Building Literacy in Social Studies: Strategies for Improving Comprehension and Critical Thinking

by Donna Ogle, William L. McBride, Ron Klemp

Preparing students to be active, informed, literate citizens is one of the primary functions of public schools. But how can students become engaged citizens if they can't read, let alone understand, their social studies texts? What can educators—and social studies teachers in particular—do to help students develop the knowledge, skills, and motivation to become engaged in civic life? Building Literacy in Social Studies addresses this question by presenting both the underlying concepts and the research-based techniques that teachers can use to engage students and build the skills they need to become successful readers, critical thinkers, and active citizens. The authors provide targeted strategies—including teaching models, graphic organizers, and step-by-step instructions—for activities such as
* Building vocabulary,

* Developing textbook literacy skills,

* Interpreting primary and secondary sources,

* Applying critical thinking skills to newspapers and magazines, and

* Evaluating Internet sources.
Readers will also learn how to organize classrooms into models of democracy by creating learning communities that support literacy instruction, distribute authority, encourage cooperation, and increase accountability among students. Realistic scenarios depict a typical social studies teacher's experience before and after implementing the strategies in the classroom, showing their potential to make a significant difference in how students respond to instruction. By making literacy strategies a vital part of content-area instruction, teachers not only help students better understand their schoolwork but also open students' eyes to the power that informed and engaged people have to change the world.

Genres: Teaching, Nonfiction

218 pages, Paperback

First published April 15, 2007

Reviews

[Michael Loveless · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's hard for me to write a review of Building Literacy in Social Studies. The first half of the book is definitely five star material. The authors do a wonderful job of blending theory and practical application, giving social studies great ideas for helpful activities. The second half of the book gets away from the idea of teaching literacy and focuses more on teaching civic engagement. This material on civic engagement is very detailed and probably a little out of date. I would rate the last half of the book as a three at best. Even though only half of the book was what I was looking for, that half of the book was right on target - teaching literacy in a social studies classroom with practical ideas that can be used in a high school course. It's worth reading for any social studies teacher who wants to focus on helping kids to improve their reading.

[Nathan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was very disappointed by this book. First, it’s very dated. Though it’s only about 15 years old, there are a number of suggestions in it that don’t really fit in todays world (too much emphasis on newspapers and magazines and not enough emphasis on the internet is the most glaring). Beyond this, though, many of the chapters begin with a narrative classroom scenario in which a teacher acts in an ineffective way. Not bad in theory, but the guy is SO bad that it makes the suggestions for improvement feel condescending. This is my biggest issue with the book: many of the strategies suggested are VERY basic. (Teach your kids how to read a textbook! Put your kids in pods/pairs rather than straight rows! Show them an essay before asking them to write one!).

To be fair, there are absolutely teachers who need some of these things pointed out. I didn’t realize, though, that so much of the book would be taken up with basics.

I’ll also add that the second half of the book offers some genuinely helpful tools for understanding essays, political cartoons, bias, etc. even then, though, the format used to explain their use (1. Introducing the strategy, 2. Teaching the strategy of analyzing the political cartoon, 3. Learning the strategy, 4. Applying the strategy) assumes you’re an absolute beginner and breaks things down in painful detail.

There are certainly teachers who could benefit from this book. If you’ve been teaching since it was written, though, you’re probably waaaayyy beyond what 85% of this book suggests.

[Adam Gutschenritter · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is full of ideas and strategies that are of immediate use in the classroom. I am not saying that they don't need tweaking to your individual students or that all of them will be useful, but they are given complete with strategies and graphic organizers and instructions on how to teach them if that is what you need.

[Rikki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Going to use the lesson plan section as I need it...great book with tons of resources!

[Kathy McC · Rating 4 out of 5]

A textbook for a class I am teaching in the fall. It has a significant number of research based instructional ideas.

[Brett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wasn't what I was expecting but there are many ideas in here to try.