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Free curriculum workshops offered in Logansport, Tipton
October 30, 2003 | |||||
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KOKOMO, Ind.—Up to 50 area teachers can receive free curriculum materials and instruction in using it at November workshops in Logansport and Tipton. Suitable for upper elementary and middle school students, the curriculum uses hands-on exercises and historic examples to teach economic concepts. The first workshop will be held Tuesday, November 18, at Logansport Career Center, 2500 Hopper St. An identical workshop will be offered Thursday, November 20, at the Education Center of Tipton, 239 Ash St. Both gatherings run from 3:30–7 p.m. and include a free dinner. Registration is limited to 25 participants per site; the deadline for registration is November 12. The workshops will show teachers how to cover the Indiana standards for teaching economics, said Margo Sorgman, Ed.D. An IU Kokomo professor of education, Sorgman will teach the workshop with Associate Professor of Economics Kathy Parkison, Ph.D. They’ll gear parts of the workshops to cover standards for other subjects as well. “We’ll show them how standards can be directly taught, and we’ll have fun doing it,” Sorgman said. The provided curriculum looks at how “technological advances” happening 4,000 years ago in Babylonia transformed capitalism, just as online trading has done today. Devising a system of cuneiform numerals and borrowing an alphabet from the Phoenicians, Babylonians were among the first people to record and systemize the trading of goods. These lessons are brought home to students, by having them “write” as the ancients did on clay tablets, and participate in mock trades. The curriculum also reinforces writing, reading, and math skills. Kirsten Gertz, a fifth grade teacher for Franklin Elementary School in Logansport, and Jessica Walker, an economics teacher at Tipton High School, will serve as local teacher liaisons for the sessions. Both have received training under Sorgman and Parkison through the IU Kokomo Center for Economic Education, a special outreach program to north central Indiana educators. Members of the IU Kokomo Students In Free Enterprise team will also assist with the workshop. Parkison and Sorgman received a $1,000 grant from the National Council for Economic Education (NCEE) to underwrite the workshops. The NCEE developed the curriculum, “Productivity in the Fertile Crescent,” which participants will receive. The materials would cost as much as $500 if purchased by a school corporation, Parkison noted. The workshops are open to teachers from any school corporation, on a first-come, first- served basis. The opportunity for teacher networking is an added benefit to the evening, Sorgman said. “There’s a richness in having teachers across the grade levels talking to each other. It’s a very collaborative environment. Good teachers adapt lessons and materials from other grade levels all the time.” To register, e-mail name, school, grade level, and contact information to kparkiso@iuk.edu by November 12.
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