Library of Congress Online Conference: It’s free, it’s awesome, and you’ll walk away smarter

Need some free PD on using primary sources? Need some awesome PD on using primary sources? Want to get smarter? Be a better teacher?

Then you need to join the first Library of Congress online conference for educators on October 27-28 from 4-8 ET. You can pick and choose when you attend and what specifically looking to learn. Titled The Library of Congress and Teachers Unlocking the Power of Primary Sources, the conference has some incredible speakers and sessions. So pick and choose your favorites from below and be prepared to learn a ton.

The keynote speaker will be the distinguished photographer Carol Highsmith, who will discuss her decades-long project of documenting the United States in a one-hour conversation with Helena Zinkham, chief of the Library’s Prints and Photographs Division.

Over the course of those two days, there will be 15 one-hour sessions facilitated by Library specialists, instructional experts from the Library’s Teaching with Primary Sources Consortium, and other recognized K-12 leaders. Highlights include:

A student’s view of technology: “A cat is not a dog.”

Audrey Mullen is a sophomore at Presentation High School in San Jose, California. She started Kite Reviews, an all-student consulting service that provides user reviews of your edtech products. She’s worked with Brainpop, All Can Code, and Readorium.

And she recently posted an article at EdSurge, sharing her thoughts on the use of technology in the high school classroom and the teachers that use it. For those of us on the far side of being a sophomore in high school and who advocate for the effective use of technology as part of instruction, Audrey’s viewpoint should be a vital part of that conversation.

Her article is also a good reminder of how we need to be much more aware of how our decisions impact the actual people who make up our very large customer base. Read the entire article over at EdSurge but here’s a brief teaser of some of her topics:

College, Career and Civic Life standards webinars

Okay. Let’s be honest. Sitting through most live webinars is almost never a good time. Usually stuff you might find somewhere else. Simple talking heads. Poor production quality. Sitting through an archived webinar is only marginally better – for no other reason than you can fast forward through it.

But . . . there are some that are useful and practical – even if some of those other things are present. The NCSS C3 Framework webinar series is one of those.

The College, Career, and Civic Life Framework for Social Studies State Standards was developed to serve two audiences: for states to upgrade their state social studies standards and for practitioners — local school districts, schools, teachers and curriculum writers — to strengthen their social studies programs.

The objectives of the Framework are to:

Tip of the Week: Google Collections equals GAFE Pinterest

A couple of days ago I had the chance to watch Kori Green and Adam Topliff in action. As board members of the Kansas Council for the Social Studies, certified state standards trainers, and experienced middle school teachers, they know a thing or two thousand about what quality history instruction looks like.

They spent the day here at ESSDACK, tag teaming with a group of secondary folks in a discussion about best practices and the upcoming state assessment. In those sorts of conversations, I always walk out smarter. I get to see what Kori and Adam are doing. I get to sit down with classroom teachers and chat about what they’re doing. It’s basically a smash and grab of all of their best stuff.

And Wednesday was no different. I was able to leave with a couple of new ideas including my new favorite, Google+ Collections. 

Social Studies Scent-O-Matic. Yes!

I have been waiting for this for so long. I know some of you have done the same thing – striking a bunch of matches, blowing them out, and letting the smoke waft through the room during conversations about battles or battle sims.

Because we know how powerful the sense of smell can be in connecting emotion and content. And when we can connect emotion and content, retention goes up. Comprehension goes up. But in today’s world of smoke alarms, lighting a box of matches in your classroom is probably not a good idea.

So you can imagine how cool it was when I ran across the Scent-O-Matic. Seriously. A company that lets you order a can of smells specific to a historical period or topic. I am loving this!

Running downhill is easy. But it’s not best for our kids

About a month ago, Kevin Honeycutt and I had the chance to spend a week together traveling around the great state of Minnesota. Kevin did presentations. I shook hands and carried Kevin’s guitar. It was a seriously great time.

It was great for a couple of reasons. First, at ESSDACK we don’t often get the chance to observe a colleague in their native environment – picking up tips, talking about best practice, stealing their good ideas. I ended the week smarter and better at what I do because of it.

Second?

Social studies nerd activities. We stopped at history markers, ate in greasy dives, and talked to lots of locals about Minnesota culture. But the best activity?