Literacy and History in Action

Book excerpt: This book offers a solid research and theoretical foundation for combining social studies and literacy instruction. A collaboration between a literacy scholar, two classroom teachers, and a school librarian, this volume also shows teachers how to engage middle and high school students in historical inquiry that incorporates literacy skills like reading complex texts and writing elaborated arguments. The authors present extended simulation activities that immerse students in three eras of U.S. history: European incursions into North America, pre-Revolutionary War colonialism, and the Civil War and Reconstruction. These simulations allow learners to experience these major periods of U.S. history while they discuss, read, and write in ways that align closely with the Common Core State Standards. The final chapter guides teachers in constructing their own classroom simulations and identifies useful resources. Book Features: Guidance for integrating language arts and social studies in ways that align with the Common Core State Standards. Simulation activities that show learners actively engaged in inquiry involving collaboration, deliberation, debate, and critical judgments. Models for disciplinary literacy that rely on primary source texts and historical fiction. Examples of student work, website resources, and an online appendix with rubrics for teachers. “This terrific book helps teachers think about how to design instruction to provide an education across the curriculum that is provocative and stimulating, and that helps young people develop both the thinking and writing skills they will need to succeed in their persuasion. I love this book, and wish I were still in the classroom to use both its examples and its principles in my own planning.” —From the Foreword by Peter Smagorinsky, Distinguished Research Professor of English Education, College of Education, The University of Georgia