Writing in Social Studies

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Writing in Social Studies

• By Sara Svajgl

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How Does Writing in Social Studies Enhance
Learning?

• Writing requires knowledge and thought from the
  student and while they are engulfed in writing
  they do not only express knowledge, but they also
  discover knowledge. When students write they
  develop the ability to make well-informed
  decisions, they tend to act responsibly, and
  writing enhances critical thinking. When
  students write it shifts the responsibility for
  learning from the teacher to the student. When
  students have the ability to write they feel a
  sense of achievement. When a writing assignment
  is designed correctly the students are not only
  required to gain knowledge, but they must
  determine what knowledge to retain, which to
  discard, and how to present it. Writing can tend
  to lead to more questions and to the discovery of
  connections between people, events, and ideas.
  Lessons that require writing can contribute
  greatly to the success of the student.

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What is the Approach to Teach Writing in Social
Studies?

• One of the most talked about issues in writing
  today are whether to focus on the finished
  product or to emphasize the process of writing.
  In the Social Studies content area many teachers
  focus on the process of writing and they tend to
  get great results. When applying the writing
  process it does not ignore the final written
  product because it still determines the students
  achievement. Although when using the process of
  writing approach, especially in Social Studies it
  indicates the awareness of the linkage between
  writing, thinking, and learning. The use of
  writing as a way of learning is based on research
  dating back to the 1970s. That examined the
  common steps of successful writers. They are
  broken down into five steps. These steps are
  the prewriting stage which is the brainstorming
  step, next is the drafting or actual writing
  stage and here is where the student begins to
  write knowing that this is a tentative copy. The
  third step is the revising stage and this is
  where the student makes changes in both the
  content and the structure. The fourth step the
  editing stage and in this stage the student will
  review the document in light of the decisions
  made during the prewriting stage. The last and
  final step is the publishing or presentation
  stage in this stage the student will present a
  final copy.

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Which Approach Works the Best?

• Studies show that there was not a big difference
  between the essays written by students where the
  teacher focused more on the final product and
  those who focused more on the writing process.
  However, the study did find that students who
  used the process of writing elements are more
  likely to be better writers. Students are more
  likely to acquire higher order thinking skills
  when using the writing process. However, the
  tangible goal of student writing in Social
  Studies is to demonstrate knowledge and
  understanding of history.

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Who is the Disabled Reader?

• Most experts believe that any child whose reading
  level is two or more grade levels below grade
  placement should be classified as disabled.
  Students who are reading below their grade level
  are overwhelmed with long reading assignments,
  definitions, questions, and research reports
  often required in the social studies class.
  Special instruction through resource programs
  frequently centers around basic skills, so that
  poor readers are additionally handicapped by lack
  of exposure to the academic, study, and library
  skills necessary to survive in the classroom.

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What Are the Needs of the Disabled Reader?

• Some of these students may have difficulty
  following directions because of their short
  attention span and vocabulary deficits. The
  teacher should be clear when giving directions.
  Writing in Social Studies is characterized by
  main idea, fact versus opinion, and variations in
  reading rate. This style of writing can become a
  problem for disabled readers, who need
  instruction to develop these skills. Sequence of
  events and cause and effect are often visible in
  a social studies materials as in charts or
  timelines. The teacher should make an effort to
  draw attention to and explain the information in
  the graphs. The distinguishing of fact from
  opinion is a critical reading skill, one that is
  closely related to social studies. Although a
  higher form of comprehension, the separation of
  fact from opinion can be taught to even a poor
  reader, though the use of direct instruction.
  Some reading problems occur when learners bring
  insufficient background knowledge to the reading.
  The richer the background brought to the reading
  by readers, the better their ability to integrate
  new information from the printed page with the
  information acquired through prior experiences.
  Students who lack adequate background in content
  and language, like disabled readers, do not
  comprehend as well as other readers.

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Strategies to Use to Teach a Disabled Student

• Instruction in study skills can boost the poor
  readers achievement and increase self-esteem.
  The teacher can introduce an assignment by
  reading the title and then asking the students to
  hypothesize what it may be about. Students can
  look at the material and record any difficult
  words and find their meanings. Also since visual
  note taking uses both the left and right side of
  the brain, the chances for recall are greater,
  and students feel a sense of accomplishment that
  merely reading a section does not provide.
  Remember that when teaching all students have a
  different learning style and there are many ways
  to teach the same content. If the main teaching
  strategy used is the text book then the disabled
  reader will suffer. Use a variety of methods to
  teach the same material. You can use taped
  records of written material, interviews, class
  discussions, and organization of information in
  charts or graphs.

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Writing in the Social Studies Classroom

• To incorporate writing into a lesson so students
  would develop a higher-level of thinking skills,
  Blooms Taxonomy is a great way to instill
  higher-level thinking skills. Students must
  first recall information, then comprehend,
  restate, or summarize, next they will apply
  facts, rules, and principles, then they are to
  analyze their information, next the students will
  use synthesis which is to take the combination of
  ideas to form a new whole idea, and finally
  students will evaluate their information. A goal
  of is to increase thinking. If students are
  given the chance and the background to think on
  higher-levels they will succeed and benefit
  greatly. A teacher in South Dakota performed a
  nine week lesson of writing for her social
  studies class. Instead of test, the students
  were given a writing assignment. At the
  beginning she had mixed feelings from her
  students, some liked the idea and others did not.
  When the nine weeks ended most of the students
  realized that the writing skills they learned
  would be useful to them in the future. More
  importantly, students felt they had actually
  learned something in this nine week time period.
  One concern the teacher had with this program was
  the evaluation part. She has the students help
  with revision, but she graded very leniently
  because she did not want to discourage the
  students. Social Studies teachers need to
  incorporate writing into their lesson because it
  does help the students comprehend and learn.

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Writing in Social Studies is Our Business

• Many social studies teachers are reluctant to
  incorporate writing assignments into their
  curriculums. A report prepared by the College
  Board of New York stated Although literature,
  language, and composition may be the special
  province of English, competence in writing for
  example pertains to all academic disciplines.
  Thus, skill in writing should be developed in
  other subjects as well as English. The skill of
  writing in all disciplines does not only fall
  onto the English teacher. Teachers in math,
  science, social studies, etc. must also help
  teach the art of thinking critically through
  writing. To assist students with using
  higher-level thinking skills the teacher can use
  Blooms Taxonomy technique with their students.
  Using Blooms Taxonomy is an excellent way for
  students to see the connections between writing
  and thinking. Some social studies teachers may
  be concerned on how to integrate writing into
  their curriculum. The educator must incorporate
  writing into their classroom with creativity, or
  it will become a nightmare. Planning an
  effective good writing task is challenging, but
  well worth the time.

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What Has Been Found About Good Instruction

• Teachers of the social studies content that tie
  writing into their program of instruction promote
  learning because writing develops higher-order
  thinking and promotes better understanding of the
  content. Professor Herbert Applebee of Stanford
  University conducted a research on writing in the
  classroom. He found his research was consistent
  with the notion that writing activities
  contribute to the development of higher-order
  thinking and lead to a better understanding.
  Social Studies educators have produced a number
  of experimentally based literature justifying and
  applying writing as an instructional tool in
  teaching social studies. This theory gives at
  least three important benefits for students. The
  first benefit is that writing stimulates
  higher-order thinking as students gather
  evaluate, select or discard, organize, relate
  facts, concepts, and generalization in the fact
  of composing. The second benefit is that of the
  manipulation of data comes a realization of new
  relationships, new insight and new knowledge.
  Finally, the third benefit is students must
  grapple with the effects of point of view, both
  the writers, and the readers. By doing this they
  come to better appreciate the role of the
  perspective in creating and interpreting. By
  using writing to help students learn the content
  and thinking skills necessary for the reasoning
  and learning tasks required in social studies.
  Henry Giroux

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Teacher Notes Writing in Social Studies

• Writing in the social studies area is very
  similar to other types of expository writing.
  However, there are some ways in which this type
  of writing differs form essays for other
  subjects. The biggest difference is that, in
  social studies, you must support your statements
  with specific information taken from charts,
  graphs, photos, text, maps, etc. that provide or
  support a thesis or research question. In
  addition to writing book reports, book reviews,
  persuasive essays, and research papers, there are
  two specific types of essays in social studies
  and they are Thematic Essays and Document Based
  Questions. It is vital to keep in mind that
  writing in the social studies content is viewed
  in light of teaching expository writing in
  general.

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Activities to Enhance Writing in Social Studies

• To incorporate writing into the Social Studies
  curriculum you can add fun and rewarding learning
  activities into your lesson. Some examples are a
  Tribal Fact Book, designing a War Propaganda,
  creating a Bill of Rights for a make believe
  country, interviewing and researching a Famous
  Historical Person. These are just a few examples
  you could try to bring some fun writing
  assignments into your classroom.

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Tribal Fact Book

• To begin this activity you will need to break
  your students into groups. In these groups they
  will pick a Native American tribe and they will
  together research information on the tribe for
  their fact book.

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Materials Needed for the Tribal Fact Book

• Research material (books, internet, magazines)
• Examples of Tribal Fact Books
• Construction Paper
• Crayons, Markers, Map Colors
• Glue/Tape
• Scissors
• Hole Puncher
• String/Yarn

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How to Construct the Tribal Fact Book

• The teacher will discuss with the class facts and
  information on Native American tribes. The
  students will then be divided into their groups
  and together they will choose a Native American
  tribe to research. At this time the teacher will
  show examples of fact books to give the students
  an idea on what is expected of them. The class
  will be given one class session for research in
  the library and the teacher will assist the
  students on where to find their information and
  encourage several sources. The role of the
  teacher is to assist the students in the creation
  of their fact books.

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Rubric for the Tribal Fact Book Activity

• Students will be graded on
• 1. Creativity
• 2. Neatness
• 3. Use of Resources
• 4. Historical Facts
• 5. Use of Pictures and Drawings
• 6. Following Directions

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Creating a War Propaganda

• To start this activity the teacher will begin by
  introducing the students to propaganda posters
  used in past. After there is a clear
  understanding of a propaganda poster students
  will design their own propaganda poster.

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Materials Needed for Creating a War Propaganda

• Poster board
• Paints and brushes
• Colors/markers
• Examples of propaganda posters

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How to Construct a War Propaganda Poster

• Students will work individually on this project.
  The teacher will point out to the students the
  issues that were faced during war time to help
  students with ideas for their poster. The
  teacher will assist the students in the creation
  of their propaganda posters. When the class has
  completed the posters they will present them to
  the class.

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Rubric for the Propaganda Poster

• Students will be graded on
• Creativity
• Neatness
• Use of Pictures and Drawings
• Following Directions
• Presentation of the Poster to the class

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Creating a Bill of Rights

• To begin this activity the teacher will explain
  and teach the students the Bill of Rights of the
  United States of America. Students will need to
  understand the history and make up of the Bill of
  Rights to begin this activity. Students will
  design and write a Bill of Rights for a make
  believe country in groups. This activity is to
  help students realize the problems that were
  faced by our Founding Fathers. Also this
  activity is to see what rights the students feel
  are important.

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Materials Needed for the Creation of the Bill of
Rights

• Poster Board
• Markers
• Colors
• Tape
• Copy of the United States Bill of Rights

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How to Construct the Creation of the Bill of
Rights

• Students will be divided into groups. The
  teacher will inform the groups that they are a
  new country and they must create a Bill of Rights
  for that beginning country. The students are
  given thirty minutes to create a new country, the
  Bill of Rights, and a flag. When time is up they
  will present to the class their creations and
  tape their final project to the wall. The
  teacher will assist the students in the creation
  of their countries and their Bill of Rights.

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Rubric for the Creation of the Bill of Rights

• Students will be graded on
• Creativity
• Neatness
• Working well with the Group
• Presentation
• Participation

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Interviewing and Researching Famous Historical
People

• To begin this activity students will be put into
  groups. They will pick an important person from
  the past and they will have one week to put
  together a script of life of this person. This
  activity is to help students learn about
  important people of history. This gives students
  a new way to learn and it is a fun activity.

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Materials Needed for the Research and
Interviewing of a Famous Historical Person

• Researching tools (books, internet, magazines)
• Props
• Paper

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How to Construct the Research and Interviewing of
a Historical Famous Person

• The students are put into groups and are given
  one week to organize and present the life of a
  historical famous person. The students will work
  together and decide what famous person they will
  research. Once they have decided the teacher
  will approve the selection and the group will
  begin to research and write a script that
  persons life. The students will be given one
  day in the library for research and will be
  encouraged to use several sources. When they
  have completed the assignment they will turn in a
  script and act out for the class on the life of
  the historical famous person. The teacher will
  approve the topic of research and assist the
  students in the creation of their script on the
  historical famous person.

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Rubric for Research and Interview of a Historical
Famous Person

• Students will be graded on
• Creativity
• Participation
• Following Directions
• Script
• 5. Entertainment

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Annotative Bibliography

• ERIC. (1987). Improving Writing Skills through
  Social Studies. ERIC Digests No. 40.
• http//www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digest
  s/ed285829.html
• This site was created by the Educational
  Resources Information Center. This site
  discusses recent research on the linkage between
  writing and learning, successful approaches to
  teaching writing, and suggestions for including
  and effective writing component in the social
  studies curriculum.
• ERIC. (1990). Social Studies and the Disabled
  Reader.
• http//www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digest
  s/ed322080.html
• This site was created by the Educational
  Resources Information Center. This site
  discusses who the disabled reader is, what the
  special needs of the disabled reader are, and
  what strategies are used to teach social studies
  to disabled readers.
• Griffin, K. (1997). Writing in the Social
  Studies Classroom.
• http//www.ncte.org/pdfs/members-only
  /vm/0042-april97/vm0042Writing .pdf
• This site is a personal web page emphasizing
  writing in the social studies classroom. It
  lists many ideas on topics related to social
  studies. With each idea there was a description
  about the assignment and feedback from the
  students. This is a useful site and the teacher
  described in detail how to conduct the classroom.

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Annotative Bibliography

• Anderson, R. (2002). Writing in Social Studies
  It is our Business.
• http//bhhs.sheridank12.net/public_html/randerson/
  why_does_writing_in_the_so.htm
• This is a personal web page dedicated to
  writing in social studies. It addresses the
  importance of writing in social studies
  classrooms and provides suggestions for writing
  activities in social studies. It also contains
  links to other sites containing information and
  rubric about critical thinking strategies such
  as Blooms Taxonomy. I found this site to be
  very useful and valid.
• Maryland State Department of Education. (1988).
  What Have We Learned About Good Instruction.
• http//www.mdk12.org/insrtuction/success_mspap/gen
  eral/projectbetter/social/ss-63-64.html
• This site was created by the Maryland State
  Department of Education. It discusses the
  benefits of writing across the content areas,
  especially social studies. This site also
  discusses the research done that shows the
  benefits to writing in the content areas and also
  how writing stimulates critical thinking skills.
• City School District of Albany, New York. (2002).
  Teacher Notes Writing in Social Studies.
• http//www.ahs.albany.k12.ny.us/AHS/depts/library/
  writing_manual(pdf)/HS20Writing20Manual(pdf)/SEC
  T20520Social20Studies/3notes20to20teacher.pdf
  .
• This site was created by the city school
  district of Albany, New York. It discusses the
  similar types of expository writing. I found
  this site to be very informative and useful for a
  social studies teacher.

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Annotative Bibliography

• EdScope, L.L.C. (1996). Tribal Fact Book.
• http//www.lessonplanspage.com/ssArtLANativeAmer_T
  ribalFactBook56.htm
• This site was very useful in finding new and
  fun ways to improve students writing skills
  through social studies. This lesson plan
  explained in detail how to conduct this lesson to
  a social studies classroom.
• OFCN Academy Curricular Exchange. (2000).
  Creating A Bill of Rights.
• http//ofcn.org/cyber.serv/academy/ace/soc/cecsst.
  cecsst214.html.
• This lesson is very educational and rewarding.
  It explains in detail what is expected of the
  students, the materials needed, and how to
  conduct the class. In my opinion this is a very
  good activity to incorporate writing into a
  social studies classroom.

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Annotative Bibliography

• CanTeach. (1996). Creating War Propaganda.
• http//www.canteach.ca/elementary/wsoccult6.html
• This lesson is very creative and educational.
  With this assignment students can have fun while
  having writing incorporated into a lesson. This
  site gives you what is expected from the
  students, materials needed, and how to conduct
  the class. This lesson will be fun and
  rewarding.
• TeachersNet. (1997). 269 Famous Historical
  People.
• http//www.teachers.net/lessons/posts/269.html
• This lesson, in my opinion is very fun and
  effective. The lesson is explained very well on
  how to conduct the class in this activity.

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THE END