Great teachers continue to learn and grow in their profession.
One way of doing this is to join professional organizations and take advantage of the web and print publications they offer their members. Not to mention the many other benefits - like those fun, get-out-of-classroom-free for awhile conferences!
You gain access to the most recent news in your field, pedagogical insights to keep those classroom activities fresh, and lesson ideas meant to launch your own planning.
Many of these organizations offer discounts on books as well as discounted subscriptions to other professional journals besides their own.
Conferences and workshops offered by professional organizations provide a place to network with other teachers as well as the opportunity to increase your professional knowled
If your social studies-oriented professional organization is not listed below,
contact us and we'll be sure to include it!
Local
Capital Area Council for the Social Studies
CACSS is a professional organization of educators of the Social Studies and is affiliated with the Texas Council for the Social Studies (TCSS) and the National Council for the Social Studies. The Capital Area Council for the Social Studies was founded to support Social Studies educators region-wide.
Currently there are approximately 120 members from the Central Texas area. CACSS engages and supports educators in strengthening and advocating social studies. The CACSS membership represents K-12 classroom teachers, college and university faculty members, curriculum designers and specialists, social studies supervisors, and leaders in the various disciplines that constitute the social studies.
Our local council will be hosting the state conference in 2011 and we need your help! Please join us this year as we make our preparations to welcome social studies colleagues from all over Texas to the capital city!
San Antonio-Austin Geographic Educators
SAGE, the San Antonio-Austin Geographic Educators, is a regional geography organization whose goal is to bring geographic educators together to enhance geographic teaching and learning in the Greater San Antonio-Austin Corridor Region.
Contact:
Texas Alliance for Geographic Education
Department of Geography
Texas State University-San Marcos
601 University Drive
San Marcos, Texas 78666
Email: tage.membership@@gmail.com
Phone: (512) 245-3827
Fax: (512) 245-1653
State
Texas Council for the Social Studies
The TCSS
59th Annual
State Conference
October 21 - 23, 2011
Doubletree Hotel
IH-35 and HWY 290
Austin, Texas
REGISTER ONLINE
Texas Council for the Social Studies
The Texas Council for the Social Studies represents social studies educators from across the state and serves as the official voice on textbook and social studies issues. The Texas Council honors outstanding elementary, middle and secondary teachers who become nominees for the NCSS Outstanding Teacher Awards. The NOVA Award is given to an outstanding first or second year teacher. The council also honors outstanding leadership and service through the presentation of the Billy Sills Distinguished Service Award.
As well, members of TCSS automatically receive three copies each year of The Social Studies Texan, the official journal of the Texas Council for the Social Studies. This juried journal includes professional articles relating to social studies education and lesson plans and activities that have been used successfully in the classrooms of Texas. The Texan provides up-to-date information about TCSS and pertinent social studies information important to classroom teachers. To see excerpts from the most recent issue of The Social Studies Texan, click here.
Texas State Historical Society
Founded as a private, nonprofit educational organization on March 2, 1897—the 61st anniversary of the Texas Declaration of Independence—the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) has long been regarded as the nation’s most dynamic regional history organization. Reinforced by more than one hundred years of scholarship and educational programs, its mission is to further the appreciation, understanding, and teaching of the rich and unique history of Texas through research, writing, and publication of related historical material.
The education program of the Association, begun in 1939, seeks to encourage and improve the teaching of history — especially Texas history — in the schools of Texas. The Association provides programs for both students and teachers.
As a member of the Texas State Historical Association, you will receive free subscriptions to the Southwestern Historical Quarterly (the oldest scholarly journal in Texas featuring the best in articles, book reviews, pictorial features, and historical news about Texas and Texans)and Riding Line (includes news of the Association and other historical activities and events); a 20 percent discount on all TSHA publications and educational materials; and a $15 discount on registration for the Annual Meeting.
Texas Alliance for Geographic Education
TAGE, the Texas Alliance for Geographic Education, was established in 1986.
Presently the Texas Alliance has over 6,500 members, including teachers, university professors, parents, and community leaders, who share the common goal of strengthening geographic education in Texas.
National
National Council for the Social Studies
National Council for the Social Studies
8555 Sixteenth Street; Suite 500
Silver Spring, Maryland 20910
"The purpose of Social Studies education is to teach students the content knowledge, intellectual skills, and civic values necessary for fulfilling the duties of citizenship in a participatory democracy. The mission of National Council for the Social Studies is to provide leadership, service, and support for all social studies educators in fulfilling that purpose."
Founded in 1921, National Council for the Social Studies has grown to be the largest association in the country devoted solely to social studies education. NCSS is an association of over 25,000 educators who have come together to strengthen the social studies profession and social studies programs in the schools.
SOCIAL STUDIES ADVOCACY:
Show your community the importance of Social Studies
- Download NCSS' free Public Relations ToolKit
NCSS Members take advantage of award winning publications - including Social Education, recognition programs, conferences, information services, and special offers. Whether you're looking for lesson plans, textbooks, or new insights, you'll find it in NCSS. (Plus, you'll save with your members-only discounts!)
Members also receive The Social Studies Professional, our fact-filled newsletter, 6 times a year. It's packed with timely information on professional development opportunities, new teaching resources, upcoming meetings, student contests, upcoming television and media programming, and much more.
American Historical Association
The American Historical Association (AHA) is a nonprofit membership organization founded in 1884 and incorporated by Congress in 1889 for the promotion of historical studies, the collection and preservation of historical documents and artifacts, and the dissemination of historical research. As the largest historical society in the United States, the AHA provides leadership and advocacy for the profession, fights to ensure academic freedom, monitors professional standards, spearheads essential research in the field, and provides resources and services to help its members succeed. The AHA serves more than 14,000 history professionals, representing every historical period and geographical area. Its annual meeting is the largest annual gathering of historians in the U.S., with a diverse agenda that brings together historians from every specialization and work context.
Its flagship publication is the American Historical Review, since 1895 the major journal of record for the history profession in the United States. The Association also publishes Perspectives, the major national news monthly of the profession, which provides the most comprehensive news and information about the state of the field, and the most extensive list of jobs in the discipline.
Beyond the dissemination of information by historians and about history,
the Association's also provides a clearinghouse for information on history careers, compiles directories of historians and historical programs, publishes pamphlets on professional issues and other aspects of history, works with various advocacy coalitions to protect the rights of historians, and serves as the principal U.S. liaison with foreign scholars and historical organizations.
In regard to research, the AHA sponsors four small grant-in-aid programs, cosponsors two fellowship competitions, awards twenty different book prizes, publishes an online publication on sources of financial assistance for historians. Teaching-related activities include publication of pamphlets and instructional materials for teachers, co-sponsorship of National History Day, awarding of the profession's first national award for distinguished history teaching.
National Council for Geographic Education
National Council for Geographic Education
1710 16th St., NW
Washington, DC 20009
202-270-1296 Ext. 17
NCGE, the National Council for Geographic Education works to enhance the status and quality of geography teaching and learning.
To meet its mission, the NCGE:
- Promotes the importance and value of geographic education;
- Enhances the preparation of geographic educators with respect to their knowledge of content, techniques, and learning processes;
- Facilitates communication among teachers of geography;
- Encourages and supports research on geographic education;
- Develops, publishes, and promotes the use of curriculum, resource, and learning materials.
A subscription to the Journal of Geography is a valuable benefit of NCGE membership. The Journal of Geography provides a forum for educators and scholars to present results from teaching and research that advance our understanding and practice of geographic education from pre-Kindergarten through the post-graduate levels. The Journal publishes articles on instructional approaches, the results of research, lesson plans and teaching activities, and reviews of books, maps, computer software and other digital products.
Foundation for Teaching Economics
The goal of the Foundation for Teaching Economics (FTE) is to improve economic education in classrooms around our nation and around the world.
The organization is able to pursue its goal of promoting a better understanding of (and appreciation for) market economies thanks to contributions from individuals, foundations, and corporations. FTE is impacting millions of students, primarily through their teachers, by designing lesson plans, offering seminars, and providing classroom support for teachers.
Teachers also appreciate FTE's "Hot Topics" emails - lesson plans that point out the economics imbedded in current events. Membership in its Professional Teacher's Association provides multiple benefits.
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