Secondary Social Studies Newsletter

Greetings everyone!

CMS is moving to a more streamlined communication method. All Social Studies updates and communication can be found in DTT (Direct to Teacher) and the Social Studies Hub Canvas page. Make it a routine practice to check for daily updates on this page.

*Please know that you have time to complete your Aug PL.

*Students always come first, so please don't stress if you are still working on it!

Self care-

Everything related to staying physically healthy — including hygiene, nutrition, and seeking medical care when needed. It’s all the steps an individual can take to manage stressors and maintain well being.

The video below is a quick teaching hack for a quality lesson plan in a pinch.

Greetings teachers,

I hope all is well.

Items of Note:

1. The link to the 9/11 museum website is on the main SS canvas hub page.

2. I would love to see examples/pictures/videos of amazing things you are doing with our students! Feel free to share them with me.

3. Supporting teachers is my jam! Please reach out to request a meet & greet, PLC planning assistance, school event help, classroom presentations needs, coaching, or just a one on one. The request can be in person or virtual.

Use this link to request

The CMS Social Studies department is regularly in communication with The North Carolina Department of Instruction (NCDPI) in regards to legislation compliance. As of now, the directive is to continue teaching the 2021-2022 standards.

CMS will roll out full curriculum resources for grades 6-8 and World History in Canvas by quarter. American History, Civic Literacy, and EPF resources are planned to be rolled out by Summer. More details and updates will come.

If there are any changes or delays in standards, the CMS Social Studies department will notify all teachers ASAP.

Here is a video on how to add a Canvas extension to your toolbar

"Start here" and "Course Navigation" buttons do not work for students. Delete both.

Replace the "start here" button with "Enter Here" from last year:

click edit

Go to the CMS Canvas Templates icon in your toolbar (near your photo/search bar)

Go to 2020 templates

Find "enter here" and drag and drop into your course.

Go to Pages

Click view all

Add a page

Title your page

Go to CMS Canvas Templates

Go to 2020 templates

Add units 0 - 8

To link your units:

Click unit button

Click insert on Canvas toolbar

Choose link, then course link

Go to Modules

Scroll to find the unit you want to link. BE SURE IT SAYS STUDENT WORK/TASKS

Click save

Click on the unit link to verify it brings you to the student section.

Publish the unit

If you do NOT want students working ahead, unpublish everything with the exception of the current assignment. You will need to publish each assignment the day for students to have access.

Verify by clicking student view - students should see Unit Title. Each day you add a lesson, it will appear here.

If you want, for each unit, you can publish the lesson titles. This will allow students to see what they will cover in each unit.

You will then have to go in and publish unit materials each day.

Just like last year, for some of the lessons, you will need to make copies of some fo the materials for student to submit via Canvas.

Hope this helps!

When selecting the standards in MC, always pick standards 2021 (unpacked)

Grades 6-8 are required to take a midterm and final in mastery connect. For grades 9-12, a midterm and final will be available for use in mastery connect, or PLCs can select to use a teacher-made assessment. At this time, high school has an option to use teacher-made exams. Curriculum maps have been created for grades 6-8, World History, American History 1, American History 2, and Civics & Economics. For teachers who desire to use the CMS-created exam, a map and tracker can be used for helpful data.

Unit tests are provided in Canvas and will not be in Mastery Connect. The unit tests may differ by content (inquiry, project-based learning, multiple-choice, short answer). Please feel free to work within your school-based PLC to adapt any of the curriculum sources to better serve your students.

The NCDPI K-12 Social Studies team is pleased to announce the release of the ‘on-demand recorded professional development session, Understanding and Using the New Unpacking Documents. This on-demand professional development session is the first in a four-part professional learning series designed to support the understanding and use of the new 2021 Social Studies standards. This recorded PD will allow social studies educators, curriculum leaders, and administrators to gain a better understanding of how to use the Social Studies Unpacking Documents as a tool to plan, teach, and assess the Social Studies Standards.

This first ‘on-demand recording will address two primary areas of knowledge acquisition:

1. The Structure of the K-12 Social Studies Standards; and
2. How to use the unpacking documents to teach and assess the SS standards. This On-Demand session is the first in a four-part professional learning series targeting the understanding and use of the new 2021 Social Studies standards.

To access the session and other materials, please

• Use this link and password to view more information about the recorded session or to watch it. (Recording Password: Socialstudies!1)

• Use this link to access the recorded session and any accompanying PD materials.

• Use this link to access additional social studies resources

• Aug 25th-Students Return
• Sept 6-labor day holiday
• Oct. 22nd-Oct. 29th-American History 1/American History 2/Civics/World History Midterm window in MC
• Dec 6th-Jan 14th-7th grade midterm window in MC
• Jan 1st-Jan 7th-6th grade midterm window in MC
• Jan 10th-21st 8th grade midterm window in MC

*Social Studies MC dates can shift or change based on NCDPI or NC legislative updates*

Hello everyone,

I hope that you are doing well! The social studies department is reaching out to you hoping that you consider joining the Social Studies Engagement Team. Information regarding the Social Studies Engagement Team is listed below:

Who?

The Social Studies Engagement team will be an eclectic group of CMS stakeholders: CMS teachers, leaders, members of various departments, and community partners.

What?

The Social Studies Engagement team will provide feedback on new social studies curricular resources. The new curricular resources are aligned to new social studies standards that were approved by the State Board of Education in February 2021. Feedback will be provided using a google form in which stakeholders evaluate the curricular resources through a culturally responsive lens. The team will also have the opportunity to join Virtual Office Hours (VOH’s) to discuss their feedback with district-level staff and an outside vendor.

When?

The Social Studies Engagement team will provide feedback throughout the 2021-2022 school year. The following phases will allow feedback on curricular resources:

Phase 2: Sept. 3 - 9 (Optional VOH on Sept 9 from 4 to 5 pm)

Phase 3: Oct. 22 - 28 (Optional VOH on Oct. 28 from 4 to 5 pm)

Phase 4: Dec. 10 - 16 (Optional VOH on Dec. 16 from 4 to 5 pm)

Phase 5: Jan. 28 - Feb. 3 (Optional VOH on Feb. 3 from 4 to 5 pm)

Phase 6: Mar. 18 - 24 (Optional VOH on Mar. 24 from 4 to 5 pm)

Phase 7: May. 6 - 12 (Optional VOH on May 12 from 4 to 5 pm)

Where?

Virtually/Online. There will not be any face to face meetings.

Why?

As a Social Studies Engagement team member your feedback will:

• Allow you to actively voice your opinion regarding instructional materials/resources used in your classroom

• Allow you to provide evidence of leadership in the classroom that you can use for your end of year evaluation

• Allow you to contribute to a process that is focused on improving curricular resources for social studies

If you are interested in joining the Social Studies Engagement team please complete the form [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf7JUSf7uAfBB-ajEaBsSfyzTtnCpNZpxosze45OUG7zSs7Zg/viewform] by Tuesday, August 31st at 11:59 PM.

If you need more information before signing up please feel free to view the following resources:

https://bit.ly/CMS-SSengage

https://youtu.be/Gn4qvpGdjlA

If you have questions that need to be answered before signing up, please feel free to contact any of the people below that are facilitating this process:

William Keating - Elementary Social Studies Specialist - williamj.keating@cms.k12.nc.us

Lecia Shockley - Curriculum Resource Teacher - lecia.shockley@cms.k12.nc.us

Danielle Lennon - Secondary Social Studies Specialist - daniellea.lennon@cms.k12.nc.us

Follow us on our Social Studies Hub page:

Email: daniellea.lennon@cms.k12.nc.us