Everyday Civics - Virginia Standards of Learning

Announcements

Challenges of Civics Education

Dr. Peter N. Stearns, provost of George Mason University, presented a paper on the "Challenges of Civics Education." For a copy of the presentation, CLICK HERE.

Beyond Jamestown: Virginia Indians Past & Present
Second Annual Teachers' Institute

June 23-27, 2008
College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA
Application Deadline: May 11, 2008

This seminar offers a rare opportunity to hear from Virginia Indian tribal speakers and chiefs, as well as from academic authorities on such topics as regional ecology, cultural misperceptions, and new ways to think about indigenous knowledge. Hands-on classroom activities and innovative lesson plans for all ages will be provided. A special field trip is planned, to visit a Virginia Indian reservation that has existed since the mid-1600s.

For more information please visit:
http://www.virginiafoundation.org/VIHP/beyondjamestown/
Contact:
Karenne Wood, Program Director, Virginia Indian Heritage Program
Virginia Foundation for the Humanities
Phone: (434) 924-9946
E-mail: karennewood@virginia.edu

Summer Institute on Antebellum Slavery, the Civil War and Reconstruction

Pamplin Historical Park and Richard Bland College of the College of William and Mary are hosting a 2008 summer teacher institute on Antebellum Slavery, the Civil War, and Reconstruction. Teachers may choose one of three one-week-long sessions scheduled for June 23-27, July 14-18 and August 4-8, 2008. Each institute will be conducted on the 422-acre Pamplin Historical Park campus and will include a field trip to related historic sites. Participating teachers may earn 3 academic credits or 2.5 Continuing Education Units from Richard Bland College. Institute topics will address Virginia Standards of Learning in History, Government, Geography, Economics, and English.

Interested teachers may visit the Pamplin Historical Park website, www.pamplinpark.org/institute.html
Contact Al Neale
alneale@pamplinpark.org
To register, contact Richard Bland College at www.rbc.edu/registrar/registrar.htm
or (804) 862-6206.

Summer Teacher Institute for Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation

On behalf of the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, the Department of Education is pleased to announce the Summer Teacher Institute for Virginia School Teachers K-12 to be offered July 13-18, 2008, at the Jamestown Settlement and Yorktown Victory Center.

Program highlights include:

becoming immersed in the history of 17th-century Jamestown and the 18th-century American Revolution;
experiencing history through hands-on period activities;
participating in SOL-correlated programs, presentations and workshops; and
taking home a kit of reproduction artifacts to use in the classroom.

Teachers can earn up to 35 professional development points. Hotel, meals, mileage, and materials are provided. Submit your application online and send a letter of recommendation from your school or district administrator as an e-mail attachment to teacher.institute@jyf.virginia.gov, or mail your application package to:

Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation
ATTN: Teacher Institute/Outreach Education
P.O. Box 1607
Williamsburg, VA 23187
http://www.historyisfun.org/Teacher-Institute.htm

Submit applications by March 15, 2008. Applicants will be notified of their status by May 1, 2008. For more information, contact Betsy Barton, specialist for history and social science, by e-mail at Betsy.Barton@doe.virginia.gov or by telephone at (804) 225-3454.

Teaching Opportunities in India

Are you a K-12 teacher of English, English as a Second Language (ESL), math, or science interested in traveling to India to team-teach alongside Indian instructors during summer 2008? The Fulbright Teacher Exchange Program is currently accepting applications for the "TRAVEL TO TEACH IN INDIA" program that will take place during the summer 2008. U.S. team-teachers will teach short-term in the regular-term academic program at Indian schools. The application is due February 20, 2008. For additional information about this program and the application please visit the OTHER OPPORTUNITIES page our website: http://www.SwiftPage4.com/SpeClicks.aspx?Acc=FulbrightTeacherExchange5 .

Primary Documents Seminar

The Center for the Constitution is pleased to announce a special new Seminar which will be held March 15-17, 2008.

The seminar will focus on the primary documents which are present in the Social Studies Standards of Learning for Virginia. The seminar will run from Saturday morning, March 15 to Monday afternoon, March 17. Teachers who live more than two hours from Montpelier will be able to arrive the evening of Friday, March 14.

This event has a cap of 25 participants. Priority will be given to applicants who have not attended a Montpelier Weekend Seminar before. CLICK HERE for the application form.

Here is the spring schedule for our regular Montpelier Weekend Seminars

Founding -- March 7-10, 2008
Constitution -- April 18-21, 2008
Bill of Rights -- May 16-19, 2008

Montpelier "We the People" Summer Seminar

The Montpelier "We the People" Summer Seminar is a four-day rigorous professional development program that provides teachers the opportunity to work with constitutional scholars from a variety of disciplines.

Participants complete academic readings, attend morning lectures and participate in afternoon sessions dedicated to the content and teaching methods appropriate to the We the People curriculum.

At the close of the institute, teachers also participate in a culminating activity modeled on the We the People simulated congressional hearing, an authentic assessment strategy.

The application deadline is May 1. CLICK HERE for the application form.

Montpelier Weekend Seminars

Each of the Montpelier Weekend Seminars encompass a consistent core of knowledge about the principles of American constitutionalism — popular sovereignty, fundamental law, good government, full citizenship, and human liberty. They also highlight the systematic and persisting contrasts between Federalist and Antifederalist approaches to the Constitution. But each will approach these central concepts from a different angle, in order to highlight the various transformations achieved by the constitutional Founding. The four themes and their subtopics are:

“‘Citizenship’ … WHAT is it?”
“A ‘Constitution’ … WHAT is it?”
“A ‘Bill of Rights’ … WHAT is it?”
“‘Founding’ … WHAT is it?”

For more information, including previous agendas, reading lists, and how to apply, please visit: http://www.montpelier.org/learn/programs/weekend_seminars.php.

Be the Change: Upstanders for Human Rights Web Site

Be the Change: Upstanders for Human Rights web site has a variety of different activities and suggestions for teachers. The website offer an opportunity for teachers to use technology in a powerful way to help students think deeply about the responsibilities each one of them has towards their families, their communities, and the world. For information, go to: http://www.facinghistory.org/BeTheChange.

Interested in “We the People” State Finals?

“We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution" is a nationally acclaimed program that helps students understand the history and principles of our Constitution and Bill of Rights. The program is available to students and teachers from public and private schools anywhere in the United States. We the People is administered nationally by the Center for Civic Education, the Center for the Constitution at James Madison's Montpelier is proud to be the host of the program in Virginia.

Virginia high school teachers who are interested in fielding teams to compete in the 2008 We the People Virginia State Finals should fax Michael Taylor at (540) 672-0411. The finals will be held on the campus of James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, on February 9, 2008.

Many of the details, including housing off-campus for those who want to arrive the night before, will be handled through the Office of Madison Institutes at JMU.

Virginia Geographic Alliance Exploring Ecuador's Changing Landscapes
SUMMER INSTITUTE 2008
July 12-28, 2008

Gain firsthand, on-the-ground experience of the physical and cultural landscapes of Ecuador, an Andean country that may serve as a microcosm of much of Spanish-speaking South America. From the Amazon to the high Andes to the Pacific lowlands see the impacts of past history, present economic development, globalization and global climate change.
http://www.radford.edu/geog-web/vga_summer_2008/main.html

Summer Institute
Landscapes of Food, Culture, and Environment in England
STUDY ABROAD -- Summer Session II
July 8 - 23 2008
Travel and Study in England

The Virginia Geographic Alliance and Virginia Tech's Department of Geography are offering the Summer Institute "Landscapes of Food, Culture, and Environment in England" for Virginia K-12 teachers of Geography, Social Studies, and History under continuing education credit. This Institute will be offered in conjunction with a study abroad program for Virginia Tech undergraduate and graduate students. The Institute experience will be aligned with the Virginia Standards of Learning for World Geography and World History and is also appropriate and valuable for teachers of Advanced Placement Human Geography.
http://www.geography.vt.edu/uk/VGA-England.htm

Primary Source Learning

Primary Source Learning helps educators quickly find and use primary sources related to specific curriculum standards in all subjects through the Teaching Materials database. Staffed by classroom teachers, Primary Source Learning connects pre-K-12 schools, university programs, libraries, and museums through collaborative programs that deepen student understanding of the curriculum and equip learners with Information Age literacy skills. Primary Source Learning was created by the Northern Virginia Partnership of the Teaching with Primary Sources program made available through a Library of Congress grant funded by the U.S. Congress. The purpose of this Web site is to share the resources and Learning Experiences developed by teachers in Northern Virginia with other educators.
http://primarysourcelearning.org/

History and Social Science Informational Supts Memos

Commemoration of Veterans Day
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/VDOE/suptsmemos/2007/inf189.html

Commendation for Antioch Baptist Church
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/VDOE/suptsmemos/2007/inf188.html

Commemoration of George Washington's Birthday
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/VDOE/suptsmemos/2007/inf187.html

Implementation of Civics Education Week and Constitution Day
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/VDOE/suptsmemos/2007/inf185.html

Online Games About Government and Civics

The Texas Law-Related Education (LRE) Department of the State Bar has created 13 online interactive games about government and civics. Check them out at http://www.texaslre.org/onlinegames.html.

Economic Education Workshops Offered for Teachers

The Virginia Council on Economic Education and others are offering a number of workshops from that will assist teachers with content, curriculum, and materials to help your students be more economically and financially literate. For more information about these and other workshops offered by Centers for Economic Education, visit http://www.vcee.org/workshops.

Globalization Web Site and Resources

Globalization101.org is dedicated to providing students with information and interdisciplinary learning opportunities on this complex phenomenon. Our goal is to challenge you to think about many of the controversies surrounding globalization and to promote an understanding of the trade-offs and dilemmas facing policy-makers.

Globalization101.org has started a new series of What Others Think articles, which includes quotes given by the 2008 U.S. Presidential candidates. We started with two articles on the Democratic candidates' perspective on globalization, trade, and outsourcing and a similar compilation for the Republican candidates. Quotes were chosen on the basis of containing policy statements, rather than just descriptions of the situation or partisan rhetoric. Please let us know if you enjoyed our series on U.S. presidential candidates and if you would like to read additional compilations of their perspectives on various issues of globalization.

A lesson plan has been added on Intellectual Property: Combating Piracy in China, which provides students with the opportunity to gain an understanding of the role of globalization in impacting the trade in counterfeit goods. Students will learn about the global supply chain of illicit and licit goods. Additionally, students will participate in a mock U.S. Trade Representatives meeting to fight piracy in China.

In September, Globalization101.org presented the site to middle school and high school teachers at professional development conference in Maryland. If you are interested in learning more about our individualized presentations, please let us know. You can contact us via e-mail at globalization101@gmail.com.