This past Monday all of the elementary methods students traveled to St. Cloud, Minnesota for the annual Minnesota Council for the Social Studies (MCSS) conference. Here we were able to see a variety of presentations on topics ranging from economics, juvenile justice, technology, history and much more! We were also able to visit with vendors. Kara and Josh were our big door prize winners! They both received a social studies curriculum kit. I personally really liked the juvenile justice presentation. This speaker talked about the new 6th grade standards for learning about the juvenile detention system. It was really interesting on how she explain the difference between going to “juvy” and going to prison. It was also interesting to hear the this is now a standard because it is supposed to teach students the possibilities of getting in trouble with the law. Click here to visit the MCSS website for more information and a lot of resources!
This conference was a wonderful experience! I found the vendors at this to be very engaging and helpful, and gained ample new resources that I will hopefully be able to utilize in a classroom in the future. There were many interesting ideas that I saw from presenters as well, such as with the Hats On! lecture and just the idea of dressing up and using artifacts seemed like it would be an effective way to encourage students to be engaged in class.