In 2023, Governor Gavin Newsom approved Assembly Bill No. 800, which designates the first week of May as “Workplace Readiness Week” in California high schools. AB800 requires that all California eleventh and twelfth-grade students be taught their rights in the workplace. This type of instruction is incredibly important.
Over the past two years, the California Subject Matter Project (CSMP) has been helping design professional development for the rollout of UTK, or Universal Transitional Kindergarten.
In partnership with California Revealed, we are working with two high school teachers to develop inquiry-based teaching resources that will connect students with archival sources hosted by California Revealed.
California Revealed (CA-R), in partnership with the California History-Social Science Project (CHSSP), invites California educators to apply for its inaugural Educator Fellowship program. This is a special opportunity for K-12 educators to research and create curricular materials in history and the social sciences using CA-R’s digital collections, of which sound and moving images are especially vast.
Kate Bowen is an educational leader with the California History-Social Science Project, and brings over thirty years of experience as a teacher. This month we asked Kate to share her favorite tools, skills, and strategies to support inquiry-based learning throughout the year.
Latinx students make up nearly 55% of all K-12 students across California, and every year students are asking for more lessons that reflect their experiences. We see the need to show students the diversity of people who shaped our history. Likewise, we know how important it is for students to see themselves reflected in their educational experience.
If you are an educator or educational leader, registration is still open for the final two "Inquiry: Why Now?" sessions in Irvine, on September 14-15, and Fresno, on October 12-13
It’s August. You know what that means. Give me all the post-its, paper clips, crisp tabs, and new stickers. Nothing brings me the same excitement as flipping through a freshly-opened planner. Okay, maybe the local office supply store is just my thing, but I have a sneaking suspicion that I’m not the only one that loves a good back-to-school sale. In the spirit of new beginnings, I want to bring your attention to new resources for this upcoming school year.
Throughout July we celebrate the diversity of our students in Disability Pride and Awareness Month. Students in our classrooms have always been diverse, and research has shown that most students who request accommodations or special education still learn in the general education classroom. Others who receive exclusive education still engage with general education classrooms and curricula to the greatest extent possible (California History-Social Science Framework, Chapter 20, p 537).
As educators, it is our privilege and our responsibility to introduce students to history. This includes introducing them to their own history – to allow them to see themselves in the past. But it also includes introducing them to the history of the people they live side-by-side with in their communities today.
Julie Law-Marín is a high school educator in the Sacramento area. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in History with a minor in Asian American Studies; she continued on to earn her Master of Arts degree in Education with a concentration on Multicultural Education. She kindly sat down with us to offer her expertise on culturally-responsive classroom practices and community based teaching. Below are her responses to the questions we asked her.
What does culturally-responsive teaching mean to you?
Jazmine Fortes is a third grade educator in the Bay Area. She completed her Bachelor of Arts in Ethnic Studies, with a double minor in Urban Education and Spanish. She has worked to create an equitable, holistic, relative, and empowering curriculum. She considers creating environments in which parents, students, and their community feel welcomed is central to this work. She sat down with us to help us see how she implements these strategies in her classroom.
