Future of History / Writing in Social Studies
by Sarah Cooper · Published 02/10/2020 · Last modified 03/23/2020
Writing a letter to a politician is about as “civic” an assignment as we can do within our classroom walls, and it feels so relevant in our polarized political climate. After 3 years of tweaking her project, teacher Sarah Cooper shares tips to boost the response rate.
Students need more writing support than we can possibly offer them, writes literacy consultant Lynne R. Dorfman. Peer conferences are a safe, supportive structure that will help writers grow in their problem-solving capacity while experiencing the joy of collaboration.
Jimmy Casas’ book Culturize shows how educators can positively impact their school culture and climate by making student needs the top priority. We can all help, writes teacher and aspiring school leader Reid Heller, by putting the book’s principles to work.
While infographics can be engaging, students may not access the content in a way that leads to deeper understanding. Using NASA images, literacy consultant Sunday Cummins shares four ways to help readers create pathways for sticky learning from this type of resource.
“Imperative means the same thing as important, so why can’t we just say important?” asked Adele, a student in Lauren Brown’s US history class. How do we help kids learn the academic vocabulary they need to enrich writing and deepen understanding? Brown means to find out.
Looking for more ways to have your kids “speak” to real audiences beyond your classroom? NBCT Marilyn Pryle, the 2019-20 Pennsylvania TOY, describes how she added community displays and a Vocaroo/QR code strategy to one of her major ELA projects. Student handout included!
The narrow “alphabetic” definition of writing found in many school classrooms actively disengages youth, says literacy author Shawna Coppola. Students simply prefer to compose using forms that incorporate visual, aural, and multimodal texts as a way to make or enhance meaning.
Today’s educators have a plethora of technology at their fingertips. A.J. Juliani’s Intentional Innovation can guide them to make intentional choices for their classrooms, writes consultant Anne Anderson. She suggests the book for a faculty book study.
To be the education leaders our society needs, operational expertise and pedagogical know-how are necessary but not enough, says author and mentor principal Toni Faddis. It’s by walking our ethical line and adhering to core values that we’ll achieve our school missions.
This term Mary Tarashuk’s 4th graders will be ranging through time and cultures to expand their grasp of what the world is like beyond their suburban lives. She intends to help her future citizens, and herself, become more historically, racially, and culturally literate.
