COME TO THE 51ST ANNUAL CCSS CONFERENCE!
Without a doubt, the annual conference is CCSS’s premier event and the one that many members view as the most valuable aspect of their CCSS experience. Yet not all may recognize just how enriching and renewing an experience conference attendance inevitably is.
After last year’s conference, we received several notes from first-time attendees attesting to that value. Here’s one second-grade teacher’s reflection:
“Wow! I am jazzed about teaching social studies and seeing first hand that social studies in California is alive and thriving… Like a 49er, I too traveled the high road to attend this unique conference.”
Another young credentialing candidate enthused: “I couldn’t have imagined how great it would be. It’s all about meeting people face to face.”
Indeed, that is what the conference is all about. Certainly, the conference program is fantastic – colleagues giving great workshops to share their incredible work, wonderful speakers sharing expertise in history and history teaching, social events... it’s two-plus days of ongoing professional development and FUN. This year, that program revolves around our theme of “Social Studies to the Core!”, with many sessions and workshops examining the new Common Core Standards and providing approaches to integrate them into effective social studies teaching. The two keynote presentations promise to be outstanding:
The Honorable Judith D. McConnell; Administrative Presiding Justice Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District -And- Ted McConnell; Executive Director, Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools
Topic: "Guardians of Democracy: Restoring the Civic Mission of Schools"
Margarita Jimenez-Silva; Assistant Professor, Arizona State University
Topic: "Learning and Leading: Collaborating with Colleagues to Go Beyond 'Just Good Teaching' with English Learners"
We also have several special events in store, which you can explore on the website at
http://www.ccss.org/Conference
But what really makes the conference a boon is the chance it affords to interact face-to-face with colleagues who are equally enthusiastic about social studies teaching as are you. I’ve been going to the annual conference since I started teaching in 1990, and I can’t tell you how many valuable connections I’ve made that have helped me in so many ways in my endeavors to be an ever-better teacher.
We know that these are tough times for teachers to make it to any conference, both financially and in terms of competing obligations. Gone are the days when it was much easier to get a school or district to pay for the registration and even for travel expenses; and in the age before high-stakes testing, the social studies had greater weight in commanding a slice of the pie to use in getting professional development support.
Nonetheless, it is no less important to come now as it ever was. In fact, gaining the tools and persuasive arguments to promote the social studies as a critical part of a good school’s instructional program is MORE important now than ever! Our collective efforts to advocate for our field are strengthened to full measure at the conference.
So what CAN you do to make it possible to attend (aside from your own personal sacrifices of time and money, which we all value so deeply)? Here are some strategies for making things more affordable and manageable:
- Ask for school or department PD funds to support your attendance (Title 3 funds are a good source, with many sessions at the conference addressing Title 3-related issues such as EL instruction, culturally-relevant instruction, etc.)
- Take advantage of lower early-bird registration rates
- Get a group of teachers together to take advantage of the lower group registration rate
- If you’re a participant in a TAH or other PD program, inquire about the possibility of the program supporting your attendance at the conference
We need a strong community of social studies educators to make sure our students have the opportunities they deserve to engage in rich historical, geographic, economic, and civic inquiry. I hope you’ll be part of that community at the conference.
See you in the OC!
Avi Black, President
On this tenth anniversary of 9/11:
I think back to the shock and horror of that day. All those people dead - Americans, whether of European ancestry or African, North American or South American or Australian or Pacific Islander or Asian, or not American at all - each single one precious to those who loved them. To all of us. What an incredible tragedy.
At the same time, how gratifying and life-affirming it was to witness all those others who risked, or even lost, their lives to save those they could.
On September 11, 2001, it hadn't been long since I'd taken a year's sabbatical, during which time the war in Kosovo raged. One evening, I heard an American general acknowledge on CNN International that the life of just one of his soldiers was worth saving even if it meant losing ten, or a hundred, or a thousand lives of Kosovars or others involved in the conflict. The admission struck me hard: isn't all life precious? Is any one person's life really worth more than another's, as in such an imbalanced equation? When I saw the towers burning, that interview came back to me, along with that question: is any one of these people more "valuable" than another? Each and every one of them was to be held dear -- just as for every single person who died in the tragedy at Bhopal, and in the Killing Fields of Cambodia, and in the Holocaust and the Armenian Genocide and Rwanda, as well as each and every one who dies every day of hunger or poverty or a slew of other causes that could be addressed so much better than we do.
I was compelled from these thoughts to action. In my front yard stood an eight foot tall frame of two-by-fours that was intended to become a gate. Instead, with some string and 3x5 cards, it became a monument. The string was hung inside the frame as a spider's web, with a 3x5 card in the middle on which was written "September 11 - New York/Washington D.C./Pennsylvania - 5000 Dead" (the number initially estimated). Around that card were arrayed ten more with similar short notations about other tragedies that had taken the lives of thousands or even millions, tragedies that could have been avoided or at least ameliorated: wars and campaigns of genocide, disease epidemics, environmental disasters... On a rock at the base, I posted a sign: "In memory of all those who have died through acts of injustice, hatred, greed, intolerance, apathy, ignorance, jealousy and revenge." A Balinese friend made a small shrine next to the rock; we lit a dozen candles on the top beam, and set out a can of pens and a stack of 3x5 cards.
The intention was not to draw comparisons, nor invite any thought that would diminish the scale of the terrible doings of earlier that week. On the contrary, I wanted to put that tragedy into some kind of context, and to challenge viewers to think deeply whenever such things happen, no matter where or to whom - to challenge everyone who saw it to reflect on those things we do, or don't, that causes undue harm to others.
Over the next days, marvelous things happened. A teacher brought a class of middle schoolers who added a dozen new cards; by a week later, there were at least fifty cards posted. I saw a man bring his two young boys: they wrestled and punched at each other as they approached but stopped once they stood in front of the shrine, each taking one of their father's hands, then bowed their heads in silence before placing pennies on the rock. Not all were so reverential: two visitors knocked on the door and voiced their disagreement with the perceived message, arguing that it disrespected those who'd suffered losses that week before; but even in those cases it started a dialogue, and we agreed to disagree, peacefully.
Now it is ten years later, and I reflect on those days. The school year has started; my mind is on teaching. And I think: there was something missing from that action. And I realize: what was missing was the part related to thinking about what we should do, beyond reflecting and mourning, to make sure these things happen less and less often, until they don't happen at all. That is something we can do as history teachers, indeed something we must do - that is, to give our students tools to think about how that could be done, to make the world a better place, and tools to act on their thinking. It is within our power to teach not only what injustices have been done throughout history, but also what people have done to combat injustice. It is within our power to empower our youth!
Just this past week, a new sculpture entitled "Remember Them: Champions of Humanity" was unveiled in Oakland. Mario Chiodo began the piece ten years ago in direct response to 9/11. Included are several people all of us would recognize as courageous challengers of injustice - Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Theresa - but also others we may not think of as quickly or even know about - Shirin Ebadi, Chief Joseph, Ruby Bridges - as well as eight Oaklanders whose everyday actions created positive change and stand for the work many of us do that is so often left unrecognized. It is a remarkable piece of art. In his artist's statement, Chiodo says: "I have chosen these humanitarians because, regardless of their individual backgrounds or missions, they share the common threads of courage, perseverance, education, sacrifice, and a sincere desire to strive for a better life for all." Our students need to learn about what these and others have done. We can and must take them to see such pieces, introduce them to people in their communities who work on such causes, and - more generally -- teach them about the specific actions of those people who have acted bravely on the basis of noble principles rather than just about the how those principles have been violated.
Peg Hill has put together a great list of resources for teaching around 9/11 on www.ccss.org<http://www.ccss.org> <http://www.ccss.org/> . Check it out.
Join in a discussion of how to promote justice through teaching. What ideas do YOU have for preparing our youth to come together to battle injustice, hatred, greed, intolerance, apathy, ignorance, jealousy and revenge? Join the CCSS Facebook group and share your thoughts.
Be a part of CCSS. It is a place - one of the few we still have - for us to come together, as social studies teachers, to share our ideas, our commitment and our passion for teaching. United we stand.
