President’s Comments
Winter Edition Tar Heel News – January 2012
Welcome to 2012—A Leap Year—and an exciting time for Social Studies teachers!
Civics teachers eagerly anticipate classes filled with discussion and debate over the issues surrounding the Presidential primaries, caucuses, nominating conventions, and general election. Many organizations are offering materials to help students and teachers understand the process of electing a President. Here are just a few of the many resources available.
C-Span Classroom is offering a free Electoral College Map to registered teachers.
http://www.c-spanclassroom.org/Special-Offers.aspx
I-Civics offers free online gaming and simulations to help students understand campaigning.
http://www.icivics.org/games/win-white-house
The Youth Leadership Initiative provides a free, online, interactive mock election.
http://www.youthleadership.net/learning-programs/mock-election/
Information about debates, primaries, and conventions can be found on this website:
http://www.2012presidentialelectionnews.com/
The National Archives provides information about the Electoral College.
http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/about.html
“270 To Win” has interactive maps for the Electoral College.
http://www.270towin.com/
The Bill of Rights Institute has free lesson plans on Presidential Elections.
http://www.billofrightsinstitute.org/page.aspx?pid=1257
Rock The Vote http://www.rockthevote.com sponsors Election Land which helps students understand voting in their state.
http://electionland.com
History teachers look forward to the celebration of the Bicentennial of the War of 1812. The internet is rife with materials to help students understand the significance of this war. Among these websites are the following:
http://www.visit1812.com/
http://www.eighteentwelve.ca/
http://www.1812niagaraonthelake.ca/
http://www.starspangled200.com/
This year we will see Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee celebrating the 60th Anniversary of her becoming head of the Commonwealth. The London Summer Olympics will bring excitement and anticipation to sports enthusiasts around the world. For those so inclined to believe, 2012 will also mark some sort of cataclysmic event according the Mayan Calendar, astronomical alignments, and numerological formulae.
As we begin and move through 2012, Social Studies teachers must speak up and advocate for our content to be taught in the public schools. Social Studies instruction is vital to the growth and development of students who understand their past, who have the skills necessary to be productive citizens today, and who are prepared to positively affect our future.
I grieve over the negative impact that Common Core, No Child Left Behind, and Race to the Top have had on Social Studies instruction. Social Studies has been relegated to a position inferior to the teaching of Math, Science, and ELA. I hear members of Congress discussing the Harkin-Enzi Bill (Senators Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Mike Enzi (R-Wyoming)) http://help.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/ROM117523.pdf which would reauthorize ESEA. This bill discusses a “well rounded education” for students and equates Social Studies instruction with the teaching of music, the arts, and physical education. No one is denying the fact that all humans need to be physically fit and have an appreciation of music and the arts. The problem is that the Social Studies—history, civics, economics, law, geography, sociology, psychology—are being marginalized, and in some cases totally omitted, in order to focus on Science, Math, and ELA. This is a travesty.
Governor Perdue has advocated for all students to be ready for college and career ready upon graduation. The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction has a website dedicated to this idea: http://www.ncpublicschools.org/ccpromise The U.S. Department of Education even requires states to have a college and career ready plan in place in order to apply for the waiver from NCLB http://www.ed.gov/esea/flexibility Again, no one is arguing with the fact that students should be college and career ready, but we as Social Studies teachers must emphasize a third “c” – Citizenship! Our students are not receiving adequate Social Studies instruction to ground them in the ideas, values, and virtues that made America great. How do we expect students to be patriots and productive citizens if they don’t know and understand our history and the basics of how the government works?
The National Council for the Social Studies had tee shirts and bumper stickers at the National Conference that read, “I AM! SOCIAL STUDIES.” Let us all take this idea to heart and more than ever before advocate for the teaching of the Social Studies. Let’s take time to contact members of the North Carolina General Assembly and ask them to insure that Social Studies is being taught and given the time it deserves in every classroom across the Ole’ North State!
Please plan to join me February 23-24, 2012 at the Koury Convention Center in Greensboro for the 42nd Annual NCCSS Conference. Networking with our colleagues is critical at this time of change. We have witnessed the elimination of the Civics & Economics and the U.S. History End-of-Course testing. We are preparing for the implementation of the K-12 Social Studies Essential Standards and Measures of Student Learning. I hope to see you in Greensboro where we can learn from and support one another.
Please let me know your thoughts on these issues. Feel free to email me at beckygriffith.nccss@gmail.com with your comments and questions.
