Presented in the form of a 45-minute social studies class session, this workshop will utilize before, during, and after reading strategies designed to actively engage learners in both content and skill instruction, providing participants with an opportunity to actively participate in hands-on literacy strategies that they can take back and use immediately in their own classrooms.

1. Literacy Strategies in the Social Studies Classroom
Presented By:
Scott Garren
Coordinating Teacher for Middle School Social Studies
Wake County Public School System
&
Dr. Denise Vargas
Social Studies Department Chair
Wake County Public School System
for the
North Carolina Middle School Association
Sheraton Greensboro Hotel/Koury Convention Center, Room: Augusta A
3/15/2011
10:00 AM – 11:00 AM
Presented by:
Scott Garren – Coordinating Teacher for Middle School Social Studies, WCPSS & Dr. Denise Vargas – Social Studies Department Chair, WCPSS
sgarren@wcpss.net dvargas@wcpss.net

2. 2/4/2011
North Carolina Middle School Association
March 15, 2011
10:00 – 11:0 am
What good readers do…
 Use reading strategies before, during, and after reading
 Set a purpose
 Access prior knowledge
 Read ahead
 Paraphrase and predict
 Reread, skim, and summarize
 Identify patterns
 Use graphic organizers
 Sequence events
Instruction for All Students, pg. 15
• Brainstorming
• Anticipation Guide
• Think Aloud
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3. 2/4/2011
Brainstorming
 Students work in pairs to brainstorm background knowledge about an
assigned topic.
 Participant “A” talks about the topic
for one minute.
 Participant “B” listens quietly, offering
nonverbal encouragement.
 After one minute, the roles reverse.
 At the conclusion of the activity,
students are prepared for a more
in-depth study of the topic.
 Your Topic: What led to the American Revolution?
Anticipation Guides
• Establishes purpose and accesses prior
knowledge.
• A set of statements that relate to the
key ideas and major concepts in the
selection.
• Before reading text students indicate
whether they agree or disagree with
each statement.
• Students then revisit the statements
after reading text, discussing where
they found information that supported
or contradicted their original ideas.
• Anticipation guides lead to great
conversations both before and after a
learning activity.
Find the handout…
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4. 2/4/2011
Find the handout…
Think Aloud
 Model the reading process by
selecting and reading text aloud to
the class.
 As you read, verbalize your thoughts,
feelings, etc. about the text. In other
words, think out loud.
 After reading, ask students to
identify the reading comprehension
strategies you used in making sense
of the text.
 Encourage students to use these same
strategies in reading additional
materials.
• Free Write
• Highlighting
• Story Boards
• Interactive Notebooks
• Interactive Response
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5. 2/4/2011
Free Writes
 Free writes can be written in the
form of questions, statements
bullet points, etc. The emphasis
is on the generation of ideas, not
writing norms.
 As students read, they make
notes along the margins of the
text or on another sheet of
paper.
 After completing the free-write,
students may be asked to share
what they have written in small
groups or with the class.
Highlighting
 In order to be effective, highlighting
should be directed toward specific
topics.
 Choose important categories and
assign a highlighter color to each.
 Instruct participants to read the
assigned text.
 As they read, they highlight
information using a separate color for
each category.
 When the activity is completed,
participants have a color-coded
text identifying key points about
the assigned topics.
Story Boards
 Students read the passage.
 Either during or after they have read the passage,
they brainstorm images to represent key terms,
figures, or events that are
taking place.
 They then sketch those images
into a pre-determined template
or one of their choosing.
4

6. 2/4/2011
Interactive Notebooks
 Students take notes, such as two-column notes, on the right
side of the notebook.
 Students then process that information on the left side of the
notebook by
drawing pictures,
creating collages,
writing first-hand
accounts, etc.
Interactive Response
 As they read, students
select passages that they
find difficult or
particularly important.
 They write these
passages in the right
column.
 Students then respond to
the passages in the left
column.
• Inside-Outside Circles
• Think-Pair-Share
• Collaborative Summarizing
• Muddiest Point
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7. 2/4/2011
Inside – Outside Circles
 Write important vocabulary words, key terms, people, etc. on index cards.
 Distribute the cards to students and split the class into two groups.
 Instruct students from the first group to form a circle with participants
facing outward. Ask the second group to form a circle around the first,
facing inward.
 Instruct students in the inner circle that
they are to speak about the topics on their
cards to their partner for one minute.
 Then, instruct the second student to do the
same.
 After two minutes, ask students in the
outer circle to rotate to the next person.
 Continue the exercise for as long as the
students are engaged.
Think – Pair – Share
 Ask a question or assign a reading.
 Ask students to think quietly for a short time
(1 minute) about the topic.
 Instruct students to pair with a partner and share their
thoughts with one another.
 Ask students to share their pair’s
responses with the whole group.
Collaborative Summarizing
 Participants are presented with a video, text, or some other form of
information.
 As they watch, listen, or read,
participants take notes in the left
column of the handout about what
they observe.
 After interacting with the information,
participants pair together and share
what they observed, recording their
partner’s observations in the right
column of the handout.
 After recording each other’s notes,
participants work together to
summarize and record what they
have learned.
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8. 2/4/2011
Muddiest Point
 What is your muddiest
point?
 What is still unclear to
you?
 Where do you need
clarification or
additional information?
For more information:
Scott Garren
 sgarren@wcpss.net
Dr. Denise Vargas
 dvargas@wcpss.net
7

9. Name: ____________________
Anticipation Guide
Before reading: Indicate whether you agree (A) or disagree (D) with the following statements.
Opinion Statement
1 _____ After the French were defeated by the Native Americans in the French and Indian War, the American colonies took over lands west of the Appalachians.
2 _____ In the 1760s, American colonists were forbidden to settle west of the Appalachian Mountains.
3 _____ Colonists were forced to give up their homes to soldiers.
4 _____ Colonists were forced to allow soldiers to search them whenever and wherever soldiers pleased.
5 _____ Colonists were forced to marry soldiers who wished to settle in the colonies.
6 _____ Colonists were forced to feed hungry soldiers.
7 _____ Colonists were forced to pay the British taxes on anything they imported, even if it didn’t come from Britain.
8 _____ The Boston Massacre was started by the British soldiers when they invaded Boston Harbor.
9 _____ The Declaration of Independence was written, in part, by Benjamin Franklin.
10 ____
After Viewing: If your answer was proven correct according to the presentation, put a check under the “Support” column. If your answer was
proven incorrect according to the presentation, put a check under the “No Support” column. In either case, indicate the evidence that you used in
checking your answer.
Support No Support Evidence
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Presented by:
Scott Garren – Coordinating Teacher for Middle School Social Studies, WCPSS & Dr. Denise Vargas – Social Studies Department Chair, WCPSS
sgarren@wcpss.net dvargas@wcpss.net

10. Name: ____________________
The American Revolution
Steps toward War
The Proclamation of 1763
An Act banning colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains, the Proclamation of 1763 angered many
colonists who felt they had a right to these lands after fighting for them in the French and Indian War. In addition
to this law, Britain began passing a series of taxes aimed at forcing the colonists to pay for the conflict.
The Quartering Act (1765)
One year later, parliament passed the Quartering Act. The purpose of the Quartering Act was to save money. To
enforce the Proclamation of 1763, Britain kept about 10,000 soldiers in the colonies. The act required colonists to
quarter, or house, troops and provide them with food and other supplies. The colonists protested angrily. Once
again, the colonists complained that Parliament was violating their rights.
Writs of Assistance (1767)
The Townshend Acts set up a system to enforce the new import duties. To help customs officers find illegal goods,
they were allowed to use writs of assistance, court orders that allowed officials to make searches without saying
for what they were searching. Many colonists saw these writs and searches as yet another violation of their writes.
The Boston Massacre (1770)
On March 5, 1770, in Boston, an angry crowd of workers and sailors surrounded a small group of soldiers. They
shouted at the soldiers and threw snowballs and rocks at them. The frightened soldiers fired into the crowd, killing
five and wounding six.
The Declaration of Independence (1776)
In response to the harsh treatment of the colonies by the British, Thomas Jefferson was charged with writing a
document declaring the colonies’ independence from Britain. Although he wrote the vast majority of the
document himself, final edits were made by both Benjamin Franklin and John Adams.
Presented by:
Scott Garren – Coordinating Teacher for Middle School Social Studies, WCPSS & Dr. Denise Vargas – Social Studies Department Chair, WCPSS
sgarren@wcpss.net dvargas@wcpss.net

11. Name: ____________________
The Gettysburg Address (excerpt)
Four score and seven years ago our forefathers brought forth on
this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated
to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are
engaged in a great civil war, testing wether that nation, or any
nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are
met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate
a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here
gave their lives so that that nation might live. It is altogether
fitting and proper that we should do this.
Presented by:
Scott Garren – Coordinating Teacher for Middle School Social Studies, WCPSS & Dr. Denise Vargas – Social Studies Department Chair, WCPSS
sgarren@wcpss.net dvargas@wcpss.net

12. Name: ____________________
Story Board Notes
Name of Text:
Story Board Notes
Summary
Presented by:
Scott Garren – Coordinating Teacher for Middle School Social Studies, WCPSS & Dr. Denise Vargas – Social Studies Department Chair, WCPSS
sgarren@wcpss.net dvargas@wcpss.net

13. Name: ____________________
Interactive Notebooks
Left Page Right Page
Nonlinguistic Representations, etc. Main Ideas Notes
Summary
Presented by:
Scott Garren – Coordinating Teacher for Middle School Social Studies, WCPSS & Dr. Denise Vargas – Social Studies Department Chair, WCPSS
sgarren@wcpss.net dvargas@wcpss.net

14. Name: ____________________
Interactive Response
Direct quote or summary from source. Student Response
This reminds me of. . .
I predict. . .
I am confused. . .
I think this means. . .
I wonder. .
Boy, this makes me feel. . .
I wonder. . .
Well, in my opinion. . .
Presented by:
Scott Garren – Coordinating Teacher for Middle School Social Studies, WCPSS & Dr. Denise Vargas – Social Studies Department Chair, WCPSS
sgarren@wcpss.net dvargas@wcpss.net

15. Name: ____________________
Think-Pair-Share
What “I” Think
What “We” Think
What “They” Think
Presented by:
Scott Garren – Coordinating Teacher for Middle School Social Studies, WCPSS & Dr. Denise Vargas – Social Studies Department Chair, WCPSS
sgarren@wcpss.net dvargas@wcpss.net

16. Name: ____________________
Collaborative Summarizing
Topic _________________________________________________________________
Complete on your own DURING and AFTER the activity. Complete with a partner AFTER the activity.
My Ideas My Partner’s Ideas
Compare your notes and write a summary statement with you partner.
Our Ideas
Presented by:
Scott Garren – Coordinating Teacher for Middle School Social Studies, WCPSS & Dr. Denise Vargas – Social Studies Department Chair, WCPSS
sgarren@wcpss.net dvargas@wcpss.net

17. Name: ____________________
Muddiest Point
Topic:
Presented by:
Scott Garren – Coordinating Teacher for Middle School Social Studies, WCPSS & Dr. Denise Vargas – Social Studies Department Chair, WCPSS
sgarren@wcpss.net dvargas@wcpss.net

18. Name: ____________________
Literacy Strategies in the Social Studies Classroom
3/15/11
10:00 – 11:00
Sheraton Greensboro Hotel/Koury Convention Center, Room: Augusta A
+
Presented by:
Scott Garren – Coordinating Teacher for Middle School Social Studies, WCPSS & Dr. Denise Vargas – Social Studies Department Chair, WCPSS
sgarren@wcpss.net dvargas@wcpss.net