Which Came First: Literacy or Social Studies? How Primary Sources Can Bridge the Divide

Elise Langan,Salika Lawrence

doi:10.14305/jn.19440413.2021.13.3.01

Abstract

Due to the implementation of No Child Left Behind and the Common Core State Standards, disciplinary literacy has become a vital component of social studies instruction in middle and secondary classrooms. This paper determines the degree to which nine middle and high school social studies teachers were successful in designing integrated learning experiences for their students after attending professional development. Data from semi-structured interviews, teachers’ instructional units, workshop surveys and field notes were collected and analyzed for the qualitative study. The study considers how teachers’ instructional units incorporated primary sources to support students’ foundational literacy skills, scaffolded disciplinary understanding, historical analysis, and highlighted community issues that connected their lived experiences to broader social concerns.

Highlights

Background and ContextWe designed and implemented a grant-funded professional development project called, “New York City as a Living Museum,” which was created to expand the awareness and use of local primary sources and enhance in-service teachers’ ability to bridge content, use close reading strategies, and employ effective pedagogy
We argue that social studies teachers can help students become critical thinkers by using primary sources as springboards for civic engagement, increased literacy, and inquiry
Instead of a disciplinary literacy approach where students engage in authentic research by analyzing and questioning primary sources in social studies, emphasis is placed on content-area reading practices such as making connections, understanding text structure, and the use of techniques such as lists, group labels, and graphic organizers (Massey & Heafner, 2004)

Summary

Review of the Literature

Before the Common Core State Standards, more than seventy-five percent of reading in early grades was fiction (Duke & Bennett-Armistead, 2003). Instead of a disciplinary literacy approach where students engage in authentic research by analyzing and questioning primary sources in social studies, emphasis is placed on content-area reading practices such as making connections, understanding text structure, and the use of techniques such as lists, group labels, and graphic organizers (Massey & Heafner, 2004). These content-area practices are valuable to content literacy development, broader goals for writing proficiency rely on the student’s ability to ask questions (writing arguments, analyzing and interpreting sources, and writing commentaries that help to contextualize historical and contemporary events, conducting a critique or evaluation, etc.). In classrooms that utilize these practices, students engage in inquiry grounded in local, authentic issues

Background and Context

Boroughs of New York City

Methods

Conclusion