VT Alliance for the Social Studies

Opening Session – Vermont Welcomes Syrian Refugees
The VASS board is excited to announce that Chris Louras, Mayor of Rutland; Robert Ford, former ambassador to Syria; and the USCRI/Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program Director Amila Merdzanovic will discuss how the crisis in Syria impacts Vermont and the rest of the world.

Join us for a day of learning and sharing!
Fifteen workshops – three sessions with five workshops to choose from in each session.

• Breakfast and lunch are included
• Register up to the morning of the event – walk ins welcome
• Early registration discount for registrations received by November 22nd
• Student discount

• Inquiry Through Ted Talks...Learn about a course entitled “TED Talks Seminar” where students are assessed using the inquiry strand of the PBGRs. Students build on their personal interests in order to develop an “idea worth spreading” and eventually perform their own TED Talk.
  
• Resources Without a Textbook...Connect with worldwide sources to use for classroom instruction and develop field related resources and lessons through technology in a paperless classroom.
• Our Humanity: How Ethnography Can Help Students Shape Their Understanding of the World...Learn how ethnographic research inside and outside the classroom can be turned into digital media.
• Looking At Leadership Through The Humanities...Highlights from The Vermont Humanities Council's conference "Leadership Through the Lens of the Humanities" which explored the complexities of leadership.
• Collaboratively Making History...Learn how students at Brattleboro Area Middle School collaborated with the Brattleboro Historical Society and local radio station WKVT to research, record and produce a weekly radio/podcast called "This Week in Brattleboro History".
• Transforming Classroom Practice Through Socratic Dialogue...Students from Harwood Union High School will will engage participants in a Socratic dialogue; teachers and students will share how you can incorporate this practice into your classroom.
  
• Game-Changing Digital Tools for Teacher Organization & Student Engagement...A team of middle level social studies teachers present digital tools to enhance collaboration among teachers, and promote student learning and motivation, including Schoology, Classcraft, Nearpod, Newsela, Flocabulary, and many more!
• GeoIncredible! Using ArcGIS Online and GeoInquiries to Enhance Your K-12 Classroom...A practical, hands-on introduction to using GeoInquiries and ArcGIS Online in classrooms at a variety of levels, as well as information about obtaining free ArcGIS Online accounts through the national ConnectED program.
• A Fire, a Filmmaker, and 172 Children Dead: The Collinwood Fire of 1908...A group at Middlebury College has built an online platform for teaching about the fire and its connections to the rise of mass media, immigration and racial conflict, industrialization, consumer culture, and the history of education.
• Turning Students into Historians with Vermont History Day... Learn more about Vermont History Day, a structured program that predates personalized learning plans, but provides students the venue to practice transferable skills while learning a wide variety of history content. Hear from an experienced teacher whose students have created award-winning projects for Vermont and National History Day.
• Spatial Thinking with Giant Traveling Maps...National Geographic has printed a classroom sized map of Vermont...spend some time walking on the giant traveling map and participating in activities designed for the map at various grade levels.
• Forming Community Partnerships with Art Foundations and National Parks: Woodstock Union High/Middle School's Community Partnerships with Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park, Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site and the Hall Art Foundation
• World Wise Conversations in Your School...Learn about the Peace Corps’ World Wise Schools program; get a sampling of lessons the WWS program can provide and how it could enhance social studies curricula, providing a feet-on-the-ground look at countries where Peace Corps Volunteers serve.
• Three Platforms for Global Studies Learning...Get a glimpse of the personalized learning of the Global Studies Capstone research projects that juniors and seniors pursue at Rutland High School. These projects are presented at the Global Issues Network Conference, which is run by students for students each spring at RHS and open to all Vermont high school students.
• 3D Vermont in Your Community...3D Vermont is at its core a history project. Student teams seek out historically relevant buildings in their local community and render them in SketchUP, a free software provided by the VTAOE, and then “print” their creations with 3D printers.

Special Room Rates:
A block of rooms have been reserved for December 1, 2016 – December 3, 2016. The special room rate will be available until November 23rd or until the block has sold out, whichever comes first. Click here for room rates and reservations.