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Reprinted from the ATA Magazine (November 1960, volume 41 number 3, pages 24 and 25)
On October 29, in the Masonic temple in Edmonton, the provisional executive of the Social Studies Council of The Alberta Teachers’ Association, meeting for the first time, decided to exert every effort to bring a provincial social studies organization into being.
The objectives of such an organization would be:
- To provide a medium for teachers of the social studies to meet and to discuss general problems of teaching their subject at regional meetings and annually at the provincial level.
- To provide a stage for exchanging practical ideas for teaching the social studies,
- To provide a forum for guest speakers from all parts of North America who would be asked to bring the facts of research to bear upon particular aspects of teaching the social studies and
- To provide the manpower for action research in the social studies at the regional and provincial levels.
It was generally agreed that while the organization of a Social Studies Council organization might be launched by the provisional executive, program planning itself should be very tentative until it was known how many individual social studies teachers in the province were actually interested in belonging to such an organization. The provisional executive hopes that a wide interest will be shown, regardless of teaching level, and to gauge interest has prepared the special interest form included here. It should be mailed to head office of the Association not later than February 1, 1961.
Once the interest forms have been received, a number of organizational meetings will be held at several centres in Alberta to meet those interested and to lay the foundations for organization of regional councils and of a provincial convention. The latter will probably be held in Edmonton after the Annual General Meeting of the Association during Easter week, 1961. At that time a permanent executive of the Social Studies Council will be elected and the initial organizational phase will be at an end. Those attending the first provincial convention would probably do so at their own expense, but whether travelling expenses should, in fact, be met on an individual or pooled basis could be discussed as a matter of policy once the permanent executive is elected.
It is hoped that regional groups will meet more than once a year. It is also hoped that at these regional meetings members would exchange concrete suggestions which they have found effective in teaching the social studies and that outside speakers will come primarily to inform rather than to inspire.
Provisional Executive
Miss Elizabeth W. Duff (Chairman)
Teacher, Crescent Heights High School, Calgary
G. L. Berry
Inspector of High Schools, Department of Education, Edmonton
Miss Ethel Cobb
Teacher, Medicine Hat
A. Herman
Teacher, Bentley
M. R. Lupul
Assistant Professor of Secondary Education, University of Alberta, Edmonton
E. J. Ingram (Secretary)
Executive Assistant, Barnett House, Edmonton
Meetings will probably be held on Saturdays. The possibilities of using some portion of the annual teachers’ fall convention time for regional council meetings will have to be explored.
A membership fee is contemplated, the annual amount to be decided upon by those interested. It should be large enough to meet the expenses of research and guest speakers and perhaps even to help meet the expenses of those teachers who agree to contribute to the program by discussing particular aspects of their own work in the social studies. The Alberta Teachers’ Association has agreed to provide each specialist council with an annual grant of $100 once the model constitution for specialist councils is adopted and the permanent executive is elected at the first provincial convention.
