social studies -- you

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social studies -- youll need our help!Argument
writing in history and social studies

• Mark Stout, Coordinator of Advanced Programs
  Secondary Social Studies
• ELA Retreat -- October 5, 2011

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Goals

• Develop an awareness of recent developments in
  best practices for history and social studies
• Increase understanding about the natural
  connections between Language Arts and Social
  Studies
• See examples of how social studies teachers are
  implementing argument writing and engaging
  students with complex text.

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History and Social Studies

• Take a moment at your tables and generate 2 or 3
  buzzwords typically associated with history and
  social studies instruction.
• Feel free to be brutally honest!

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Going, going,...

• Giving notes from powerpoint presentations...
• This is important, write this down...
• Read pages 56-67 in your textbook and answer...
• Complete the worksheet...

...OK, not gone, but a lot less prevalent.
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New History Instruction

• Based on research about how students understand
  history and read historical documents
• Research is primarily from fields of History
  Education (Wineburg, VanSledright, Levstik,
  Barton), and Reading/Language Arts Education
  (Guthrie, Afflerback, Torney-Purta)
• Students show interest and learn history best
  when it is taught as an investigative process --
  like the practices of real historians

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New History Instruction

• Research coincided with the introduction of
  Teaching American History Grants
• Has influenced both instruction and instructional
  materials unlike any other movement in social
  studies

Students read and analyze primary and secondary
sources to develop interpretations of historical
events, and then conduct evidence-based
argumentative writing to support their
conclusions.
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Social Studies is primarily the application of
language arts and critical thinking skills to
specific concepts and content
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Historical Thinking Skills

• Sourcing (Who?, When?, Bias?)
• Contextualizing (Imaging, Historical or Cultural
  Context)
• Corroborating (Cross-Checking, Evidence
  Triangulation)
• Close Reading (Critical Reading, Tone, Language
  Usage)

Reading Like a Historian Stanford History
Education Group
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What is History?

• Accounts/narratives different depending on
  perspective
• We rely on evidence to construct account of the
  past
• We must question the reliability of evidence
• Any single piece of evidence is insufficient
• We must use multiple sources to build a plausible
  account

Reading Like a Historian Stanford History
Education Group
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Sourcing

• Who wrote this?
• What is the authors point of view?
• Why was it written?
• When was it written?
• Is the source believable?

Reading Like a Historian Stanford History
Education Group
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Contextualizing

• What else was going on?
• What was it like to live in this time?
• What things were different?...the same?
• What would it look like to see this event through
  the eyes of someone who lived back then?

Reading Like a Historian Stanford History
Education Group
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Corroboration

• What do other pieces of evidence say?
• Am I finding the same information everywhere?
• Am I finding different versions? Why?
• Where else could I look to find out about this?
• What evidence is most believable?

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Close Reading

• What claims does the author make?
• What evidence does the author use to support
  those claims?
• How is this document supposed to make me feel?
• What words of phrases does the author use to
  convince me?
• What information does the author leave out?

Reading Like a Historian Stanford History
Education Group
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Comparing Sources

• Conduct a close reading of the two textbook
  excerpts about the Boston Massacre
• In what ways do the authors attempt to influence
  the reader?
• Which source would you consider more reliable?
  Why?
• Are textbooks reliable sources?

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Argument Writing Quick Cards
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What do we think this looks like in social
studies?
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Instructional Support Materials

• At your tables, examine the instructional
  materials
• What kinds of skills are students expected to
  demonstrate?
• Describe how these materials support the
  systemwide initiative of argument writing

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Historical Investigations, DBQs, History Labs

• Essential Question
• Use Historical Thinking Skills to Examine,
  Evaluate, Analyze, and Interpret Sources
• Develop a claim based on the evaluation of
  evidence
• Support claim with evidence from sources
• Address counterclaims with evidence from sources

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Questions and Comments...