All the statistics from the 53rd
Annual CCSS conference are not yet compiled, so my reflection is not built
entirely on hard data. Like the rest of the conference goers, I listen to
people as they come and go on the elevator and in the halls. I engage them in conversation to see how
things are going. I received many positive responses, including this typical elevator
speech. “If there is one thing I can take back to the classroom, I am happy.”
This year I enjoyed each session I
attended, which were mostly keynote sessions and special events, since it is my
job to introduce them. I always attend
keynote sessions because these are speakers represent those who endured enough
hardship or did enough good to change the world. Having my time prescribed means that I miss
most of the sessions in which teachers connect with teachers. I found out by reading #CCSS2014, our Twitter
hashtag that many of these sessions had standing room only.
We monitored
the number of social media interactions during conference. For the first time, we had an app for the
conference program as well as a Twitter hashtag. This year we only had about 30 users out of
nearly 800 attendees using the app, and about the same number tweeting on the
hashtag, but I see that changing as more and more teachers step into the social
media world.
Social media
kept people informed about what was coming up at the conference. People responded to our conference
notifications. The best response was 244
views on our FB announcement of Major General Patrick Brady. We found out that more people viewed our
posts if we included posters rather than pictures. This year we had 11 participatory
attendees. One hundred seventy-nine
people noticed Mary Beth Tinker’s poster the first time and 53 the second time
compared to 29 views when we posted just her picture. It’s unclear whether social media determined
how many came to each session. As a
result our graphic designer, Frank Espinosa, designed many more posters for our
speakers that we have ever had.
You will hear this fascinating story of Gen. Brady who is the only living Army veteran of Vietnam to hold both the Medal of Honor and the Distinguished Service Cross, our nation's second highest award as well as many other awards. Brady was awarded a Medal of Honor, presented to him by President Richard Nixon on October 9, 1969.
On the other hand, simple posts received large numbers of hits as well. The post about our leadership training drew 98 views. Last year we had 2 people at that session. The California Task Force public meeting was packed to overflowing – about 150 persons, and yet only about 30 people viewed each of the two posts on Facebook. We don’t have the data yet to analyze how well attended other advertised sessions were. The bottom line is that word of mouth influences which sessions people attend more than anything. We hope that having information to inform viewers ahead of time helped attendees talk about what was available.
Our total
connections went from nearly nothing at the beginning of the 2013-2014 year to:
1. LinkedIn 1,252
1. LinkedIn 1,252
- Facebook Fan Page 170
- FB Group A 264
- FB Group B 42
- Twitter 94
The Common Core Boot Camp 2.0 remained
well attended this year. The secondary
level Boot Camp had standing room only session.
The addition of Common Core has put the subject area of history-social
studies into a state of flux, which keeps teachers anxious. Teachers with whom
I chatted have two main concerns: having
the time to teach, and knowing what to teach.
Our standards are now nearly 20 years old, and no longer correspond to
the direction in which the Common Core standards are driving the assessment vehicle. Common Core Boot Camp attenders learned how
the C3 Framework can help them design effective lessons to meet the demands of
the Common Core Standards. The CCSS
conference also gave teachers an effective place to express their opinions
about changing California policies.
The conference offered more content
scholarship sessions than ever before in the past. We have not traditionally reached out to the
university membership, but we broke that mold this year. University people bring a different
perspective to our typically K-12 attendees.
In addition they invite student teachers, whose membership we need to
remain vibrant as an organization. The
presenting scholars are also potential contributors and reviewers to our
scholarly journal and occasional papers.
This brain surge, in turn, provides higher quality resources to the K-12
members.
The conference offers a chance for
people to network across the four core disciplines as well as cross grade
levels and most importantly from different areas of the state. This makes the CCSS Annual Conference a dynamic
professional development that no one district could provide on its own for
social studies teachers.
My humblest and most sincere thanks
goes to the hard working Conference Committee and Executive Cabinet, and
Executive Secretary and on site volunteers, who worked long, often tense, hours
to bring this successful conference to you, our members and friends across the
state of California. We want to see you
next year in Oakland.
Marsha Ingrao
2013-2014 President, California Council
for the Social Studies
