Use Essay Writing as a time to teach Social Studies! Teaching Social Studies Content Standards during your Reading and Writing block is effective for many reasons.
Implementing Social Studies instruction into your Reading and Writing block doesn’t need to be hard! Covering specific content required in your standards can be accomplished at the same time that you model instruction in Reading and Writing.
The dilemma:
It’s no surprise that content areas such as Social Studies and Science have become squeezed out of most instructional days. The impact of state assessments in Math and Reading are the main cause of this. Also other factors like time demands towards Reading and Math.
Educators are still required to cover content area standards and produce grades for students as well. Many educators find during report card time, they have multiple grades for Math and Reading, yet fewer grades for Social Studies, Science and Writing.
Now that Science is a state assessment and there are more Social Studies passages in the Reading and Writing assessments, it is important to implement content into your ELA block.
An answer:
Implement your Social Studies content into your Writing block as sources for your essay writing!
How to Make Teaching Social Studies in Essay Writing Work!
STEP 1:
Tip: Look closely at your Social Studies Curriculum and Standards. Make a list of the Strands/Topics you are expected to cover. Read about what exactly you are suppose to deliver instruction on.
As a 5th Grade ELA teacher, my partner and I share Social Studies instruction for our two homerooms. Even though I’m not responsible for Science instruction, the truth is the Science assessments are based on Reading Informational Standards with Science content. I then took a closer look at how I could use subject area content not only to teach with Reading Informational Standards, but as well as my Essay Writing Standards.
For example, here are the topics that are expected to be covered through the Social Studies Standards and Strands as a Fifth Grade Teacher in Florida:
- Geography
- Economics
- Civics and Government
- American History
For Example:
Economics students need to be exposed to the Market and International Economy. Specifically Early America, Native Americans and Colonial Trade and Early Inventions.
STEP 2:
Tip: Aside from what you are provided in the Social Studies curriculum in your building, research the content areas and make a running list of materials you can implement into your instruction.
Look in the 4 following places:
- Video Clips
- Virtual Field Trips
- Online Articles and Books in your Library
- Content covered in ReadWorks or Newsela
You main objective is to find informational sources to expose students to the content area you are focusing on.
Try to find 2-3 article based sources and then follow with multimedia sources to deepen student comprehension. The 2-3 article based sources make it similar to what students will see in state essay writing assessments. Multimedia sources allow you the opportunity to expose the content in a visual way while implementing more of the Reading Informational standards.
Based off of research and knowing that I am expected to teach Multi-Paragraph Essay Writing…
I started creating Essay Writing Sources for my students to use along with Opinion/Persuasive and Informational Essay Writing Prompts.
These Writing Resources are available now in my store:
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STEP 3:
Implementing Content Area in your Writing Block.
Once you have 2-3 sources [articles] to use in your Writing Block for your Essay you are ready to write about Social Studies content!
Tips to Implement for Essay Writing:
โฅCreate Prompts: You will want to create Informative and/or Opinion [Persuasive] Essay Writing prompts. Look at samples from your state assessment website to format prompts the same. This will help students to become familiar with the assessment format.
โฅSet a Purpose for Essay Writing Exercise: Give your students the Essential Question or an Objective when beginning a new piece of Essay Writing. What to you want students to comprehend when reading the sources. Explain to students how this will correlate with the Essay Writing task.
โฅUse a Color Coding Strategy for Planning the Essay:
Color Coding Strategy
Looking for FREE Essay Planning Pages? Grab yours HERE or by clicking below!
STEP 4:
Tip: It is really great to use the exact text/content in your Reading Block and Writing Block.
This allows for Repeated Readings. Repeated Readings is a strategy you can model for students demonstrating how to increase comprehension and it is a test taking strategy.
Teaching Reading Informational Standards:
โฅReading Sources:
When it comes to reading the sources implement close reading and main idea strategies. Begin with numbering paragraphs. Then students will read one paragraph at a time. During this time students code information according to the coding key created, followed by annotating in the margin the main idea from each paragraph.
After students complete the process in each paragraph from the first source, they then go back and re-read the source, followed by re-reading in order their one sentence main ideas. Using these close reading and main idea strategies deepen students comprehension of the text resulting in an awareness of the most important pieces of evidence to use when planning and writing their essay.
โฅPlan Ahead Each Nine Weeks:
Every year create a year long planning guide to utilize as a scope and sequence. It allows you to plan out the Social Studies content each nine weeks alongside the Reading Informational Standards.
So look at your calendar and ask yourself:
- What Reading Informational Standards am I covering this quarter or semester?
- What Social Studies or Science content am I covering this quarter or semester?
Once you have those answers, you can align your schedule to provide instruction of content areas through your ELA block.
โฅWarm Read Models:
In your Reading Block, introduce the Standard and Objective. Then use a familiar text, one of the 3 writing sources, as a warm read. A warm read, meaning you have already introduced this specific source during the writing block therefore students have already seen the text. Model the informational standard through the warm read of Social Studies content.
This allows students to practice new and repeated skills, strategies and standards in a comfortable text.
Try implementing Social Studies content into your Writing Block with this resource!
I hope this process of implementing content area standards into your Writing Block will be helpful during planning.
