- Saved To My Schedule

Social studies colleagues, 

Welcome to the 2019 Best Practices in Social Studies Institute!  This is the sixth year of the Best Practices in Social Studies Institute.  Our goal in offering the institute is to ensure ongoing access to professional development in social studies across the state. This year’s institute focuses on helping support implementation of Iowa’s new social studies.  Over the course of the next two days, you will have the chance to attend over 40 different sessions.  Each of these sessions are connected to a best practice in social studies education and also support the new standards in some way- whether it be modeling a pedagogical practice or supporting new content required by the standards.   

A special thanks to all of the individuals and organizations who made the institute possible. Without their support each year, the institute would not be possible.  A special thanks to Johnston Schools for letting us use their facility for this event. Additionally, thanks to Social Studies.com for providing refreshments each morning of the institute. 

Here are some other important pieces of information regarding this year’s institute:

Institute Structure
The institute offers two strands- an elementary and secondary strand. On June 19th, secondary teachers will attend an all-day workshop with keynote speaker Joel Breakstone. On June 20th, secondary teachers will attend breakout sessions. Elementary teachers will attend breakout sessions on June 19th and an all-day workshop with keynote speaker Noreen Rodriguez on June 20th.

Getting to Johnston Middle School

The address of Johnston Middle School is 6501 NW 62nd Ave. Johnston, IA 50131. You can access directions by going here.

Parking

Parking is free and readily available. 

Best Practices
Why is this institute called the best practices institute? In 2014, the Social Studies Leadership Team identified ten best practices in the teaching and learning of social studies. Since then, the institute has connected each session offered to one of these best practices. You can view the best practices rubric here.

License Renewal Credit 

You can register for ONE license renewal credit by going to here. In order to receive the credit, you must fully attend the institute (sign in both days) and submit a one page reflection paper to stefanie.wager@iowa.gov no later than July 12, 2019. Follow instructions in the link to register and complete the assignment. The credit costs $25.00. Grades will be submitted around August 2019 with transcripts available on www.iseatranscripts.org shortly after that. 

Wifi

Guest Network

Password: Win4dragons

Lunch

You will have an hour and 15 minutes for lunch each day.  Here are some nearby restaurants: 

• Hy-Vee (5750 Merle Hay Rd.)
• Panera (5525 Merle Hay Rd.)
• Bandit Burrito (5340 Merle Hay Rd.)
• Culver’s (8660 Plum Dr.)
• Jethro’s (5950 NW 86th St.)
• El Mariachi (5825 Merle Hay Road)

Twitter

Please share what you are learning at the institute by tagging @IADeptofED and/or using #iasocialstudies. 

Other Professional Development Opportunities this Summer

Several other organizations are planning free professional development opportunities for social studies teachers this summer. See an extensive list of national opportunities here and a list of Iowa opportunities here. Many of these offer license renewal credit, resources, and free breakfast or lunch.

Survey

Your feedback is important to us. At the end of the institute, please take a moment to complete the short survey found here.

Thanks for all you do each and every day in classrooms across Iowa.