New York Almanack

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Common Core

2015 Common Core Conference Planned

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State Education BuildingThe 2015 New York State Education Department/Office of Cultural Education Uncommon Approaches to the Common Core Conference will take place August 11 and 12, 2015. The Uncommon Approaches to the Common Core annual conference has a target audience of classroom teachers, school, public and academic librarians, public historians and representatives from museums, archives, public television, NYS historic sites, performing arts and other cultural institutions.

The purpose of the conference is to develop an understanding of the Common Core with the goal to create collaboration among classroom teachers and cultural institutions. [Read more…] about 2015 Common Core Conference Planned

NYS History, The Common Core, And Social Studies

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State Education Building by Matt Wade Photography (Wikimedia User UpstateNYer)The Common Core continues to be in the news, so recently I attended “Uncommon Approaches to the Common Core 2: Inquiry-based Learning Access across the Disciplines” held August 12-13 at the Office of Education in Albany.

One session included 10 breakout groups by geographic area. In the Mid-Hudson discussion group there were about 13 people, double that number in New York City including 10 people from the Queens Library who were not on the attendance list, and over 60 people at the Capital Region group. Some of the other regions were even less attended than the Mid-Hudson group. [Read more…] about NYS History, The Common Core, And Social Studies

Bruce Dearstyne: New York History And Education

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State Education Building by Matt Wade Photography (Wikimedia User UpstateNYer)How, and how much, should New York’s young people learn about the history of their own state and community?

The answer to the question of what young people learn about history comes down mostly to what they learn in school social studies classes. New York revised its social studies curriculum from 2012 to 2014 and you can review the results, adopted by the Regents last April online. There is more New York history at the 4th grade level than in the older standards, but almost nothing about local history. [Read more…] about Bruce Dearstyne: New York History And Education

Uncommon Approaches to the Common Core Event

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State Education Building by Matt Wade Photography (Wikimedia User UpstateNYer)The NYS Education Department’s Office of Cultural Education’s second Uncommon Approaches to the Common Core conference will be held in Albany on Tuesday, August 12, and Wednesday, August 13, 2014.

Proposals for an interactive lab in one of six curriculum areas are invited: The Arts, English Language Arts, Math, Science, Language other than English (LOTE), or Social Studies. Lessons or curriculum used during the lab must be aligned to the Common Core Learning Standards and must demonstrate inquiry through the use of primary sources and/or other cultural resources, such as historic objects, multimedia objects, maps, works of art, or natural resources such as plants, soil or rocks. [Read more…] about Uncommon Approaches to the Common Core Event

Notes On A High School Local History Conference

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SchoolThe high school local history conference is something I recommend every county should do. For the past two years, Rockland County has held such a conference. I attended both conferences and spoke briefly at the first one. This post is dedicated to some of the lessons I learned from the conference.

First, the Historical Society of Rockland County and the County Historian are to be congratulated for organizing the conference and for the people who did attend. The list includes the County Executive, the County Clerk, the County District Attorney, the County Legislative Chair, along with various town supervisors and municipal historians. One never knows where one will find history. For example the District Attorney, who in this case followed in his father’s footsteps, may have tales to tell about prosecutions which became part of the fabric of county history. Certainly the presence of these officials delivered a powerful message in support of local history. [Read more…] about Notes On A High School Local History Conference

Event: Uncommon Approaches to the Common Core

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State Education Building by Matt Wade Photography (Wikimedia User UpstateNYer)The NYS Education Department’s Office of Cultural Education has announced Uncommon Approaches to the Common Core, the second conference bringing together classroom teachers and educators from all types of cultural institutions to support implementation of the Common Core Learning Standards. The conference will take place in Albany on August 12 and 13, 2014. [Read more…] about Event: Uncommon Approaches to the Common Core

Common Core: New York History in New York Schools

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SchoolShould New York students learn about the history of their own state in New York schools?

The question has not been resolved. The State Education Department has been seeking reactions to the latest draft of the New York State Common Core K-12 Social Studies Framework.

The current social studies curriculum dates from the 1990’s. A draft revision completed in 2012 was discussed a number of times in this New York State History Blog over the past couple of years. [Read more…] about Common Core: New York History in New York Schools

Conference: Uncommon Approaches to Common Core

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Commoon Core Conf_logoHow can educators meaningfully incorporate the wealth of local and regional cultural resources into our Common Core-based curricula?

The South Central New York State Regional Library Council is hosting a conference that hopes to  provide opportunities for public school teachers, librarians, administrators, local and regional museums, art centers, historic sites, and other cultural institutions to get to know and interact with each other over Common Core.  The keynote will be presented by Kate Gerson, Senior Fellow for Common Core and Educator Engagement for the NY State Department of Education. [Read more…] about Conference: Uncommon Approaches to Common Core

Should We Still Teach Cursive Handwriting?

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01679vAn ad like the one in the January 21, 1869 issue of the Malone Palladium which announced the opening of a new writing school in Malone, NY, was not uncommon during the post-Civil War era.

According to the ad, Professor T.M. Tobin, a former teacher at the Vermont Business College in Burlington, was offering to teach “ladies and gentlemen the Spencerian system of penmanship.”

Students were expected to provide their own foolscap paper, “good” ink, and pens. Tobin’s ad stated that specimens of his penmanship could be seen at the post office and that he would award a gold pen to the student who showed the most improvement. His fee for twelve lessons in today’s money was about $35.00, payable in advance. [Read more…] about Should We Still Teach Cursive Handwriting?

The Common Core and New York History

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State Education Social StudiesSeveral recent news items and posts here on The New York History Blog have focused on the Common Core educational standards. Anyone interested New York state and local history should take a look at the draft New York State Common Core K-8 Social Studies Framework.

This was developed in 2012 and was discussed here on the blog then. It apparently has been in draft form for over a year. [Read more…] about The Common Core and New York History