July 10, 2012

Madison County Career Technical School

8:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Topics include:

• Native Americans MCBOE1235
• War of 1812-Presedency of Andrew Jackson MCBOE1236
• The Cold War MCBOE1237
• Ancient Greece MCBOE1238

(Registration is available on STI by topic.)

Costs are as follows:

SSCA Member $10 | Non Member $25 | Pre-service teacher/student $10

(lunch is included in the prices listed)

The Alabama Center for Law & Civic Education in partnership with the Library of Congress and the Center for Social Studies Education is pleased to announce the We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution and Library of Congress professional development.

We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution is a nationally acclaimed government and civics curriculum that helps students understand the history and principles of our Constitution and Bill of Rights. The program is available to upper elementary, middle, and high school students and teachers from public and private schools.

The professional development held at Athens State University June 13- 15, 2012 is an intensive professional development where participants will take part in lectures and discussions on Constitutional themes pertinent to the curriculum content, classroom strategies, integration of primary documents, and lesson plan development. An essential component of the institute is teacher participation in a simulated congressional hearing using both We the People and Library of Congress resources. The hearing is a model for student hearings held during the school year. Experienced We the People and Library of Congress teachers will assist participants in discussing the challenges of teaching civic education, preparing for the culminating hearing, and utilizing primary resources.

Important Info:

• Educators attending the professional development will earn 25 hours of CEU credit upon successful completion of the professional development and one lesson plan.
• Educators who utilize the We the People curriculum during the school year will be provided support by ACLCE.
• There is a non-refundable $25.00 registration fee.
• Materials and meals will be provided.
• There are a limited number of lodging stipends available.

How to Apply:

• Teachers from upper elementary, middle school, and high school are eligible to apply. Please visit www.aclce.org to apply by May 30. For more information, contact the Alabama Center for Law and Civic Education at (205) 726-2433, email kwilliamson@aclce.org, or visit our website at www.aclce.org.
• Visit www.loc.gov for more information on the Library of Congress.
• Visit the Center for Civic Education’s website at www.civiced.org for more information on the We the People program.

We the People: The Citizen and is a civic education program for upper elementary, middle and high school students and is the premier civic education program in the nation. It fosters civic competence and responsibility among students.

The Alabama Center for Law & Civic Education (ACLCE) is dedicated to educating young citizens in civic knowledge, skills and responsibilities. ACLCE is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit civic education organization. The goal of ACLCE is to prepare youth to become active, engaged and informed participants in a democratic society.

The purpose of’ thc Center for Social Studies Education (CSSE) is to promote teaching, learning, and research in the social sciences and their application to education. The CSSE is a partnership between the Collegcs of Arts and Sciences, Business, and Education to explore the interdisciplinary study of the human condition.

 Learn more at http://rhokappa.socialstudies.org

Opportunity for Professional Teacher Association Members:

Much has been written and discussed recently on the subject of climate change in response to growing scientific evidence that has been assessed and disseminated in recent years by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The Fourth Assessment Report of the IPCC, which was completed in 2007, stated categorically that “warming of the climate system is unequivocal” and that most of the warming that had taken place since the middle of the last century was very likely the result of increase in the concentration of anthropogenic greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The term ‘very likely’ in this instance conveys a probability of over 90%. Yet, most surveys of public perceptions and attitudes in the past have seemed to indicate that climate change is something that would really affect economic activities and human well-being only some time in the future. This conclusion has now to be reviewed in the light of new scientific evidence.

The IPCC has recently brought out a Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation (Srex). The evidence produced in this report shows that climate change has already led to changes in climate extremes, such as heatwaves, record high temperatures in many regions, and heavy precipitation in the past half century. Climate extremes, or even a series of non-extreme events, in combination with social vulnerabilities and exposure to risks, can produce climate-related disasters. Policies to avoid, prepare for, respond to and recover from the risks of disaster can reduce the impact of these events and increase the resilience of people exposed to extreme events.

At the same time, adaptation alone would not be adequate as a response to deal with projected climate change in the future. In other words, tackling climate change would entail creating the capacity to adapt to these events essentially at the local level, but also mitigating the emissions of greenhouse gases at the global level. There is reason to accept that human society would sooner, rather than later, pursue such a path in response to growing understanding and awareness related to climate change.

A recent poll carried out by Gallup early in March this year has found that about half of Americans, 52%, say the effects of global warming have already begun to happen, consistent with views since 2009. However, this remains down from prior years, when as many as 61% believed global warming was already manifesting itself. However, while barely half of Americans agree that the effects of global warming are already manifest, an additional 29% say the effects will start to happen within a few years (4%), sometime in their lifetime (10%) or sometime further into the future (15%). Around 15% of Americans say the effects will never happen. What is relevant is that almost two-thirds of those polled believe that climate change will happen in their respective lifetimes.

Srex came up with a number of findings and some key conclusions, including (a) an observed increase in the length or number of warm spells or heatwaves in many regions of the globe, (b) increase in the frequency of heavy precipitation events or increase in proportion of total rainfall from heavy falls over many areas of the globe, particularly in the high latitudes and tropical regions, and in winter, in the northern mid-latitudes, and (c) projected increase in intensity and duration of droughts in some regions of the world.

Brin, who reportedly took a lead role in confronting China over Internet censorship in 2010, said he had been proven wrong in his belief that it wouldn’t be possible for an authoritarian government to restrict the Internet for very long.
“I thought there was no way to put the genie back in the bottle, but now it seems in certain areas the genie has been put back in the bottle,” he told the The Guardian.