Social studies conference gives teachers “higher quality development”

Each year, a number of social studies teachers attend the National Council for the Social Studies Annual Conference. During this conference, teachers learn new ways to teach and make students understand the material. Four social studies teachers from CVHS attended the convention and brought back materials that will further develop a studentʼs education.

The conference is set up by workshops. Each workshop has a different subject, and teachers choose the subject they want to learn. The speakers assigned to the workshop give them a brief summary of that subject.

In each workshop, there is an average of 40 teachers.

“Sitting down in a classroom with a room full of teachers was a nice experience because it made me feel like a student,” commented Gerry Cox, a social studies teacher.

One new technique that the teachers brought back was a new way to make English language-learners understand vocabulary words. Using a box diagram, there would be different categories of things and students are supposed to match the words to the category.

Another new technique that teachers brought back was online surveys which would be used for test reviews. Students will be able to type in their answers into a hand-held device and their results will be displayed immediately.

“The purpose of this survey is to see if students understand key concepts before a test,” said Carmelina Frasca, another social studies teacher.

Not only do the students benefit from this convention, but teachers do as well.

Frasca got to meet for the second time with Dr. Philip Zimbardo, one of the worldʼs most well-known psychologists. She chatted and took a picture with him, and now looks forward to showing her psychology students the picture.

As this is one of Coxʼs first time attending this event, she enjoyed it very much. Cox learned how to teach her AP European History class document-based questions and how to teach reading to English learners so that they would have a better understanding of the material.

Next year, Cox encourages more teachers to attend.

“As a teacher, I think this opportunity from the district gave me a higher quality development,” she said.