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37 Writing in Social Studies

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323
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Write on Course 20-20

Start-Up Activity

Ask students if they can guess which historical documents these sentence starters came from:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal . . ." (The Declaration of Independence)
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union . . ." (The United States Constitution)
"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation . . ." (The Gettysburg Address)

Point out that the U.S. stands on a bedrock of writing. Whenever some important change must occur, people write a new law. After the fact, other people write about the change.

Tell your students they will get to try their hands at writing in social studies. Maybe they'll even make history.

Think About It

“History, in general, only informs us of what bad government is.”

—Thomas Jefferson

State Standards Covered in This Chapter

LAFS Covered in This Chapter

TEKS Covered in This Chapter

Page 324 from Write on Course 20-20

Current-Events Report

Have a student read each paragraph of the sample model aloud, along with any accompanying side notes. Then discuss the model with your students:

How would you describe the tone of the piece? (objective, balanced)
What kinds of details does the writer use? (5 W's and H, facts, examples, quotations)
Which of the criteria of newsworthiness does this model have: timeliness, importance, local angle, human interest? (the first three)

State Standard Reference:

LAFS Standard:

LAFS.6.RI.1.1

TEKS Standard:

110.22.b.5.F, 110.22.b.8.D

NE ELA Standard:

LA 6.1.6.e, LA 6.1.6.g

Related Resource Tags

Click to view a list of tags that tie into other resources on our site

Level:

Grade 6 Grade 7 Grade 8

Mode:

Explanatory Writing

Form:

Report

Theme:

Community Government

English Language Arts:

Reading

Page 325 from Write on Course 20-20

Writing Guidelines: Current Events Report

Have your students check newspapers and news Web sites for current events that they could report on. They could also attend city hall or school board meetings.

Once they have found an event to write about, send them out to gather information through reading, observing, interviewing, and watching video footage. Tell them they need to have clear answers to the 5 W's and H, as well as quotations from those involved.

When students are ready to write their current-events reports, review the tips for creating beginnings, middles, and endings. Then give them time to write.

Afterward, provide the revising and editing checklist to help students improve their reports.

Downloads:

LAFS Standard:

LAFS.6.W.1.2

TEKS Standard:

110.22.b.10, 110.22.b.11.B

NE ELA Standard:

LA 6.2.1.b, LA 6.2.2, LA 6.2.2.a

Related Resource Tags

Click to view a list of tags that tie into other resources on our site

Level:

Grade 6 Grade 7 Grade 8

Mode:

Explanatory Writing

Form:

Report

English Language Arts:

Writing Process Prewriting Writing Revising Editing

Page 326 from Write on Course 20-20

Document-Based Question (DBQ)

Instead of using these three pages as examples of responding to a document-based question, you might instead want them to serve as practice for your students. Ask them to leave their books open to pages 326 and 327. Give them time to read and view the three documents. Then instruct them to read the prompt and write a response to it.

After all of your students have written a response, have them turn to page 328 to see how a different student responded to the same prompt. (Obviously, the responses can be quite different. However, each response should state an opinion about problems from being "hyper-connected" and support the opinion with evidence from the three documents.)

Then you can lead students through page 329 in preparation for a DBQ that you will provide for a topic you are studying.

State Standard Reference:

LAFS Standard:

LAFS.6.RI.1.1

TEKS Standard:

110.22.b.5.F, 110.22.b.8.D

NE ELA Standard:

LA 6.1.6.e, LA 6.1.6.g

Related Resource Tags

Click to view a list of tags that tie into other resources on our site

Level:

Grade 6 Grade 7 Grade 8

Mode:

Writing for Assessment Persuasive Writing

Form:

Persuasive Essay

Theme:

Technology Communication

English Language Arts:

Reading Writing

Page 328 from Write on Course 20-20

Document-Based Question Response

Have a volunteer read each paragraph of the sample response, along with any accompanying side notes. Ask students to find textual examples of the features mentioned in the side notes. Then discuss the model:

How similar was it to other responses to this same prompt?
What evidence did the writer draw from each source?
Do you agree with the writer's conclusions? Why or why not?

State Standard Reference:

LAFS Standard:

LAFS.6.RI.1.1

TEKS Standard:

110.22.b.5.F, 110.22.b.8.D

NE ELA Standard:

LA 6.1.6.e, LA 6.1.6.g

Related Resource Tags

Click to view a list of tags that tie into other resources on our site

Level:

Grade 6 Grade 7 Grade 8

Mode:

Writing for Assessment Persuasive Writing

Form:

Persuasive Essay

Theme:

Technology Communication

English Language Arts:

Reading

Page 329 from Write on Course 20-20

Writing Guidelines: DBQs

Review with your students the SQ3R strategy for close reading. Then have them turn back to the three documents on pages 326-327 and apply the strategy for a closer read of each.

Then review the PAST strategy for analyzing prompts. Have students turn back to the prompt at the bottom of page 327 and apply the strategy to analyze the prompt.

Once students understand those two strategies, lead them through the tips for writing and revising. Remind them that they must do their close reading, prompt analysis, writing, revising, and editing all in a short period of time in order to create an effective response. If you wish, provide the brief checklist to help students remember how to review their responses.

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