PD for 8th Grade Social Studies Teachers

Beyond the Oregon Trail is one piece of the adopted curricula for 8^th grade Social Studies.  The curriculum is designed to encourage honest and positive conversation about Oregon’s multiracial history.

Two sessions of professional development on this curriculum, one a.m. and one p.m., will be offered for teachers on Wednesday, April 29^th. Teachers may attend one or both sessions. Substitute costs will be covered by the Instruction, Curriculum & Assessment department.

The goals of this professional development are:

·      To ameliorate the impact of racism on the children and the future adults and decision- makers of Oregon.

·      To remedy the underrepresentation of communities of color and their contributions to Oregon in PPS’s history classes.

·      To develop and build upon existing capacity of PPS 8th grade teachers to facilitate the learning experience of 8th grade students on the challenging subject of racism.

·      To build the capacity of PPS staff to facilitate interracial dialogues with students.

The morning training session (8:30-11:30) will cover the curriculum as a whole, while the afternoon session (12:30-3:30) will feature PPS teachers sharing their experience engaging students in intentional racial dialogue in the classroom. Please sign up on the Learning Campus or contact ELA TOSA Beverly Daggett (bdaggett@pps.net) for more information.