Teaching California at California Council for the Social Studies conference 2019

On March 15th, California Historical Society Reference Librarian (and super colleague) Frances Kaplan and I traveled to the annual California Council for the Social Studies (CCSS) conference to promote CHS’s new curriculum project, Teaching California. Each year, the CCSS conference aims to deliver professional development for educators focused on new scholarship, research-based strategies, and networking -- all designed to improve the teaching and learning of history/social studies across the state. Held in San Jose this year, CCSS 2019 was filled to the brim with presentations, workshops, and exhibitors, and was well-attended by educators from across the state.

Shelley Brooks, California History-Social Science Project (CHSSP) Program Coordinator, previewing student and teacher resources found in Teaching California’s instructional materials focused on the California Missions (taught in 4th grade).

Frances and I presented at two separate sessions (one aimed at the elementary school-level and one at the high school-level), each together with members of our Teaching California curriculum partners at the California History-Social Science Project. In these sessions, titled “Teaching CA: Bringing Archives into the Classroom,” we introduced teachers and administrators to our project, a joint collaboration between archivists, librarians, educators, and subject specialists.

Our goal is to empower teachers to engage in inquiry instruction that is aligned to California’s new History-Social Science Framework, improves student literacy, and supports civic learning and engagement. In both sessions, teachers practiced the historical investigation process and, excitingly, previewed some of the inquiry-based lessons (and primary sources!) that we are creating for the project. Here are more scenes from our sessions:

Tuyen Tran, Assistant Director of CHSSP, going over the basics of California’s new History-Social Science Framework. Teaching California will create Framework-aligned materials that will aid in school and classroom implementation.

“I just think this is planting beautiful seeds for the power of using primary sources.” Overheard in the elementary #TeachCa intro session with @CAHistory here at #CCSS19. pic.twitter.com/MtUSMHoWtH

— CHSSP (@CHSSP_SO) March 15, 2019

A closer look at a draft of one of our Teaching California lessons, called “inquiry sets,” for the second grade, which includes both primary sources and contextual information aimed at both students and teachers. This set includes a handwritten note on a collar produced during the 1906 earthquake and fire, from CHS's collections of California history.

Elementary school teachers review drafts of Teaching California’s second-grade instructional materials, which includes never-before-seen objects and photographs from CHS’s collections.

Taking back so many AMAZING resources from #CCSS19 to use with preservice teachers in my upcoming Teaching H-SS class at CSUSB! Thanks for sharing resources @CHSSP_SO @lcccarrillo @historytechie @UCBHSSP and, especially, @r10CLIC! pic.twitter.com/x4qdZxIJKJ

— Michelle Lorimer (@LorimerHistory) March 18, 2019

Learning about the exciting partnership between @CHSSP_SO and @CAHistory. Teaching CA: Bringing the Archives into the Classroom (U.S. High School) at California Council for the Social Studies 58th Annual Conference https://t.co/iWR8Y4FNLH @casocialstudies #ccss19 pic.twitter.com/4rTKA97wot

— Wendy Rouse (@WendyLRouse) March 15, 2019

First glimpse of #TeachCa with @CAHistory here at #CCSS19! HS teachers check out cholera source set. @CaEdHSS @UCDHistProject @UCBHSSP @UCLAHGP pic.twitter.com/V0EJcG5WrA

— CHSSP (@CHSSP_SO) March 15, 2019

To view the slides for one of our CCSS sessions on Teaching California, visit this link.

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This post comes from Kerri Young, Teaching California Project Manager. You can reach out to her at kyoung@calhist.org