S U M M E R
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NHCSS Granite Gazette
From The President
Communication! Communication! Communication! That’s the main goal of
the NHCSS executive board this year. Over the last couple of years, the
executive board has been very active especially in the areas of lobbying and
encouraging best teaching practices:
NHCSS Annual
Conference
Center of New Hampshire
Elm Street
Manchester, NH
Key Note : Fitz Weatherbee
Fall 2009 NHCSS C
The NHCSS fall conference will
be held on October 29, 2009 at
the Center of NH in
Manchester. Almost 400
teachers of Social Studies and
supporters of social studies
education attended the
Conference in 2008 and the
Council is working toward
another successful event for
2009.
Put us on your calendar and
make plans to join us for an
exciting day of speakers, prizes
and time with colleagues from
around the state.
Board members have written to and met with our Representatives and
Senators in Washington to push for a stronger emphasis on Social Studies in
the reauthorization of No Child Left Behind. Locally, postcards were mailed
to candidates for state office and many of the candidates were personally
contacted to discuss the need for greater emphasis on Social Studies in New
Hampshire.
To encourage best practices, the executive board put together an excellent
conference last year. Attendees said the keynote address by Scott Spradling
about the elections was one of the best ever and almost all of the workshops
were rated as being very good. Patricia Popienick from the Iber Holmes Gove
Middle School and Meagan Reed from the Sunapee Middle High School were
selected as Teachers of the Year. They were recognized at the state “Eddies”
awards and will be recognized again at the fall conference. A $1,000 Gwen
Beane Mini-Grant was awarded to Darlene Greenwood from Pelham
Elementary School for a classroom project on culturally or politically
influential New Hampshire people. The Gwen Beane Mini-Grant (see page 3)
is made available to members every year, but in some years no teachers have
applied. Think what $1,000 could do for a special project in your classroom
and apply this year! The executive board has been giving regular feedback to
representatives of the Department of Education on a number of their
initiatives that affect Social Studies.
Unfortunately, you are probably not aware of what your executive board has
been doing - and for good reason. The board has fallen down in
communicating to the membership what the Council has been doing. Unlike
other states that have full or part time people working for the council, the work
of our Council is done by volunteer board members, all of whom have other
jobs and responsibilities. Our efforts at getting out a regular newsletter,
journal, and keeping the website up to date have failed to come to fruition.
That will not be the case this year. As I said in opening, COMMUNICATION
will be the goal, so that you will be more aware of what your council is doing
for you!
Best wishes for a great school year!
Ron
THE GRANITE GAZETTE
SUMMER 2009
New Socrates Exchange
The Socrates Exchange is BACK…
The series has been fine tuned and will return on August 20th. Between August and May 9 Socrates Exchange shows will be
broadcast, several will be before a live audience at the brand New Hampshire Public Radio studios. Each discussion will
begin on the website www.nhpr.org <http://www.nhpr.org/> two weeks before the show airs on the radio and will
continue for two week after. Here is a schedule of topics/questions that will be featured in the 2009/2010 Season of the
Socrates Exchange (NOTE: Some of these show titles are working titles)
August 20th – Is it all Relative… Are all of our beliefs merely opinions, or are there some core truths?
September 25th – Should gender matter?
October – Are individual rights more important than the common good?
November – Has technology helped or hurt us?
December/January – Is there one true religion?
February – Should animals have rights?
March – Is censorship ever acceptable?
April – Are there ethical limits to biotechnology/cloning/genetic engineering?
May/June – Do the ends ever justify the means?
On the air, Exchange host Laura Knoy will be joined by two local philosophy professors who will help guide the
conversation. Nick Smith who is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of New Hampshire and Advisor to
the Universities “Socrates Society” and Max Latona, Associate Professor of Philosophy at St. Anselm College.
We look forward to seeing you at the 2009 Conference of the
New Hampshire Council for Social Studies!
Over 30 hands-on workshop sessions for teachers of all levels! Including these and
more:
-Exploring the World with GIS (180 min.)
-Islam in Context: Cultural Diversity/World Religions
-From the Berlin Airlift to the Fall of the Wall
-Using the internet to teach Social Studies
-Up-close and Personal Look at the Roman Army
-Music of the Old West
Themes
-Using Social Studies to Teach Language Arts GLEs
-Money Management for Middle Schoolers
-Using / creating songs to Teach Social Studies Content
-Representative Democracy in Am.-Voices of the People
-China’s Red Capitalist-Unprecedented Economic Reform
-Using Local / Regional Examples to Teach National
-Integrating Elementary SS and Reading w/ Technology
- Keynote Address: well-known New Hampshire story-teller, “historian” and 11th generation Yankee
Fritz Wetherbee - Ayah, if you can’t place him jus think’a New Hampshire Remembered, Just Up
the Road and New Hampshire Crossroads.
-Workshop on and Display of new New Hampshire History book, New Hampshire, Our Home
- 2009 Social Studies Teacher of the Year presentations - exhibits by curriculum companies,
museums and non-profit organizations - raffle and prizes!
The entire program and the registration form available on-line September 1 at
www.nhcss.org/nhcss/events.htm
Please share this information with your colleagues. Thank you!
NHCSS: Advancing Social Studies Education in New Hampshire
Questions? Contact Ron Adams at [email protected] or 539-6277
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THE GRANITE GAZETTE
SUMMER 2009
Gwen Beane Grant Mini-Grant
New Hampshire Council for the Social Studies
Award
Up to $1000 per year.
Gwen Beane was an officer and Executive
Board member of NHCSS for more than 25
years, and Social Studies chair and teacher at
Pinkerton Academy for many years. This grant
was established in her honor when she retired
from the NHCSS Executive Board.
•
•
Procedure
Send two typed copies of the completed
proposal (not to exceed three pages) and a
letter of support from your building principal
or immediate supervisor to:
Purpose
To promote excellence in the field of
social studies by encouraging classroom
projects that improve or expand
students’ understanding of the past, the
present, and what the future might hold.
To complement the current New
Hampshire State Frameworks and
National Standards in Social Studies.
NHCSS President Ron Adams
P.O. Box 337.
Ossipee, 03864
[email protected]
Questions? Send to:
[email protected]
(please reference the award in the subject line)
Who
Any teacher, or team of teachers, who are
members of NHCSS may submit one proposal
GIS Education Day
On Sunday, October 4, the New England Regional Geography Alliances, the
Northeast Arc Users Group (NEARC), and ESRI will co-sponsor the second annual GIS
Educators Day in Nashua, New Hampshire. GIS Educators Day will focus exclusively on
topics and issues relevant to the educational implementation of GIS and other geospatial
technologies. The day will include hands-on workshops with ArcGIS 9.3.1 and the new
ArcGIS Explorer900, presentations on successful projects from around the region,
demonstration of geospatial technology resources for educators, and many opportunities for
networking! GIS Educators Day offers a
unique opportunity for educators working in both the K-12 and Higher Ed environments to
share skills, ideas, and resources for the infusion of these powerful 21st Century tools in K-16
education. The event is a one-day preconference to the annual NEARC fall users conference
(October 4-7, 2009).
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THE GRANITE GAZETTE
SUMMER 2009
89th NCSS Annual Conference
Presented in conjunction with the Georgia Council for the Social Studies
November 13-15, 2009
Georgia World Congress Center and Omni Hotel at CNN Center Atlanta, Georgia
Join more than 3,000 of your peers from across the U.S. and around the world to share the most current knowledge,
ideas, research, and expertise in social studies education. With the theme "Dreams and Deeds: The Civic Mission of
Schools," the conference will highlight the central role of social studies in our schools: preparing young citizens to make
a better world.
As the cradle of the Civil Rights movement and heartbeat of the New South, Atlanta is steeped in history, culture, and
new ideas, making it the perfect setting to explore 21st-century social studies education. The 89th NCSS Annual
Conference is the social studies professional development conference you cannot afford to miss!
Conference highlights include:
•
•
•
•
More than 500 sessions on the latest in standards-based social studies instruction at all grade levels
Keynote speakers Representative John Lewis (D-Georgia), civil rights veteran; Maya Soetoro-Ng, peace
educator and sister of President Barack Obama; Greg Mortenson, co-author of "Three Cups of Tea"; Eric
Foner, Lincoln scholar and Columbia University Professor
Panel discussions on the current state of the economy, the Civic Mission of Schools, teaching social justice to
elementary students through children's literature, and international social studies education
Clinics and tours of the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site, Jimmy Carter Presidential Library,
Global Playground Announces Program for U.S.
Teachers and Schools
Global Playground, a nonprofit founded in 2006, builds schools in developing countries. To date, GP has built a primary
school in Uganda, a middle school in Cambodia, and a library in Northern Thailand; GP is also about to announce a
project in Honduras. To date, GP has given more than 1000 children the opportunity to learn. Once GP has built its
schools, it promotes cross-cultural dialogue among them and between them and schools here in the United States. To
date, for example, GP has facilitated a video exchange between kids in Uganda and third graders in Brooklyn; an artwork
exchange between kids in Thailand and fifth graders in Boston; and a digital photo exchange between kids in Honduras
and eighth graders in Fairfax County, Virginia.
Now, GP announces a program for teachers. Your students can help us build new schools. For a donation of $5,000,
your students can sponsor one of our new schools. And for a donation of $30,000, your students can help plan and build a
school at a location of their choice, anywhere in the developing world. Once the school is built, you -- the teacher -- will
travel to the school (costs of travel are included) to help us facilitate cross-cultural dialogue between its students and
yours. Your students will communicate with children abroad, via technology where infrastructure allows, and verbally or
nonverbally, depending on whether languages are common or different. Your students will gain insight into their own
lives and the lives of children halfway around the globe. The result will be life-changing.
GP plans to launch its new program for its school project in Honduras. There are a limited number of spaces remaining
for schools to help fund the Honduras project. Following Honduras, your students will decide where we go next... Africa?
Asia? Eastern Europe? South America? the Middle East?
GP expects places to fill quickly. For more information about GP, see www.theglobalplayground.org
<http://www.theglobalplayground.org> . Interested? Write to [email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]> .
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THE GRANITE GAZETTE
SUMMER 2009
Teaching Financial Responsibility
Given the current economic climate, it
is clear that young people today will
suffer the consequences of a growing
national debt if actions are not taken to
address the problem. As educators, we
have a responsibility to involve and
engage young people in the solution.
this important new curriculum. Apply
today for your chance to:
Earn $500 in NMSA Gift
Certificates Be one of the first 100
middle grades educators to teach at
least three modules of the curriculum
and submit your evaluation along with
an outline of a financial responsibility
service-learning project your class could
implement, and receive $500 in gift
certificates good for all NMSA products,
events, and other resources.
Evaluations and project outlines will be
accepted September 1-November 6,
2009.
America's Promise Alliance and the
Peter G. Peterson Foundation have
developed a free, downloadable
curriculum for middle and high school
youth that empowers young people to
call for more responsible fiscal policy
decisions.
$aving Our Futures can be used in the
classroom or in after-school programs,
and provides opportunities for quality
service-learning projects. The
curriculum teaches young people about
financial responsibility and how to
advocate for smarter money
management in their homes and
communities, and from elected officials.
Receive $1,000 for a ServiceLearning Project NMSA and APA will
select 10 of the financial responsibility
service-learning project outlines and
award those schools with $1,000 to
implement their plans and submit a
report of the outcome.
Win a Class Trip to Washington,
D.C. One grand prize winner will be
selected to engage in a semester-long,
financial responsibility service-learning
project including a completely
customized class trip to Washington,
D.C., valued at $50,000.
The curriculum contains six chapters,
an extensive Resources section, and 26
modules that can be used in whole or in
part. The purpose and urgency of the
lessons are outlined in an Introduction
chapter, and an Action chapter provides
young people with a blueprint to design
their own action and advocacy plans.
Incentive Program Application
Implement the Curriculum and Earn
Money for Your Classroom and
School!
To be eligible for this incentive program
you must complete and return the
application to NMSA by September 15,
2009. Be sure to visit
www.americaspromise.org/financialresp
onsibility to download the curriculum
and a 30-minute classroom version of
the IOUSA movie!
National Middle School Association has
teamed with America's Promise Alliance
(APA) to develop an incentive program
for the first 100 middle grades teachers
who agree to implement and evaluate
5
THE GRANITE GAZETTE
SUMMER 2009
New Hampshire
Our Home
New Hampshire, Our Home is a 4th grade history textbook. The outline for this
book is based on the New Hampshire Curriculum Frameworks for social studies
and teaches civics, economics, geography, and history. The book places the state's
historical events in the larger context of our nation's history and has many features
such as chapter Key Ideas, New Hampshire Portraits, local images and maps, and
timelines that engage students in important people, places, and events that have
influenced New Hampshire history.
This new resource will be available for review at the Annual NHCSS Conference
in October.
Attend the workshop New Hampshire, Our Home session 3 at the annual
conference, October 29th.
NHCSS
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