Social Studies: Traditional Literacy and Visual Literacy

I'm an advocate for social studies because I believe that education involves preparing students to participate in our society. Too often, social studies is removed from the day for elementary students because of heightened emphasis on literacy and math. Due to this heightened emphasis on literacy (reading, writing, speaking, listening, and viewing), this is EXACTLY why Social Studies must remain within every student's day. Let me uncover this idea for you with a series of belief statements.

Belief Statement One:
Traditional literacy involves students learning the skills to acquire meaning from traditional texts. Traditional texts include those that are informational or fiction written with sentences or paragraphs. Students have specific goals in learning how to think about, fluently read, and comprehend traditional texts. If this takes place in a "reading block," then social studies is a content area where students transfer and reapply these skills in authentic ways. Teachers elevate the effective application of these skills in social studies but they also simultaneously focus on the content of social studies. The thinking that leads to understanding of social studies content is critical. View the image as a support for this belief.

Belief Statement Two:

21st century literacy should absolutely include traditional texts, but it MUST also include instruction in reading nontraditional texts. Nontraditional texts surround our students every day and if we leave these out of the learning process, then we are are leaving out a massive amount of sources that we use to acquire information. At the heart of best practice in social studies and science, students should be reading and analyzing charts, maps, graphs, primary sources, artifacts, media, and timelines. View the images and video supports for this belief.

Belief Statement Three:
We must use thinking routines that allow students to engage in "reading" nontraditional texts. Since "reading" nontraditional texts involves visual analysis, we must embrace the application of core critical thinking skills in more flexible ways and ask students to regularly apply them across the contents. View the following links for ideas related to thinking routines for analyzing nontraditional texts.

• See, Think, Wonder (from Making Thinking Visible)
• What do you see? What do you think about that? What does it make you wonder?
• Visual Thinking Strategy (from Visual Thinking Strategies)
• What’s going on in this picture? What makes you say that?   What more can you find?
• The 4 W’s (from Edutopia and Todd Finley)
• Chalk Talk - a silent, written conversation among students (from Making Thinking Visible)
• Crop-It for Paintings and Photographs (from Gilder Lehrman)
• Analysis Tools for Various Sources (from the Library of Congress)
• NYTimes Weekly Visual Analysis - a weekly image from the NYTimes related to current news

Belief Statement Four:
We must use social studies as a content where students engage with all the types of sources that exist in our world. Students apply thinking and acquire content through the reading of multiple sources. This involves the transfer and reapplication of skills with traditional texts and the elevation of thinking routines with nontraditional texts.

Establishing a Common Process for Analysis

Analysis is a complex skill.  Analysis balances the acquisition of content knowledge with critical thinking. Analysis is used to empower students as thinkers so they effectively develop deeper, more complex understanding.  Often, the skill of analysis is applied to a variety of sources (including charts, graphs, maps, or a myriad of primary sources).  As we create learning experiences that engage students in 21st century skills, analysis has the potential to elevate critical thinking and reasoning and information literacy.

To effectively apply this skill, students need opportunities to 1) see the skill modeled, 2) practice the skill with the class, 3) practice the skill with a peer, and 4) practice the skill independently.  Along the way, students need clear feedback that reinforces their effort and provides recognition. Students need direction that points them farther down their path towards independent analysis.

Jeffco's Critical Thinking Guide describes analysis as:

If we know that analysis is a complex process, and we know that complex processes must be broken down into smaller parts...then maybe it would be helpful to break down the process of analysis into smaller parts.  By creating a common process for analysis, we empower students to bring their own thinking to the process of analysis, which allows every learner to develop deeper understanding.  In the end, it's the thinking that matters.

A Sample Process for Analysis

View this sample process for analysis

Overall, teachers are encouraged to see this as a place to begin when analyzing different sources with students.  While this is presented as a linear process, students will find that independent practice involves all three steps often taking place at once. Using steps in the process is considered a scaffold until students "own" the skill of analysis. Over time, it's important to model and elevate the nuances of analysis to raise the level of rigor that we expect out of students. What ideas do you have about effective analysis? Please comment and share your thinking. 

• Additional Analytical Tools
• Library of Congress: Teacher's Guides and Analysis Tool
• iPad Apps - Explain Everything, EduCreate