Lowe's to get Ignite Learning for her Social Studies Department at Burnet Middle School. In May she received word from Lowe's Community Relations department applauding her dedication to improving her school and informing her that she would be receiving a 2007-08 Lowe's Toolbox for Education grant from the Lowe's Charitable and Educational Foundation.
Congratulations to Lisa and the Social Studies team at Burnet!
Students Win Awards Exploring Social Studies Topics
10 students from the Austin area won top honors at
the 28th
Annual Texas History Day, a weekend-long history fair for students in grades six through twelve.
By
winning first and second place in this statewide competition, four of these students have
now qualified to advance to National History Day, the national history fair in June 2008.
"Winning top awards at Texas History Day is an amazing achievement," said Stephen Cure,
Director of Educational Services for the Texas State Historical Association, a sponsor of
Texas History Day. "Thirty thousand students across Texas compete at the local level to win
the opportunity to participate in the statewide contest, and 963 students qualified to compete
in Austin. These 10 students triumphed over tremendous competition."
The 2008 Texas History Day took place on Saturday, May 3 and Sunday, May 4 at the Bob
Bullock Texas State History Museum and The University of Texas at Austin. Students from
all over Texas traveled to Austin to compete for awards with their outstanding exhibits,
performances, documentaries, interpretive websites and historical essays prepared on this
year's "Conflict and Compromise in History" theme. Texas History Day activities culminated with an awards ceremony on Sunday afternoon,
where a message from Governor Rick Perry was shared with the participants.
Schools in Austin ISD with winning students include O. Henry Middle School and Fulmore Middle School.
Teacher Duane Devereaux was the coach for the O. Henry Middle School winners:
The following O. Henry students who won top honors at state NHD competition |
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Will Bryant, whose paper "The Battle of Luzon in WWII: Deadly Conflict, Deadlier Compromise" received 2nd place State honors for Junior Individual Historical Paper; |
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Kevin Espinoza, whose project "The Wright Amendment: How Conflict and Compromise Helped the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex" received 2nd place State honors for Junior Individual Documentary; |
Not pictured. |
Trent Butler, who received 2nd place State honors in Junior Individual Performance for "The Amazing Trials, Tribulations and Birth of Big Bend National Park". |
The following O. Henry students received a third place ranking and medallion at state NHD competition: |
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Olivia Mendez & Lily Remmert, whose work "Remember Them for They Did Overcome: From the Conflict in Selma, Alabama to the Signing of the Voting Rights Act" received 3rd place State honors for Junior Group Documentary; |
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Billy Caldwell, Colton Mathes, Will Perez, Andrew Pate, whose exhibit "The Little Rock Nine: Desegregation of Central High" received 3rd place State honors in the Junior Group Exhibit. |
Winner of the African-American History Award at state NHD competition. |
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Brian Bell, whose category was Historical Paper, won the African-American History award which crosses multiple categories. |
Dr. Mary Anne Wilkinson, director of the Fullmore Magnet program, celebrates with her student:
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Kevin Brenner, who received 1st Place State honors in the Junior Interpretive Web Site category for "Until She Spoke: The Haitian Revolution of 1804" |
The top two winners in each category advance to National History Day, the next round of competition, held at the University of Maryland-College Park on June 15-19, 2008. "Qualifying to participate in both the state and national contest is quite a rigorous process," said Cure, "but the students' enthusiasm is matched only by the strength of each History Day entry. That is why year after year Texas makes such a strong showing in the National History Day competition."
The Texas State Historical Association sponsors the National History Day program in Texas. The Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum and the College of Education at The University of Texas at Austin co-hosted this year's event. Founded in 1897, the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) fosters the appreciation, understanding and teaching of the rich and unique history of Texas. TSHA pursues the "actual doing of history," from research, writing and publications to educational programs designed to support teaching Texas history in the public school system. For more information about Texas History Day or the Texas State Historical Association, please visit www.TSHAonline.org.
Middle School In the News
Former Supreme Court Justice O'Connor
Takes Turn As Curriculum Web Designer
By SETH SCHIESEL
Published in The New York Times: June 9, 2008
Sandra Day O’Connor, the former Supreme Court justice, began her remarks at the Games for Change conference in New York by saying aloud what the few hundred people in the audience were already thinking.
Sandra Day O’Connor’s Plan for Joystick Justice
“If someone had told me when I retired from the Supreme Court about a couple of years ago that I would be speaking at a conference about digital games, I would have been very skeptical, maybe thinking you had one drink too many,” she said to laughter Wednesday in an auditorium downtown at Parsons the New School for Design.
Yet there she was, a notable figure in modern history, at once engaging and imposing as she explained why she had embraced the Internet and interactive digital media as an essential tool for preserving American democracy. In cooperation with Georgetown University Law Center and Arizona State University, Justice O’Connor is helping develop a Web site and interactive civics curriculum for seventh-, eighth- and ninth-grade students called Our Courts (www.ourcourts.org). The initial major elements of the site are scheduled to become available this fall.
Since retiring from the bench in 2006, Justice O’Connor, 78, has spoken forcefully and often about the dangers posed by efforts to politicize the judiciary. Her thoughts are well known to legal scholars. With Our Courts she hopes to foster a deeper understanding of American government among schoolchildren. The site will have two parts, an explicitly educational component for use in schools and a more entertainment-oriented module that will more closely resemble games. As one would expect from such a significant jurist, she made a neat case.
“In recent years I have become increasingly concerned about vitriolic attacks by some members of Congress and some members of state legislatures and various private interest groups on judges,” she said in her speech. “We hear a great deal about judges who are activists, godless secular humanists trying to impose their will on the rest of us. I always thought an activist judge was one who got up in the morning and went to work.”
She said she embarked on this campaign after a conference she and Justice Stephen G. Breyer convened in 2006 on the state of the judiciary.
“The overwhelming consensus coming out of that conference was that public education is the only long-term solution to preserving an independent judiciary and, more importantly, to preserving a robust constitutional democracy,” she said. “The better educated our citizens are, the better equipped they will be to preserve the system of government we have. And we have to start with the education of our nation’s young people. Knowledge about our government is not handed down through the gene pool. Every generation has to learn it, and we have some work to do.”
Justice O’Connor said that most citizens know very little about their government. “Two-thirds of Americans know at least one of the judges on the Fox TV show ‘American Idol,’ but less than 1 in 10 can name the chief justice of the United States Supreme Court,” she said.
And for that she did not lay responsibility solely at the feet of popular culture.
“One unintended effect of the No Child Left Behind Act, which is intended to help fund teaching of science and math to young people, is that it has effectively squeezed out civics education because there is no testing for that anymore and no funding for that,” she said. “And at least half of the states no longer make the teaching of civics and government a requirement for high school graduation. This leaves a huge gap, and we can’t forget that the primary purpose of public schools in America has always been to help produce citizens who have the knowledge and the skills and the values to sustain our republic as a nation, our democratic form of government.”
Enter the Internet. Justice O’Connor said she didn’t play games and was hardly a computer expert. But she added that she had seen in her children and especially her grandchildren how involving interactive media can be and noted that interactive education can in some ways be more effective than traditional methods.
“We’ll have them arguing real issues, real legal issues, against the computer and against each other,” she said. One of the first interactive exercises in the Our Courts program, she said, would take up First Amendment issues involving the ability of public schools to censor students’ speech, as in student newspapers or on T-shirts.
“I believe that when we learn something, a principle or concept, by doing, by having it happen to us, which you can do by that medium of a computer, and you exercise it and you make an argument and you learn, ‘Oh yes, that’s an argument that prevails,’ you learn by doing.”
© AISD, 2007 /