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Reading, Writing and

MoreEquipping Middle School Social

Studies Teachers to Prepare Students for Future AP Courses

Susan Santoli

University of South Alabama

SSCA 2014

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“Read”

• The detective quickly reads the situation and decides upon an appropriate response.

• The park ranger is always careful to read the skis when escorting hikers into the mountains.

• The coach reads the opponents’ defense and immediately adjusts the next play.

• The child tries to read his mother’s reaction to see if he will be permitted to play with his friends.

From Classroom Strategies for Interactive Learning, Buehl, p. 3.

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If we believe that reading is not just “receiving a message” but actively building meaning upon prior knowledge using staged, strategic thinking, then we will teach differently.

Subjects Matter, Daniels & Zemelman, p. 31

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Common Core

• Read closely• Compare and

contrast• Analyze• Comprehend• Question• Summarize

• Source Information• Perspective• Make Connections• Cause and effect• Write effectively• Determine

Reliability

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Active reading versus Close reading

• Active reading means reading something with a determination to comprehend and evaluate it for its relevance to your needs.

• Close reading is:– A careful and purposeful reading to

infer/interpret/draw conclusions– Supporting arguments with evidence– Resolving conflicting views encountered in source

documents– Rereading

Can actively read without close reading, but cannot close read without active reading.

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Preparing students to read actively and closely

• Relate to students’ life situations before starting the “heavy” stuff

• Have students create some of the things from which history is made– Autobiography or timeline– List things they did today and then how

they’d prove these

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– Give students some scenarios of everyday life today to analyze• Football game exercise• Lunchroom fight• Hear Me Roar

– As students are working on these things, introduce them to terms such as: sourcing, corroboration, contextualization, close reading

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Close Reading Example

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nX3kNk3NrJoh Great example of close reading in a 6th grade social studies class

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Increasing Reading Comprehension and

Encouraging Active and Close Reading

1. SQ& ID (Super question & ID)

2. One pagers

3. Cornell notes

4. Primary Document Dissection Tool

5. Large copies of portions of text (as in video)

6. Noteworthy Resources

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SQ&ID

• SQ&IDs process

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SQ&ID Extension• Explore the relationship between John Smith and two hardships

of Jamestown.• Student response: John Smith experienced several hardships in

Jamestown. Once the colonists disembarked in Jamestown, John Smith took charge, enforcing strict rule. In 1606-1607, Jamestown’s people died from malnutrition and starvation. The colonists were more concerned with finding gold, and they were unaccustomed to work. John Smith forced all colonists to work. If they did not work they did not eat. John was also subjected to a mock execution by Indian chief, Powhatan. His mock execution was meant to show peace between the Indians and the European settlers. Powhatan’s daughter, Pocahontas saved John from his “execution”. She then became an intermediary between the Indians and settlers. Although John Smith encountered several hardships in Jamestown, he persevered and helped make Jamestown a more prosperous place.

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One-Pagers• Excellent tool for making connections

and synthesizing information• Use for summarizing and condensing

info• Assign for textbook reading • Use Smart Art, Word or paper and

pencil; can also use images

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Cornell Notes

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• Excellent tool when notes require more

detailed content• Requires focus questions • Modeling… “I do it…we do it…you do

it.”• Example

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Primary Documents Dissection Tool

• CONSTITUTION• THE BEDROCK DOCUMENT• DISSECTION•  Purpose: • The purpose of this assignment is to intensely dissect

the nation’s bedrock document, the Constitution. The information you analyze and internalize will be used throughout this year, and hopefully, all your life. Remember! You must bear your portion of this democracy on your shoulders and substantial and comprehensive ingestion of this material is essential for this task.

 

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Primary Documents Dissection Tool

• Answer questions on the Constitution using highlighting and typewriter tool in the PDF Viewer – initial dissection after reading

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Primary Documents Dissection Tool

• Tie key components of Constitution to founding father philosophy and current events

• Blue sticky – tie to founding father philosophy

• Green sticky – tie to current events• Purple sticky – definition• Constitution PDF Example

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Noteworthy Resources

• Read/Write/Think: International Reading Association, NCTE, Thinkfinity

• Reading Quest: Making Sense in Social Studies

• Reading Like a Historian: Stanford, Historical Reading Skills and Inquiry

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A Close Reading of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address

http://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop/communities/day-1-gettysburg-address.pdf

Getting Ready to Write: Citing Textual Evidence

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/teaching-about-textual-evidence

Reading Like a Historian: Primary Source Documents

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/choosing-primary-source-documents

Reading Like a Historian Series (several videos in this)

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/reading-like-a-historian-curriculum

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• Close Reading of the Declaration of Independence

http://www.doe.k12.de.us/infosuites/staff/ci/content_areas/files/ss/Declaration_Independence/Declaration_of_Independence_FINAL2.doc

• Video on Close Reading of the Declaration of Independence (This has one of the best set inductions I have ever seen! I plan to use this one!!)

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/teaching-declaration-of-independence

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• Close Reading in MS Social Studies (video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nX3kNk3NrJo

• The Monroe Doctrine: A Close Reading

http://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plan/monroe-doctrine-close-reading#sect-activities

Organize Your Thinking to Critically Analyze Text (video)

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/help-students-analyze-text

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Questions and Comments

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Next…Applying that reading knowledge through analysis, evaluation, synthesis

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Analysis, Evaluation, Synthesis (all ready for use)

1. Reading Like a Historian

2. Historical Scenes Investigation

3. Historical Thinking Matters

4. Digital Docs in a Box

5. The History Lab

6. Beyond the Bubble

7. Library of Congress

8. National Archives and Records Administration

9. National American History Museum

10. Noteworthy Links

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Reading Like a Historian:

• Each lesson revolves around a central historical question and features sets of primary documents designed for groups of students with diverse reading skills and abilities.

Japanese Segregation Example

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Historical Scenes Investigation

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When Elvis Met Nixon

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Historical Thinking Matters

STUDENT INVESTIGATIONS focuses on five central topics from the post-Civil War U.S. history curriculum. Each investigation includes:•An introductory movie framing a question of historical debate;•Ten historical sources;•Guided questioning that fosters historical thinking skills such as sourcing, contextualization, close reading, and corroboration;•Text annotations and audio and video clips that provide additional commentary;•An assignment that asks students to respond to the investigative question by drawing on their previous engagement with the sources;•Directed explorations of virtual archives.

TEACHER MATERIALS offers instructors, pre-service teachers and teacher-educators classroom materials and strategies, examples of student and teacher work, and supplementary resources

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Digital Docs in a Box

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The History Lab

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Beyond the Bubble

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Edison and the Kansas Housewife

• Students read a letter to Thomas Edison, then with the addition of several extra facts, determine whether the writer was typical of Americans in the 1920s.

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Additional facts related to Mrs. Lathrop’s letter:• 1. George Westinghouse invented the electric range,

not Thomas Edison.• 2. Before the Rural Electrification Act of 1936, less

than 10% of rural America had electricity. • 3. The 19th Amendment, which guaranteed women

the right to vote, was passed only one year before this letter was written.

• 4. At the time of Mrs. Lathrop’s letter, less than 5% of American women were college graduates.

Question: Which 2 of the 4 facts above help you determine whether Mrs. Lathrop was typical or atypical of American women in the 1920s?

Explain your reasoning.

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Impossible to think about primary sources without:

• Library of Congress– American Memory Lesson Plans

• pdf

– Primary Source Sets– Themed Resources– Teaching with Primary Sources journal– Professional development videos– Classroom video conferencing AND

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• National Archives and Records Administration– Suggested Methods for Integrating PS into

Classroom Instruction (pdf)

– Digital Vaults-Build your own collection– 100 Milestone Documents of American His

tory– Primary Source Analysis Worksheets– Docs Teach: Examples next page

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AND…

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• National Museum of American History (Smithsonian– Engaging Students with Primary Sources– Podcasts– Featured Artifact– Lesson Plans

ALL SI museums have educator sites

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Noteworthy Links• Internet History Sourcebook (all time periods

and locations)• Avalon Project (world history)• EuroDocs (European History)• Digital Public Library of America• Navigating Primary Source Material on the Int

ernet• Social Studies Central Primary Source Links• Alabama Dept. of Archives and History

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Other Activities to Increase Writing Effectiveness

1. Persuasive Writing– RAFT– Colonial Advertising Pitch

2. Mechanics– PPT on nation building issue– Color coded sources

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RAFT

R—Role

A—Audience

F—Format

T—Topic

General SS examples

Internment camp examples

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Colonial Advertising Pitch

yellow group.wmv

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Color Coded Writing Rubric

• Differentiate Structure of Essay

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PPT on National Building: Aiding Students in Citing

Sources

TYPE OF SOURCE

• Textbook• American History Database• AVL• Google open search

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Lewis and Clark

Expedition

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Questions and Comments

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Susan Santoli: ssantoli@southalabama.edu

Twitter: @spsantoli

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/socialstudieseducation

Powerpoint posted on SSCA Wiki (http://alsocialstudies.wikispaces.com/) under 2014 Conference Presentations tab