Which Came First: Literacy or Social Studies? How Primary Sources Can Bridge the Divide

Due to the implementation of No Child Left Behind and the Common Core State Standards, disciplinary literacy has become a vital component of social studies instruction in middle and secondary classrooms. This paper determines the degree to which nine middle and high school social studies teachers were successful in designing integrated learning experiences for their students after attending professional development. Data from semi-structured interviews, teachers’ instructional units, workshop surveys and field notes were collected and analyzed for the qualitative study. The study considers how teachers’ instructional units incorporated primary sources to support students’ foundational literacy skills, scaffolded disciplinary understanding, historical analysis, and highlighted community issues that connected their lived experiences to broader social concerns

Using Primary Sources in Content Areas to Increase Disciplinary Literacy Instruction

This paper describes how a three-day summer workshop on using primary sources helped teachers increase the emphasis placed on disciplinary literacy when teaching social studies and history. Two specific issues in teacher education and practice are addressed. First, increasing teachers’ content knowledge of history topics can help them plan lessons that connect local and global events. Second, content area reading requires literacy practices, which are unique to disciplines. Therefore, teachers need to apply historical inquiry and disciplinary literacy methods in the curriculum

Engaging Students in the Research Process: Comparing Approaches Used with Diverse Learners in Two Urban High School Classrooms

This paper describes instructional choices used by two high school teachers to engage students in the research process. Working with diverse learners in large urban high schools, the teachers used different approaches to support students’ through the research process. The teachers’ intentional teaching helped to engage students through structured and semi-structured explorations of real-world issues

Pre-Service Teachers’ Use of Multicultural Literature

This qualitative study examines how pre-service teachers in urban elementary classrooms develop student literacy with multicultural literature. By evaluating the action research reports of three pre-service teacher candidates, the authors determine how reading experiences with texts align to Bloom’s Taxonomy and expectations for Common Core State Standards. Findings indicate that multicultural literature engages students with authentic connections to learning. Results also show that teachers relied on guided questioning to measure reading comprehension, though the types of questions varied. The implications of this study for teachers to consider are: how to incorporate multicultural texts into the curriculum to encourage critical thinking, and the types of questions that promote text analysis