CISC March 09 Update

From: Gary Dei Rossi [mailto:gdeirossi@sjcoe.net]

CISC HISTORY-SOCIAL SCIENCE SUBCOMMITTEE

MARCH 2009 UPDATE

State History-Social Science Curriculum Framework and Evaluation Criteria Committee: The committee has had two meetings. So far the committee has reviewed the revised chapters on assessment, universal access, instructional support, and some of the course descriptions. Future meetings are: April 2-3, April 30 & May 1st, and June 4-5. Various county history-social science leaders are either on the committee and have been involved with the deliberations.

The History Summit: On April 20-21, the California History Social Science Project will be hosting “Summit III: How Merging Historical content, Instruction and Research Can Improve History Instruction.” Featured speakers are: Daniel Sergeant, UC Berkeley; Tom Torlakson, Assembly Education Member; Rebecca Valbuena, LA Teacher of the Year; Gloria Romero, Chair of the Senate Education Committee; Mary Schleppegrell, School of Education at University of Michigan; and Ross Dunn, History Professor at San Diego State University. For more information please contact Nancy McTygue at 530-752-0572 or http://csmp.ucop.edu/chssp.

US State Department Website: This site has a new feature that they might want share with your schools and students called “Ask the Secretary” where any student can ask her/his own question of Secretary of State Clinton as she makes her journeys.

LegiSchool Project: A very exciting opportunity for high school students and teachers throughout California is the LegiSchool Project's Annual Photo Contest, California Through My Eyes. How do you envision California? What represents California to you? Poverty? Wealth? Technology? Farms? Water? Mountains? Towns? People? Cities? Cars? Landscapes? These are just some of the images that students are invited to photograph for LegiSchool’s annual photo contest. The photo can be a person, place, or anything else – big or small. It must be an original 8 x 10 inch photo and can be in color or black and white. Students also need to include a 150-word or less essay explaining why the photo represents California. The first-place winner will receive $100 and four runners-up will receive $50 each. Entries must be postmarked by Friday, May 1, 2009. Please see the attached announcement for details and share it with your students. Additional fliers and/or entry forms are available at: http://www.csus.edu/legischool.

The LegiSchool Project is a civic education collaboration between California State University, Sacramento and the State Legislature, administered by the Center for California Studies. LegiSchool’s mission is to engage young people in matters of public policy and state government by creating opportunities for students and state leaders to meet and share ideas on issues affecting Californians and by developing free high-quality government-oriented curriculum materials for California educators to enhance and help improve the quality of state government-related curriculum in our schools.

For more information, or if you have any questions, please contact me at thorall@csus.edu or (916) 278-7563.

Megan Thorall, LegiSchool Coordinator, Center for California Studies, (916) 278-7563.

California History-Social Science Network: The National Council for the Social Studies ballots for 2009 have arrived. Michelle Herczog of LACOE, a Past-President of CCSS, is running for NCSS Board of Directors as a Member-At-Large. We need to support our California representation at the national level!

CDE History-Social Science Newsletter

From: Kristen Cruz [mailto:KCruz@cde.ca.gov]

Hello,

It is important that California district administrators and teachers are aware of the exciting HSS events and professional development opportunities within the state.

Thank you,

Kristen Cruz, Consultant
California Department of Education
1430 N Street, Room 4309
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 916-323-6407

Fax: 916-323-2807

kcruz@cde.ca.gov