! The! ! ! POINT!E-Letter of the Western Pennsylvania Council for the Social StudiesVol. 6 No. 11!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! November 2013

In promoting our mission to focus on local and family history, WPCSSannually presents two $1 00 Savings Bonds for the best local or

family history exhibit in both Junior and Senior Entries of the localNational History Day competition at the Heinz History Center

Trip transports Pa. students back to 1700s A tour of Fort Ligonier in Pennsylvania gave Leechburg Area High School ninth-graders a chance to explore what life was like on the frontier in the 1700s. The students learned about George Washington and other interesting facts about the fort. Social studies teacher Scott Hooks has been taking students to the landmark for about 12 years. Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (10/12) In keeping with our dedication to supporting efforts to emphasize local history, WPCSS has bestowed a complimentary membership to Mr. Hooks.

PCSS WANTS YOU! Pennsylvania Council for the Social Studies at its annual meeting in Harrisburg at the Harrisburg East Holiday Inn on October 19, 2013, announced a policy of inclusion to enroll all social studies educators in the state by eliminating dues. Each and every social studies teacher, administrator or other related educational consultant will be considered a member by utilizing an application to register with the organization FREE! An application may be found on the council web site pcssonline.org. PCSS believes that social studies is the core of the curriculum as it is the arena where all other subjects are put into practice. Students calculate distance, area, population, and resources. They read to gather facts and they write about what they discover. They form hypotheses, search for evidence and discuss scientific findings that are currently in the news. While many school programs focus on getting into college or making a living, social studies is aimed at discovering how to live and participate in society. While preparing for college and a well paying job is important, preparing to be a practicing citizen is also important. PCSS also believes that the sharing of knowledge among peers is the best form of professional development. Through association with others in the field, we share ideas and strengthen each other. While the internet has fostered some interaction among educators, face to face encounters are usually more effective because we see a real person and communicate directly with them. The Annual Conference in the Fall brings many people together and Mini Conferences around the Commonwealth provide opportunities for more face to face encounters.

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Soldiers & Sailors Hall! Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum houses a vast collection of primary and secondary documents and military artifacts. It is their mission to promote the use of these educational items and create an understanding for all groups who visit the museum. They provide a rich learning experience for all people by exploring the deeds and sacrifices of ordinary citizens during extraordinary circumstances.

The Education Dept. 412.621.4253 Tim Neff x 219http://www.soldiersandsailorshall.org/education.html

150th Anniversary of the Gettysburg AddressTuesday, November 19, 2013 6 pm - 9 pm

Free Public EventEvent includes:New Exhibit:

Gettysburg Hero, Major General Gouverner K. Warren'ssword and artifacts, displayed for the first time publicly.

Performances:Soldiers & Sailors 6th Reg. USCT Drum Corps

President Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address

Beaver Falls Historical Society/Museumhttp://www.ohwy.com/pa/b/befahimu.htm

In the basement of the Carnegie Free Library. Historical items displayed include vintage fire department equipment, china, photo albums, clothing and 1800s Chinese cutlery. A county research center is on the second floor. Historical Society and museum open Tuesday-Thursday 10am-4pm, Friday & Saturday 10am-3pm, Monday 3-8pm; closed holidays.

Old Economy Village |oldeconomyvillage.org 

Old Economy is a nineteenth-century historic village founded by the Utopian Harmonists religious collective. Old Economy Village interprets the history of the Harmony Society, a highly successful 19th century religious communal society, and preserves and interprets the unique material culture of the Society during its period of residence in Beaver County, Pennsylvania for citizens of and visitors to the Commonwealth. Old Economy Village is an historic site in the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission‘s Bureau of Historic Sites and Museums. The PHMC is the official history agency of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  Created in 1945, the Commission is responsible for the collection, conservation, and intrepretation of Pennsylvania’s historic heritage. For questions regarding Old Economy Village’s site, collections, research, education, or horticulture program, please contact our staff at (724)266-4500.

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Feedback • • •  thanks again for supporting our programs. We much appreciate it . . . K.L. . . . great stuff on implifications and “ram”ifications of No Child Left a Mind. . . . nice to see some fine active folks who combat, defy, all that good stuff . . . .J. L.

PCSS Award to Darla Gerlach Darla Gerlach, teacher at Shaler Middle School and Member of WPCSS received the Kay Atman PCSS Award for Social Studies Innovation on October 16 at the PCSS Conference in Harrisburg. Darla was honored for her work with Youth Court in the Pittsburgh area.

PCSS honors two from WPCSS Three new awards were established by PCSS for the recent conference in Harrisburg, with two of them named for WPCSS members, Kay Atman and Leo West. The newly named awards are: The Kay Atman PCSS Award for Social Studies Innovation; the Ruth Stas PCSS Award for Social Studies Sustainability; and the Leo West PCSS Award for Social Studies Awareness & Promotion.

PCSS WANTS YOU!(Continued from Page 1)

In recent years, social studies programs have been diminished in order to make room for test preparation. In some instances they have even disappeared. Currently we see a nation divided and unable to agree about many things. We see cities in bankruptcy or nearly so. Local communities have little support from residents. Voter turnout is often poor and knowledge about how government works is sketchy. There is a need for better civic education. Join PCSS! Together, we can make a difference.

2014 Project Peace Mini-ConferenceUniversity of Pittsburgh at JohnstownApril 8, 2014

Project Peace is a peer mediation ,anti-bullying and youth court training program that enhances the skills of non-violent conflict resolution and active civic engagement necessary for for productive citizenship.

2014 - 61st Annual PCSS ConferenceOctober 16 - October 18, 2014

Frank J. Pasquerella Conference Center302 Napoleon StreetJohnstown PA 15901

Theme: C3 and the Civic Mission of Schools The College, Career and Civic Life (C-3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards guides educators on concepts, skills and disciplinary tools necessary for to prepare students for college, career and civic life. That guidance and support takes form in an inquiry arc -- a set of interlocking and mutually reinforcing ideas that feature the fourDimensions of informed inquiry in social studies: (1) developing questions and planning inquiries; (2) applying disciplinary conceots and tools; (3) evaluating sources and using evidence, and (4) communicating conclusions and taking informed action.

The PointWestern Pennsylvania Council for the

Social StudiesRichard Williams

PresidentLeo R. West

Secretary / TreasurerThe Point is the

e-newsletterof WPCSS

issued monthly via e-mail.WPCSS is a non-profit 501c organization dedicated to promoting the teaching and

learning of social studies in Western Pennsylvania

Western Pennsylvania Council for the Social Studiesc/o Leo West

11533 Clematis Blvd.Pittsburgh, PA 15235-3105

wlrw@yahoo.com

Advisory BoardKay Atman

Steve BullickPaula Calabrese

John FordRon GancasJohn Larner

Tim NeffMike RydeskiCarl WalzerJeff Zeiders

How the evaluative process encourages critical thinking Asking students to evaluate historical events requires them to analyze and think critically about the information, eighth-grade history teachers Jody Passinisi and Shara Peters write in this blog post. They discuss the pros and cons of the evaluative process and why evaluation is still an important skill that students in the middle grades should acquire. MiddleWeb/Future of History blog (10/13)

Students use Skype to connect with community in Zambia Students in a Michigan classroom recently connected with community members in Zambia using video-conferencing software Skype. During the exchange, fifth- and sixth-grade students in the U.S. asked questions about life in Zambia, including what it's like for students there. "One of the great things about technology is it makes the world accessible to you," instructional specialist John Kernan said. He added, "You don't have to pay for field trips. You can take them on this fantastic journey." The Detroit News (10/13)

Pa. district weighs social studies curriculum changes Officials in the Elizabethtown Area School District in Pennsylvania are considering making changes to align the district's social studies curriculum with the Common Core State Standards. Social studies teachers recently met to review the courses offered in other nearby districts. "There's no sense in reinventing the wheel if people are out there doing it -- what are they doing?" said Steve Schoessler, an assistant principal. LancasterOnline (Pa.) (10/16)

Ravitch: Private Sector Should Provide Help, Not Competition (October 18, 2013, Marketplace K-12 Blog)

The name of this blog is Marketplace K-12, but to Diane Ravitch, the most appropriate market for schools is a decidedly public one, where private companies keep their distance.

CHOICES and the COMMON CORE

For more than twenty years, CHOICES curriculum units have helped students develop the competencies now required in the Common Core. Our materials stress critical thinking, multiple perspectives, and textual analysis. Download our guide to aligning Choices with Common Core Standards.

Watch New Vietnam VideosOur Vietnam curriculum now has Scholars Online Videos featuring top scholars

answering questions in their fields of expertise.  The Limits of Power: The United States in Vietnam has students evaluate how successive U.S. administrations perceived the situation in Vietnam and implemented policy decisions. Students examine the effects of U.S. involvement on the lives of people in Vietnam and the United States, and recreate the debate about Vietnam within President Johnson’s administration in the summer of 1965.

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40 Maps That Will Help You Make Sense of the Worldhttp://twistedsifter.com/2013/08/maps-that-will-help-you-make-sense-of-the-world/

If you’re a visual learner, then you know maps, charts and infographics can really help bring data and information to life. Maps can make a point resonate with readers and this collection aims to do just that. Hopefully some of these maps will surprise you and you’ll learn something new. A few are important to know, some interpret and display data in a beautiful or creative way, and a few may even make you chuckle or shake your head. If you enjoy this collection of maps, the Sifter highly recommends the r/MapPorn sub reddit. You should also check out ChartsBin.com. There were also fantastic posts on Business Insider and Bored Panda earlier this year that are worth checking out. Enjoy!

Top teaching and learning trends focus on how students learn From brain-based to project-based learning, educators nationwide are experimenting with new teaching and learning strategies that focus on how children learn. This article highlights five key trends, including incorporating music into lessons to improve retention; using games, such as Minecraft and SimCity, to teach academic subjects; and cultivating creativity and curiosity in the classroom through science, technology, engineering and math courses. KQED.org/Mind/Shift blog (10/14)

The Top Ten Reasons Students Cannot Cite or Rely on Wikipedia.

Wikipedia provides Internet users with millions of articles on a broad range of topics, and commonly ranks first in search engines. But its reliability and credibility fall well short of the standards for a school paper. According to Wikipedia itself, “[W]hile some articles are of the highest quality of scholarship, others are admittedly complete rubbish. … use [Wikipedia] with an informed understanding of what it is and what it isn't.”

Rural Leader to Develop Dust Bowl Curriculum for Schools (October 17, 2013, Rural Education Blog)

Rural education leader and Dust Bowl survivor Pauline Hodges will be creating a new curriculum that aims to help Oklahoma students become aware of the need to conserve land. ..(Local history?)

Why teachers should educate the public about the profession Teachers need to advocate for the profession by explaining all of the work they do behind the scenes and outside of the classroom, middle-grades educator Bill Ferriter writes in this blog post. A public misconception of the profession -- limiting it to the classroom only -- leads policymakers to think enlarging class sizes or cutting support staff has no real impact on education. "People really do want to support teachers. They just don't know how hard it is to teach," he writes. Center for Teaching Quality/The Tempered Radical blog (10/17)

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MEMBERSHIP APPLICATIONWestern Pennsylvania Council for the Social Studies

Name_________________________________________________________

Address_______________________________________________________

City___________________________________________________________

Phone_________________________________________________________

e-mail address__________________________________________________

School or Institution_____________________________________________

Position and Grade level__________________________________________

Dues: $10. 00 Amt. enclosed_______Check made out to WPCSS

* NOTE: Most communication will be handled by e-mail. Please include e-mail address in order to be informed of coming events. Also, check with your school tech director to see if the fire wall will allow you to receive The Point, usually about is size 10 mb. Some firewalls reject attachments over 2 mb.

Send application and dues to: Leo R. West Treasurer • 11533 Clematis Blvd. • Pittsburgh, PA 15235

Some Good News About Public Schools When people continuously carp about public schools, they seem to forget that many of society's successful figures got their start in such schools, Brian Cleary writes.

View more Commentaries from Education Week.

Did the Universe begin on October 22, 4004 BC?According to 17th century Irish bishop and theologian James Ussher, it did. Ussher's calculations were published in the

Annals of the Old Testament.  Even though Ussher's name is usually spoken with derision, a few scholars still defend his efforts - including the late Stephen Jay Gould, one of the 20th century's great science historians.   Ussher's calculations are worth recalling in light of the announcement last week that five human skulls, all nearly 1.8 million years old, had been found in Georgia, Russia. The Guardian reports that this find "throws the story of human evolution into disarray." The article concludes with the words of one noted professor:   "Any time a scientist says 'we've got this figured out' they are probably wrong. It's not the end of the story." A question for students: how should we judge scholars of the past whose work has since been proven wrong? What scientific theories of today do you think are most susceptible of being proven wrong in the future?

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