Dimensions of Diversity - NCSS 2011

Source: NCSS

We just finished three days at the annual conference for the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) in Washington, D.C., with a dedicated group of professionals who shared their hearts and souls about the subject. As educators and learners ourselves, we wanted to thank everyone who so willing provided us with resources and ideas to bring back to our classrooms to make us better teachers.

One of the many highlights at the conference was the keynote address given by Diane Ravitch, who filled the grand ballroom with a packed audience. Her message was clear; we must “preserve the heart, mind, and character of education for our democracy.” The conference was deep and rich in the sheer number of workshops available to attendees, making it at times difficult to choose.

The passion of the presenters came through in their believing that first graders could be entrepreneurs to discussing the role of journalism in a world flooded by technology. The Twitter workshop to promote global sharing of information was also interesting. Many in the group who participate as part of the Social Studies Chat ning had only met each other for the first time at the conference, but had been in constant communication online during the Monday night tweets using the hashtag #sschat.

Source: theASIDEblog

A special thanks to those who attended our presentation, “Where Financial Literacy Meets Media Literacy: Integrate, Don’t Isolate,” that demonstrated how to blend literacies about money and media into curricular learning through connected skills and content. For links to our projects that integrate branding, advertising, markets, trade, entrepreneurship, and new media, please visit our resource page and our posts on the topic.

If you’re in the DC area and looking for a good place to eat, check out the Cuba Libre restaurant for some excellent food to delight your taste buds. Lastly, thank you to all those at NCSS who made this a fantastic conference to attend.