COMMONWEALTH
OF VIRGINIA
DEPARTMENT
OF EDUCATION
P.O.
BOX 2120
RICHMOND,
VIRGINIA 23218-2120
PRINS. MEMO NO. 54
September 17, 2002
ELEMENTARY / MIDDLE / SECONDARY
|
TO: |
Principals |
|
FROM: |
Patricia I. Wright Assistant Superintendent for Instruction |
|
SUBJECT: |
History and Social Science Classroom Posters for
Online Teacher Resources |
The
Virginia Department of Education is pleased to provide school divisions with
history and social science educational posters for the websites entitled Virginia Studies: Ready Resources for the Classroom and Mali: Ancient Crossroads of
Africa and for the professional development course entitled Geography Connects. The three posters
that announce the new online resources for teachers will be mailed directly to
all principals by September 30.
Please
distribute the posters to the teachers of the appropriate history and social
science courses. The posters may be used as a learning tool for classroom
discussions, posted on bulletin boards, or referenced during the appropriate unit
of study. Teachers are encouraged to use the new online websites that
correlate to the Standards of Learning as they gather resources for their
history and social science instruction.
Virginia
Studies: Ready Resources for the
Classroom website
The
Virginia Studies: Ready Resources for the Classroom Web
site is designed to assist teachers in implementing the Virginia Studies
History and Social Science Standards of Learning. This website provides a
collection of meaningful and engaging activities correlated to the skills,
history, geography, economics, and civics strands of the Virginia Studies
History and Social Science Standards of Learning.
The
purpose of the Virginia Studies website is to enhance teachers' content
knowledge and their use of instructional strategies for teaching the Virginia
Studies Standards of Learning. Each Virginia Studies standard on the website
includes selected instructional resources, background information, and
literature connections. In addition, an
announcements section will let educators know about opportunities for study
seminars, courses that may be of interest, and new resources that may have been
recently added.
Mali : Ancient Crossroads of Africa website
The
Virginia Department of Education is pleased to provide teachers and school
divisions with the website Mali: Ancient
Crossroads of Africa. The website highlights the Virginia History
and Social Science Standards of Learning (3.2, 3.4a, b, c, 3.8, USI.4c, WHI.1d,
WHI.10a, b, d, WHII.1d, WHII.2a, WG.3a, b, c, and WG.4) and provides
information about the early West African empire of Mali.
Mali: Ancient Crossroads of Africa is designed for elementary, middle, and
secondary teachers as a guide in the instructional planning process for
teaching the history, geography, and economics of the early West African empire
of Mali. The Mali website includes
information, pictures, maps, videos, lesson plans, links, and resources to
support the appropriate History and Social Science Standards of Learning. The site will be a resource for teachers and
students to find information on historical and modern Mali.
Geography Connects course
Geography Connects, a course supporting the Standards of Learning
for teaching World History and Geography to 1500 A.D., will be offered in the
fall of 2002 and again in the spring of 2003. The interactive course material
is available on a CD-ROM, and teachers take their quizzes and communicate with
the instructor on the Internet. Teachers may either enroll to take the course
for free and earn 30 recertification points, or they may pay for the class
through Old Dominion University and earn three graduate credits. More
information on the class and registration instructions are available at the Web
site.
The
online teacher resource websites and educational posters were produced in collaboration
with Prince William County Public Schools.
If
you need additional information about the websites for online teacher
resources, please contact: Betsy S.
Barton (mailto:bbarton@mail.vak12ed.edu),
elementary history and social science specialist, at (804) 225-3454; Beverly
Thurston (mailto:bthursto@mail.vak12ed.edu),
middle history and social science specialist, at (804) 225-2893; or Colleen
Bryant (mailto:cbryant@mail.vak12ed.edu),
secondary history and social science specialist, at (804) 786-4640.