Connecting Communities of Education Stakeholders Conference (CCES)

The 2020 Connecting Communities of Education Stakeholders Conference (CCES) will be held April 5-9, 2020, at the Koury Convention Center in Greensboro.  This year's theme is Building Networks for Future Success. This agency wide conference builds capacity for continued growth and success for all learners. It provides a platform for educational discourse, research-based practice, and professional networking to enhance the unified collaboration of all stakeholders to strengthen the continuous improvement process.

Register here

Professional Development for Economics and Personal Finance (EPF) Course

Disclaimer: According to House Bill 924, the new Economics and Personal Finance (EPF) course must be correlated to the Council for Economic Education’s (CEE) standards. In compliance with the legislation, NCCEE’s professional development will correspond to these standards. Once the course standards are finalized by the North Carolina State Board of Education, all materials, lessons and activities will be mapped to the corresponding state standards. Attendees will receive updated training documents.

NCCEE is offering professional development for the new Economics and Personal Finance (EPF) course. This weeklong, 40-hour professional development will equip educators with the tools, skills and knowledge they need to effectively teach the new Economics and Personal Finance course. The training includes presentations from NCCEE, The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, NextGen Personal Finance, Everfi and more!

The professional development will take place at various locations across the state beginning the Summer of 2020. Training will include lodging, meals, nighttime social activities as well as a $500.00 stipend upon successful completion. In addition, teachers that successfully complete the inaugural summer’s training will have the opportunity to apply for NCCEE’s EPF Master Teacher program.

To find more information regarding the EPF Master Teacher Program click here. Save the date for your preferred location!

Summer 2020 Dates – Registration Details will be Coming Soon

• East Carolina University: June 8-June 12
• Campbell University: July 13-July 17
• NCCAT (Western Carolina Campus): July 27-July 31
• Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, Charlotte Branch: August 3-August 7

North Carolina Museum of Art - Professional Development for Teachers

Exploring Global Learning through Art
Closes March 17, 2020

This self-paced online course uses works of art from the museum’s collection as a pathway to understanding global issues and developing cross-cultural understanding. The goal of this course is to help you, and eventually your students, explore global issues through inquiry-driven, art-based practices. The course will help you make connections to your content areas, identify your own global practice, and provide strategies to help students investigate the world, recognize perspectives, communicate ideas, and take action.

This course is designed for educators of all disciplines and audiences interested in integrating art and global issues into their teaching. Participants should expect to spend up to 10 hours on course activities for which a certificate of participation for 10 hours will be provided (1 CEU, with approval from the local school system).

More Info and Registration

Teaching Latin American Immigration Through Literature

Conference session for K-12 teachers
Part of the NC Conference on Latin American Studies
Saturday, March 21, 2020 | 12:30-1:45
UNC Charlotte Center City Campus, Charlotte, NC

With immigration from Latin America at the forefront of today's new cycle, it's natural for our students to want to learn more about the issue. In this session, participants will deepen their understanding of current U.S. immigration policies and explore a number of fiction books that can be used in the classroom to teach about this sensitive and complex topic.

Teachers are invited to attend any of the other NC Conference on Latin American Studies panels and workshops free of cost.

To register, visit https://jhfc.duke.edu/latinamericauncduke/nc-clas-conference-2020/

Global Education Digital Badge

How prepared are you to foster global awareness in your students or support that in your classrooms or schools? The Global Educator Digital Badge provides an opportunity for educators to focus their professional development on developing their own global context and understanding of how to integrate global education throughout curricula. It also provides the opportunity to build global competency in students. The State Board of Education approved North Carolina Global Educator Digital Badge (GEDB) is available for the following educator categories: Teacher, Teacher Leadership Specialist, Library Media Coordinator, Instructional Technology Facilitator, School Counselor, Career Development Coordinator, School Social Worker, School Psychologist, Speech Language Pathologist, Instructional Central Office Staff, Principal/Assistant Principal, Superintendent.

For more information on the Badge (SBE Policy, FAQs, Process Flyer, Implementation Guide, MOA), please visit our website or contact NCGlobalEducation@dpi.nc.gov.

National Humanities Center Opportunities

1. Humanities in Class online courses are open for registration (see brochure )
   
   
2. Beyond February: Hip Hop and the African American Experience 

All too often students are presented texts and materials that exclude their perspectives. Educators feel boxed in by Black History Month as a 28-day window to address these issues. Registration is now open for the five-day Humanities in Class Summer Institute for Educators titled Beyond February: Hip Hop and the African American Experience on June 29-July 3, 2020. Framed on the new record I Used to Love to Dream by A.D. Carson, performance artist and Professor of Hip Hop & Global Studies at the University of Virginia, we will explore key themes and the way that lyrics, beats, music, and cultural context can surface personal and community understandings. Participants will work closely with Carson, artists, and scholars to learn how to unpack the construction of music with a critical eye towards social, historical, political, literary, and contemporary issues. Educators at all levels are encouraged to register - including K-12 teachers and curriculum leaders, post-secondary educators and college faculty, graduate students, and informal educators.

3. Contested Territory: America’s Role in Southeast Asia, 1945-75

This 10-day Summer Institute will welcome 36 teachers from across the country to explore the complicated landscape of Southeast Asia through historical, cultural, social, linguistic, literary, economic, and political lens.  By understanding this region more fully, we can better position America’s Vietnam War - and provide students with a more rich global studies perspective.  Applications are being accepted until March 1 here.  Each participant will receive a $2,100 stipend.

African American History Resources 

February is Black History Month! It originally started as only a week-long celebration beginning in 1926. The celebration was created by prominent African American scholar and historian Carter G. Woodson. The month of February was chosen to recognize the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. Many colleges started having month long events instead of the original week long celebration. In 1976, President Ford officially extended the recognition of Black history to a month long event.  Here are some resources you can use to teach your classroom about Black history during the month and beyond:

• The History Channel has a website dedicated to Black History Month containing photos, videos, and speeches to explore.
  
  
• The National African American History Month website lists selected relating to Black history and culture.
  
  
• AfricanAmericanHistoryMonth.gov has resources for teachers  (exhibits, collections, audio, video, primary documents and images) from The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial.
  
  
• PBS has lesson plans and discussion guides available targeted towards specific grade levels.
  
  
• The Smithsonian has a variety of teaching resources including art, poetry, and reading lists. 
  
  
• The Smithsonian Learning Lab has over a million resources by content, like social studies, that allow you to search, create educational experiences, and share your work. It includes a collection on the Tuskegee Airmen and more. Be sure to search 'black history" to see what is available.
  
  
• Carolina K-12 and UNC-Chapel Hill’s Southern Oral History Program teamed up to produce slideshows and lesson plans for teaching about African Americans and their contributions to our country. Search African Americans, the Civil Rights Movement, Durham's Black Wall Street and or other related topics.
  
  
• Discover the story of the 'Reconstruction' era, when the promises of freedom were cut short  in North Carolina due to a backlash of racism. There are other resources including a video on demand and lessons of the The Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum  and a list several must see upcoming events. 
  
  
• FREE Film Kits from Teaching Tolerance "Bring social justice topics to life with these classroom friendly films and user guides. Teaching Tolerance film kits are FREE for use in K–12 schools, schools of education, public libraries, houses of worship and youth-serving nonprofit organizations. Click on each of the films to order or stream online, based on availability."
  
  
• Fighting for the Right to Fight: Electronic Field Trip: Watch the webcast about the challenges African Americans faced during WWII. Students will be able to see artifacts and do a Q&A with museum experts.  Watch here!
  
  
• NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources: Check here for lists of events in the Eastern, Western, and Piedmont regions of NC! Events include musical performances, art exhibits, and on site visits to places significant in NC African American culture.
  
  
• The African American Culture Kit   from Carolina Navigators is a collection of books and items from the National African American Museum of History and Culture in Washington D.C. Items include Mae Reeves hat stickers, aviator goggles, finger puppets of 7 famous African Americans, Carolina Plantation Rice, a plastic blue crab, a souvenir book from the museum, children’s books, coloring books, and paper dolls, a copy of the Emancipation Proclamation, DVDs on the Civil Rights Movement, African Americans in Sports poster, and a Kwanzaa card.
  To learn more, visit the website.
  
  
• 28 Ways to Celebrate Black History Month is an article that includes the contributions made by African Americans and ideas of how each day can be a way to acknowledge their accomplishments.
  
  
• NEA has lesson plans and trading cards that cover a variety of subjects that can be adapted to fit multiple grade levels.
  
  
• PBS Newshour and PBS Black Connection has some additional resources to help teach Black History Month including the lessons on the 50^th anniversary of the March on Washington, Nelson Mandela, and Muhammed Ali.
  
  
• The  article “20 Pertinent Classroom Resources for Black History Month”  has resources, including role plays, speeches, poems, and literature that are either by African Americans or feature their experience. The resources can be used for discussions or analyzed for meaning and historical significance.

Free Resources to Support Black History Month

For Middle and High School Teachers across North Carolina, EVERFI offers 306 - African-American History an immersive and inspiring digital journey through American History. Through 14 lessons, starting in the era of Slavery, moving through Emancipation, Reconstruction, and Jim Crow, and ending in the Civil Rights and modern era, students learn through the lens of African-American leaders in each era, and engage with primary source documents. In this celebratory month of African-American History, 306 brings to life the empowering stories of the African-American community and helps students draw inspiration from remarkable women and men!

To learn more about getting started, please contact Peter Kelpin, EVERFI North Carolina Consultant at pkelpin@everfi.com. Educators are also able to self-start with EVERFI via this link.

Virtual Field Trips: Travel the World without Leaving Your School

Facilitated by a North Carolina certified teacher, Learning Lab 360 is a virtual reality mobile lab that can be brought to your school.  

Virtual Reality is an invaluable tool that can help you teach history, geography, culture, science, the arts, and storytelling lessons in a more engaging, meaningful, and in-depth way. There are 14 Oculus Rift Stations that display curriculum standards-based lesson experiences, which can run approximately 25 minutes. Some of the lessons include:

• Dinos
• A Journey into the Human Brain
• Rome
• Acropolis
• Titanic
• I.S.S.
• and many more!

Explore. Venture. Learn. 

Take your students around the world in the blink of an eye!

See what it's all about by watching a short video!

Schedule a Demo Today!

To learn more, visit http://learninglab360.com/ or call 919-624-3227 or 540-330-5252.

C3 Inquiries

The Inquiry with Library of Congress Sources Hub has emerged from a collaboration with C3 Teachers, North Carolina State University, and the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) Regional Program, Eastern, Midwest and Western Regions. The Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) program encourages teachers to begin the inquiry design process with a source from the Library of Congress. 

It has inquiries on:

• Booker T. Washington in the White House
• The Civil Rights Movement
• Whiskey Rebellion
• Jane Addams
• Founders and Government
• Cherokee Removal
• Freedom and Emancipation
• Pearl Harbor 
• and more

Check it out at http://www.c3teachers.org/inquiry-with-the-library-of-congress-hub/. 

Remember, Reflect, Reconcile & Reimagine

Remember, Reflect, Reconcile & Reimagine (R4) is a student-driven interactive and an integrated Artists Collective of poetry, music, movement, history, curricula, architecture and place-based advocacy. It is inspired by the work of Bryan Stevenson, the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) and ALL advocates of Justice. This multimedia exhibit will narrate the untold story of Willie McDaniel and seeks to honor and provide an authentic remembrance him. As the exhibit sheds light on injustice, artists aim to restore and retain Hope and Faith that reconciliation will lead us all on the path toward a more just and equitable present and future.  

To learn more, visit bit.ly/Ru4Justice and  harvestinghumanity.com.

Public Review of the K-12 Social Studies Standards

At the State Board of Education Meeting in April 2019, the Board elected to begin the standards revision process for the K-12 Social Studies Standards. The proposed timeline for this process is:

• 2019-2020: Standards Exploration (Research, Creation, & Revision)
  • Anticipated approval by Summer 2020
• 2020-2021: Standards Installation
  • Implementation of EPF course with incoming freshmen in 2020-2021
• 2021-2022: Standards Implementation

Per SBE policy SCOS-012, the revision process is feedback-based, research-informed, improvement-oriented, and process driven. The NCDPI K-12 Social Studies Team is deeply committed to ensuring that the Revision Process include the consideration of all concerns posed by educators in the schools and local districts. 

The public feedback survey for Draft 1 of the K-12 Social Studies Standards has been extended and will now close on February 15, 2020. Each course, kindergarten through high school, has its own individual survey. The feedback provided from these surveys will be used in conjunction with input from teachers and social studies specialists from North Carolina Public Schools to create Draft 2 of the standards.

Link: Standards Revision Survey

Please access the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document, watch the Informational Videos about the Revision Process or visit the K-12 Social Studies Standards Revision Process Google Sites page to gain an understanding of the K-12 Social Studies Standards review and revision process, timeline, and opportunities to be involved.

K-12 Social Studies
Google Sites

Google Sites now serves as a central hub for Social Studies educators, administrators, institutions of higher education, and other interested parties. This hub houses the repositories, communications, and recommended resources related to the implementation of the North Carolina Social Studies Standard Course of Study (SCoS). Social Studies educators are encouraged to browse, reference, download, share, discuss, and adapt resources. Use the navigation menu to access information and resources.

REMEMBER, K-12 Social Studies resources and information can also be found on the shelves of our current LiveBinders.  Click this K-12 SS LiveBinders hyperlink to access all social studies materials!

Standards Revision Videos

The standards revision process has begun. Teams of writers from across the state are currently working on revising the K-12 social studies standards. Our goal is to provide the best standards we can for the students of our state for the next 7-10 years.  

Please visit our Google Sites for Social Studies Standards Revision Process: Information Videos to learn more.

2020 North Carolina Poet Laureate Awards and Amy Charles Writing Competition

The North Carolina English Teacher's Association is pleased to announce the opening of The North Carolina Poet Laureate Awards and The Amy Charles Writing Competition for 2020. Deadline for entries is June 1, 2020.

The contests are open to all North Carolina students in grades 6-8 and 9-12. Student writers must have a staff sponsor from his or her school to enter the contest. Staff sponsors must be members of NCETA.

Use the following links for contact information, contest rules, and registration: 

Poetry Contest

Prose Contest

NCCSS Conference, TOY and Scholarship

The North Carolina Council for the Social Studies is looking for the Outstanding Social Studies Teacher of the Year, Student Teacher of the Year,  and applicants for the teacher grants they offer. If you know teachers or student-teachers that should be recognized for what they are doing in the classroom, nominate them for this recognition.

 Visit the council’s site to learn about student scholarships and to register to attend the Social Studies Conference on February 20-21, 2019  in Greensboro. To see the agenda that includes the NCDPI presentations or to download the app, visit https://ncsocialstudies.org/2020_Conference_Agenda. 

2020 Gilder Lehrman History Teacher of the Year

Congratulations to Amy King on being selected as the 2019 North Carolina Gilder Lehrman History Teacher of the Year. She is a history teacher at Chatham Central High School in Chatham County. 

The  2020 Gilder Lehrman History Teacher of the Year award will honor exceptional elementary and secondary school American history teachers (including state and local history). National winner receives a $10,000 prize presented at an award ceremony in their honor in New York City. State winners receive a $1,000 prize, an archive of classroom resources, and recognition at a ceremony in their state.

For more information, visit the Gilder Lehrman website or visit the eligibility page.

Global Education Opportunities

Apply for Global Intersections Fieldwork for Teachers Fellowship  (GIFT) from the University of Illinois

Each year, the UI College of Education Office of International Programs arranges the travel for pre-service and in-service teachers to a number of destinations. The GIFT fellowship allows for these experiences to be had at a reduced cost. These Global Fieldwork programs designed specifically for teachers to experience classrooms around the world, build collaborative partnerships with local teachers in each destination, and work directly with University of Illinois Education faculty to develop global competency for teachers and their students.

Additionally, the College of Education recognizes the value of practicing teachers in our community and across the U.S., and offers current, licensed K-12 teachers the opportunity to receive funding for an Education Abroad program of their choice. GIFT applicants may request up to $1,500 in study abroad funding. Scheduled 2019-2020 programs include a winter break trip to Morocco and a summer trip to Jordan.

More information and apply here. Contact international@education.illinois.edu with questions.

Abdelkader Global Leadership Prize for High School Students

This yearly essay/podcast scholarship competition for high school students allows them to learn about the Middle East and Islamic culture through the legacy of humanitarian Emir Abdelkader (1808-1883). Abdelkader’s legacy serves as a model of cultural and religious diversity, harmony and respectful engagement. Your students can win between $500 (3^rd place) and $1000 (1^st place) rewards. For more information, visit here.

The application deadline is March 15, 2020.

Funded Summer Institutes from the National Endowment for the Humanities

NEH has great, FUNDED summer seminars/institutes for K-12 teachers. Each seminar/institute meets in a different location, on different dates, and for different lengths of time. See here to search among the different 2020 seminar offerings. You can apply for as many as two, but you can only accept one per year.

The deadlines to apply are March 1, 2020.