The Social Studies Connection
More than a Newsletter for Secondary Social Studies Teachers
October 2024
Click here for last month's edition of the Social Studies Connection.
K-12 Social Studies Specialist
Office of Teaching & Learning
Southland Center - 3700 South High Street, Columbus, OH
Social Studies for All Learners: October 18 PD Day
October 18 is the second District PD Day. This is a district-led event—teachers will attend by content area teaching assignment. The Social Studies PD Day will be held at the newly-renovated Mifflin High School, 3245 Oak Spring St, Columbus, OH 43219. The day follows regular contract hours for middle and high school, 7:15 a.m. - 2:45 p.m.
This mini-conference will provide secondary social studies teachers with a variety of sessions focused on meeting the needs of all learners. In addition to the open townhall on Learning Conditions, teachers will participate in a session on strategies for English Language Learners. Additional breakout options include: TCI Visual Discovery, Bring Learning Alive! Collaborative, Adobe Express, Canvas, MasteryConnect, the World History Project, NGPF, and more!
Register through PDS by October 16—course #71195.
Be sure to click the "Next" button after registering and reviewing the confirmation screen. You are not registered until you receive the green screen, "Congratulations" box. Keep in mind there are many benefits (and no drawbacks) to pre-registration. If you do not pre-register by October 16, you will need to print your full name and ID number on the walk in sheets at both sign-in and sign-out.
Attendance Notes: Teachers must sign-in in the a.m. and out in the p.m. to receive CEUs. No partial CEUs are awarded. A certificate will be distributed at sign out to provide to building administrators. Absences (full or partial) should be handled through normal procedures (building administrator/Red Rover).
September 18 PD Day Make-up PD
If you were absent for the September 18 PD Day, the Doing Social Studies make-up course is now available on the Canvas Course Catalog.
Once you have completed all the course requirements, you will receive a certificate of completion to share with your administrator to validate the session is made up. This course should take approximately 6 hours to complete.
CCS/OER World History Project Professional Learning Community
The OER World History PLC Cohort kicked-off on the September 18 PD Day. Participants received an overview of the OER Project curriculum, and discussed tools and strategies for teaching about causation. Before the next session in October, teachers will utilize OER tools and lessons on causation to share feedback.
The next sessions will take place at the October 18 District PD Day Event, 10:30 - 11:50 a.m. and 1:00 - 2:30 p.m. In addition to follow-up and discussion on the topic of causation, participants will learn about teaching contextualization.
Hispanic Heritage Month
Hispanic Heritage Month takes place September 15 to October 15 to recognize and celebrate the contributions, diverse cultures, and extensive histories of the American Latinx community.
The observation began in 1968 as Hispanic Heritage Week under President Lyndon Johnson and was expanded by President Ronald Reagan in 1988 to cover a 30-day period. It was enacted into law on August 17, 1988.
The theme for 2024 is "Pioneers of Change: Shaping the Future Together."
Teaching resources for Hispanic Heritage Month:
- National Archives
- National Museum of the American Latino
- Key facts about U.S. Latinos for National Hispanic Heritage Month (Pew Research Center)
- Hispanic Heritage Month Materials (Reading Like a Historian)
- Latino Americans Lesson Plans (PBS Media)
- Hispanic and Latino Heritage and History in the United States (EDSITEment)
MasteryConect Assessments
CCS Social Studies has assessments in MasteryConnect for core classes. Assessments are optional may be administered with teacher's discretion on timing.
These assessments are available on the District MasteryConnect Curriculum Maps, which are already linked to the appropriate class sections for each teacher. Teachers can click on "Create Tracker" to begin administering the assessments are tracking student mastery of standards.
- Social Studies 6 Map (in progress)
- Social Studies 7 Map
- Social Studies 8 Map
- World History Map
- American History Map
- American Government Map
In addition, The Social Studies Skills Map includes a collection of vertically-aligned social studies skills assessments. The leveled assessments can be used as a diagnostic tool to determine areas of needed Tier 2 intervention and extension. This collection is a work in progress. Additional tutorials will be added over time to allow for Tier 2 intervention and extension within the MasteryConnect platform.
Log into MasteryConnect through Classlink, Canvas, or Google.
Accessing CCS Curriculum
Curriculum for the 2024-2025 school year is available through two locations. On the CCS Social Studies Curriculum page, the curriculum guides are provided in PDF format to allow for quick and convenient access on any device and easy printing options. Additionally, teachers can access the Google Docs preview versions of the curriculum guides on the "District-Approved Curriculum" course on Canvas.
TCI Implementation Resource Center
The TCI Implementation Resource Center is your one-stop shop for learning the best practices of TCI and how these practices align with CCS Curriculum.
The Implementation Resource Center provides information about:
- On-Demand PD
- TCI Digital Platform Introduction
- Theory and Research-Based Active Instruction
- TCI Lesson Elements and Cycle
- Activities/Engagement Strategies
- TCI Programs for CCS Middle School Courses
- TCI Programs for CCS High School Courses
- Digging Deeper with TCI Ten PD Videos.
This page is also accessible from the CCS Social Studies Homepage.
Achieve3000 Literacy Intervention Program
Achieve3000 is the literacy intervention program for high schools. High School teachers and students now have access to Achieve3000 via CCS Classlink Launchpad.
The LevelSet competition concluded on September 17. Congratulations to the top 3 schools with the following completion rates:
- Mifflin High School - 73%
- East High School - 70%
- Marion-Franklin HS - 63%
The LevelSet window remains open. Once LevelSet is complete, you will be able to assign content-specific lessons/articles aligned with your curriculum. The goal will be for each content-area teacher to assign 1 article per week, in order to help students reach maximum gains. Alignment guides for Modern World History 9, American History 10, and American Government are available on the Social Studies Curriculum page.
For additional support, see the Achieve3000 webpage here.
Voter Registration and Election 2024 Important Dates
The General Election will be November 5, 2024.
Here is the timeline of important dates from Ohio Secretary of State.
- Deadline to Register to Vote: October 7
- Early In-Person Voting: Begins October 8.
- Applications for absentee ballots to be mailed for Nov. 5 general election must be received by boards of elections by the close of business (7 days before general election): October 29
- Election Day: November 5 General Election (Polls Open 6:30 a.m. - 7:30 p.m.)
Students who are U.S. citizens and will be 18 years old on or before November 5 are eligible to vote in the General Election. Online registration and downloadable registration forms are available on the Franklin County Board of Elections website.
Kids Voting Double Click Democracy
Kids Voting Ohio will sponsor the 2024 Double Click Democracy mock election. If you would like to bring a mock election to your school, you can complete the form on the Kids Voting Ohio website.
After registering, Kids Voting Ohio will reach out to you and ask for some additional information. Providing this information is necessary to conduct a mock election, so please be on the lookout for an email from andrea@kidsvotingohio.org.
Free Webinars from the Digital Inquiry Group (formerly SHEG)
The Digital Inquiry Group (formerly the Stanford History Education) is pleased to offer free professional development this fall to help you teach students how to evaluate online information effectively.