Why can’t my students read their social studies texts?

Reading Strategies for 5-12 Educators

Aimee SigmonNorthview Middle School

Social Studies & ReadingWhat’s the connection?85 to 95 percent of the content addressed in social studies emerges from the textbookOther sources of information: Newspapers, supplemental handouts, atlases, encyclopedias, guest speakers, videos and films, field trips, and the World Wide WebCurriculum area driven by content coverageStudents must independently learn material—vehicle for knowledge acquisition is READINGDo students really understand what they are reading?Comprehending reading requires understanding of the context, key terms, and concepts, which is gained through experience.

Keys to ComprehensionBefore Reading

         Active engagement in the content Activation of prior knowledge or experience

During ReadingWhat are students doing to make

sense of the new information?What is being done to improve

understanding?After Reading

Reflection-I get it? How do I know? What do I do if I

didn't get it?Students need to know what to do when

they don't get itWhat do students do when they don’t understand?Draw upon reading strategies that they have learnedRequires skill in knowing what strategy to use, how to use it, when to use it, & why should I use this strategy

 

What are some reading comprehension strategies?  

Teacher Directed Strategies Student Centered Strategies

ABC Brainstorming Double entry notes

Graffiti or Carousel Brainstorm

5 W’s (Who, What, When, Where, & Why?)

Chapter Notes Vocabulary cards

Fact or Opinion? Pictures from the text

Prediction Charts Highlighting

Column Notes Summarization notes

Compare & Contrast Charts QAR (Question-Answer-Response)

Concept Definition Maps B-D-A strategy

Graphic Organizers K-W-L

History Frames Semantic Charts

Why is reading so hard in social studies?

Reading in history is different from reading in other content areas. It is unique to historical writing and requires readers to know the discipline and the skills of historical understanding.

Ways of Knowing & Understanding History

Processes of History Collection of Facts Organization of FactsInterpretation of Facts (key to historical investigation)

QuestionHypothesizeGeneralizeCross-examine

Before, During, & After Reading

Pre-reading StrategyStrategy 1: Establishing the purpose for reading. 

Everybody reads to find out…Everybody reads to figure out…

Strategy 2: Making connections to background knowledge. List, Group, Label Making Inferences

 

Before, During, & After Reading

During ReadingStrategy 3: Understanding the arrangement

of texts. Graphic Organizers

Strategy 4: Making connections between texts.

Charts, Venn Diagrams Making Inferences

 

Before, During, & After Reading

After Reading Strategy 5: Monitoring comprehension

through questioning. Questioning Socratic Dialogue or Seminar

Strategy 6: Synthesizing information across texts.

ABC Graffiti Making Inferences

ERT (everybody reads to...) **read article***Massey, D. & Heafner, T. (2004). Reading comprehension strategies for social studies. Journal of Adolescent and Adult  Literacy. 

Everybody reads to find out about before, during, and after reading strategies.

Everybody reads to figure out the differences between teacher techniques and student strategies.

ABC Graffiti: Alphabetizing Historical Concepts as a Building Block for Historical Understanding

 

Students brainstorm information from the reading, work collaboratively to synthesize this information in prose, and develop thesis statements about the reading to capture the key social studies concepts. This final step is a great jump-start for individual student writing. The process is outlined in the following steps:1.     Students read selected texts (including a variety of primary, secondary, and fictional texts), and then complete ABC Graffiti sheet individually. Students are expected to brainstorm concepts from the reading that begin with the letters of the alphabet. Ideas can be either a single word or a phrase. Students should not be allowed to use the text. Give students approximately 3 minutes to complete the task.2.     Organize students into four groups. Arrange groups in small circles that comprise a diamond or circular shape. This configuration will be helpful when rotating papers between groups. Groups collectively complete one ABC Graffiti sheet. This is completed in the same manner as #1, but the task is a collaborative effort. Give groups approximately 5 minutes to accomplish the task.3.     Collect ABC Graffiti sheets from each group and distribute them to another group. Once papers are distributed, each group continues the brainstorming process on another group’s ABC Graffiti sheet. Give groups approximately 5 minutes to accomplish the task.4.     Collect ABC Graffiti sheets from each group and distribute them to the third group. This time, however, students will be allowed to use the text to brainstorm concepts. Give groups approximately 10 minutes to accomplish the task.5.     Collect ABC Graffiti sheets from each group and distribute them to the fourth group. The task is different in this rotation. Groups will be asked to evaluate and synthesize the list of ABC concepts in a summary paragraph. The summary paragraph should integrate all concepts in an organized manner. Give groups approximately 15 minutes to accomplish the task.6.     Collect ABC Graffiti sheets from each group and distribute paper to the original group. Groups should synthesize the summary paragraph and write a thesis statement that describes the meaning of the concepts identified. Give groups approximately 10-15 minutes to accomplish the task.At the conclusion of this rotation, each group shares their summary paragraph and thesis statement. A brief discussion is conducted to highlight important concepts from the text. The discussion focuses on points identified in the summary paragraphs and thesis statements. Teachers may also require students to write individually about the text. The writing prompt will be the thesis statement that their group developed.

ABC Graffiti

Title of Text:

   

Topic:    

A   N

B   O

C   P

D   Q

E   R

F   S

G   T

H   U

I   V

J   W

K   X

L   Y

M   Z

 

Summary Paragraph:  

 

Topic Sentence:  

 

This website is a great resource for social studies educators! On this site you will find tons of printable graphic organizers and activities that fall into the before, during, and after reading strategy set up!

http://www.readingquest.org/strat/

Strategies for Interpreting Primary Documents

The great advantage of reading primary documents is being able to see the past through the eyes of different kinds of people who lived through the experience. This vantage point will enable you to begin formulating your own interpretation of history. Instead of passively absorbing an historian's interpretation of the past in a history book, you yourself become the historian.However, one of the perils in reading primary documents is that each such document amounts to only a very specific experience of the past, which is why historians scan many documents in order to find broader patterns that might explain what happened in the past. In reading any one primary document, therefore, it is important to pinpoint the specific perspective of the document's author, in order to determine both the extent and the limits to what that particular author and that particular document can reveal about the past. As you read a primary document, keep in mind the following questions:

Think aloud with students when using primary documents!

1. What is the author's point of view? What category of person is the author? In other words, what sex? What class? What race? Also, what group of people does the author belong to? For instance, what occupation? What religion? Does the author explicitly state any kind of identity, or is that identity implicitly assumed? Which parts of the author's identity are revealed, and which not?2. What is the author's agenda? What is the author trying to describe? What is the author hoping to accomplish? Is the author striving for positive changes, or worried about negative changes? Is the author focusing on realities -- the way they believe matters are in real life? Or on ideals -- the way they believe matters should be in theory?3. Who is included in the author's agenda, and who is excluded? Is the author concerned with their own category of person or group of people, or with another category or group? Who does the author imagine is responsible for positive changes? Who is responsible for negative changes? Who seems to hold power? Who seems not to? What kinds of power are under contest?

Model for Analysis

What is this document? When was it created?  Who wrote the document? Give the background of the author if known.  Who do you think was the intended audience?  What is the purpose of this document?  What words are not familiar to you? What do they mean?  Is any part of the document unclear? Why?   What is the most important information in this document?  Why is this document important?  Describe how you were able to analyze this document.

See the following link for worksheets that help students analyze different types of primary resources

including cartoons, photographs, sound bites,

journals, articles, etc.

http://www.learnnc.org/search?search_exact=National+Archives+and+Records+Administration&include_empty=0&media=document&advanced=1