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.

Inquiry, Skills, and Formative Assessment Through the "Inquiry Design Model"

Today's classrooms highlight far, far more than knowledge. Today's classrooms know that deeper thinking is critical, and classrooms based on learning facts do not prepare students for the world that they are entering. In 21st century classrooms, students need to apply knowledge skillfully and teachers need to formatively assess student work and classroom conversations to evaluate whether students grasp the skills of a discipline. Students also need to apply knowledge to demonstrate understanding of conceptual ideas. Conceptual ideas provide students with opportunities to transfer their learning to multiple contexts thereby making learning relevant to life. Teachers need to formatively assess student work and classroom conversations to evaluate whether students grasp the concepts of a discipline.

Given these goals, sometimes it seems that planning for daily learning has become so complex that it's almost unbearable. But...planning doesn't need to be unbearable if you focus on core elements of good learning. I believe that the Inquiry Design Model simplifies the planning process while also elevating... 

1) inquiry based on concepts,

2) the intentional use of quality resources,

3) discipline specific skills, and

4) focused formative assessment. 

I LOVE how this model avoids overprescription!

As you explore planning with the Inquiry Design Model, access some of their sample inquiries as models and consider the following ideas:

1. Inquiry involves the process of every student working to answer questions. How might teachers use questions to frame learning for students? What experiences will allow you to know whether students are able to answer the question using sources? (classroom conversation, writing to learn)
2. Good instruction involves using quality resources and texts. What is the best resource for your students? Are you exposing students to non-traditional texts (charts, graphs, maps, images, infographics, primary sources)? 
3. Good instruction involves students demonstrating skills. Some skills are applied during the reading/analysis of resource or text. Some skills are applied after students have extrapolated critical ideas from a resource or text. What skills are you looking for? Are you looking for students to demonstrate skills during their work with a resource or text? Are you looking for students to demonstrate skills after their work with a resource or text? What modeling do students need so they can successfully demonstrate skills?

Please share your thoughts:

Does this model simplify planning of social studies? 

Does this model honor conceptual thinking? 

Does this model honor skillful thinking? 

Does this model help you, the teacher, to focus on student application of skills and concepts?