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WritingSkillsintheSocialStudiesclassroom

ThemainargumentofthisarticleisthatSocialStudiescanbeusedtohelpstudents
improvetheirwriting.Whiletheyimprovetheirwritingtheyalsoincreasetheirknowledgeofthe
SocialStudiesconcept.Thearticlediscusses4differentstrategiesincluding:tweeting,sending
historicalemails,usingpicturesasprompts,andexpressivewritingafterreadingdescriptive
articles.Thisgivesstudentstheopportunitytolearnsomethingtheyprobablyarenotfamiliar
with(theSocialStudiescontent)bypairingitwiththingstheyarefamiliarwith(Twitterand
emails).
Theusetweetsallowsforstudentstoshowwhattheyknowwithoutfeelingthepressure.
Studentsmustcomeupwithtweetsaboutspecificpeopleorevents,andsometimestheycanbe
inresponsetootherpeoplestweets.Sincetweetscanonlybe140characters,studentslearnhow
toexpressthemselveswithoutaddinglotsofunnecessaryfluff.Comprisingtweetsalsoallows
studentstoexpresstheircreativity.Althoughstudentsarenotwritingmuch,tweetsstillgivethe
teacherinsightintowhatthestudentsknowandunderstandabouthistoricalfiguresorevents.
Writingemailsissomethingmoststudentsnowadaysarefamiliarwithorshouldbe
familiarwith.Studentscanwriteemailsinvitingpeopletocometoaneventthatwillbe
happening,asiftheyareakeyfigureinthetimetheyarestudying.Theycanalsosendemails
thatgiveupdatesaboutwhathasbeengoingonintheirworld.Somethingthatrequiresadeeper
thinkingishavingstudentswriteemailsthatoffersolutionsfortheproblemsthatmaybe
occurringduringthetimeperiod.Emailscouldevenbeusedtoprovidesomesortofexplanation.
Emailsallowstudentstoassumenewidentitieswhileshowingtheinformationtheyhavelearned
andunderstand.
Studentscanwriteaboutvisualimagestheyhaveseen.Somestudentslearnvisually,so
thiswillreachthosestudents.Photographsandpaintingsofspecificpeopleandeventscanoften
evokeagreatersenseofunderstandingwhathasoccurred.Usingphotographsasprompts
requiresstudentstoapplywhattheyhavelearnedwhilegivingthemthefreedomtoexpresstheir
emotionsandthoughtstowardtheimage.
Inordertohelpstudentsincreasetheirvocabulary,youcangivethemdescriptivearticles.
Givethemarticlesaboutthecontentoftheclassandhavethemcompilealistofwordsofwhich
theydonotknowthemeaning.Thisallowsstudentstolearnthecontentwhiledevelopinga
deepervocabulary.
Thisarticleisfoundinamagazinecateredtoteachingmiddleschool,buttheseconcepts
canstillbeappliedtohighschoolclassrooms,suchastheseniorsIamwithrightnow.Thesame
activitiescanbedonewithhighschoolers,buttheremustbeanexpectationofdeeperthinking.
Whilewritingskillsaredevelopedmoresoinmiddleschoolthanhighschool,itisstillpossible
andnecessaryforstudentstodeveloptheirwritingskillsthroughouttheirentireeducation.

CreatingHistoricalFictionandAnalyzingDocuments
Thisarticlefurtherdiscussestheideaofusingimagesaswritingprompts.Afterplacing
animageinfrontofstudents,yougivethemaseriesofquestionstoanswer.Usuallyyouwould
showstudentsanimageaftertheyhadlearnedsomethingaboutthetimeperiodoreventitwould
represent.Theparticularphotographusedwasofaboy,andthewritingassignmentassociated
withthepicturewastowriteastoryabouttheboy.Theimportantpartwasthatithadtobe
historicallyaccurate.Thisassignmentallowsstudentstoexpresswhattheyknow,buttheyalso
gettobecreativeaboutit.Itisnotjustsomeessaywheretheyregurgitatealltheyknowabouta
subject.Theactivitywaspossibleevenforstudentsonthelowestreadinglevel.Thisactivity
allowsstudentstoanalyzeahistoricaldocumentwhiledrawingtheirown,educated,conclusions.
Again,thisactivityismeantformiddleschoolstudents,butitcanstillbemodifiedfor
highschoolers.InOxfordthestudentshavelaptops,soIcouldhavemystudentsfindtheirown
photographsandwriteastorybehindthem.Itisstillimportantforhighschoolstudentstobeable
toanalyzesources,sothisactivitywouldbeappropriateforthem.Themainthingforthis
assignmentwouldbethatstudentsshouldproducehigherqualityworkthanmiddleschool
studentswould.ThereisalargenationalpushforliteracyratestoincreaseintheUnitedStates,
sothisactivityemphasizestheimportanceofbeingabletowrite.ThestudentsIhavewillbein
collegeinayear,soitisimportantforthemtobeabletoanalyzesourcesontheirownandto
writewellstructuredtexts.

DailyLessonPlan
Yourdailyplansshouldincludethefollowing:
Day:1(ResearchintoPractice)
Objectives:
MississippiSocialStudiesFrameworks
UnitedStatesGovernment2a.
AnalyzeArticleIoftheConstitutionasitrelatestothe
legislativebranch,includingeligibilityforofficeandlengthsoftermsofrepresentativesand
senatorselectiontoofficetherolesoftheHouseandSenateinimpeachmentproceedingsthe
roleofthevicepresidenttheenumeratedlegislativepowersandtheprocessbywhichabill
becomesalaw.(DOK2)
CCSS.ELALITERACY.RH.1112.4
Determinethemeaningofwordsandphrasesastheyareusedinatext,includinganalyzinghow
anauthorusesandrefinesthemeaningofakeytermoverthecourseofatext(e.g.,howMadison
defines
faction
in
Federalist
No.10).

Materials:

Laptopswithaccesstotheinternet
Accesstotheironlinetextbook

Opening(Set):
TodaywewillbereadingthroughArticleIoftheConstitution.
DoesanyoneknowwhatArticleIdiscusses?TheLegislativeBranch

LearningTasks(Procedures):
1. DirectstudentstotheConstitutionintheironlinetextbook.
2. HavethestudentsreadthroughArticleI.
3. Whiletheyarereading,havethemcreateaGoogleDocwheretheymakealistofwords
ofwhichtheydontknowthemeaning.
4. Aftertheyhavefinishedreading,studentsshouldfindthedefinitionstothewordstheydo
notunderstand.
5. Oncestudentshavefinishedreadinganddefining(thisshouldtakeroughly20minutes),
tellthestudentstheywillbemakingtwitteraccountsforoneoftheframersofthe
Constitution.Theycanpickwhichframertheycreatetheaccountfor.
6. StudentsdonothaveaccesstoTwitterwhileatschool,sotheywillcreateaGoogleDoc
insteadthattheywilluseasaTwitter.
7. InthisGoogleDoctheymustincludeaprofilepicture,acoverphoto,andatleast5posts
theFramermighthavepostedifhewerelivetweetingthecreationofArticleIofthe
Constitution.Oneofthesepostsmustbeapicturewithashortcaption.
8. Postscannotbelongerthantheusual140characterlimitofTwitter.

Closure:
AftercreatingtheirTwitterPage,studentswillwrite(inthesameDoc)aonepageexplanation
ofwhytheychosetheirprofilepictureandcoverphotoaswellasprovideanyfurther
explanationtheyfindnecessarytojustifytheirposts.


EachstudentwillsharetheirGoogleDocswith
mkjones@go.olemiss.edu
.Thiscanbeturnedin
upuntilthestartofclasstomorrowassomestudentswillneedmoretimetoresearchandput
theirpagestogether.

ThisactivityshouldhavegivenstudentsinsightintowhattheyFramersmayhaveexperienced
whilewritingtheConstitution.

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