Session A Breakouts

10:00-10:50 A.M.

A 1 “The Economic Integration of China and the United States” Dr. Mary E. Lovely, Syracuse University Will provide an overview of our two economies and show how we are now economically connected through our trade, our extensive bilateral foreign investments, bilateral tourism, immigrant flows and participation in international agreements.

A 2 “Gun Laws, Gun Policies, and the  2nd Amendment” Dr. Robert Spitzer, SUNY Cortland will examine the 2nd Amendment guarantee of the right to bear arms and the relationship to America’s history of gun ownership and gun laws. Contrary to conventional assumptions, in most of American history, gun rights and gun laws went hand in hand. 

A 3 “Using Primary Sources to Promote Historical Inquiry in Grades 4-8” Jenny Fanelli and Doreen Bergman, OCM BOCES  demonstrate how inquiry is perfectly partnered with the study of primary sources since documents and artifacts can only be interpreted when we ask students to think about when, why, and by who they were created. Students are thus challenged to pose complex questions about motivation, power, and perspective.

A 4 “Creating Engaging Lessons Using Ted Ed.” Anthony Hazard, Watertown Central School District will show  how to use “Ted Ed” Videos to enhance their lessons and engage students in the context.  Lessons are ready for educators to use and those teachers who want to use the video provided 

Session B Breakouts

11:00-11:50 A.M. 

B 1 “Of Statues and Meat: Caste Politics in the Indian Democracy” Dr. Radha Kumar, Associate Professor of History at Syracuse University, sponsored by the South Asia Center of Syracuse University, will show how traditional accounts of modern Indian history are dominated by towering figures like Gandhi and Nehru, overshadowing others.  This presentation focuses on the more marginal characters of Indian society, including lower-caste groups, by discussing two recent controversies: the installation of statues of lower caste leaders and over-eating meat in cafeterias.

B 2 “What’s Happening on the NYSED Content Advisory Panel?” Dr. John Langdon and Stephanie Baran, two members of the CNYCSS, P.A.R.R.E., and State Ed CAP will offer their perspectives on updates and changes from SED.  Ms. Baran will update us on changes in curriculum, the Inquiry Design Model and how to incorporate the latter for students with special needs and Dr. Langdon will update us on the redesign of the Global assessment (June 2018) and the U.S. Redesign (June 2019).

B 3 “Using Local Government Records and Documents in Lesson Plans for Our Students” Matthew Urtz, Madison County Historian and Jessica Maul , New York State Archives will demonstrate how teachers can use government records in a lesson plan, such as Madison County documents from the Prohibition era to engage students in “living” history. Participants will learn where records can be found and how they can be incorporated into the Social Studies framework

B 4 “Teaching Abolition: How would YOU End Slavery” Dr. Leigh Fought, Le Moyne College Assistant Professor of History, will focus on the question of  how slavery ended in the U.S., rather than the usual focus on why.  Participants will be shown how students can be engaged in consider pros and cons of antislavery methods by analyzing documents, and in differentiating “antislavery,” “abolition,” ending slavery and ending racism.  Finally we will address ways to connect lessons about the abolitionist movement to the post Civil War Reconstruction Amendments and the rise of Jim Crow.

Session C Breakouts

1:30-2:20PM 

C 1 “The Year That Was: Interpreting the Highlights of the 2014-15 Supreme Court Year” will be a discussion led by Dr. Keith Bybee, Syracuse University about the implications of the historic rulings of the Supreme Court during the past year-has too much been inferred from them?

C 2 “How and What To Teach About 10.1: Focus on the Ottomans and the Mughals” Dr. John Langdon will discuss how Key idea 10.1 in the Frameworks ask students to compare the Mughal and Ottoman Empires, neither of which have been particularly familiar to students or their teachers in the past.  His presentation takes a practical approach about their respective histories and cultures, and will provide participants with a useful outline of the principal concepts and factors with which our students will need to be familiar.

C 3 “K-8 Social Studies: Strategic Steps to Building a Sound Social Studies Program” Greg Ahlquist will focus in this session on the importance of Elementary and Middle School Social Studies in building a successful Social Studies program as Teachers, Team Members and Districts.  Aligning instruction as a K-12 system is essential and focusing on the role of skills and practices is critical in strengthening Social Studies instruction.

C4 “The 1850s: When American Fell Apart” Chuck Coon, a highly respected and popular CNYCSS history leader will focus in this session on the decade which ended in the American Civil War, a tragedy, which took the lives of roughly 2% of our population, North and South. During the 1850s, Americans-North and South– stopped talking and listening to one another. At the same time, the quality of our leadership and the decisions they made and didn’t make, in retrospect, virtually assured that we would “come apart.” Relevant for both 8th and 11th grade teachers.