Chapter

#
Chapter
1:

Building Literacy in Social Studies

by Dominic Rutan, Alex Parker, and Josh Twery
Initial Strategy
New Content
Implementation of New
Strategy
-Mr. Reaf has the students
Social Studies texts can be
-Mr. Reaf could start the first day
on the first day of school
hard for many students to
of class with a textbook
read the first pages of the
understand:
scavenger hunt that encourages
textbook
students to become familiar with
-Many students have a poor the textbook.
-Mr. Reaf took a no tolerance attitude about the subject of
for misbehavior attitude,
history. They feel that
-Mr. Reaf makes a point to
and his students appeared
studying about old events
introduce himself to every new
very distant from him
and dead people has little
student in order to encourage
relevance to their lives
their cooperation and a positive
-Mr. Reaf has an encounter
(Ogle, Klemp, McBride, 2007, attitude
with one of his students that p. 5).
proves that some of the
-Mr. Reaf uses metaphors that
students cant understand
-many reasons for the texts
relates to students more on a
the textbook.
being really hard for students personal than putting himself on
is that they may not have
an immobile pedestal.
prior knowledge, the texts
cover broad and ambiguous
topics with tough vocabulary,
students may struggle to
read or excel on tests where
they havent learned the
appropriate skills, and
visuals may prove
overwhelming.

Many social studies

teachers are changing the
focus on teaching history
from a set of known facts to
a process of investigation,
modeled on how actual
historians work. Students are
learning that history is open
to interpretation (Ogle et al.,
2007, p. 9).
-the rest of this book is filled
with strategies that can help
students become better
readers (Ogle et al., 2007, p.
12).

Chapter
2:
Fostering
Engaged
Learning
in Social
Studies
Classroo
ms

-Mr. Reaf resorts to lecture

when class falls
behind/instructs class to
take notes while he speaks

-students immediately
become disengaged with

-allow students to think

beyond the text by making
their ideas and thinking
central in class, as well as
question the author

-Using I-Charts for Inquiry: allows

students to compare and
contrast main ideas of multiple
sources (Ogle et al., 2007, p. 2022).

-Learning means being

-Text Sets: when starting a new

the lesson

-How do we get students to

not only engage with social
studies but also with
reading?

motivated, looking for

connections to oneself and
the community, forming an
understanding of issues in
our culture, and exerting the
effort needed to build new
understandings (Ogle et al.,
2007, p. 30).

-Another important aspect

of using a variety of
materials is that it keeps
students attuned to making
connections between what
they are studying in their
textbook and the rest of the
world around them as
reflected in other types of
texts. This transfer is at the
heart of social studies
education, yet too often
teachers never get to the
contemporary world or to the
ways the study of history and
social studies is alive all
around us. (Ogle et al., 2007,

unit, teachers can offer students

a collection of short books and
other sources that support the
unit and provide them
differentiation of reading
materials (Ogle et al., 2007,
p.25-26).

-Jigsaw: differentiation of reading

materials/different groups in
class are responsible for reading
and presenting different
sources/cooperative learning

-Mr. Reaf uses jigsaw to structure

the days lesson and have
students engage with the
material

p.30).

Extended Unit Approach:

-Inquiry Approach: Unit

around a central question
with learning materials that
offer multiple points of view
-Unit around central themes
supported by variety of
primary sources
-Unit based on chapters of
textbook: framework for indepth exploration of topics
-differentiate reading
materials and sources

Chapter
3:
Teaching
Vocabular

-Mr. Reaf asked student

what the word Antifederalist

-Independent Reading: giving Concept Definition Mapping:

students time and materials
example on p.40 (Ogle et al,
is the best way to learn new

y to Older
Students

meant.

vocab.

2007, p. 40):

-Student didnt know and

Mr. Reaf forced them to look
it up in a dictionary

-activating students prior

knowledge helps them
comprehend what they have
read

-teacher identifies key word,

together as a class they come up
with a definition

-Student became frustrated

and after 10 minutes,
student didnt learn
anything nor did Mr. Reaf
define the word or make
meaning of the word for the
class

-students then come up w/ three

-comprehension=interaction characteristics, synonyms, or
between textual information
properties of key word
and a readers schemata
(Ogle et al., 2007 p. 38)
-students come up w/ contrasts
or non-examples of the word
-comprehension is more
than simply decoding the
graphic and sound symbols
on a page. Comprehension
involves an interaction
between textual information
and a readers schemata, or
how the reader has
constructed reality. (Ogle et
al., 2007, p. 38).

Y-Charts: example on p.41 (Ogle

et al., 2007, p. 41):

-easier than a Venn diagram,

allows students to take notes as
they read, study how two terms

are alike/separate differences

-Finally, learning words
should also be fun. Good
readers are also word lovers.
They find amusement in
puns and jokes. They enjoy
searching for just the right
word to describe something.
They relish a passage that
captures a person or place
One of the most powerful
strategies that social studies
teachers can use is simply to
model their own love and
enjoyment of words (Ogle et
al., 2007 p.50).

-teaching context clues is an

important skill to teach
students/it will go beyond
just learning vocabulary

-context clues=an aid in

-students cross out similarities in

the top part and then rewrites it
in bottom part of the Y

-Word Part Generator: p. 48 (Ogle

et al., 2007, p. 48)

-Vocabulary Knowledge Rating

Chart: p.49 (Ogle et al., 2007, p.
49)

comprehension that allows

students to deduce the
meaning of a word or phrase

Structural analysis: break up

an unknown word and
making meaning of the
different parts of a word

-affixes (prefixes and

suffixes)

-inflections (plurals,
comparatives, possessives,
and verb tenses)
-compound words
-contractions
-roots
-you can provide

students with a lists of

common prefixes and
suffixes

Chapter
4:

-Taping out designated areas -Cooperative Literacy

for students to remain for
approach: calls for better
conversations
organization of classrooms

-had students read quietly

and individually for 20
minutes, before cold-calling
on students to discuss the
Federalist papers

-however, cold-calling
showed that many students
were not engaged in the
class

-Performance Organizational
Design System (PODS):
noncompetitive groups with
four to six members. Each
member of the group is
assigned a number

-PODS are given point

sheets, where students are in
charge of tallying criteria
such as absences, tardiness,
homework completion, and
participation

-With discussing Federalism and

Democracy, Mr. Reaf had the
students fill out a discussion
anticipation guide together

-After students discuss in their

groups, Mr. Reaf has the #3s
from each group stand up and
share their thoughts, then has
the #2s with different opinions
stand up to share.

-This structure creates

engagement and forces students
to be prepared, while motivating
them through the POD team
setting

-Also given Assessment

Inventory sheets, where the
PODs can evaluate individual
and group performance on
activities

-Students become engaged

because of their accountability to
the larger group. (Ogle et al.,
2007, p.65)

all members of a group,

even the most recalcitrant
students, realize that each
much contribute for the sake
of others (Ogle et al., 2007,
p. 61).
Chapter
5:
Promoting
Civic
Engagem
ent

-Mr. Reaf has students read

aloud portions of the US
constitution to get students
to understand citizens basic
rights and our civic duty to
be active in politics and
policy making

-Service Learning
opportunities, where
students pick an organization
or event, have hands on
activity, and then reflection
on how their experience
affected others or allowed
them to grow as an
individual

-Utilizing the PODs, Mr. Reaf

passes out a list of different
service projects that each POD
can choose from for their midsemester evaluation.

-Each member in the POD is

assigned a specific part of the
project, in addition to the
service: One member does a
-simulated voting and debate media presentation, another
activities to create meaning
writes an editorial about the

for students

experience, and another does a

pre-service expectations and
objectives sheet.

-As they participate,

students learn more about
their own community and
experience the personal
satisfaction that can lead to
a lifestyle that includes
service (Ogle et al., 2007,
p.74).
-The cognitive outcomes of
education are vital, but
character is not formed
solely on the basis of the
study of traditional subject
matter (Ogle et al., 2007,
p.82).
Chapter
6:
Strategies
for
Textbook
Literacy

-Mr. Reaf assigns a chapter

in the textbook for students
to read as homework and
then tells them there will be
a quiz the next day

-Determining Main Ideas:

with a partner fill out a
graphic organizer for pair
questions and answers
answering who, when,
where, what why, and main
idea as a way to figure out
the big picture

-Mr. Reaf passes out a P.L.A.N.

graphic organizer to each
student. Today he will have
them read part of the Chapter on
the Industrial Revolution.
-prior to reading, students are to
predict the main ideas of the
chapter during the preview and

-most students fail the quiz

because they didnt
comprehend the material

-Many students have

difficulty determining the
main ideas in a section of
text. Students may confuse
bits of information included
to support or enliven the text
with main points (Ogle et al.,
2007, p.100).

-Organizing Information: in a
chapter of the textbook,
students fill out a three-part
graphic organizer only
looking at the Headers and
Visuals. This is a strategy for
making sense of all the
material that isnt textrelated

-in general: there are

different ways of splitting up
a textbook chapter to

mark the different bubbles with

an X by topics they know
something about and ?s for
topics they know little or nothing
of
-students add to their graphic
organizer as they read and then
afterwards Mr. Reaf brings the
class back together to discuss
what they read and what big
ideas they take away from the
reading. Afterwards students will
write in their own words and
make meaning of the chapter at
the bottom of their graphic
organizer. Mr. Reaf can collect
this at the end of a class as a
means of formative assessment.

activate different kinds of

knowledge/simply opening
up a textbook and having
students read is
ineffective/students can use
different strategies to
preview a textbook before
diving into the content, then
there are also ways to
analyze different parts of the
textbook without simply
reading it such as looking at
the visuals or key terms and
making meaning of it

-Mr. Reaf takes the class to

Chapter
the computer lab and tells
7:
his students that theyre
Strategies going to do a research
for
project on a famous figure
Reading
Primary
-Students are allowed to
and
pick anyone they choose as
Secondar long as they can find
y Sources primary and secondary
sources on them

Interpreting Primary Source

Documents:

-students are to be historians

who investigate pieces of
evidence to understand what
happened in the past

-Mr. Reaf explains to the class

that theyre going to look at
famous figures through a
research project, but before they
would do that, they had to
decide which kind of primary
sources they can trust

-Mr. Reaf first takes the class

-the students are given free

time to find documents of
their choosing and told to
write descriptions of all the
documents they find in their
research.

-students benefit from taking

time as a class to discern
important information about
primary sources with
examples and interpret their
meanings. Clear up any
unknown terms (Ogle et
al., 2007, p. 128).

through an analysis of FDRs A

Date Which Will Live In Infamy
speech about the attack on Pearl
Harbor. As a class they fill out a
graphic organizer that allows
them to discern the important
traits of a primary source such as
date, author, meaning, etc.

-it is also a benefit to

students to fill out a guided
practice on the primary
sources to discern the
important traits about it

-Then Mr. Reaf pulls up a few

different websites and discusses
with the class what makes some
websites credible, and what
makes others non-credible.

-be sure to note unusual

things about the document
such as perspective, tone,
etc.

-Following an analysis of
different websites and how to
analyze a primary source, Mr.
Reaf takes the class to the
computer lab and allows them to
start doing research, but for
every website they go to, it has
to be ones he has specifically
listed as credible, or they have to

Answering Document-Based
Questions:

-with big questions at the

forefront of their minds
historians work to glean
information about them from
primary sources

-historians use different

documents to answer these
questions

-use think-pair-share
strategies to as a class
interpret the document and
decide as a class if the
documents are important in
answering the big question

Evaluating Internet Sources:

write a short paragraph why a

website that they found is
credible.

-there are lots of things on

the internet, so you need to
discern whats important,
credible, and or relevant.

-Explain to students that

when they read information
in a textbook or a published
article, it has been
editedreviewed by
persons considered
authorities on the content. In
contrast, anyone can create
a Web site, and there is no
review by experts of what is
included (Ogle et al., 2007,
p. 138).

-make two columns and as a

class decide whether internet
sources go in the edited or
unedited columns to
determine validity of

different sites.

-then take the class through

understanding whether
sources are credible by
looking at different sponsors,
URLs, publishers, etc.

Chapter
8:
Strategies
for
Newspap
er and
Magazine
Literacy

-Mr. Reaf comes into class,

with handouts of a
newspaper article about
President Obamas new
health care plan. Mr. Reaf
instructs the students to
read the article, and then
asks questions about the
reading.

-KWL Chart: This pre and

post-reading routine will
better prepare students to
actively read a newspaper
article. Students will divide
paper into three columns:
What they know, what they
want to know, and what
theyve learned.

-Mr. Reaf informs the class that

they will be learning about
health care policies. In the PODS,
students will brainstorm what
they want to learn about health
care, in addition to anything they
might have heard about.

-Some students focused

more on the Ads and
pictures, instead of reading
and looking at the content

-KWL strategies can help

students engage actively in
preparing for reading (Ogle
et al., 2007, p.151).

-After each POD shares their

initial thoughts, teacher will
make a note of student
contributions, and then
emphasize aspects of the article
for students to look for

-Activity can create

discussion about what

-Once all the students read, Mr.

Reaf will ask specific questions

students perceptions on the

said topic could be, and then
can clarify any
misconceptions after the
reading
-Can also allow students to
sectionalize reading, and
have specific aspects of the
reading to look for

that will reinforce student

learning about health care