As NCSS celebrates its 100th anniversary, I would like to take a moment to thank everyone at NCSS for always being a leader for the leaders in social studies education. It would be easy to talk about the phenomenal conference that takes place every year, but I believe it would be a disservice to not highlight all of the other ways that NCSS provides support to social studies educators across the country and around the world.

As a board member of the Wisconsin Council for the Social Studies for many years, I was always aware of the national conference and was even able to attend a couple times during the early years of my teaching career. I feel like a turning point in my career was the 2014 NCSS Summer Leadership Institute -- I first met individuals who today lead NCSS in a variety of capacities during those couple of days, and for the first time started working on advocating for social studies education beyond my classroom. This experience helped me to find confidence in my voice as I started to look at my career differently.

Within a year of my first Summer Leadership Institute, I left the classroom and was hired as a district level social studies specialist. In this new position, I learned about NSSSA and for the first time participated in one of the many conference experiences that take place before and during the NCSS conference. I sat in sessions with people that I then considered professional heroes of mine and I am now lucky enough to call friends. This may have been the first time I experienced some of the extra learning that takes place at NCSS, but it was hardly the last. After three years in a curriculum position, I took a state level job and now start my NCSS week off with the CS4 conference while also trying to sneak in some NSSSA as well. After I started teaching a course at my state university, I joined CUFA and I am happy to say that I am now a proud member of CS4, NSSSA, and CUFA!

During the 2014 Summer Leadership Institute, I learned that there are committees that you can also apply to serve on and since 2015 I have worked to make sure that I am able to serve on an NCSS committee each year. First as a member and as chair of the NCSS Social Education Select Subcommittee and more recently as I enter my fourth year as the chair of the NCSS Government and Public Relations Committee, the intelligence and passion of the individuals who work behind the scenes year round to support all that NCSS does continues to astound me. 

As my work with NCSS broadened, my professional network widened which in turn allowed me to become more involved in work that supported the growth of my career. The first couple of times I presented at NCSS and I talked about supporting pre-service teachers, which was the first place I thought I could give back to the field. As my network and my experience grew, I felt more comfortable putting in sessions where I could help lead the field in topics like inquiry, disciplinary literacy, and assessment. 

I feel like the impact that NCSS has had on my career really became clear as in the first couple months of 2021, when I was elected to serve on the NCSS Board of Directors and also received a contract to write a book about civil discourse in the classroom. At NCSS 2021 I will be leading my first full workshop session and, in the spring of 2022, you can read about everything that I have put together to support educators in talking about contentious topics with their students. To learn more, sign up for this monthly newsletter (https://bit.ly/Discourse4EduNewsletter) that will be filled with tips, strategies, and resources for having these types of conversations.

I hope that if you are reading this and have been a “casual” member of NCSS you will be encouraged to do more in the coming year. There are so many options such as serving on a committee, joining one of the associated organizations, presenting at NCSS, attending the Summer Leadership Institute, and serving in the House of Delegates. All of these different experiences have helped me thrive as a professional and have given me a group of colleagues and friends that make each day a great day to teach social studies!

Sincerely,

Joe Schmidt

NCSS Board Member

July 20, 2021