North Carolina Department of Public Instruction K-12 Social Studies 2014 Webinar Series Webinar # 4 April 1, 2014

1. Disciplinary Literacy: Teaching And Learning Like A Social ScientistWhat Is It And Why Does It Matter? North Carolina Department of Public Instruction K-12 Social Studies 2014 Webinar Series Webinar # 4 April 1, 2014

2. Purpose Of Today’s Webinar • To Help Participants Gain An Understanding of… • the meaning and intent of disciplinary literacy; • the use of disciplinary literacy skills in Social Studies; • and how disciplinary literacy and text choice can help inspire inquiry.

3. What Is Disciplinary Literacy?

4. Defining Literacy & Disciplinary Literacy Each content or subject discipline has: • its own unique knowledge core and … • its own ways of inquiring, investigating, reasoning, representing, and questioning. Literacyis the ability to read and write in order to make meaning from text. Disciplinary literacy refers to the specialized skills that someone must master to be able to read and write in the various disciplines and technical fields.

5. What is Disciplinary Literacy? This video is an introduction to the concept of disciplinary literacy by Dr. Timothy Shanahan, Professor Emeritus of Urban Education at the University of Illinois in Chicago. https://center.ncsu.edu/nc/mod/page/view.php?id=498861

6. Levels Of Literacy Development • Research indicates that there are at least three levels of literacy development. • Basic literacy skills such as the ability to decode • Basic fluency which includes comprehension and word meaning • Specialized literacy skills that are taught within a specific subject or content area Literacy Pyramid adapted from Shanahan and Shanahan (2008) for North Carolina’s NC Education Literacy Modules I and II

7. Distinguishing Content Literacy From Disciplinary Literacy Comparison of Content-area Literacy to Disciplinary Literacy (Shanahan, 2010)

8. The Nature Of Social Studies • The nature of the skills and activities of disciplinary literacy are specialized. (Social Studies, by nature is an integrative field, comprising history and the social sciences.1) • The focus of disciplinary literacy is on how literacy is used to make meaning within a discipline. (Social Studies has its own range of content and concepts.) • In disciplinary literacy the texts are only focused on disciplinary specific text.(Each sub-discipline of social studies has its own unique knowledge core.) • In disciplinary literacy graphics, data and captions are taught specifically to a discipline and are critical to the whole of the text.(Each discipline of social studies has its own context, which these ancillary components provided with the text help define and support.)

9. } The Language Of Social Studies Disciplines • Students need to be able to understand the language of the various social studies disciplines. • Concepts provide the language to help understand the disciplines of social studies. • The “big ideas” of social studies are statements of relationship based on the concepts of a discipline. • We get these “big ideas” of social studies by putting together at least two concepts to form a relationship statement. } Provide The Language } Provide The Context Generalization/Big Idea: Aspeople move to meet their basic needs, governments may develop laws to maintain national identity.

10. Activity: Opinion Poll Students should be able to: • read and understand various kinds of texts focused on the social studies discipline in which they occur; • combine knowledge and skills with the ability to read, write, listen, speak, think critically and demonstrate tasks in a way that is meaningful within the context of a particular discipline of social studies; • and engage in authentic opportunities to learn and practice literacy by applying skills that require them to think deeply and critically about specific disciplines of social studies. All Are Equally Important!

11. The Lenses Of Social Studies • Historical Literacy addresses both learning historical content and being able to make sense of that knowledge through reason and interpretation. (National Center for History in the Schools) • A historian studies the past, change over time and is concerned with the continuous, systematic narrative and research of previous events. Historical literacy requires engagement in five interconnected dimensions of historical thinking. • Types of questions Historians ask: • Whose knowledge is this? • Where did this knowledge base come from? • Whom might this knowledge (or perspective) benefit? • What perspectives are missing? • What voices are silenced? • The study of culture examines the beliefs, values, behaviors, traditions, and ways of life of a group within society. It also encompasses other cultural attributes, such as language, literature, music, arts and artifacts, and food. • A literate reader knows the object-language's alphabet, grammar, and a sufficient set of vocabulary; a culturally literate person knows a given culture's signs and symbols, including its language, particular dialectic, stories, entertainment, idioms, idiosyncrasies, etc. The culturally literate person is able to talk to and understand others of that culture with fluency, while the culturally illiterate person fails to understand culturally-conditioned allusions, references to past events, idiomatic expressions, jokes, names, places, etc. • A cultural anthropologist asks: • What role does culture play in human and societal development? • What are common characteristics across cultures? • What is the role of diversity with a society and how is it maintained? • How does culture change and accommodate various belief systems and ideas? • Geographers concentrate on the "where". This is the "Spatial Perspective" that is peculiar to the study of geography. History and Geography are quite similar. When historians study a topic they focus on the WHEN. Hence you can have subjects like the: history of war, the history of sports, the history of comic books, etc. Geographers can study these same issues, and virtually anything else, but the geographer's perspective is SPATIAL, rather than TEMPORAL like the historians. • Geographers try to answer three questions: • Where? • Why there? • Why do we care? • Political literacy is a set of competencies citizens should master in order to participate effectively and meaningfully in government. It includes an understanding of how government works and of the important issues facing society, as well as the critical thinking skills to evaluate different points of view. • Political scientists study the origin, development, and operation of political systems. They research political ideas and analyze the structure and operation of governments, policies, political trends, and related issues • Some questions of focus for political literacy are: • How do policies impact society? • What effect does it have on a discussion when each person has an equal voice? • Even when you work to give everyone an equal voice, what happens? • What does authority mean? • Who has authority and why? How is this different from responsibility? • What interests are being served by those in power? • An economist is concerned with how societies, governments, business and people choose to use and allocate resources and are concerned with how economic issues and forces affect outcomes. • Economic literacy is defined as the competence in identifying and evaluating economic concepts as it relates to personal finance,  the economy, and political systems. “Economic literacy is crucial because it is a measure of whether people understand the forces that significantly affect the quality of their lives.” - former president of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve . • Some questions an economist might ask include: • What economic choices will lead to a society with increased prosperity? • Which variable were independent and dependent? • What began the negative slope? • How did the nation regain economic momentum? • How does the data support trends, patterns or forecast warnings for the economy, society, etc.?

12. Activity • Self Reflection Poll Question: In which discipline of Social Studies do you feel most confident when planning instruction and teaching? • ? %History • ? % Civics/Government • ? % Economics • ? % Geography • ? % Behavioral Sciences • Attendees should be able to view the Poll in Progress on their screens.

13. Disciplinary Literacy And The Common Core Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies

14. Expert Thoughts! • “In general, I (Dr. Timothy Shanahan) think the common core approach is the right one – it puts greater emphasis on teaching and long range learning goals than on text placement.” • The Common Core State Standards outline the literacy skills necessary to prepare students for college, workplace and real world expectations to read demanding informational texts and to write informational and explanatory texts with clarity and coherence. • Disciplinary literacy instruction engages learners in ways that mirror what scholars, scientists, and mathematicians do to inquire and gain understanding in their disciplines. • Dr. Timothy Shanahan is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of urban education at the University of Illinois at Chicago where he was Founding Director of the Center for Literacy and chair of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. He is one of the authors of the History/Social Studies Literacy Common Core State Standards. http://www.shanahanonliteracy.com/2012/07/common-core-or-guided-reading.html

15. The Common Core Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies • Disciplinary literacy learning goes beyond gathering facts. • Disciplinary literacy engages students in deeper learning, and goes beyond simply gathering concrete facts. http://www.rt3nc.org/objects/standards/cclitmap/acre/litcontentareas.html

16. Disciplinary Literacy:InThe Social Studies Classroom? ...In The English Language Arts Classroom? • Although Social Studies and English Language Arts share elements of the humanities they are two distinct disciplines that have unique objectives and learning outcomes.    • When it comes to literacy, reading, writing, speaking and listening skills are sometimes treated the same for Social Studies and English Language Arts. • This is a common mistake!

17. Let’s Look At Literacy In Social Studies Compared To Literacy In English Language Arts • Although the two disciplines often draw information from the same documents and historical periods, the intentions and expected outcomes for the learning serve different purposes and meanings and therefore draw upon the same literacy skills in very different ways.  Two classes might both plan to use historical and primary resources focusing the Tonkin Gulf Resolution.

18. Why Disciplinary Literacy Matters? Why Does Text Choice Matter?

19. Why Disciplinary Literacy? • Disciplinary literacy encourages critical attributes of quality social studies instruction such as... • Learning that is Meaningful & Authentic • Key concepts and themes are developed in depth • Skills necessary to help students thrive in the world beyond school • Learning that is Integrative • Combining knowledge and skills encourages greater understanding when actually applying skills • Multiple disciplines are often a part of the content used to apply skills • Active Engagement • Actively being involved in applying skills to the content requires students to process and think about what they are learning • Social studies involves questioning which directs inquiry that involve analysis and inferring

20. What Is Inquiry? & How Does Inquiry Connect With Disciplinary Literacy? Inquiryis a process of learning that is driven by questioning, thoughtful investigating, making sense of information, and developing new understandings. • “Inquiry… • Incorporates interdisciplinary study • Emphasizes skills and practices • Applies Disciplinary Concepts and Tools”

21. Disciplinary Literacy And Text? How can teachers inspire inquiry by using discipline specific text?

22. Understanding Informational Text And Nonfiction: There Is A Difference Informational Text • text whose primary purpose is to convey information about the natural world or the social world • text that typically has characteristic features such as addressing whole classes or categories of things in a timeless way • text that comes in many different formats, including books, magazines, handouts, brochures, CD-ROMs, the Internet, paintings, artifacts, etc. Nonfiction • text whose primary purpose is something other than to convey information about the natural or social world, such as telling about an individual's life, an event or series of events, or how to do something. • biography is nonfiction but is not informational text, because its primary purpose is to convey information about an individual’s life • Procedural or how-to text is also nonfiction, but not informational text because its primary purpose is to tell someone how to do something, not convey information about something • Nonfiction narrative or “true stories” are also nonfiction but not informational text, because their primary purpose is to tell of an event or series of events that have occurred Resource : Article: Reading & Writing Informational Text in the Primary Grades, http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/scholasticprofessional/authors/pdfs/duke_sample_pages.pdf

23. Ever Think About The Texts You Use? • Part of the motivation behind the interdisciplinary approach to literacy … is extensive research establishing the need for college and career ready students to be proficient in reading complex informational text independently in a variety of content areas... • …the Common Core (History/Social Studies Literacy Standards) intentionally would have teachers place students in texts that are more challenging.

24. Artifact As Text Artifacts as Audio! How often do you use audio artifacts in your classroom? Do you ever consider artifacts as text in your classroom?

25. Activity http://padlet.com/wall/artifactsactivity

26. Artifacts Are The Texts A Historian Uses In The Discipline of History “Historical literacy” means gaining a deep understanding of historical events through active engagement with historical texts. Artifacts Of Lincoln’sAssassination (What He Carried In HisPockets)

27. Audio As Text Artifacts as Audio! How often do you use audio artifacts in your classroom? Do you ever consider audio as text in your classroom?

28. What Do You Hear?Think about and write down impressions while you listen. Think about these questions as you listen: How does the content of the audio clip exemplify the events and prevailing attitudes of the time? What can you infer about society, government or life in general? What questions does the audio raise? What lens(es) have you chosen to use?

29. What Do You Hear?Think about and write down impressions while you listen. Think about these questions as you listen: How does the content of the audio clip exemplify the events and prevailing attitudes of the time? What can you infer about society, government or life in general? What questions does the audio raise? What lens have you chosen to use?

30. Discipline Specific Questions • Are there similarities between chain gangs and present-day prison labor? • Why might convicts be able to sing something they might not say? • How has forced labor changed over time? • What economic impact has forced labor had on societies? The United States? A particular state? Various communities? • How did the practice of chain gang labor effect environments? • How were chain gang practices allowed to continue for so long, legally? • Have you ever seen prisoners working outside of a prison? If so, where? • What’s a chain gang? Have you seen one before? If so, where? • What role do you think music plays in labor and work? • Have you ever sung in a group? How does it feel to do that? • Why are songs especially important to disempowered groups? • How does convict leasing differ from chain gangs?

31. Wrap It Up! Exit Ticket Out The Virtual Room https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1fk8sbPv1Td9gLEQlyigb5RWC0WFzsMZhBr5QlkKgW0g/viewform • What is disciplinary literacy? • How do social studies and English Language Arts use the same literacy skills differently? Why is this important to recognize? • In what ways can disciplinary literacy and text choice help promote inquiry?

32. Michelle McLaughlin, K-12 Social Studies Consultant michelle.mclaughlin@dpi.nc.gov Stephen Masyada, K-12 Social Studies Consultant stephen.masyada@dpi.nc.gov For Continual Support Contact: Fay Gore, Section Chief fay.gore@dpi.nc.gov Ann Carlock, K-12 Social Studies Consultant ann.carlock@dpi.nc.gov Justyn Knox, K-12 Social Studies Consultant justyn.knox@dpi.nc.gov Bernadette Cole, Program Assistant Bernadette.cole@dpi.nc.gov

33. Webinar Activity Links & Resources Page Links To The Activities Used During The Webinar • Link to activity using Padlet -http://padlet.com/wall/artifactsactivity • Link(http://www.rt3nc.org/objects/standards/cclitmap/acre/litcontentareas.html ) to the Literacy Handout that can be found on our wiki • Exit ticket link –https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1fk8sbPv1Td9gLEQlyigb5RWC0WFzsMZhBr5QlkKgW0g/viewform