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I. Article Abstracts

Linking Interactive Writing with Social Studies; Mary F. Borba, Ed.D.

Borba, Mary F., "Linking Interactive Writing with Social Studies" Social Studies Review. Vol. 50 Issue 1. pp. 74-78.

A professor from California State University, Mary Borba has taught many teachers and up and coming teachers. In this article she attempts to bring the idea of using interactive writing in the Social Studies classroom. To do this she outlines the steps onto which the __#|teacher__ must follow to best allow for the learning process of the students. While stating that there is no right or wrong way to do interactive writing she does give the basic rules to follow. The first being a verbal discussion between the class and the __#|teacher__ in the room. The discussion should be focused around what the students should be writing, they should be used to extend the students knowledge of the subject. This part of the process is also helpful to the students by summarizing the content in which they are going to be writing. In the section of the article "Procedures for Interactive Writing" is where she begins to show the teachers the how she partakes in the process. The first being modeling, where the __#|teacher__ shows the students what is expected of them with a sample essay and the procedure to #|participate in the writing. The second step is that of the discussion stated above. The third is that of sharing the pen between students and #|teacher giving equal time between those participating to edit the work at hand. the next step follows a guide of how to explain and teach students how to spell words that they may not know. The fifth step discussed is teaching the student how to use proper grammar and formatting.

Social Studies Course from the Perspective of Students’ Learning Diaries; Omur Gurdogan Bayir, Tuba Cengelci

Bayir, Omu Gurdogan and Cengelci, Tuba, " Social Studies Course from the Perspective of Students' Learning Diaries". International Journal of Learning. Vol. 17 Issue 6. pp 131-143.

The authors of this article show the reader the use of learning diaries in a Social Studies classroom. In the article the authors explain the size and demographics of the class they studied along with how the data was collected. In the dairies of the students they were to reflect upon the lessons of the day/week. In the dairy students were able to reflect upon the emotions and the opinions that they had formed during the lesson. While assessing the diaries teachers were to look for the students experiences both in and out of the classroom in order to assess how well the students were retaining the information that the #|teacher had been trying to teach to the students. The students in return were able to reflect upon the information for the day, it was also used as an additional way to communicate between the teacher and the student. While the dairies themselves are not strong content writing it allowed for a place students to write down the information that they either knew well or which they needed to learn more in depth. Their findings also stated that student found the version of the course with this diary style communication between the student and teacher more enjoyable, interesting, and intriguing, providing a positive attitude towards the learning process and the teacher. The diaries also lead the authors to find the learning methods that the students enjoyed the most from games to Q and A. In the end the authors claim that the use of the informal style of writing the diaries provided benefited the classroom as whole and created a more enjoyable style of learning for the students and the teacher.

An Approach to Integrating Writing Skills into the Social Studies Classroom; Veronica M. Zagora

Zagora, Veronica M. "An Approach to Integrating Writing Skills into the Social Studies Classroom." Social Education. Vol 75. No. 1. pp 17-21.

The article is written to help teachers find ways to integrate writing into their classroom to help the students in the ever competitive world. In the article the author explains to the reader that Social Studies has taken a back seat to the other subjects in the form of standardized testing that many states now part take. She also explains to the reader that the quality of writing that her student were handing in was sub-par as best, and that students themselves would explain that few had proof read their works or even read the guidelines for the assignment that she had handed to them. Recreating her curriculum with the help of English teachers and other professionals she hoped to bring the writing standards up in the classroom. From the exit passes to skeleton building projects she used the same rubric used in the English classroom to grade the works. This gave students a set of rules and guidelines for them to refer to, and one that was already familiar to them as a student. The skeleton building assignments helped create the vocabulary the student needed to help with the test they needed to be prepared for as well as helping create a basis for them to draw from later. In the end the author tells the reader that it is up to the teacher to adapt the writings in the classroom to best help the students succeed in this ever competitive world.

Teaching Secondary English Learners to Understand, Analyze, and Write Interpretive Essays About Theme; Olson, C., Land, R., Anselmi, T. & AuBuchon, C.

Olson, C., Land, R., Anselmi, T. & AuBuchon, C., "Teaching Secondary English Learners to Understand, Analyze, and Write Interpretive Essays About Theme", Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, v.54, n.4, pp.245-256.

The authors of the study wished to determine how providing ELL students with procedural and conditional knowledge of cognitive practices would help increase their interpretive reading skills. Using students in California, the authors used different prompts with the ELL students in order to assess the reading and writing skills of the group of students. Giving examples of the prompts, the authors explain how they worked with the students. The prompts evidently seemed to build the confidence with the EEL students leading them to a growth as an English Learning student. From the test scores of the group of students the authors were able to base a conclusion that the ELL students could attain the level of literacy needed for them to succeed in and out of the classroom. II. Web 2.0

Here is a copy of our lesson plan given in class. Students were shown a short video clip to help provide a background to the days topic. After this the students were given an organizer to fill out while

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">doing a short reading. After the reading and the group work the class came together to share the answers that they had come up with and then as individuals the students wrote a hundred word or less

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">from the perspectve of one of the loyalist during this time period. The students were to put themselves in the shows of one of the refugees and explain how their lives changed during this time period of

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Canadian history. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> The Web 2.0 Tool I choose was the GoAnimate website. This website was actually fun to use, it allows the user to create short videos. The user must create an account, there are multiple versions of accounts that one can choose from. The free version allows the user to create a short two minute video with two characters in the scene. The user starts by choosing a template as shown in the the picture. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The user can either choose one of the many templates already created that range from Manga style cartoons to more abstract versions such as animals or zombies. From here the user can insert dialog between the characters of the video segment they are creating. The dialog can be up to ten dialog boxes on a free account, limiting the amount of information one can put into the video, however, enough time to give the user enough space to put an idea into the heads of the students they wish to convey. The flow of creating a video does not even need a long tutorial for the step by step directions are given along the way of creating the video.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> In the short video that I created I chose to use the pirate template because of how close it may have come to looking like a refugee from New York City, while not exact it would be able to give the message of how one may have looked during the time period. In the short video I created I gave a refugee talking to a crew mate on the ship giving reasons as to why she was fleeing to the safety of the wilderness of Canada.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">While the videos will be short a teacher would have a lot of fun creating short videos to introduce subjects or even concepts to a class of younger students. The robot style voices may set older students off from being able to grasp the concepts trying to be conveyed. I am sure that with the upgraded versions of the accounts a teacher would have more freedom of creativity to design better and longer videos for students to watch, and possible help eliminate the robot style voices. CreatMy seing videos will also help teachers in saving time trying to find credible or even videos that are appropriate for viewing in a classroom setting.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I.II. Resources

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">My first resource is from Thinkfinity. The lesson plan looks at Smithsonian, a women who was loyal to the Crown during the American Revolution. While the lesson we did looks at the Loyalist from the view of those to went to Canada this lesson uses a narrative of the woman and other documents to help describe the actions of those who went to England following the war. The lesson does involve the use of a computer so it may be possible for the teacher to to the narrative part in class with the students and do print outs for the other parts or possibly sign a computer lab out for a couple of days for the students to work.

Thinkfinity

My second resource is that of the United Empire Loyalist website. The website gives the history of the Loyalist, and a modern look in to what they stand for today. The website also gives resources such as publications that the group has put out during their history. The resources also include a list of Reenactments that the group does today. The website even has a portion specifically labeled to be used for educational purposes.

[|UELAC]

My third resource is a thinkquest. The think quest comes from Oracle ThinkQuest, the title is Traitors, Seamstresses, and Generals; Voices of the American Revolution: Voices for the King. The thinkquest explores the less heard of side of the loyalist during the American Revolution. While giving a different look into the subject from the American side of the conflict, the ideals are of the same sense as those given in the lesson plan we did as a group. It would be a great resource for teaching similar lessons here in the States.

ThinkQuest