NCSS

From Thursday, November 29th-Sunday, December 2nd the Middle School Social studies department attended the National Social Studies conference in San Diego. As always, this provided us with a great way to immerse ourselves as a team of learners in a complete professional development experience for consecutive days. We all broke up and visited many, many sessions over the course of the three days. However, we are all in agreement that the best session we saw was given by our very own, Brian Markwald. His presentation, "Teaching Economics at the Middle Grades is a Blast," had a great turnout and Brian used a unique blend of humor, hands-on work, and project samples
 * Intro**

Chuck's Thoughts The NCSS conference is always an energizer at the beginning of winter, and I feel a bit rejuvenated after being her in unsunny San Diego. Many sessions were excellent, while a few were mediocre, but I always try to leave each session with some idea to incorporate into my classroom. The exhibit hall allows us to see what products are available, and the free samples are awesome. Of course, the discussion that the four of us have running throughout the weekend is probably the most important result of our trip.

Brian's Thoughts:

Matt's Thoughts:

Will's Thoughts: One of my goals at this conference was to explore how to better meet the needs of the "digital natives" in my classroom. With the plethora of new web 2.0 applications available, it is a challenge to figure out which ones will help meet class objectives the best and provide a good learning experience for the kids. I attended some excellent workshops that dealt with incorporating new tools. Some of the best sessions dealt with incorporating these new technologies as a means to enhance student learning. Having Matt here was a real plus as we were able to process ideas after sessions and test out new web applications like Skype and Voicethread together. Like Chuck, I think that the NCSS Conference always helps get me inspired creatively to try new things in the classroom.


 * Conclusion:**