The Social Studies Connection

Click here for last month's edition of the Social Studies Connection.

Secondary Social Studies Curriculum Coordinator

Office of Teaching & Learning

Curriculum Division

Southland Center

Email: mdoran2067@columbus.k12.oh.us
Website: http://www.ccsoh.us/socialstudies
Location: 3700 South High Street, Columbus, OH, USA
Phone: 380.997.0470
Twitter: @mdoran2067

In this edition:

• Curriculum and Instruction: Revised Economics Curriculum for Financial Literacy
• Curriculum and Instruction: African American Studies and Psychology/Sociology Textbook Adoption
• Curriculum and Instruction: Social Studies Mastery Connect Projects
• Student Programs: Whetstone HS History Day State Award Winners
• Student Programs: Centennial HS Holocaust & Humanity Center Field Trip
• Summer Professional Development: PD Opportunities Newsletter

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Under Ohio law, students entering 9th grade on or after July 1, 2022, must earn one half credit of financial literacy as a graduation requirement.

Ohio law states the study and instruction of financial literacy shall align with Ohio’s Financial Literacy Standards and Model Curriculum adopted by the State Board of Education in 2018 and 2019.

To comply with this requirement, CCS Social Studies is in the process of revising our Economics curriculum. This revised curriculum will align with Ohio's Financial Literacy Standards. A draft of the new curriculum is available here. A final PDF will be posted to the Social Studies Curriculum website in early June.

Schools using the Economics course to meet financial literacy should plan to have students take this course at the grade level when they would typically take the other .5 of their Academic Elective requirement.

If you are teaching Economics next year, you may want to attend the Next Gen Personal Finance FinCamp: Ohio PD event, June 14-15 at Courtyard Columbus Grove City. Click here for more information and registration.

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As you know, this year the District convened textbook adoption committees for African American Studies and Psychology/ Sociology in accordance with the Master Agreement.

The committees have completed their reviews and selected publishers. Legislation has been submitted for Board approval at the May 16 meeting. A public announcement will be made once the Board has approved.

Activation professional development will be provided for teachers of these courses. Stay tuned for dates and times.

Thank you to committee members Clarence Daniels, Ron Hatton, Robin Mayo-White, Brittany Sherman, Chiquita Toure (African American Studies); Stephanie Boling and Brock Graham (Psychology/Sociology) for serving diligently in this capacity.

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Mastery Connect is the District's Assessment Management System. It is connected to Canvas, the District's Learning Management System.

This summer, we will be working on a few projects to make Mastery Connect a more useful tool for CCS Social Studies teachers.

Performance Tasks

• Creation of Performance Task assessments, organized by units and quarters. Performance tasks consist of evidence-based sets (primary and secondary source excerpts) and open-ended questions (short answer and extended response). They are designed to measure knowledge, skills, and reasoning at DOK levels 2 and 3. See the sample Performance Task on American imperialism here.

Item Bank Review and Reserve

• Mastery Connect contains two pre-loaded banks, the Mastery Bank and OH AIR Item Bank. These items will be reviewed for alignment with current standards. Items deemed not aligned will be reserved, making them unavailable for use in teacher-created assessments. This vetting process makes it easier for teachers to filter the item banks to ensure alignment of classroom assessments.

Skills Assessments

• Vertically-aligned skills assessments allow teachers to diagnose students' strengths and weaknesses along the continuum of social studies skills. This resource will assist with Tier 2 intervention in the MTSS framework. CCS social studies uses seven skill topics across four domains. Download the Social Studies Skills as a Continuum of Learning guide to learn more about these skills.
  

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Students from Whetstone High School who advanced from the Region 6 Ohio History Day competition participated in the state competition on April 22, 2023. Under the direction of Humanities teachers Krista Buckley and Kathy Arnold, students conducted original research and developed exhibits, websites, and documentaries to showcase their learning.

Congratulations to the following award winners!

3rd Place: Senior Group Documentary

Students: Adonia Balqis, Elena Earley, Sophie Schroeder

Project Title: How the Case of Roe v. Wade Transformed Lives

Honorable Mention: Senior Individual Documentary

Student: Sam Husenits

Project Title: The Russian Civil War: The Rise of Communism

3rd Place: Senior Individual Exhibit

Students: Opal Shipley

Project Title: Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA)

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Centennial Social Studies teacher Jennifer La Place is organizing a May field trip for 9th graders to the Holocaust & Humanity in Cincinnati. All 9th graders in Cincinnati Schools participate in this field trip, but it takes a bit more planning to make this happen for Columbus students!

Students will explore the Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust and Humanity Center’s interactive, award-winning museum. Through their Holocaust and Humanity Galleries, students will learn the history of the Holocaust and develop tolerance, empathy and critical thinking skills.

This is a great extension of our partnership with HHC and their March 8 PD Day workshop, Developing Empathy & Critical Thinking through Holocaust Education.

If you are interested in exploring this opportunity for your students next year, visit HHC page here to learn more.

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There are abundant opportunities for in-person and virtual PD this summer. To help you keep track of these opportunities, we have created a special edition of the Social Studies Connection, available here.

This will be a dynamic page with new opportunities added as they are made known to us. Currently, the following PD events are noted.

In-person:

• Teaching about the Holocaust for Ohio Educators (June 6 & 7)
• Ohio Teacher Leadership Summit (June 14)
  
• FinCamp: Ohio (June 14-15)
• Teaching Black History Conference (Buffalo, July 21-22)
  

Virtual:

• TCI's 2023 Back to School Summit (July 27)
• Teaching for Equity and Justice Summer Institute (June 27-29)
  
• Teaching Holocaust and Human Behavior (July 17-20)
  
• US History: A New Approach to Teaching the Reconstruction Era (July 25-27)
• United States Holocaust Memorial Museum 2023 Arthur and Rochelle Belfer National Conference for Educators (June 26-28)
• 2023 Global Teacher Seminar Summer: Global Movement of Goods and People (July 17-21)
  
• Foundational Seminar: Crossroads of East Asia, STEAM, and SEL (July 10-21)
  
• American Battlefield Trust 2023 Virtual Teacher Institute (July 24-26)
• OER Project Conference for Social Studies (August 3)

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