Social Studies Department Meeting
April 2008

 

Curriculum Writing: I wanted to thank all of you for the work that you’ve done during our Professional Development days for each grade level. We are going to look at the ELA GLE’s and rubrics during these PD sessions, since they relate to our grade level assessments we are designing. Therefore, the focus of this meeting will be to design a detailed explanation for each Grade-Span Essential Thematic Question (GSETQ) we have designed. In other words, what does a student need to know in order to answer each one of these questions thoroughly?

 

  1. Congratulations & Thanks: Charlie Blanchette and his organization, S.A.V.E., won Advisor of the Year, Website of the Year, and Middle School of the Year! And, thanks to Gail Deware for organizing and collecting donations for research on Alzheimer's in honor of Charlie's father-in-law. - 2 minutes
  2. Curriculum Materials & Inventory: Please review the old inventory charts and make any revisions to show the current materials you now possess. Please get these back to me a.s.a.p. This will help us to determine what we need to look to purchase for next year. (The goal is for each of us to have our OWN materials or sets.) – 3 minutes

 

  1. Defining GSETQ’s: The department will be divided into 4 groups (Each group needs a representative from each grade level) to look at two of the eight GSETQ’s. Using the standards, geography themes, etc. (materials will be provided), each group will work to create a bulleted list that helps define what each GSETQ entails. – 30 minutes

 

  1. Sharing Results: Each group will share their work with the department on poster paper. As a department, we can clarify and add to each group’s results. – Remainder of time (will continue next meeting)