Skip Main MenuSkip Calendar
| Sun |
Mon |
Tue |
Wed |
Thu |
Fri |
Sat |
|---|
| |
|
|
|
|
1 |
2 |
| 3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
| 10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
| 17 |
18 |
19 |
20 |
21 |
22 |
23 |
| 24 |
25 |
26 |
27 |
Today Thursday, 28 August 28 |
29 |
30 |
| 31 |
| | | | | |
| | |
Contributed by:
Daniel Reyes, Secondary Social Studies Teacher Specialist
Advocacy is a key skill in any social studies curriculum and opportunities for students to use these skills are very rare. The Annette Strauss Institute sponsors a yearly competition in Austin called "Speak Up! Speak Out!". The competition allows for the students to define, research, and enact a solution to a problem that exists in their community. The team of students gather at The University of Texas to present their topic and awards are given to the top three presentations, based on an oral report and display of their work.
At this year's competition, held on May 14, 2008, there were 16 teams from South Texas, Central Texas and El Paso. For the second year in a row, San Antonio Independent School District dominated the competition by taking two of the top three places: 1st place was awarded to Highlands High School for their topic on Graffiti: from Epidemic to Pandemic; 3rd place was awarded to Sam Houston High School for their topic on Child Abuse Awareness. Special mention must be given to the two teams from Lanier High School that participated in the event with presentations on Homelessness Awareness and the Dropout Rate in their community. All team members from SAISD were outstanding examples of the dedication and levels of high expectations that their teachers, Mr. John Horner from Highlands, Mr. Rance Olison from Sam Houston, and Mr. Robert Casselberry from Lanier High School, inspire each day in their classrooms. Congratulations to the students, teachers, and High Schools that participated in this event.
|
| |
The SAISD Social Studies Department was recently awarded a Teaching American History Grant of almost one million dollars from the Department of Education!
Some major points about the new Teaching American History Grant: Creating Vertical Teams in U.S. History to Increase Academic Achievement, Historical Literacy, and College Readiness in the San Antonio Independent School District:
Creating Vertical Teams in U.S. History proposal provides for a comprehensive three year professional development program to prepare teachers in the SAISD to teach traditional American history and to increase teachers’ content knowledge of the subject. In order to positively impact the academic achievement of SAISD students in regular, Pre-AP U.S. History, and Advanced Placement United States History, teachers will study the people, ideas, events, and turning points that contributed to the development of the American experience. It will increase teachers’ knowledge of how to teach writing at a higher level using document based questions in United States History as per the College Board requirements.
Creating Vertical Teams in U.S. History will examine traditional American history content through the following independent topics selected by teachers to support significant episodes and turning points:
· Year 1 The Birth of a Nation: Colonization and Revolution (18th Century)
· Year 2 The Growth of a Nation: Expansion and Civil War (19th Century)
· Year 3 The Transformation of a Nation: To a World Power and World at War (20th Century)
· Year 4 The Challenges of a Nation: The Cold War
· Year 5 The History of our Nation: The Teacher as Scholar/Historian and Mentor
. This project will:
· Improve the content knowledge of teachers of traditional American history courses in the SAISD as measured by a pre and post test on the AP US History College level test.
· Improve academic achievement in U.S. history as measured by the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) in Grades 8 and 11; increase the college readiness and commended levels of academic achievement on the TAKS test; and increase AP US History passing rates of a 3 4, or 5 as measured by the College Board standards.
· Improve the quality of instruction by creating vertical teams to collaborate and discuss college readiness issues and skills to improve writing on AP US History exams.
The program design includes NCHE history colloquia (36 mentor teachers) using vital themes and narratives to examine the content selected for the year; 16 Saturday seminars (50 participants each) to reinforce the content themes; training in the implementation of the College Board AP and Pre-AP programs (5 sessions for 200 teachers); and integration of technology (150 teachers) in American History using the content themes. Supportive resources include: field experiences to historic sites connected to the topic; collaboration with the National Council for History Education; Trinity University; The College Board; KLRN-TV; the Alamo and Witte Museums; and Teacher’s Curriculum Institute (TCI). External evaluation of the project will be conducted by the Intercultural Development Research Association (IDRA).
Most importantly, SAISD will endeavor to teach our students how to think historically and reflect on philosophical and ethical dilemmas that all leaders and citizens face along with their human frailties. In order to help SAISD students become better citizens, this proposal seeks to build capacity in history teachers by improving their content knowledge of United States history, their delivery of instruction in the classroom, their abilities to teach critical writing skills, and their integration of technology into history teaching. Creating Vertical Teams in U.S. History will be a cornerstone in assisting primarily at-risk Hispanic students in the San Antonio Independent School District to achieve academic excellence.
Amy Jo Baker, Ed.D.
Senior Coordinator of Social Studies &
Director of Teaching American History Grants
|
| |
The Social Studies Department is proud to announce the opening of the Media Center! Inside you will find podcasts and photos from around Texas, the United States and the world.
To use the media center, click on the PHOTO ALBUM link on the left side of our homepage. Once there, select the album that you would like to look at. Each album has three different views:
1. Thumbnails - Look at images in thumbnail view
2. Large View - Look at images one at a time with a thumbnail preview on top
3. Slideshow - Look at the images one-by-one in full view as a slideshow
All pictures in the Social Studies Center have been donated to the SAISD Social Studies Department and are considered public domain except where noted. You are allowed to download and use these photos in an educational setting but are not allowed to bundle, sell, or redistribute these photos without written permission from the SAISD Social Studies Department.
http://www.saisd.net/admin/curric/sstudies/blog/Social_Studies_Media_Center/Welcome.html
|
| Skip Online UsersSkip Course categories |
