This year's OCSS Fall Conference featured opening speaker Secretary of State Bill Bradbury telling teachers of his inspiration in middle school to get involved in the political process. Key note speaker Kristie Duyckinck, Oregon's Preserve America History Teacher of the Year provided teachers with her thoughts on the "undaunted courage" teachers display every day, how teachers can sustain themselves in difficult times, and some great examples of teaching methods she has used in her classroom.

The conference featured a wide variety of workshops and teaching sessions with two all day sessions on Social Science Analysis and Reading in the Content Areas. Smaller breakout sessions carried the conference's theme with workshops on confronting controversy and presenting topics that might threaten academic freedom, teaching students about a "flat world" in the global economy, the holocaust, engaging in active citizen participation, and the Bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

This was a conference that saw awards given out and the "passing of the baton." Board Member Bob Willner received the OCSS Oregon Outstanding Social Studies Educator of the Year Award, presented by Secretary of State Bill Bradbury. For over fifty years, Bob has fulfilled a myriad of services on behalf of education in Oregon. Among them, leading workshops, institutes, travel seminars for hundreds of Oregon Teachers to East Asia, South East Asia, and Latin America. Bob has also collaborated with national organizations such as the National Endowment for the Arts, the Fulbright Group Study Abroad Program and the Oregon Department of Education. He has served as executive director of the Oregon International Council, executive secretary of the Confederation in Oregon for Language Teaching and treasurer for OCSS.

Gayle Thieman becomes OCSS Past President with the election of current President Shirley Lomax. With this move Gayle received her award "for outstanding leadership and dedicated service as President of OCSS." Gayle's service as president for the past two years has provided much for the OCSS organization and its teacher constituency. Beginning with a vigorous strategic planning process that establishes OCSS as the umbrella Social Studies organization for the state, the organization's mission focuses on five areas of service, raising a political voice, improving education, providing training, promoting research, and actively disseminating information. Gayle also has a direct participation in the development of the OCSS webpage, fall conferences and spring workshop, recruitment of new board members, and serves as a strong presence representing Oregon at the National Council for the Social Studies with her work with the Fund for the Advancement of Social Studies Education (FASSE), and most recently, being elected Vice-President of NCSS.

And of course, it wouldn't be a conference without some board action:

By a vote of 42 (out of 46 ballots cast) members approved an amendment to provide for continuity of leadership by expanding council officers from five to six. The amendment added a President-Elect (elected the previous year as Vice President); the President-Elect automatically becomes President the following year. The offices of the Council now consist of President, President-Elect, Vice President, secretary, treasurer, and immediate Past President who serve as the Executive Committee. Each officer serves a one year term.

Members unanimously approved an amendment to reduce the size of the OCSS board. The new board will include six members of the Executive Committee and ten elected Delegates for a total of 16 voting members.

Judy Lowery will join the OCSS board in November as Vice President. Judy teaches and supervises pre-service students in the undergraduate education program at Western Oregon University and is a teacher consult for the Oregon Geographic Alliance. New Board delegates include: Dan Blus (teaches social studies at North Salem HS); Debbie Fauth (teaches at Yoshikai Elementary in Salem); Ayesha Freeman (teaches at Sunset HS in Beaverton); Lisa Iverson (teaches at Cascade HS in Turner); Sarah Liebman (teaches social studies at Liberty HS in Hillsboro); and David Nieslanik (teaches at Beaverton HS).

Gayle Thieman, Past President

This is my last webpage article as President, and I want to celebrate our accomplishments and thank the OCSS board members for all their hard work. For the last two years OCSS has been in a rebuilding phase to create a sustainable structure. We began by creating a strategic plan. OCSS seeks to become the umbrella Social Studies organization for the state and focuses on five areas of service: raising a political voice, improving education, providing training, promoting research, and actively disseminating information.

We developed a web page which includes an online newsletter, calendar, weblinks, and OCSS forum. Please continue submitting articles by the fifteenth of the month to our webpage editor, Greg Timmons (gtimmon1@verizon.net)

We brought back the spring conference and had a very successful full day workshop on April 30,2005 in association with the World Affairs Council. We offered three strands: World in Transition for HS, History Alive for MS, History Alive for Elementary. We had 78 teachers attend from as far away as Alaska and received a $2600 grant from Oregon Department of Education to sponsor the event.

Under Shirley Lomax's leadership our fall conference has grown from 125 to over 200 attendees. This year's event was the best ever with a dynamic introduction by Secretary of State Bill Bradbury, inspiring keynote address by Oregon Preserve America History Teacher of the Year, Kristie Duyckinck, 21 sessions, and 30 exhibitors.

We updated our Constitution and by-laws and the revision to the Constitution was voted on at the fall conference.

We reinstated the award program and presented a plaque and gift certificate to Bob Willner who is the 2005 Oregon Outstanding Social Studies Educator of the Year.

This year we elected a full slate for Board of Directors, six of whom are brand new board members and four who are completing a two year term. We also elected a Vice President candidate. Part of our Constitutional change involved changing from two year terms for President and Vice President to one year terms for President, President Elect, and Vice President (similar to NCSS).

It has been an honor to work with all of you, and I look forward to continuing collaboration with my OCSS friends as I serve on the national level as NCSS Vice President.

The National Council for Geographic Education recently awarded Gail Vander Heide from Corvallis, Oregon its annual NCGE Cram Scholarship Award for 2005.

Awards were given to four K-12 teachers from the United States and Canada. The NCGE and the George F. Cram Awards recognize exemplary classroom presentations that a teacher has created. The presentation must reflect current trends in geographic education and provide an innovative approach to teaching geography. The award was presented at the NCGE Annual Meeting in Birmingham, Alabama on October 14, 2005.

Gail's presentation, "Roosters and River Dragons: Introducing the Geography of China" uses mental maps to help children or adults learn the location of the physical features of China, teaches cartography standards, and introduces the parts of a river from source to mouth, the way Chinese children are taught the geography of their country. In 2004, on a study trip to China with the University of Colorado-Boulder Center for Teaching About Asia, Gail visited Chinese schools and later adapted the methodology for her Oregon classroom.

Gail has taught Spanish and ESOL at Corvallis High School and middle schools and for the past seven years has taught 7-8th grade social studies in Lebanon, Oregon. She has traveled extensively in Europe, the Middle East as a Fulbright-Hayes scholar, a National Endowment for the Humanities Teacher Scholar, and the Freeman Foundation. She currently serves on the Board of OCSS.

NCGE was chartered in 1915 to promote geographic education at all levels of instruction. It currently has 3,200 members worldwide.

If you are a high school teacher and use the We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution curriculum, perhaps you should consider bringing a team to competition! During competition, students testify in simulated hearings about the Constitution and Bill of Rights, with both canned and extemporaneous speaking parts. Adult judges fill the role of the legislators. Competitions take place in each congressional district in Oregon, with a team advancing from each district to compete for a state title. A coach's workshop will take place Oct. 22 at Lewis & Clark Law School. If you are not ready to dive into competitive hearings, but are interested in seeing what they look like, come observe the competitions in Salem on January 20. Some money for teacher substitutes, contact CLP for details.

Classroom Law Project's 20th Annual Mock Trial Competition is just around the corner! Ten regional competitions will take place around Oregon on or about March 4, and state finals will be March 17-18 in Portland. Case materials will be available at the November 20 coach's workshop. Watch for registration information on our website,

For more information on these events, contact us at office@classroomlaw.org

The Missouri Historical Society's Lewis & Clark: The National Bicentennial Exhibition features hundreds of objects that bring to life the experiences of the Corps of Discovery. The visitor will follow the expedition from its conception in the mind of President Thomas Jefferson to the Pacific Ocean and then back across the continent. Visitors will also have an opportunity to explore a variety of themes which feature the perspectives of Native peoples as well as members of the expedition. Those themes include: politics and diplomacy, women, geography, animals, military heroism, language, trade and property, curing and health, and plants.

The Oregon Historical Society presents guided tours of Lewis and Clark: The National Bicentennial Exhibition with docents (tour guides) for students in grades 4-8. Docents will engage your class in museum activities and dialogues and will elaborate on exhibit themes, offer comparisons and contrasts between artifacts, and prompt students to explore questions related to the expedition. Self-guided audio tours are available for grades 9-12. The narrated tours suggest further areas of exploration and discovery while viewing the artifacts and themes of the exhibit.

To schedule a school group tour, please call 503.306.5214 or visit www.ohs.org for more information.

Oregon Content Studies for Grade 10
Economics: Understand economic concepts and principles and how available resources are allocated in a market economy.

Benchmark Standard 4 - CIM
Content standard: Understand the role of government and institutions (i.e. banks) in an economy.

CIM/CAM - Understand how government responds to problems in the economy (rapid inflation or rising unemployment) with fiscal and/or monetary policies.
Content standard: Understand the purpose and functions of money in the economy.

CIM/CAM - Understand how money make saving and borrowing easier.
- Understand how money functions in the banking system and as part of fiscal policy.