Using informational text
Solving the problem, how to make the students become better writers and find a voice of their own, must be connected with the district’s charge to cover a huge amount of American history in an exploratory form between September and June. Whatever I do to improve writing must include content from American history; but fortunately, history provides vocabulary, themes, topics, and relevance for spurring student ideas. The content can produce issues for debate and argument (should Jefferson have bought Louisiana); the students can agree or disagree with ‘great decisions’ (Is the Monroe Doctrine really a great idea); or rationales for slogans and ideas (Manifest Destiny and Remember the Alamo); or perhaps students can ponder the “what would have happened if” questions -- if we’d lost the revolution, if the South had won at Gettysburg, if Kennedy hadn’t died? Students might even see a connection between something from the past and their present circumstances: “freedom of speech” wasn’t invented yesterday, and “bombs bursting in air” actually makes sense if you know about the War of 1812. I don’t think I am alone in thinking that content-based material (i.e. informational material) can actually be interesting to young adolescents.
What is the research? Informational text in a broad sense includes charts, graphs, photographs and diagrams as well as nonfiction material and textbooks (Hoyt, 121). These are the stuff that history classes are made of. “The fact that middle school readers enjoy nonfiction books has been documented in studies for years…it is still one of the best kept secrets in education.” (Carter, 314) Middle school readers do enjoy nonfiction. I remember a day in the early part of the year when the class was reading a chapter on education in the early colonies (Globe-Fearon, 138). During the reading, we paused and talked about some of the main ideas: creation of public schools in Massachusetts, the spread of ‘dame schools’ for girls, and the publication of The
New England Primer.
Students wanted to read more of
The New England Primer
verses (“In Adam’s fall, we sinned all. Thy life to mend this book attend
”
) and asked to print out a longer version from the Internet.1 Students also wanted to finish the textbook chapter before the class period ended because a portrait of an unfamiliar gentleman on the last page (The
Great Awakening
preacher Jonathan Edwards) looked so stern and grim that they wanted to know “who is that man” and “what is his problem?” I have no doubt that writing can be taught through social studies -- students are engaged in the material.
Addressing the Connecticut Academic Performance Test (CAPT)
Insofar as I have created my niche -- that social studies and writing can be linked -- I must deal with another district requirement: the CAPT.2
To increase the stress level for teachers and students alike (and even for administrators who perhaps worry the most), in the 10th grade, the students, along with every other 10th grader in the state of Connecticut, will take the Connecticut Academic Performance Test (CAPT). The CAPT is a state mandated high school assessment for academic achievement in mathematics, science, literature and interdisciplinary writing. Passing the CAPT in all areas will be a requirement for high school graduation beginning with the testing of the 2006 graduating class during their sophomore year. But preparing for the CAPT, just like drilling students for mastery level scores on the CMT (The Connecticut Mastery Tests), falls on the shoulders of all teachers, even back to kindergarten teachers whose students begin the journey to think critically -- as much as six year olds can think critically -- and make connections in studying their neighborhoods and families in the “All About Me” curriculum.
The Social Studies curriculum in the 8th grade is equally connected with the interdisciplinary test of the CAPT albeit on a higher level than captioning pictures students have drawn of the family dog.
Writing, at each K--8 level, is a key ingredient. “The most effective preparation for this test is to design and align curriculum to meet the demands of the test and to integrate the strategies into daily practice” (CAPT Handbook, vii). The strategies help students to use critical thinking skills as well as text analysis, reader response, and expository, narrative, and persuasive writing techniques. Students, as we know from our kindergarteners and my 8th graders, can begin to practice these skills long before the high school teachers hand them their practice booklets. Certainly by the 8th grade, students should be writing narrative and expository paragraphs and essays. At this point however, my students aren’t accustomed to writing about an historical idea or a theme in a cogent paragraph, nor are they even remotely ready to write several paragraphs in a three page CAPT essay of the same style. I might as well ask them to drive my car around the block. They’d crash because they don’t know what they’re doing.
I want my 8th grade students to be successful in high school. When they come back to visit -- and they do -- I want to hear that they are doing just fine. ‘Just fine’ should mean that students aren’t overwhelmed by high school and that they have shown their teachers that they know how to write what they think and think carefully about what they write.
Integrating technology into the classroom
Technology looms large. I am fortunate to have a classroom with six computers, a printer and scanner and a T1 line for a reliable Internet connection (as long as the main office isn’t uploading attendance records to the downtown database.) I have been personally interested in computers and have been playing with them from the Kaypro days (this is the early 1980’s before Bill Gates). In other words, I enjoy exploring technology and its uses and I keep pushing the hardware and software into the classroom (and into my dining room where the computer and all of its fallout spreads everywhere).
Computers are a great motivator. Suggest to a student sprawled on his elbow tapping a pencil that he can work on his paragraph at the computer, and he’ll fly by with book in hand to the bright blue screen. In a classroom with six computers, like mine, it is possible to rotate the students at the computers with a learning center approach -- like moving a team through the batting roster. Short of staying after school, or sending kids off to the library or to the computer lab to type (not something teachers really want to do -- send students off on missions throughout the building), the learning center plan gets everyone in front of the computer -- eventually. Eventually, because if your classroom has twenty-six students, it will take five class sessions to complete one rotation. But the system still works. Students won’t be printing out anything ‘final’ from their first visit to the computer station -- but they will have a draft to work on while at their desks for the next few days.
Once these logistics are conquered -- the computer groups are identified, the tasks charted, the directions and schedule for the week clearly posted -- you are free to integrate a variety of software tools or Internet and CD resources into the lesson. I encourage students to use Inspiration® software when they are brainstorming ideas or webbing a first draft.3 PowerPoint® is a creative way for students to work on topic sentences, vocabulary, organizing ideas: students have so much fun pulling the slides together that they forget it’s ‘class work’. Word processing is a standard now in many classrooms -- we use Microsoft Word® -- most teachers will acknowledge that students like to type at the computer and see their words becoming ‘nice looking’ text. The spelling and grammar checks relieve anxiety, much as calculators save (or prevent) students from learning multiplication tables in math.
For the teacher on the ‘cutting edge’, which is a misnomer really since teachers are always on the front line -- of discipline, of management, of teaching strategies, of good lessons -- the classroom web page4 is an easy way to use technology to carve out teaching time for students who need direct attention. The simply designed yet clear web page can step in to provide the essential but seemingly endless ‘question answering’ that students require and put the onus of finding out what to do squarely back in the hands of the student, albeit at the keyboard. I preview websites and post URLs on our web page whenever we embark on a new research project. I upload worksheets and directions for assignments so that students can print out papers when they lose them, and we all know they will. Not many parents in our school have access to the Internet, but in the future, and for those who do have computer connections, parents can check in to see what’s going on in social studies.
All the web sites used in this unit are referenced in the notes. Web sites come and go and so I have included the date on which I accessed the sites. If the sites are no longer available, type in a keyword in any good search engine and you should be able to find another site that serves the same purpose.
Modifications for learning levels
When I was a student teacher years ago, I worked in a middle-school inclusion classroom (a classroom where students with IEP’s -- Individualized Education Programs -- are part of the regular classroom setting.) I was mentored by the head inclusion teacher who worked (she worked and I watched every move) in the classroom with a team that also included a paraprofessional. I learned from this wonderful and gifted teacher that any lesson that is modified to elicit ‘success’ and understanding from a student, is a modification that almost every student can benefit from. I write my lessons with her advice in mind -- and regard ‘modifying lessons’ as equivalent to ‘developing a successful lesson’ for all students.
Adjustments for student levels also happen in the amount of work required or in my assessment of each student’s accomplishments based on expectations. Students often have the option to work with partners on a more challenging assignment. I use rubrics and performance tasks in assessments and evaluations so that students will have clear expectations of what is required and will have a chance to show their understanding of new material through practice rather than through memory recall oriented testing.
Objectives and Strategies
Pre-writing objectives
These objectives present the basic skills that I teach in social studies. Pre-writing could also mean objectives for reading in the content area since reading and writing go hand in hand.
Students will connect prior knowledge to informational texts.
We read together from the Social Studies text or from selected outside readings (including cartoons from the period and short biographies of relevant individuals) that I copy and print for the students. We always talk about what we read paragraph by paragraph and try to connect the information with something familiar from the students’ lives or something happening currently in the news or society.
Students will predict outcomes based on reading of informational texts
Probably my most repeated phrase, in one form or another, is “What do you think will happen next?” Because history is a story, students can come up with many possible ‘endings’ to an event we’ve been reading about. We gather the possibilities, and then read the appropriate text looking for the answer. Students pay attention and sometimes high five each other if they predicted the outcome!
Students will acquire new vocabulary
Hearkening back to my daughter’s second grade experience, I have borrowed the idea to have students keep a stenographer’s notebook, alphabetized with tabs, for vocabulary. Students add new words -- with correct spelling and definitions -- as they wish. Social studies is filled with new and interesting words: students pick up their notebooks when they enter class and file them in the bin when they leave. Words are added every day. These word lists will be useful resources when students begin to write.
Students will identify main ideas and details
and take effective notes
I once attended a workshop on reading strategies and was introduced to the beauty of two-column notes. Sometimes called split-column notes, this format helps students organize notes into main ideas and details, causes and effects, or key terms and definitions. Draw a line or fold the paper in half vertically, put the heading at the top of each column, and work through the text with the students until they can tackle this style of note taking on their own. Review student notes in class -- sometimes the differences in what students identify as important enriches the note taking for the entire group and opens up some great discussions.
I begin the year working with students to identify main ideas and details -- there can be more than one detail for any paragraph. Students learn to look for key ideas (sometimes clearly the topic sentences) and restate this information in their own words for the notes. Open-note tests (essay format) motivate students to do a good job -- which means writing clearly and gathering enough correct information for the notes to be useful.
Expository writing objectives
These objectives represent a shift from what I have been doing previously in my classes to lessons that integrate instruction in writing. I will pay more attention to the elements of an expository essay and use informational text and primary sources as models.
Students will identify and write effective topic sentences
Searching for main ideas and topic sentences in two-column notes leads into modeling these source sentences for topic sentences in a student’s own writing. Good topic sentences that the classes have identified will be posted around the room as guides; there are several worksheets commercially available to use as drills -- students selecting the best topic sentences -- or even better, students can develop their own worksheets and exchange them, or I can develop topic sentence drills from the current history topic and ask students to select the best sentence and explain why.
I will point out the elements of a good topic sentence regularly as we read -- we come across both good and bad examples in our social studies text. Students will ‘rewrite’ topic sentences using their two-column notes; students can practice sentence construction with a DO-NOW activity when they first enter the classroom -- I will post a subject-related topic on the board for a 3 minute quick--write; the class can share some of the sentences.
Students will identify and write effective conclusions
Good conclusions are difficult to develop -- luckily the textbook we use in New Haven (Globe-Fearon) ends each chapter with a concluding paragraph that serves as a good model of a conclusion. As a class we will ‘dissect’ these conclusions to identify what the writers did. We will also look at conclusions in other texts such as speeches -- the
Gettysburg Address
comes to mind.
Students will incorporate supporting evidence into written arguments
The groundwork for learning how to gather details has been laid with the two-column notes. When we practice writing paragraphs on a particular topic, students can use their notes as guides. It should help to motivate students to include enough details in their notes if I remind them, “You MUST use four facts from your notes in your paragraphs!” The difficulty then arises in motivating students to connect a position -- an opinion or an interpretation -- with their facts so that they can prove the point.
In beginning this kind of writing, the
Three Little Pigs
will come in handy (or any familiar story). We will write a class paragraph on why the last brother pig was the wisest of them all -- the students know the facts and we can pull it all together to prove a point. Because this is 8th grade (and so silly that the middle-schoolers don’t want to be caught here for long) the practice should move quickly and students will be happy (relieved) to sink their teeth into a better topic. Convincing our principal to hold a school dance should produce lists of supporting evidence that we can pick from to work into a detailed paragraph. Next step? Shifting to a topic in history.
Students will develop essential questions
Essential questions are also called guiding questions and usually when restated, become thesis statements. Student essays often ramble, like shoppers at a flea market, picking up items here and setting them down over there. Their paragraphs have no thread to tie them together -- no reason to be out there shopping on a Saturday morning -- no theme that makes good sense of all the facts.
Working on finding a theme, an essential question, will be much easier if I’ve been asking these kinds of questions throughout the year. Instead of, “Did the colonists oppose British taxation without representation?” (Which begs for a yes or no answer happily given by most students), I need to remember to ask, “How does the phrase ‘no taxation without representation’ show the colonist’s opposition to the British?” I try to avoid yes or no response questions, and questions that require list-like answers (name Columbus’ three ships). Questions that require students to ‘create’ answers out of facts and supported opinions (“Why do you think Columbus asked Isabella and Ferdinand to pay for three ships instead of two for his voyage?”) always produce a response that shows some thinking.
Students will take a critical stance on an essential question
Whether the guiding question comes from me or is developed by the student about a particular topic, the answer must show some original thinking based on facts. A critical stance implies a weighted consideration of the answer. (At the flea market it means avoiding impulse buying: what’s good about the brass lamp with the bird finial? What are its drawbacks? Does the floor lamp really go well with everything else in my purple bedroom? Can I afford it and fit it into my parent’s car? Will my parents even let me put it into their car?)
Like the quick purchase, a weak essay doesn’t show that the writer has thought about what he wants to say for very long. Teaching students to take the extra minutes to map out a response -- perhaps web their ideas or at least jot down notes -- will help them see the essay, like the lamp, in a larger context, and respond to it more critically.
Students will develop ideas in a written text in a logical order
An outline, a web, a timeline or a fact line, topics and subtopics, Inspiration or PowerPoint -- I will require students to map out their essay before they grab the pencil, erasable pen, or computer keyboard. The organizational drafts students develop will be handed in along with writing assignments.
Students will incorporate new vocabulary into their writing
Students can use their vocabulary notebooks whenever they write; the classroom has a thesaurus, as do the computers. For each essay or writing task I will identify -- on a secret list to be revealed at the conclusion of the assignment -- a few bonus words drawn from our week’s reading or discussion, and any student who uses the words in the writing activity will receive extra points or some sort of prize. (This idea is reminiscent of Pee Wee Herman’s “Word of the Day” on his old Saturday morning show -- Pee Wee would scream and yell and blow whistles every time someone said the special word.)
Students will edit and revise their writing
Sometimes the students peer edit; also, students will hand in first drafts of longer assignments that can always be rewritten; shorter writing pieces will be graded and corrected. (I.e., the grammar and spelling mistakes are highlighted but not corrected: students who find and correct the errors and return the assignment can raise a grade.)
I think I will return to an older grading format I once used that gave separate content grades and grammar grades. Students’ ideas can get full credit even if their grammar needs improvement.
Students will use parts of speech correctly
I am not a language arts teacher but I want to teach my students to diagram sentences. There are some excellent web sites that review the old technique -- the same rules apply as Sister Miriam taught me in 7th grade English many years ago.5 In social studies I will develop sentences that review something the class is studying, and students can diagram them as a DO NOW activity. We will review the answers going over parts of speech as well as content. For example, “The self-educated (
adjectives
) Andrew Jackson (
proper noun
) courageously (
adverb
) led (
verb
) the rag-tag (
adjective
) army (
object-noun
) into (
preposition
) the murky (
adjectives
) swamps (
noun
) of the bayous (
prepositional phrase
).”
Students will share their writing with a peer audience
Students will peer edit; students will read their essays to the class; essays will be posted around the room, and some essays will be reprinted in our monthly newsletter and/or posted on the class web page.
Students will use a rubric to evaluate their work
Students will use a rubric for longer projects. They will receive a ‘working copy’ that serves as a guide for the assignment itself. I break the tasks into smaller chunks and assign a point value -- usually 1 to 10 points. Students can ‘grade’ themselves on each portion and total all the elements for a final sum that can be translated into a letter grade.
American History content objectives
The following are the content and skill objectives for the period of American History covered in the unit.
Students will understand the importance of presidential decisions in American History
Students will read about and discuss the decisions of Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, and Andrew Jackson.
Students will compare and contrast opposing viewpoints
Students will analyze the opposing attitudes towards the War of 1812; the rationale for and criticism of the Trail of Tears; the impact of westward expansion on settlers and on Native Americans.
Students will connect American society in the 21st century with influences from the past
Students will understand that our present political system with stronger political parties, nominating conventions, and concern for extending the right to vote to more Americans grew out of Jacksonian Democracy.
Students will identify key terms, persons and ideas in American History during the period of nation formation after the American Revolution
Students will study new vocabulary, new concepts (nationalism, isolationism, progress, Manifest Destiny, the frontier), as well as learn about the people involved in these events.
Information Literacy objectives
Because the students will be using software programs and the Internet during the unit, I have included Information Literacy objectives.
Students will use Internet research strategies to acquire supporting evidence for their writing
Students will use Inspiration® software to develop webs and other graphic organizers for their writing
Students will use PowerPoint® to illustrate main ideas
Students will use word processing software to create a final draft of a written work