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__Area One __ Article Abstracts: Social Studies Instruction

Below are four articles which pertain to the integration of writing into the teaching of social studies.

1.Improving Writing Skills Through Social Studies Risinger, C. Frederick.(1987).[|Improving Writing Skills through Social Studies.]ERIC Digest No. 40.

In this article, Fred Risinger seeks to address the issue of deteriorating writing skills in our nations schools by looking at what role social studies instruction could play in correcting it. He addressees the issue head on with some disturbing statistics regarding illiteracy and then outline why writing in particular is so fundamental to the learning process. Risinger then details how writing requires knowledge and focuses thought and enhances critical thinking. He then looks at how writing can shift responsibility for learning from the teacher to the student in an example of taking ownership over work. Although the list could certainly be longer, this proves his point of how crucial writing is to social studies and the learning process. The article then goes into an assessment of which type of writing instruction is the most effective at developing a students literacy. The two approaches looked at are that pf a product oriented instruction or one that focuses more on process. After weighing the benefits and drawbacks of each, the author argues that with the process approach the teacher can more closely develop a student and still produce good final products. Some of the conclusions reached in this article include that even with a process approach to teaching writing, teachers must focus on the different stages of writing to develop it properly. The author also concludes that the development and implementation of assignments that challenge and stimulate students is ultimately the best way to improve writing through social studies. 2. Guidelines for Using Technology to Prepare Social Studies Teachers Mason, C., Berson, M., Diem, R., Hicks, D., Lee, J., & Dralle, T.(2000). [|Guidelines for Using Technology to Prepare Social Studies Teachers]. //Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education// [Online serial], //1// (1). Available: [| http://www.citejournal.org/vol1/iss1/currentissues/socialstudies/article1.htm]

The above article is one of many academic pieces that have been coming out of late, dealing with the promotion of technology integration in the classroom.What the article hopes to achieve is to familiarize teachers with the tools of technology and develop a constructive and symbiotic relationship between instruction and tech resources. The authors of this study state that teachers should strive to extend learning beyond what could be done without technology, introduce technology in context, include opportunities for students to study relationships among science, technology, and society, foster the development of the skills, knowledge and participation as good citizens in a democratic society and contribute to the research and evaluation of social studies and technology. If that is not an intimidating set of goals I don't know what is. Despite the authors high aspirations for technology integration, the rest of the article relates technology in a much more accessible way and open the readers eyes to the potential out there, especially in regards to history. Finding images of battlefields, virtual tours of historic site, you tube interviews, access to limitless original documents and just about anything one can imagine are available trough integrating technology into the classroom. The authors also stress that the power of technology can sometimes get out of control and that it is best deployed in context of a specific lesson and with guidance to the students. It is also noted that before any instruction can be effectively done, the teacher mus familiarize themselves and get comfortable with technology first. If this article achieves anything it is in making the usefulness of technology plainly apparent and peaking the interest of any social studies teacher to realize the dexterity of this resource.

3.Teaching Social Studies Authentically McKenzie, Jaimie. [|Teaching Social Studies Authentically]. The Educational Technology Journal.Vol 17|No 1|September 2007.

In "teaching social studies authentically", Jaimie McKenzie advocates for a unique and immersing form of social studies instruction. The article proposes changing the instruction of social studies into a more project based, interactive and participatory learning format where students are given real world social studies issues to address. For example, students will find a social issue that concerns them like hunger, or illiteracy, or pollution and then work to solve the issue. More than this though, they would be expected to join with experts in the field such as workers at a food bank, environmental officials, or government departments to gain expertise and be mentored into real world applications. The writing process would also be central to this, as students would be expected to produce useful and relevant materials such as a website, or advocacy letters to a newspaper exc to address the social issue of their choice. It is argued in the article that this type of learning will get students involved, have them take more ownership of their work and gain an appreciation of the importance of social studies. The focus on producing written "assets", is also crucial as it gets students familiar with the power of public writing and the impact it can have on political and social dialogue. 4. Teaching Secondary English Learners to Understand, Analyze, and Write Interpretive Essay About Theme” Olson, C., Land, R., Anselmi, T. & AuBchon, C. (2010).[| Teaching Secondary English Learners to Understand, Analyze, and Write Interpretive Essays about Theme.] Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 54(4), 245-256.

The article assigned focus on the teaching of advanced literacy to students who are learning English as a second language (ESL). The authors describe an experiment that was conducted over the course of seven years, in which a group of ESL students are given and taught a variety of cognitive strategies to employ while deciphering a text to identify the “thematic” undertones within. What the authors achieve in this study is proof that when ESL students are held to high expectations and are given the sufficient tools and instruction in cognitive strategies, they score better on both English writing and reading comprehension state exams. Furthermore, the evidence from this article supports the case for scaffolding ESL students into more difficult work that might have been seen as beyond their ability.

The section of this article that really helped me to gain a better understanding of content area learning was the focus placed on pre-reading strategies. The authors mention tapping prior knowledge before reading a text, establishing a purpose for reading and identifying what one hopes to gain and learn from a reading as essential pre-reading cognitive strategies. My first reaction to this, in light of the drastically improved test results, was to wonder where the line between scaffolding and coaching was drawn. That is to say, what do the authors recommend in terms of the teacher “walking through” the process with students? Do they suggest that the teacher coach the students directly on the subject matter or to scaffold them into the assignment through more self oriented cognitive strategies?

What struck out most for me as an educator was the wide variety of cognitive strategies discussed in the article. Many of the strategies were clearly ones that are part of the “natural” process of reading comprehension for any native English speaker, however, by putting them down in a logical and methodical format, the authors have provided an invaluable resource for ESL students and non-ESL students alike. I found their cognitive strategies for starting sentences in a writing assignment to be very innovative and useful. By identifying what type of sentence one is looking for, it can help greatly in turning thoughts into words and coherent essays. I would use this, and the eight cognitive strategies as a checklist for reading comprehension and establishing literary goals prior to reading a text. It wasn’t so much that any one particular strategy was completely revolutionary, but more that the authors had devised a valuable tool kit for literacy instruction that clearly produced results. __Area Two __ Web 2.0 Tools  For my Web 2,0 resource, I have chosen to take a look at the SUPER COOL map site MAP SKIP!!!. As an avid map enthusiast, my biggest difficulty was in narrowing down which map resource I liked best. Fortunately, MAP SKIP also appealed to my love of photography and storytelling as well. The way this resource works, is you can create your own maps by locating places in the world and uploading your own photo's, videos, music, exc, as well as provide a story to coincide with the location. As your map develops and you share your stories, you can connect with other users and look at theirs as well. In the above photo, I located many of the towns founded by United Empire Loyalist refugees during the 1780's. To accompany that, I included a small story and the date of their founding. What is great about this resource is that the potential is limitless. Students could relate lessons form geography, history, world issues, exc and this tool would be useful.



The above link will take you to a lesson plan devoted to the story of the United Empire Loyalists of the American Revolution. Our lesson focuses on who the United Empire Loyalists were, what their experiences of being refugees was like, and what impact their settlement had on the future of Canada.

Resource Page

[|Source #1] <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">This is a video/ audio book source that details the persecution of the United Empire Loyalists during and after the American Revolution. The author is W. Stewart Wallace and his book is "The United Empire Loyalists: A Chronicle of the Great Migration". The resource is a you tube audio recording of him reading chapter 13 form his book. This is an easy way for students and teachers to familiarize themselves with the topic and a really good insight into the topic.

__[|Source #2]__ <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">This is an article on the City of Hamilton website that talks about the statue dedicated to the United Empire Loyalists in the center of the city. The article explains the important role that the United Empire Loyalists played in founding the city an establishing a distinct British and Loyalist identity. If would be an interesting read for anybody studying the U.E.L. and would be a great resource for understanding the lasting impact that the migration had on the nation of Canada.

[|Source #3]

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">This is the source that was discovered on the "Thinkfinity" website. It is a collection of web quests which have the reader re-enact some of the decisions faced by individuals at the time of the Revolutionary War. What makes this such a fantastic resource is that is is so colorful, engaging, and interactive. The learning provide is also of high merit, as it lets you step into Revolutionary America and see for yourself the controversies that were gripping the nation. Since the entire United Empire Loyalist movement began in this hotbed of Revolutionary fervor that swept America in the 1770's, it would be a valuable addition to any lesson.

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