Saturday, August 23, 2008

Beyond 23 things

I have changed jobs over the summer. I am now a support team specialist for social studies. I had a big plan to continue to use this blog site to have a place to to communicate and share with my teacher friends and with those that I am now mentoring and supporting in their social studies classrooms. I'll write in here a while, mostly as a place to put down my thoughts and experiences. I want to include my blog address to the bottom of my signature on my district mail. I doubt I will ever have as sophisticated a place as Cool Cat Teacher blog or any of the other great sites I see, but I will try to create a place that is informative and useful for those who care to look.
So what does that fancy new job title mean? I am assigned to work with three middle schools and three high schools. I'll work with the principal, the campus Support Team Specialist, and the teachers in the social studies department to help with lesson planning, finding resources, and trying out new ways of presenting the same material. I will focus on the TAKS years (8th, 10th, and Exit level) but also support all secondary grades in ways that will benefit teachers and students in the test taking years. Several TEKS are taught across all grade levels. Students can get a good grasp on those overlapping objectives through repeated exposure to the skills.
Our superintendent Duncan Klussmann has made it clear that our mission is to instill in students the desire to attend some type of schooling beyond high school, so increasing the students' overall literacy is essential. We as social studies teachers need to be sure we are incorporating good reading and writing strategies into our everyday expectations. In this space I intend to write about sites, materials, strategies, and observations that may be of interest to other social studies teachers. I hope others will read, comment, and add to the conversation.

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