Jenifer Hitchcock

Jennifer Hitchcock

Summary

AP Government & US History Teacher
Fairfax High School & Online Campus
James Madison Fellow, Commonwealth of Virginia 2016
Nationally Board Certified Teacher
iCivics Educators Network Member
Writer at lovgov.weebly.com

The VA Election Hub is an exciting opportunity to extend civics education beyond the four walls of the traditional classroom. Civics happens on the streets! This organization provides an opportunity to students to use their native digital skills to improve their community and engage in a meaningful way in civics. I am a part of the VA Election Hub to help find and engage students directly in the democratic process as high school interns.

 

OnAir Post: Jenifer Hitchcock

Education

Masters in Political Science, Virginia Tech Spring 2019 (Anticipated)

Masters in Ed George Mason University June 2007

Bachelors in Political Science, Wheeling Jesuit University May 2001

Teaching Experience

Fairfax High School

  • Instructed AP Government, Honors Government, and Honors and Standard US History
  • Completed Advanced Academics Endorsement, Spring of 2016
  • Team Leader, US Government 2017-18
  • 2016-19 Participant in Minority Advanced Placement Student Achievement Grant, Fairfax High School
  • Currently employing Standards Based Grading in the AP Government classroom
  • Member of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence – Fairfax High School Cohort 2017-19
  • 2017 Member of George Lucas Foundation’s Knowledge in Action PBL Project, Fairfax County Cohort 1
  • 2017-2019 Rho Kappa National Social Studies Honors Society Advisor

Westfield High School

  • Instructed World History I, US/VA Government, Honors US/VA Government Sociology, and Current Affairs
  • Co-Moderator: WHS State Qualifying Model Judiciary Team 2009-10
  • Co-author of Westfield High School Government Team Writers Guide

Civics Education Publications/Projects

  • 2018 iCivics Educator Network Member – Curriculum & content development
  • 2018 VCSS Area Representative
  • 2018 Administrator of the apgovteachers.com, a website built by AP Gov teachers for AP Gov teachers
  • Fairfax County Chief Election Officer 2015-2017, Fairfax City Assistant Voter Registrar
  • 2017 John Marshall Foundation Teacher of the Year for excellence in teaching the US Constitution in the Commonwealth of Virginia
  • 2016 James Madison Memorial Foundation Fellow, Commonwealth of Virginia
  • Member of George Lucas Foundation’s Knowledge in Action PBL Project, Fairfax County Cohort 1
  • Teacher Advisory Panel Member: Virginia Public Access Project
  • 2016 Three-time presenter at the NCSS Conference: C3 Civil Rights Unit, JMMFF Civil Rights, and AP Government Teachers on Facebook Poster Presentation
  • 2015 Presenter at the NCSS Conference on the C3 Framework Initiative with the ABA Learning Team
  • 2015 Participant in the NCSS Collaborative C3 Framework Initiative as a member of the ABA Learning Team focusing on Civic Education
  • Guest host on Twitter Chat #hsgovchat 2015
  • Administrator/Share Drive Curator for AP Government Facebook Group
  • Two-time presenter at Fairfax County Social Studies Summer In-Service, 2014 on Boomerang unit and 2015 on C3 Framework initiative
  • 2014 Presenter at the VCSS Conference on using Michael Lewis’s Boomerang in the Honors Government class
  • Owner/Writer for LovGov: a Government EduBlog for collaborating and sharing lessons and resources
  • Former attendee of professional development opportunities from Liberty Fund/Ashbrook University, George Washington Teachers Institute, and James Madison’s Montpelier Center on the Constitution

Virginia Election Hub

High School Teachers

I am here to help you facilitate student participation in the VA Election Hub program. We are looking for teachers across Virginia to share internship opportunities with their students. This project is a great, real world application of AP and US/VA Government content through experiential learning. Activities associated with student internships in the Fall are more limited, but beginning in January of 2019 there will be a high demand for high school student participation in state and local elections. Students will be working in their own communities talking to their neighbors and the candidates who want to serve their communities.

High School Students

I can help you introduce this opportunity to your school or assist you in the process of becoming a curator. Internships require limited but consistent weekly work updating candidate profiles, curating biographical and candidate information found online. You will be able to work from home approximately 1-2 hours a week doing the following:

  • Building and editing content for the Hub
  • Using research, writing, and social media skills
  • Interfacing with a variety of people, organizations, and events who are the focus of a post,  
  • Moderating forums, and
  • Organizing and directing online/in person debates and town halls

LovGov Blog

For all posts, go to LovGov website.

The QA FRQ

7/29/18

Political Science is *shockingly* all about applying the scientific method to politics and governance. Concepts that we teach in AP Gov are someone’s hypothesis, tested out with data… analyzed and triangulated to either support or refute that idea. It is tested over and over again, it is peer reviewed. That is how political scientist do their thing. That is why ideas like the Median Voter Theory or the Mandate Theory of Politics (NOT PROVEN) exist.

College Board is having us teach kids how to do the final steps of quantitative analysis… meaning data analysis, interpretation, conclusions, and application to content… in the Quantitative Analysis FRQ. I am stoked. It is a really, really great thing for political science.

In order to help you tackle teaching the QA FRQ, I have created this 20 minute video that explains what Quantitative Analysis is, how kids use it in their own lives, and how College Board will assess that skill. There is an example included and tips on how to do the FRQ.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ka1J2we1yYs

Do you just want access to my PREZI? Check it out here. 

Stay tuned for the remaining FRQs… the Content Application question (which is qualitative analysis), the Argumentation Essay, and the SCOTUS question.

Any feedback or questions? Leave them down below!

 

 

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