Strategic Thinking In Social Studies: Rigor, Relevance and Literacy

» 29 March 2008 » In Presentations » 1 Comment

The Texas Social Studies Supervisors Association held its 2008 Spring Conference March 27-28, 2008 at the Hilton Austin Airport. I gave the keynote address on the 28th.  Participants requested that I post a PDF download of my notes. Here it is - Keynote.pdf 2.5MB pdf  Other conference sessions  included content and strategies designed to:

  • Alternative strategies for dealing with TAKS failures
  • Strategies for teaching students from a poverty background
  • Reading in the content area
  • Integrating primary sources
  • Strategies for teaching English language learners
  • Closing the achievement gap
  • Project-based learning
  • Revising the TEKS
  • Implementing technology in the social studies classroom
  • Pre-AP and AP social studies
  • Building academic vocabulary in social studies

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Students Doing History Beats Test Prep

» 22 March 2008 » In History / DBQ's, Strategies » No Comments

Over the next two weeks I'll be doing presentations that take me back to my roots as a history teacher. I'll be giving the keynote at the Texas Social Studies Supervisors Association spring conference in Austin and giving a workshop for elementary school teachers in the Rochester (NY) City School District. In both talks I'll [...]

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21st-Century Education, Life-Long Learner.. Blah, Blah, Blah…

» 14 March 2008 » In Commentary » No Comments

In a recent Education Week, ‘A ‘21st-Century Education’: What Does It Mean? Marion Brady writes: What, exactly, is a “21st-century education”? The short answer, of course, is that it’s whatever those use the phrase happen to be selling. Sample the nearly 200,000 hits the words produce when Googled, and it’s obvious that current dialogue about [...]

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