The Dynamic Duo: Writing and Social Studies

Duos are familiar to us.  Batman and Robin. Burger and Fries.  Bonnie and Clyde.  Peanut Butter and Jelly.  

Certain things just go together.  This is not just true of foods and people.  It's also true of the subjects we teach.  

Writing and social studies are like Mac and Cheese; it makes sense to pair them and when you do, you get something good!  Writing improves thinking and facilitates learning.  What teacher wouldn't want that?  When students write they explore, clarify, justify, reason, explain, and internalize.  

After five years of integrating writing and social studies, I can attest to its success.  The wonderful part is the options are endless for integrating writing and social studies effectively.  

Here are my top five favorites.

1. Short Response Writing

My work routine, or protocol, is to have students respond to reading by writing.  Writing is the only way I can truly know if they understand.  A multiple choice activity will not conclusively tell me if they comprehend the material I want them to understand.  Week one of each school year, I explicitly teach A.C.E. to students.  From that week on, they are always required to respond to discussion questions in A.C.E. format.  The helper is provided to them for support, but the majority of students no longer require it after a few months.  It becomes how they are conditioned to write.

2. Essay Writing

In grades 3-12, students are expected to master writing explanatory, opinion/argumentative, and narrative essays.  The prompt that directs their writing typically will ask for a response to two texts.  This is the perfect situation to integrate social studies and get the most bang for your buck!  Whether we are studying the courageous feats of Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth, the heartbreaking events of the Holocaust, or the inspiring speeches of George W. Bush and Ronald Regan, my ELA writing activities always tie to what we are currently learning.  

I once had a teacher tell me she wanted to develop writing assignments that integrated with her social studies, but she couldn't find any texts.  I told her, they were all around.  They are in the magazines in your your school library, the books your students are reading, and the primary sources that are included in your state standards.  Here are some of the texts I use when creating writing tasks for my students:

• informational texts I've gathered from Scholastic magazines, like Scope, Storyworks, or Action   
• fictional excerpts from books that are popular with my students, like Grandmere's Story in Wonder or excerpts from Refugee and I Survived the Nazi Invasion  
• primary sources of the famous speeches of Sojourner Truth, Chief Joseph, and Martin Luther King Jr.  

3. Historical Poems

When my students came to me, they hated poetry.  They considered it something only smart people read, not students in a fifth grade classroom.  After introducing them to poets like Kwame Alexander, Jaqueline Woodson, and Nikki Grimes, they think otherwise.  Now, not only are they reading poetry, but they are creating it.  

Recently, a poetry assignment required my students to write a poem about a historical figure.  After they wrote their poems, they published them on Padlet.  This activity has become a class favorite.

4. Biopoems

Since my students have grown to love poetry, I had to search for

other poetry assignments to keep it fresh.  Biopoems are perfect.  They allow students to reflect on the material they've learned in social stuides and put it in poetic form.  I use the format in this picture.  The pattern enables the student to synthesize what they've learned about a person, place, thing, concept, or event.  This lets me know if they understand what it is I want them to know.

5. RAFTing Activities

To spice up your normal writing routine, try this strategy.  RAFT is an acronym that stands for role, audience, form, and topic.  RAFT allow teachers to create writing prompts that situates a student in the writing task.  They must look at an event in a nontraditional way.  They have to apply what they've learned about that person and then "become" them.  Not only does this show if they understand important details about their person's part in history, it's fun!

Those are some of my favorite ways to integrate writing and social studies.  I am always on the lookout for other awesome ideas.  What are some ways you integrate in your classroom?