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Two extraordinary social studies teachers from Washington state
have been selected to represent their peers and their profession.
 Beth Doughty (left), a teacher at Chief Umtuch Middle School in Battle Ground School District, is Washington’s 2017 History Teacher of the Year.
The award is presented annually by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, a national organization dedicated to K-12 American history education.
Steven Cross (right), a teacher at Marysville Getchell in Marysville School District, is Washington’s 2016-17 Social Studies Teacher of the Year. The award is presented by the Washington State Council for the Social Studies.
At the time of his selection, Steven was teaching social studies at Cedarcrest Middle School in Marysville. He is a member of OSPI’s Social Studies Cadre of Educators.
Photo of Beth provided by Battle Ground Schools, Photo of Steven courtesy of WSCSS.
The Social Studies Cadre of Educators is a team of 36 classroom
teachers and specialists who have teaching experience and expertise in social
studies education. Beginning their three-year term of service during the 2017-18
school year are Amy Ripley (Pullman SD), Eric Holmkvist (Rochester SD), Katharine Smith (Medical Lake SD), Mary Schuldheisz (Vancouver SD), and Nathalie Maynock (Sequim SD). Visit the
Cadre website to
locate Cadre members in your ESD.
Three
positions remain open: ESD 112 Elementary School, ESD 114 Middle School, and
ESD 171 Middle School. If you are interested
in applying for an open position, please contact Carol Coe, Social Studies
Program Supervisor, by phone (360-725-6351) or email: carol.coe@k12.wa.us. |
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Newseum provides a treasure trove of resources to support media literacy. Check out the activities, lessons, case studies, and guest blog posts. Use EDTools to search hundreds of standards-aligned lesson plans, artifacts, case studies, and more in Newseum’s expansive collection.
Every year the Office of Secretary of State (OSOS) makes this important civic education opportunity available for our students. Voting for this year’s Mock Elections starts at 9:00 a.m. on Monday, October 30, and ends at 1:00 p.m. on Friday, November 3. The Mock Election is a non-partisan, educational event that teaches students to be informed voters. Nearly 180,000 students have voted in Washington's Mock Election since 2004.
If you’ve been teaching for any amount
of time, you may have your tried-and-true Veterans Day program ready to go. If
not, consider using resources from Operation We Are Here. These resources
about veterans and Veterans Day allow you to take a deep dive into dozens and
dozens of top-shelf curriculum materials.
The
Buffalo Soldier Museum in Tacoma is one of only two museums of its kind in the
country, dedicated to honoring the 9th and 10th (Horse) Cavalry Buffalo Soldier.
The museum offers a vast collection of military artifacts, books, articles, and
DVDs. On November 10th from 5:00 till 8:00 p.m., the museum is
hosting a Veterans Appreciation Program: Heroes and Legends. For more
information, call 235-272-4257.
The Great Thanksgiving Listen is a national
movement that empowers young people—and people of all ages—to create an oral
history of the contemporary United States by recording an interview with an
elder using the free StoryCorps App.
 Interviews become part of the StoryCorps Archive at the American
Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. Now in its third year, The Great
Thanksgiving Listen has grown from an experimental challenge into a vital
intergenerational movement. To date, thousands of high schools from all 50
states have participated and preserved more than 75,000 interviews,
providing families with a priceless piece of personal history.
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The
Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, in partnership with the Campaign
for the Civic Mission of Schools,
presents a new award for students whose original art or writing demonstrates
civic knowledge and skills: the Civic Expression Award. Civic
engagement requires community members to be informed about their rights and
responsibilities, to appreciate the history and fundamental processes of
American democracy, to recognize and be respectful of different views, and to
seek to solve problems on behalf of the public good. Six students whose art or
writing receives a National Medal and promotes responsible civic life will be
awarded a $1,000 scholarship.
The
Civic Expression Award, sponsored by the Maurice R. Robinson Fund, recognizes
students whose art and writing expresses a vision of the society they are
working to build, one that exemplifies democratic values and allows all voices
and viewpoints to be heard and respected. The award is part of the Scholastic Awards program, which invites students in
grades 7–12 to create and share works in 29 categories of visual and literary
art. Students earn opportunities for recognition, exhibition, publication, and
scholarships.
 Image Credit: Happy Being Me, Drawing & Illustration by Alyssa Jimenez, Grade 10, Age 16, Abbott Lawrence Academy, Lawrence, MA
Teaching Tolerance materials can help you bring relevance,
rigor, and social emotional learning into your classroom—all for free. Film
kits and lesson plans and building blocks of a customized Learning Plan—texts,
student tasks, and teaching strategies—are available.
Not sure where to begin? Get to know the Social Justice Standards, anchor standards and age-appropriate learning outcomes
divided into four domains—Identity, Diversity, Justice, and Action. The
Standards provide a common language and a road map for anti-bias education at
every grade level.
Inspired by the work of
David Christian and supported by Bill Gates, the Big
History Project (BHP) provides a ready-for-the-classroom
resource available to everyone, everywhere, forever, and . . . for free.
Co-created by teachers, students, curriculum experts, and a dedicated team of
tech developers, this engaging and rigorous material is most commonly taught as
a social studies or science course in middle or high school.
Is Big History right for you, your students, your
school? Not sure? Then explore before you decide. BHP now offers Teaching Big History,
an online class that introduces the big course ideas, instructional practices, program
details, and the BHP Teacher Community. It provides scripts and articles that
reflect the latest thinking about teaching social studies, so whether or not
you ultimately teach BHP, the Teaching Big History course will deepen your professional
practice.
 OSPI Social Studies supports standards-based learning and teaching for
students and teachers across Washington State. Information on Social Studies K-12
Learning Standards and classroom-based assessments for civics, economics,
geography, and history are available on the website. The site provides information
on graduation requirements, the laws and regulations governing social studies,
and resources (people, organizations, programs, and processes) that enhance
social studies curriculum and practice.
OSPI’s Civic Education
Initiative (CEI) seeks to ensure that every student is provided a high-caliber civic
education from kindergarten through high school graduation. This year’s work focuses on building the WA C3 Hub, an
open educational resource featuring high-quality, Washington-centric inquiries
for use by K-12 social studies students and teachers alike. If you would like
to participate, please contact Carol Coe, Social Studies Program Supervisor,
OSPI, by phone (360-725-6351) or email: carol.coe@k12.wa.us.
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Visit Social Studies
Teachers (SST) Connect. Explore the curriculum maps and the
instructional maps to find
contact information of colleagues in Washington state who are teaching the
same courses or working on the same instructional practices as you. Share your
contact information. Make 2017-18 the school year to meet and learn with
colleagues beyond your school and district.
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