Via Sean McBrady
MCSS 2018 Conference Chair
Macomb ISD Social Studies Consultant

The Michigan Council for the Social Studies Annual State Conference for Educators is less than a month away! Are you and your colleagues registered?!?

As social studies leaders in your schools, districts, and in the state, I urge you to register soon and get your colleagues signed up too (while space remains!):

This amazing 2-day conference on March 23-24 at the Macomb ISD is an event not to be missed. We have sessions led by internationally known speakers such as Joel Breakstone from the Stanford History Education Group, Phil Gersmehl from the MGA, Detroit Free Press Cartoonist Mike Thompson, and a Civil Rights legend and Freedom Rider from ’61 (and teachers could bring students for free to this inspirational session! Email smcbrady@mcssmi.org for details). In addition, we have over 60 breakout sessions for teachers to choose from with multiple elementary options and plenty of disciplinary tracks for our secondary teachers.

Want to know more about the session lineup? Download the app Eventbase and search for MCSS 2018 to see the entire conference schedule!

Are you sometimes called on to lead department, school or district planning for social studies? We have important sessions for social studies leaders related to the revised standards (MDE presenting), new ideas in assessment (Michigan Assessment Consortium presenting), leadership structures (CVS team), and especially Inquiry and Literacy (MRA and other C3 focused groups presenting). Plus, our friends from the Michigan Geographic Alliance, the Michigan Council on Economics Education, the Michigan Center for Civic Education, the Michigan Council for History Education, and the Historical Society of Michigan will all have a presence at the conference to connect with you in a variety of ways (sessions, tables, networking, etc.).

We will also have several sessions in the computer lab each day, so if you’re looking for ways to use technology and the Internet to improve engagement in social studies lessons, we’ve got amazing sessions from tech leaders and teachers (don’t miss Jan Harding and Sheila Majask’s session about engaging students with tech games).

Can’t get subs for Friday’s sessions? Educators can register for Saturday (3/24) only at a 1-day rate and still get 1 full day of awesome PD. In fact, Saturday will have three of our amazing featured speakers including Mike Thompson, Karen Thomas-Brown (UM-Dearborn), and Reverend Gleason (Freedom Rider)!

Looking for new resources? We’ll have several major publishers and vendors on hand (McGraw Hill, Nystrom, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Nat Geo Cengage and others) sharing new programs and samples. Bring supervisors to check out their new stuff and get some ideas for upgrading classroom materials.

SCECHs are available and lunch is included.

Big History Project is also hosting at Happy Hour event at Bar Louie after Friday’s sessions end at 4pm. Come hang out with us and enjoy some treats on the fine folks from BHP!

You and your colleagues don’t want to let this conference go by without attending. You’ll regret a missed chance for some dynamic social studies learning!

Hope to see you at MCSS 2018! Register here!

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