Maine Council for the Social Studies Conference October 23, 2009

On October 23rd and 26th, the Council for Economic Education will partner with the Maine Council for the Social Studies and the Maine Credit Union League to present the MCSS Annual Conference in Portland and Hermon, Maine.

What: Maine Council for the Social Studies Conference

When: October 23rd and 26th

Where: Portland and Hermon, Maine

Putting Economics on the Front Burner with K-12 Workshops

The conference will highlight a series of K-12 workshops designed to show teachers how to infuse economics into their curriculum, while leveraging the technology resources available to Maine teachers through the Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI) laptop program.

Plus, all teachers will:

*Receive a Complimentary Copy of Virtual Economics with over 1,200 lesson plans and teaching resources (a $100 value)
*Register for only $35 and get tons of free resources, lunch, and refreshments.
*Join in on plenary sessions designed to help them infuse economics, personal finance and technology into the classroom with Virtual Economics

Register Now, Space is Limited

In order to minimize travel expenses and broaden access to all teachers, the conference will take place in:

*Portland on Friday, October 23rd, and
*Hermon on Monday, October 26th

To register online, teachers can visit https://mcss.wufoo.com/forms/z7x4z5/, or download the registration form at http://memun.org/MCSS/Conference%20Registration.pdf.

Know Which Workshops to Attend Before You Get to the Conference

K-12: Meet the Maine Learning Technology Initiative and Maine Learning Results for Social Studies

When students fire up their laptops, they're ready to connect to the web, to each other... and to their teachers.

To that end, the conference will explore how teachers can maximize learning in a high-tech setting. During an interactive suite of workshops led by experts in economic education, teachers will use Virtual Economics as a hub for integrating print, web, and technology-based resources into a seamless curriculum that meets the Maine Learning Results for Social Studies requirements.

Teachers will focus on using technology to find standards-based lesson plans, deliver multimedia content for differentiated learning, and harness the power of online economic and personal finance lessons. Teachers will develop a step-by-step process to a) build their economic knowledge; b) find activity‐based lessons that apply economic principles to everyday situations; c) use multimedia resources to deliver core content; and d) extend lessons using the Web.

K-5: The Nitty-Gritty of Elementary Economics

In two highly-interactive workshops, teachers use popular children's stories like "The Three Little Pigs" to introduce their students to basic economics concepts. Then, to break up the daily humdrum of multiplication tables, addition and subtraction, teachers will explore ways to infuse economics into math courses through money management, saving and investing activities.

6-8: Making Economics Relevant to US History and Geography

During a series of workshops designed to prepare middle school students for success in their high school studies, teachers will build a bridge between economics and their geography and US History courses. With activity-based lesson plans and interactive classroom simulations, teachers will explore ways to make economics relevant to US history, geography and more.

9-12: Understanding (and Teaching) Economics in World History, Civics and Government

The current political climate calls for more educated citizens, which is why high school students need to understand how their decisions affect the economy and what role the government plays in it. To help make this connection, teachers will explore activity-based economics lesson plans designed to pack more civics and government into each class period, while also globalizing their history curriculum with web-based lesson plans.

Workshop Schedule at Glance:

Morning

Fire Up Those Laptops: Using Technology to Teach Economics (Grades K-12)
Even the Three Little Pigs Know Economics (Grades K-5)
Making Economics Relevant to Middle School Students (Grades 6-8)
Curricular Bipartisanship: Bringing Economics and Government Together in the Classroom (Grades 9-12)

Afternoon

Use EconEdLink.org to Move Your K-12 Instruction to the Web (Grades K-12)
Economics, Easy as 1-2-3: A 3-step Personal Finance Program Helps You Apply Mathematics to Everyday Life (Grades K-5)
Teaching U.S. History Through an Economic Lens (Grades 6-8)
Understanding Economics through World History (Grades -

Official Website: http://www.memun.org/mcss/