Social Studies

Teaching has taken Robin August to courtrooms, hospitals and cabins in the woods. But August, who was named Baltimore County Teacher of the Year yesterday, said that after nearly two decades of teaching, one venue remains beyond compare. "I can honestly say that the most exciting place teaching brings me is the classroom," August, who teaches math to sixth-graders at Deep Creek Middle School in Essex, said as she choked back tears during her acceptance speech. "When the lights come on, the bell rings and students enter the room, that's when my classroom comes alive.

Carroll County school officials are in the same position they were a year ago: trying to explain why their much-touted system slipped a notch in the state's annual assessment of student achievement.Statewide test scores show Carroll ranks fourth among Maryland's 24 school systems, after falling to third last year.Rankings in the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program matter in suburban Carroll, which likes to woo outsiders by bragging about its top-rate classrooms."We're not going to mask it, we're concerned," said Michael Perich, Carroll's supervisor of continuous improvement.

In a social studies class at Severn River Middle School in Arnold, when teacher Louisa Troutner tried a lesson recently on ancient India, one sixth-grader stretched out on the floor and another announced: "I hate this stupid stuff!"Troutner told one student to quit chewing gum, another to stop getting ready to leave before the bell rang and another not to stick out her tongue. When she talked about karma, no one paid attention; when she talked about Buddhism, a girl yelled "Booty-ism!" and the class erupted in laughter.

Students studying pollutants in a local stream may need to step out of the lab and follow the stream to a neighborhood landfill - if they're working on an assignment for Towson University's Environmental Science and Studies Program to be launched this fall.The interdisciplinary program is designed to give students experience in the nuts and bolts of natural science and the management and research skills of social studies - showing those who study the environment so they can save the world, that their world has just gotten bigger.

In a 15-minute conference with your child's teacher, you probably won't have enough time to ask each of these suggested questions, so peruse this list from "Preschool for Parents" by Diane Trister Dodge and Toni S. Bichart, and pick the ones most important to you.* How do you help children develop a sense of responsibility and self-discipline?* How do you help children work on conflict resolution skills?* Do you involve children in group discussions about social issues and about what they are learning* What are your goals for my child in reading and how will you help him achieve these goals?

Maryland's long-standing practice of letting local school districts decide how subjects are taught prompted an education foundation to fail the state on its geography and history standards, calling them useless and worrisome.In an appraisal of state standards released yesterday by the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, Maryland ranked 26th out of 38 states studied in history standards and 34th out of 39 states for geography standards in elementary, middle and high school.The remaining states do not have such standards or would not submit them for appraisal, according to the two studies commissioned by the private education organization in Washington.

In a social studies class at Severn River Middle School in Arnold, when teacher Louisa Troutner tried a lesson recently on ancient India, one sixth-grader stretched out on the floor and another announced: "I hate this stupid stuff!"Troutner told one student to quit chewing gum, another to stop getting ready to leave before the bell rang and another not to stick out her tongue. When she talked about karma, no one paid attention; when she talked about Buddhism, a girl yelled "Booty-ism!" and the class erupted in laughter.

Harford County officials cite curriculum reforms and a general commitment to personalized instruction for Harford's strong performance on the state's annual school report card, with Harford finishing second this year to Howard County, up from fourth last year."

When Fallston High School teacher Vincent Nastro looks at history classrooms in Harford County and throughout Maryland, he fails to see much being taught about the Irish potato famine."

THIRD-GRADERS at Pointers Run Elementary School have added their voices to the discussion of tot lots in the village of River Hill.The students, members of two social studies classes taught by third-grade team leader Teri Salmons, presented their suggestions for three proposed tot lots at a village board meeting last month."

Frederick Conrad Osing Jr., a longtime Baltimore County public school educator and World War II veteran, died of heart failure July 4 at the Riderwood Village Retirement Center in Silver Spring. The former Ellicott City resident was 84. Mr. Osing was born in Baltimore and raised on Calverton Heights Avenue. After graduating from City College in 1943, he enlisted in the Army and served with the Signal Corps in the Philippines. At war's end, he returned to Baltimore and enrolled at Western Maryland College where he earned a bachelor's degree in English in 1948, and a master's degree in education from the Johns Hopkins University in 1953.

While many Howard County students will be glued to classroom TVs watching the historic presidential inauguration of Barack Obama, the lessons will extend beyond civics and social studies at one school. Students at Running Brook Elementary will be applying the event to a variety of lessons in - of all things - math. Talk about cross curriculum. The school's math support teacher, Heather Dyer, said she came up with the idea a week ago, and teachers and students are getting excited about the one-time melding of arithmetic and current events.

Pat Whitehurst wears many outfits when he teaches his students. Sometimes he comes to school dressed as a Supreme Court justice to teach his law class. On another day, he donned an inmate's uniform to teach a lesson about prisons. And sometimes he just puts on a tie with a patriotic theme. "I stimulate my students by dressing up," said Whitehurst, who has been teaching Advanced Placement U.S. government and politics, freshman government, geography, sociology and law in America classes at Fallston High School since 2000.

Members of the summer government class at Annapolis High School succumbed to public speaking jitters when they testified against a proposed curfew in Annapolis in front of several members of the city council. Many testified in quiet voices, stared down at their notes and rushed through their statistics. But their words were clear: A late-night curfew for those under age 18 doesn't make sense. The bad apples are going to flout the rules, just as they are doing now, said Garrett Green, who will begin his sophomore year this fall: "They're going to just keep on doing what they're doing."

Over the past six years, eighth-grade social studies teacher Karen Maynard has watched her subject slip in stature. What was once offered every day for a full school year is now taught every other day, for less overall time. This fall, social studies will be refashioned into a half-year course - meaning some students will go as long as a year without seeing the subject again. "I feel left out by all of this," said Maynard, who heads the social studies department at Chesapeake Bay Middle School in Pasadena.

A new report confirms complaints that a lot of teachers and school districts have voiced about the federal No Child Left Behind law - that the focus on reading and math doesn't leave enough time for other subjects, such as social studies, art and music. It's a dilemma that didn't originate with NCLB but has been exacerbated by it. The best solution is to recognize, as Maryland does, that exposure to a variety of subjects is what constitutes a well-rounded education. According to the Center on Education Policy, more than 60 percent of school districts have increased instruction time in elementary schools for either or both English language arts and math since 2001-2002, just before NCLB was enacted - and 44 percent have done so at the expense of other subjects.

Congress has begun hearings on the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind law. Members of Congress now have ample research to help them make key decisions on the future of a law that affects most of the children in the United States. What the research reveals is that NCLB has flaws, but changes can be made that preserve its basic goals of school accountability and student improvement. Experience with NCLB has prompted important questions, including: Why shortchange important subjects such as science and social studies?

LeRoy Hayes Jr., a retired social studies teacher and shoe repairman, died of esophageal cancer Thursday at his Ashburton home. He was 82. Mr. Hayes was born in Mullins, S.C., the son of a tobacco grower, and was raised there and in Baltimore during the 1930s. He graduated from high school in Mullins and learned shoe repair. Drafted into the Army in 1943, he served with an infantry unit in Europe. He earned a bachelor's degree in education in 1950 from Allen University in Columbia, S.C. Moving back to Baltimore, he worked as a truck driver for Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Co. before joining the faculty of the city's then-Robert Poole Junior High School, where he taught social studies for 25 years.

Teaching has taken Robin August to courtrooms, hospitals and cabins in the woods. But August, who was named Baltimore County Teacher of the Year yesterday, said that after nearly two decades of teaching, one venue remains beyond compare. "I can honestly say that the most exciting place teaching brings me is the classroom," August, who teaches math to sixth-graders at Deep Creek Middle School in Essex, said as she choked back tears during her acceptance speech. "When the lights come on, the bell rings and students enter the room, that's when my classroom comes alive.

Schools close for Thanksgiving Carroll County Public Schools will be closed tomorrow through Friday. Schools are closed tomorrow for parent conference day. Tuesday is a professional development day for high school teachers and parent conference day for elementary and middle schools. Information: 410-751-3020. Parents invited to safety seminar Parents of Winters Mill High School students are invited to attend a seminar on student safety and health at 7 p.m. tomorrow in the auditorium.