Professional Development

North Carolina Council for the Social Studies (NCCSS) Conference

Professional Development Overview

Every teacher education major at Appalachian State University is required to earn at least 20 hours/activities of professional development by graduation. Earning professional development credits is modeled around what licensed teachers must do to maintain their license. This page should provide you with all the information and resources you need to complete your professional development hours.

Professional Development Opportunities

CLIO TALKS are "pre-professional” seminar sessions led by HEP Faculty, other faculty in the Department of History, and invited guests from App State and beyond. Each session runs no more than 1 hour and focuses on a relevant topic in teaching history/social studies in the classroom.

In recent years, CLIO TALKS sessions have covered topics such as: infusing Africana Studies throughout the World and American History curriculum, de-Westernizing the Age of Exploration, how to address political history during election season, and to make the best use of WWII materials and resources online. Each year, we also invite recent graduates of our program to share their stories as 1st, 2nd, or 3rd-year teachers in local middle schools and high schools. This special "Let Me Tell You What It's Really Like" session also includes our current student teachers interning in nearby schools.

We host 2-3 CLIO TALKS per semester. Although they are primarily geared toward History/Social Studies Education majors, they are open to any student interested in the teaching and learning of history and social studies.

The James Center in the RCOE hosts professional development events throughout the academic year and posts them on Engage. Please use this FAQ document to answer any questions you have related to Engage.

We also have a variety of Virtual Professional Development opportunities featured on our 9-12 Social Studies Resources curated Google Doc.

History/Social Studies Education majors are also encouraged to plug in with The History Club and even consider submitting research papers to History Matters - a web-based, undergraduate journal of historical research published annually by the department of history at Appalachian State University.

Professional Development Documentation

All Teacher Education majors must complete 20 hours of professional development (PD) by graduation. Professional Development logs are a great way to track your hours and should be kept up to date throughout your time at Appalachian. The James Center for Student Success and Advising provides students with detailed information on available professional development opportunities. Please use the links below to support the documentation of your hours:

James Center Professional Development page
Tracking your Professional Development (with a link to the PD Passport - you will be asked to make a copy of it; rename using your first and last name )

North Carolina Council for the Social Studies (NCCSS) Conference

History/Social Studies Education majors have also traveled to Greensboro each year to attend the NC Council for Social Studies annual conference. The conference takes place in February/March and lasts two days.

Header Image - left to right: Carly Pugh ('17) exploring Paris during international student teaching, (top middle) the trio of Zach Brinkman-Meghan Andreoli-Troy Colvard ('16) at the Berlin Wall, (bottom middle) HIS 3626 students and student teachers at the 2018 NC Council for Social Studies conference, and General U.S. Grant (Dr. Curt Fields) speaking to local students as part of a HEP-sponsored visit to Boone.