National Council for the Social Studies Community Network

All Blog Posts (34)

Social Networks in the Social Studies: Promise & Potential

(This entry is cross posted on Ecology of Education) Do standards influence quality of instruction? No doubt. Do other teachers' practices have a larger influence? You bet. Many quotes by dead famous people suggest the potential of surrounding yourself with people who you respect and who inspire you. Doing so as teachers however, can be a challenge. Most teachers find themselves isolated by four walls. Plus, by the end of the… Continue

Added by Jason Flom on November 13, 2009 at 4:50pm — No Comments

C-Span Classroom session at NCSS

Am now in C-Span session with Meredith Rapp, who I interviewed for our network's inaugural webinar. She's an engaging presenter and is showcasing C-Span Classroom's treasure-trove of free resources, notably its social studies video clips. She's explaining how to research a topic -- say, healthcare -- and then create one's own C-Span video clips (a handy feature) via their Library Archive. You can embed the clips you make into your own website! Sign up for C-Span Classroom at:… Continue

Added by Thomas Daccord on November 13, 2009 at 11:07am — No Comments

Mapping the World to Change the World

I just sat in on Dr. Aaron Willis's Google Earth presentation at NCSS. (Love that the network is robust the room is equipped with power cords!) His webpage for this presentation is located at www.socialstudies.com/ncss09.. He started off with a sound constructivist, inquiry-based approach to learning, but then spent too much time showcasing Perthes Digital Atlas, a $129 single-user software product he's pushing for Social Studies School Service.… Continue

Added by Thomas Daccord on November 13, 2009 at 10:17am — 1 Comment

The Issue of Peace in the Muslim World and Required Western Actions

Today, Islam has acquired a bad image in the West. It is seen as a world of aggression, violence, intoleration, repression and political instability. That view is a gross media exaggeration. To simplify things, Islam is far from these caricatures of it. This is unfortunate, to say the least. However, it must be agreed that not all is in order in the Muslim world. It faced unprecedented challenges, the like of which has never happened before in history. It is simultaneously threatened from within… Continue

Added by Sohail Mahmood on November 11, 2009 at 11:48am — 1 Comment

Creative Projects to Share- Graphic Novels, Twitter Role Plays, Cold War Facebook, and Prezi!

Its been a terrific week for history at MICDS. Teachers have had lots of really cool projects going on and I thought I'd share them. My favorite is an upper elective's reenactment of the Cuban Missile Crisis on Twitter. Students were all assigned roles and were told to research their character and to post tweets under their characters name in real time. The entire class is following the adventure as it unfolds according to their researched interpretation. The easiest link to use to watch this i… Continue

Added by elizabeth helfant on October 25, 2009 at 9:03pm — 4 Comments

befunky.com puts the FUN in funky!

Last week I was looking at my avatar I use for sites, such as Broward byte, Posterous, Facebook, NCSS Ning et al, and I started feeling that I really needed a face-lift... so to speak. So, I did a search for "avatar maker" and after some searching, came across Be Funky. Be Funky lets you add several different effects onto your photo to change the look. Now its more than just an online phot… Continue

Added by Jeff Williams on September 14, 2009 at 1:08pm — No Comments

Social Networking Best Practices

It's important for teachers to consider how best to use social networking for professional development. Here are 10 basic guidelines of personal use of social networking sites for faculty: 1. The first rule is treat others online as you wish to be treated online! 2. Introduce yourself - existing members, and potential colleagues, will often reach out to you. 3. Use the same username on different platforms - it’s easier to communicate and establish contacts if you keep the same name. 4. Upload a… Continue

Added by Thomas Daccord on September 1, 2009 at 8:16pm — 1 Comment

EDSITEment Resources for Constitution Day

On September 1, EDSITEment the free high quality educational resource from the National Endowment for the Humanities launches its annual mini site on the Constitution. Two new lessons take you to the core of the ratification debates over the role of economic and religious diversity in the extended republic. EDSITEment has also developed a new reading guide to help your students examine the text of the Constitution closely and we provide a writing guide on how to craft an argumentative essay on… Continue

Added by Joe Phelan on August 31, 2009 at 12:23pm — No Comments

Is Healthcare the Next Civil War

Obtaining Medical insurance for everyone is certainly a hot button issue, but is it becoming more than just an issue. Is it really a battle of economic haves and have-nots? Is the issue really our next civil war? How will the lines divide? Who will benefit and who will lose? Are we moving toward socialism or can we achieve universal healthcare without compromising freedoms? These would make great topics of discussion for the coming school year as we watch… Continue

Added by Lincoln Builds on August 12, 2009 at 1:10pm — 1 Comment

Good Teachers Respond to Demand

The other day I dusted off an old copy of Steve Mariotti’s The Young Entrepreneur’s Guide to Starting and Running a Business. As I flipped through the book (of course, with my nascent blog at the front of my mind), a section heading stopped me in my tracks: “HOW ENTREPRENEURS RESPOND TO DEMAND.” In this section, Mariotti explains the story of Darryl, a young entrepreneur who started a video game rental service some time ago. At the time, none of the video stores in his Newark neighborhood offere… Continue

Added by Lucas Ames on August 5, 2009 at 12:32pm — 3 Comments

Pearl Harbor History, Memory, Memorial

I just returned from a week in Hawaii attending an NEH Landmarks of History Workshop studying Pearl Harbor and WWII. It was a fantastic program sponsored by the East-West Center in collaboration with the Arizona Memorial Museum Association (AMMA), the National Park Service, and the Japan-America Society of Hawaii and of course the National Endowment for the Humanities. It was especially interesting that 40 American teachers were joined by 10 Japanese teachers for this program. I've posted a brie… Continue

Added by Stephanie Kaufman on August 5, 2009 at 11:54am — No Comments

Literacy and global awareness: Tracking Iranian election protests

This post was originally made on June 15, 2009. I started the post on the New Literacies Collaborative and am re-posting here at the NCSS network given the relevance for social studies teachers. Thursday, August 6, 2009 Breaking Tweets -… Continue

Added by John Lee on July 30, 2009 at 4:30pm — 1 Comment

Op-ed on Filters in the Washington Post

Here's an op-ed I wrote that about the effect of classroom filters on teaching for the Washington Post. Enjoy, debate, etc.: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/10/AR2009071003459.html?nav=hcmoduletmv Continue

Added by Justin Reich on July 13, 2009 at 11:28am — 3 Comments

Flickr now available to upload photos to NCSS

We are happy to announce that you may now upload your photos directly from your Flickr account to NCSS. Great ideas for uploads include, but are not limited to, photos of projects, presentations, field trips, and classroom setup. When you go to the NCSS photo page, you will need to click on the "add photos" link. This will take you to the screen where photos may be added. Scroll towards the bottom of that page and you will see a link on the bottom left corner that says "add photos from Flickr".… Continue

Added by Michelle DeSilva on July 9, 2009 at 8:36pm — No Comments

More from the Ackerman Conference

More good ideas being shared today. Michael Berson and Kerry Poole showed off Legislative Aide, a simulation that puts students in the role of a congressional intern, and combines real world interviews and research with an online simulation and social network. It's being piloted in Florida. Check it out here: http://ckbsoftware.com/ Joe O'Brian gave a very energetic talk about considering the implications of the commercialization of the Web for civic society. His paper is well worth reading,… Continue

Added by Justin Reich on June 20, 2009 at 3:42pm — No Comments

More resources for social studies teachers from Ackerman

Meghan Manfra shared a digital history inquiry project in a low-track high school history classroom: http://digitalhistory.edublogs.org/. Tim Newby and Peg Ertmer showed a wiki created by their students with chapters about different Web 2.0 tools. A terrific resource for people exploring Web 2.0 tools: http://wiki.itap.purdue.edu/display/Social/INSITE+Main. Continue

Added by Justin Reich on June 19, 2009 at 11:21am — No Comments

The Ackerman Civics 2. 0 Conference

About 25 social studies researchers are gathered at Purdue this weekend for the Ackerman Colloquium on Technology and Civics Education to discuss Civics 2.0- the role of new social media in civics and citizenship education. . Our opening Keynote was delivered by Anne Collier an expert in youth online safety, who runs Net Family News, Connect Safely. Anne currently serves as co-chair of the Obama administrati… Continue

Added by Justin Reich on June 19, 2009 at 10:04am — No Comments

Facebook Manners Video

This video was shared on Twitter by Pat recently. I think it is a great video because it is amusing but makes some good points at the same time. I will be using this in my middle school class next year and wanted to share it with everyone on NCSS. Enjoy :-)

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Added by Michelle DeSilva on June 18, 2009 at 6:19pm — 1 Comment

GradePad 1.0, iPhone/iPod Touch performance assessment tool for teachers

GradePad, a mobile performance assessment tool for teachers and trainers, is now available at the iPhone App Store for $1.99. With GradePad, teachers and trainers can make observational assessments anywhere. Manage the groups. Assess performance. Track improvement. Share data. GradePad’s main benefits are: • Simplicity. Teachers, trainers, and coaches can crea… Continue

Added by Mike Palmquist on June 4, 2009 at 12:00pm — No Comments

Holocaust Projects

I posted a few pictures of some of the Holocaust Projects that I received from my students on my main page. To recap: I gave extra credit this trimester to students who researched the Holocaust and completed a projects and entered it into the St. Louis Holocaust Museum Annual Art & Writing Competition. I received many entries from my students and am proud to announce that one of my students won first place in the writing competition and I had another win honorable mention in the art compet… Continue

Added by Michelle DeSilva on May 31, 2009 at 2:30pm — No Comments