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Reading Rockets says writing is a complex process that requires a wide range of skills, and that it may be one of the most difficult things students are asked to do. Edweek says that writing can be supported first by making sure inquiry is included in lessons. Writing prompts should be able to generate discussion, be open ended, demand critical analysis of text, and extend beyond opinion into claims and argumentation. Edutopia says that practice makes perfect, to be cliché, and writing exercises should be done weekly. I plan on incorporating writing into lessons several days a week, if not every day.

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Writing is so incredibly important to social science. I'd say my discipline is second only to language arts in degree of importance. Writing is how we communicate, how we share our analyses and accounts. Writing is how we argue our interpretations of events. Social science can be done verbally and visually but it is most accessible in writing. Why study history or sociology or geography if our findings cannot be shared with our community?

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Writing a full analytical essay can be just as difficult for ELLs as it can be for any student fluent in English. Colorin Colorado suggests providing alternate writing assignments. Alternate assignments still allow students to practice their writing skills while still being less difficult than academic writing. Examples are letters, poems, news articles, diary entries. Students can convey knowledge effectively and creatively. Another option is providing students with structures for an assignment or sentence frames.

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Anonymous. (2021, May 6). Preparing an engaging social studies lesson for English language learners. Colorín Colorado. Retrieved April 9, 2022, from https://www.colorincolorado.org/article/preparing-engaging-social-studies-lesson-english-language-learners

Ferlazzo, L. (2021, March 5). Response: Ways to integrate writing in Social Studies Classes (opinion). Education Week. Retrieved April 9, 2022, from https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/opinion-response-ways-to-integrate-writing-in-social-studies-classes/2019/04

Pribble, A. (2021, April 13). How to promote strong writing skills in Social Studies. Edutopia. Retrieved April 9, 2022, from https://www.edutopia.org/article/how-promote-strong-writing-skills-social-studies

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Reading Rockets says that vocabulary is the words we must understand to communicate effectively. According to the Texas Center for Learning Disabilities, research shows that semantic mapping can help students recall the meaning of vocabulary words and understand how different concepts and words relate to each other. Marzano's six step approach can also be very effective because it allows for repetitive interaction with the words, as well as multiple modalities of learning and expressing knowledge. Quizlet is a great resource, especially for vocabulary sets that contain similar terms. Once students are familiar, they can use Quizlet to quiz themselves or even play games with the terms.

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Vocabulary is so important in all content areas, and social science is no exception. Social science can tend to be text-heavy, especially with level 3 words. As a social studies teacher, it is my job to ensure students can read a text, understand what it's saying, and analyze it. Students cannot even begin to analyze a text or write an argument without understanding what the text is saying or the language it uses. Vocabulary relates to diction, and word choice is indicative of tone and author's purpose, which are necessary to make inferences. Vocabulary is one of the most important reading basics in my opinion.

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Vocabulary instruction can be difficult, especially for ELLs. Colorin Colorado suggests teaching students independent word learning strategies, such as how to effectively use a dictionary, how to use root words, prefixes, and suffixes, and how to use context clues. Many strategies that work for general learners will help ELLs as well. For example, Marzano's process can help ELLs practice explaining content in their own words, effectively using words they already know to expand their vocabulary and make connections. Semantic mapping is shown to help students with learning disabilities especially. Equity is my top priority, and vocabulary is no exception.

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Anonymous. (2020, January 29). The components of effective vocabulary instruction. Colorín Colorado. Retrieved March 29, 2022, from https://www.colorincolorado.org/article/components-effective-vocabulary-instruction

Five research-based ways to teach vocabulary. Texas Center for Learning Disabilities. (2021). Retrieved March 29, 2022, from https://www.texasldcenter.org/teachers-corner/five-research-based-ways-to-teach-vocabulary

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Oral language is the use of speech to express ideas. One way to further develop oral language skills is encouraging strong eye contact. When a student is presenting to the class, keeping eye contact will help students learn how to adjust their delivery to the audience, changing volume or pace as necessary. Students should practice speaking loudly and clearly. A strong group discussion prompt where students argue their ideas can engage both their critical thinking skills as well as their oral language skills.

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Comprehension is understanding what one is reading, and Reading Rockets says this is the entire reason FOR reading. Edutopia says students often have poor comprehension because they have a poor vocabulary. To build vocabulary and improve comprehension, multisensory strategies like graphic organizers and pictures may be used. They say cognitive strategies like text annotation and KWL charts may be helpful. Reading Rockets suggests a method known as questioning the author. This includes focusing on the author's message and why they might say certain things.

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Comprehension is essential to social science. Any text assigned needs to be not only comprehended, but analyzed as well. The author's intention is especially important to history, as we must examine who created a text and why. Comprehension is only the first step, so it must be a sharp skill for students.

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Students who struggle with reading comprehension are sometimes having difficulty because their oral language skills are lacking from early childhood. Studies show that lower SES students form a vocabulary gap from their higher class counterparts, which can contribute to these problems. I will do my best to support reading comprehension in all students, regardless of original skill level.

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Parrish, N. (2020, February 3). 5 ways to support students who struggle with reading comprehension. Edutopia. Retrieved March 8, 2022, from https://www.edutopia.org/article/5-ways-support-students-who-struggle-reading-comprehension

Texas Education Agency. (2019, September 26). Strategies that promote comprehension. Reading Rockets. Retrieved March 8, 2022, from https://www.readingrockets.org/article/strategies-promote-comprehension

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According to Reading Rockets, fluency is the ability to read a text accurately, quickly, and with expression. To improve fluency, students can learn how to annotate a text. This can be modeled with the document overheard, demonstrating metacognition. Text annotation can assist students in comprehending a text and help fluent readers read closer. Students can also rewrite a text in their own words.

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Phonics is the way of teaching the relationship between written and spoken language. Phonics instruction can be embarrassing for older students. ASCD says giving students that are interesting but at their reading level can help encourage them to read and read better. In the post below, I will share a list I'm making for my future classroom library sorted by difficulty based on the NCSS list of notable books for 2021.

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A Sporting Chance: How Ludwig Guttmann Created The Paralympic Games- Lori Alexander 8-10

Radium Girls: Young Readers’ Edition: The Scary but True Story of the Poison that Made People Glow in the Dark- Kate Moore 8-12
The Woman’s Hour (Adapted for Young Readers): Our Fight for the Right to Vote- Elaine Weiss 8-12
Fish Out of Water- Joanne Levy 9-12
Powwow: A Celebration through Song and Dance- Karen Pheasant-Neganigwane 9-12
Astronauts: Women on the Final Frontier- Jim Ottaviani 9-13
Normal: One Kid's Extraordinary Journey (Young Readers' Edition)- Magdalena Newman 9-13
Yes No Maybe So- Becky Albertalli 9-13
Stamped: Racism Antiracism and You- Jason Reynolds 9-13
On the Horizon- Lois Lowry 11-13
The Suffragist Playbook: Your Guide to Changing the World- Lucinda Robb 12-17
This is My America- Kim Johnson 12-18
What I Carry- Jennifer Longo 12-18
Finding a Way Home: Mildred and Richard Loving and the Fight for Marriage Equality- Larry Dane Brimner 12-99
This Light Between Us: A Novel of World War II- Andrew Fukuda 13-18
Call Me American (Adapted for Young Adults): The Extraordinary True Story of a Young Somali Immigrant- Abdi Nor Iftin 13-99
Dear Justyce- Nic Stone 14-17
The Degenerates- J. Albert Mann 14-18
Don't Ask Me Where I'm From- Jennifer De Leon 14-18
No True Believers- Rabiah York Lumbard 14-18

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Phonics is central to reading, and reading is central to social studies. Without being able to decode words, students will be unable to understand a text and extract what I want them to know. Good reading begets good historians.

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Phonics can pose a challenge to ELLs. There are a few different strategies based on their skill level. For ELLs that require a good foundation, Colorin Colorado says using Scrabble tiles or computer art can help associate the letters to sounds. If the student's first language is character-based, they may need additional help knowing which direction to read and how to translate letters to sound instead of the letter being representative of a word. If there is more than one ELL that needs extra phonics help, you could do small group activities for them.

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Hip hop songs can be good for practicing phonological awareness. This song is about Japanese internment and could be played in class.

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According to Reading Rockets, phonological awareness is a group of skills that allows people to recognize and work with the sounds of spoken language. Phonological awareness can be improved by listening to and reading poetry or song lyrics. You can start by having students listen, then doing a popcorn reading of the stanzas. This can ease them into the text and model how words are supposed to be pronounced if they're not sure. This can also be done with passages containing long or confusing vocabulary words such as miscegenation or auspicious.

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Phonological awareness is necessary for proper literacy, and close reading is necessary for social studies. You cannot read closely if you struggle with reading in general. I want my students to be strong readers, so I want to foster the skills needed to read simple and complex language.

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These skills can be especially difficult for ELLs or students with learning disabilities like dyslexia. Practicing proper pronunciation and phoneme decoding can help ensure all my students are understanding the material and growing as readers and historians.

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Fluency is greatly important to becoming a good historian. Fluent readers can understand and analyze text while decoding, whereas less fluent readers may struggle with the actual words, having to try and understand the meaning of the words later.

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Fluent reading can be a difficult task for ELLs or students with a learning disability such as dyslexia. I will do my best to support these students in their growth as readers, and will provide additional reading instruction as needed.

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Oral language is not the first skill I think of when I consider what skills my students will need in my discipline, but it's important due to our human nature. We are not inherent readers, but speakers. I saw a cool activity to tie reading and speaking in social studies. Basically, I would give students a piece of written academic language and have them 'translate' it into conversational, casual English in pairs or groups out loud.

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Oral language could be a skill ELLs struggle with, which is even more reason to be encouraging and continue to nurture the skill on a universal level. If the whole class has to do an oral presentation, then hopefully they will feel less embarrassed if everybody is just as nervous as they are. I want it to be clear to my students that oral language skills is something all learners must practice and master, not just ELLs.