MCSS President’s Note

February 2017

It may be freezing outside, but MCSS is already thinking about spring and our annual conference! We haven’t gathered as an organization since fall of 2015, so we’re excited to see our members there and we have big plans for putting on an amazing professional development event.

Please register now for our conference! We are gathering in Grand Rapids at the Kent ISD on April 28-29. We have great keynote speakers including Kathy Swan, one of the writers of the C3 Framework, Laurel Schmidt, author of Social Studies that Sticks, and Phil Gersmehl, author of Teaching Geography.

 The best part is that the conference is affordable! MCSS members pay only $80 for the whole conference ($40 for one day). Non-members pay $120 for the conference ($60 for one day), and that includes 1 year of MCSS membership. We also have a special rate for undergraduate students (only $40 for the whole conference), so if you work with teacher candidates, let them know they are welcome to join us as well! The Country Inn and Suites is offering great room rates for conference attendees. Visit this link to book a room: https://www.countryinns.com/micssc

 On another note, the MCSS Board is looking for a Treasurer. Treasurer is an appointed position to the board, and involves attending MCSS meetings, creating the budget for the organization, and partnering with others to work on financial aspects of our events, like the conference and Social Studies Olympiad. Please contact me if you have the desire and skill set in these areas to serve MCSS. I look forward to hearing from you at awhitlock@mcssmi.org.

 Hopefully we will see you in Grand Rapids when the weather warms up this April!

Annie McMahon Whitlock, Ph.D.

President, Michigan Council for Social Studies
Assistant Professor of Elementary Education
University of Michigan-Flint
awhitlock@mcssmi.org