Social Studies Teachers’ Night at UM-Flint

Earth and Resource Science professor Dr. Victoria Morckel, along with her EDS 343 students, will host UM-Flint’s Second Annual Social Studies Teachers’ Night on October 22nd, from 4pm-6:45pm. Four teachers from area schools will be on campus to participate in this two-part event. In the first portion, the teachers will each present a lesson of which they are particularly proud. For the second, they will answer questions pre-written by the UM-Flint students in a “beauty-pageant style” session.

This event is being supported by the ERS department, University Outreach, and the Provost’s Office (via a Civic Engagement grant).

According to Dr. Morckel, “the event allows students to learn about best practices in social studies, while also providing an ‘on the ground’ perspective of what is really happening in today’s schools.”

At the first event, held last year, the teachers were limited to just a Q&A session. Dr. Morckel decided to expand the event for this year when it became apparent the teachers had a real passion for sharing their best lessons.

She hopes that by attending the event, her students will have a better idea of how to, “identify and use engaging teaching strategies to convey social studies content knowledge. Create effective lessons plans and unit plans. Assess student learning of social studies content knowledge via formative and summative assessments. Reflect on teaching and make adjustments. Identify challenges and opportunities facing today’s social studies teachers.”

She also views this as an opportunity for UM-Flint students to connect and engage with educators and the community beyond our campus. “Inviting practicing teachers into university classrooms demonstrates that our faculty and university care about what is actually happening on the ground in our K-12 schools. Since education is vital to the health of a community, the community greatly benefits from our teacher candidates being more prepared to handle he challenges faced by educators today.”

This event is free and open to the public.

To learn more about Social Studies Teachers’ Night, email Dr. Victoria Morckel at [email protected].