Reading and Writing in Social Studies. Looking Ahead What role does information and communication skills have in the social studies curriculum? What information.

Chapter 5

Reading and Writing in Social Studies

Looking AheadWhat role does information and

communication skills have in the social studies curriculum?

What information skills are most essential to social studies?

What tools are available for teachers and students for teaching/learning these skills?

What pitfalls/problems exist for teachers and students when utilizing those tools?

Can You?Name the four basic purposes for reading

and writing assignments in social studies? Identify the specific reading abilities

students need in social studies? Explain how to use textbooks with students

who cannot read? Think of ways to use fiction books in social

studies? Help students use the Internet for

research?

Do You?Know what students dislike most about using

references? Know how to break students out of the "copy

from the Internet"? Know how to make social studies book reports

interesting? Know how to help students learn to organize

their writing? Know several ways to teach new concepts and

new vocabulary? Know some ways to actually shorten what

students have to read? Know why it is important for students to

understand the organization of reading material?

Focus Activity What was your favorite book(s) as a

teenager? Why?Do you remember reading or having it

read to you by a parent or teacher? Share experiences with classmates. Discuss the details of the book(s) and how

you might use them in your classroom?

Every Teacher is a Reading TeacherWhy should every middle/secondary

teacher be considered a reading teacher?

Reading and Writing Assignments in Social StudiesWhat traits should an effective

assignment have?Provoke the curiosity of students Teacher facilitated (i.e. challenging but

not impossible)Able to be accomplished in a fair

amount of time for the appropriate age and ability of students

Clearly organized and understandable

Reading Skills Needed in Social StudiesRecognize the organization of reading materials

Bring meaning to readingRead for a purpose Read critically

Helping Students Read Social Studies Materials1. Pre-teach difficult vocabulary prior

to reading. 2. Reduce the length of independent

reading tasks. 3. Provide specific, clear purposes for

reading. 4. Help students get a sense of the

"story" that the reading material is telling, developing their predictive skills.

Strategies for Developing VocabularyTeacher Explanation of MeaningFrayer ModelClassifying ExperiencesExtended Teacher DefinitionsTeacher-Provided ExperiencesStudent-Centered Experiences

Less Can Be More: Quality Reading in Social StudiesWhat are some ways a teacher can

reduce the quantity but maintain the quality of the social studies reading?Use student-written summaries instead of the

textUse teacher-written summaries instead of the

textUse textbook cut-upsTry textbook highlightingExperiment with question write-insCooperate with class divide-ups

Reading TextbooksWhat do teachers need to do in

order to use textbooks effectively?Give specific purposeful assignments Stimulate interest in doing the reading Make sure that students have the skills

needed to do the assignment Provide supervision, monitoring, and help

where needed Follow up on reading assignments

Helping Students Develop a Sense of the “Story” by Aiding PredictionsIt provides purposes for reading in the

form of expectations.It heightens anticipation and interest.It helps determine in what way materials

relate to particular interests, questions,hypotheses, and so on.It provides advance organizers for

thinking about what is read.It aids in predicting.

Purposeful ReadingProvide guided questions before reading

that identify specific types of information and understandings the student is to gain.

Provide study questions that ask the student to identify the ways an author thinks and to go beyond the author’s thoughts.

Alert students prior to reading to follow-up tasks that will employ particular knowledge and concepts.

Reading Question and Task StatementsWhat strategies can help students

better understand the questions they are being asked?Teach students to be sensitive to the

nature of question words and to the nature of the answers these words demand (i.e. who, what, where, etc…)

Alerting students to organizational features of textbooks related to questions

Reading Social Studies Themed Trade BooksWhat are trade books?

Trade books are a variety of reading topics and formats, including biographies, fiction, and poetry; written for various levels.

Why might you utilize biographies? Fiction? Poetry?

Visit www.NCSS.org for the Notable Trade Books for Young Readers annual list for the last few years.

Connecting Reading and Writing in Social StudiesEconomic ReportsArcheology ReportsStory Museum ReportsComic ReportsShoe Box Story ParadeBook TrialsHistorical Creation ReportsStory GeographySociometries of BooksPublicity and Review Reports

Organizing to WriteWhat are the two major kinds of difficulties

students experience with writing assignments in social studies?clarity of the assignmenthow well prepared students are for an assignment

What are the base or prerequisite skills needed for many if not all writing jobs?Note TakingWriting Answers to QuestionsOutlining

Do NOT assume students know how to do this

Developing Research and Reporting SkillsWhat are the benefits of having students complete reports?

What type of reporting is best for middle/secondary students?

What is a real danger in having students complete reports?

Writing CreativelyIn-Role Writing?Modeling Cultures?Problem-Solving Stories?Diary?Collaborative Writing?

Looking Back Social studies is knowledge based most readily

communicated through print.Reading and writing grows through practice and

they are linked to thinking.There are several strategies that teachers can

use to help studentsPre-teaching vocabularyReducing the actual length of reading assignmentsProviding sufficient and clear purposes for reading Developing predictive skills

ExtensionYou have been procrastinating in completing your

trade book adoptions project. Feeling a little stressed about the timeline you consider alternatives. In the end you decide you only have two options.

Option One: Develop your own list of twenty books you could use in your classroom to help teach social studies.

Option Two: Partner with your other grade level teachers and develop one list of twenty books that all the teachers in your grade will utilize to help teach social studies.

ExtensionSelect an option.Develop a trade book adoption list. The list

should include at least twenty books recently published trade books.

The list should also include all bibliographic information:summary of the books, discussion of how you could use the book in

social studiespossible state and national standards addressed

ExtensionWhat are the advantages/disadvantages of

having your other grade level teachers input and adopting one set of trade books?

What are the advantages/disadvantages of selecting your own list of twenty books for adoption?

What qualities, topics, etc… would you seek in the new books?

Self-Test1. What are the four basic purposes for which

reading and writing assignments are used in independent seat work?

2. What are the qualities that you need to look for in a nonfiction book?

3. What are some different kinds of fictional material that can be used in social studies?

4. What are the purposes of learning research and reporting skills?

5. How are guidelines useful in making textbook questions more meaningful?

Self-Test6. Why do teachers have students write

reports and present them orally? 7. Describe several ways of teaching

concepts and vocabulary to students. 8. What is SQ3R? 9. What is meant by the term purposeful

reading and why is the concept important?

ResourcesThe Great Books Foundation-

http://www.greatbooks.org/ NCSS Notable Trade Books

http://www.socialstudies.org/resources/notable

Vacca, R.T., Vacca, J.L. & Mraz, M.E. (2010). Content area reading: Literacy and learning across the curriculum. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.