SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW, LITERACY IS THE CLUE

Josie Henderson

Kara Klokis

Leah Nickerson

CHALLENGES STUDENTS ENCOUNTER…

Unfamiliar vocabulary presented in textbooks and other classroom resources.

Difficulties reading expository, non fiction texts and understanding the structure and style of writing in these texts.

Lack of background knowledge.

Lack of effective strategies to cope with challenging reading material.

These factors cause an overall lack of comprehension in what students read in different content areas,

particularly history.

HOW TO ENGAGE THEM

Utilize teaching strategies that accommodate all learning styles Teaching students content-area literacy (different

strategies for different subject areas) Teaching students about comprehension strategies Utilizing primary documents (links on handout) Incorporate historical fiction books (books that are

relevant to students; something they can relate to.) Letting students CHOOSE from a selection of books

Tableau Role-playing, re-enactments

“The literacy needs of adolescents for success in history classrooms vary based largely on the teacher's philosophies of the purposes of history instruction and on the texts and activities they

use” (Nokes, 2010).

Have you used one of these strategies or activities (or something similar) in your classroom? How did it go?

What are your thoughts on content area literacy?

RESEARCH FINDINGS:“Apparently, strong early reading skills do not automatically

develop into more complex skills that enable students to deal with the specialized and sophisticated reading of literature, science,

history, and mathematics (Perle et al., 2005). Most students need explicit teaching of sophisticated genres, specialized language conventions, disciplinary norms of precision and accuracy, and higher-level interpretive processes” (Shanahan & Shanahan).

“That is, there are differences in how the disciplines create, disseminate, and evaluate knowledge, and these differences are

instantiated in their use of language (Shanahan & Shanahan).

In short:

In a history class, text is looked at and analyzed in a different way than it is in other subject

areas.

Basic Literacy

Intermediate Literacy

Disciplinary Literacy

RESEARCH FINDINGS:

“Several studies have found that secondary students do not instinctively engage in historical reasoning with any level of

sophistication (Nokes, Dole, & Hacker, 2007; Stahl, Hynd, Britton, McNish, & Bosquet, 1996;

Wineburg, 1991). Instead, students process novels and textbooks as they do letters and

journal entries by collecting facts and ignoring or becoming frustrated by contradictions (Stahl et

al., 1996; Wineburg, 1991)” (Nokes, 2010).

RESEARCH FINDINGS:

“The common elements of successful efforts to help students read like historians include:

frequent opportunities for students to work with multiple historical texts, consistent exposure to primary source documents, regular explicit

or implicit instruction on historians' heuristics, opportunities to construct

independent interpretations of the evidence, and infrequent but appropriate use of the

textbook” (Nokes, 2010).

RESEARCH FINDINGS:“The historians, on the other hand, emphasized paying attention to the author or source when reading any text. That is, before reading, they

would consider who the authors of the texts were and what their biases might be”

(Shanahan & Shanahan).

Historians were “keenly aware that they were reading an interpretation of historical events and not ‘Truth’ (Shanahan &

Shanahan).

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON CONTENT AREA LITERACY? IMPORTANT OR NOT?

HOW COULD YOU INCORPORATE CONTENT AREA LITERACY INTO YOUR CLASSROOM?

FINDING PRIMARY SOURCES

- www.archives.gov- www.loc.gov- www.docsteach.org

The national archives site includes activities for students to help them learn how to navigate the site in order to find what they need.

CHOICE READING

“I require my students to read forty books during their time in my sixth grade classroom, and year

after year, my students reach or surpass this reading goal.”

- Donalyn Miller

“On those rare opportunities when I allowed my students to choose their own books, their interest in

completing assignments was sparked”.

“Instead of teaching books, I taught comprehension strategies and literary elements that students could

apply to a wide range of texts.”

Activities for the History Classroom!

THE “NAME GAME”

How to Play: Tape a notecard to each student’s back with a

person, place or thing related to what is being taught. Have students walk around, looking at each others’

cards. Students ask each other yes or no questions to figure

out what person, place or thing is on their card.

English 7.1: Communication USI.6C: Famous Individuals in the American Revolution

describing key events and the roles of key individuals in the American Revolution, with emphasis on George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Patrick Henry;

YOU’RE THE EXPERT!

Annie, Between the States, by L.M. Elliot-Use the ideas, phrases, locations, items, etc. mentioned in the text to come up with topics from the time period. Assign students to be the “expert” on the topic of their choosing. They can present their findings to the class, answer questions and help the class and themselves better understand what is being taught. - Examples of topics:

- Uses for horses during the Civil War- Clothing of the time period- History/ fun facts about Warrenton (setting of the book)- First Battle of Bull Run

English 7.1: CommunicationVS.7 a: identifying the events and differences between northern and southern states that divided Virginians and led to secession, war, and the creation of West Virginia;

GLOGSTERWWW.GLOGSTER.COM Mixed text, audio, video, images, graphics and more are used to create 21st century collages.

CREATE YOUR OWN VERSION

Directions: Write your own story to go along with the illustrations in Henry Cole’s Unspoken. Think about what we have learned about slavery, the Underground Railroad, and the Civil War.

USI.9 a &f: Civil War 1861-1865

a) describing the cultural, economic, and constitutional issues that divided the nationf) describing the effects of war from the perspectives of Union and Confederate soldiers (including African American soldiers), women, and enslaved African Americans.

CREATE YOUR OWN ENDING TO THE STORY!

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ACTIVE PARTICIPATION!

REFERENCES

http://www.educ.ualberta.ca/css/Css_39_2/ARFielding_engaging_students.htm

www.doe.Virginia.gov

www.archives.org

www.loc.org

www.docsteach.org