Ms. Keith's Literacy in Social Studies
Earlier this week, I had the chance to observe Ms. Keith's Social Studies 9 class. While I was there, I saw a number of classroom artifacts that relate to literacy development in social studies. Most of these artifacts where in the form of posters on her walls. The following is a breakdown of the posters and how they related to literacy. Also, check out the photos in the slide show to see for yourself.
- Citizen Participation in the Political System - this series of visuals prompts students to use their literacy skills to voice their concerns related to political issues by writing letters, signing petitions, and voting.
- Concepts and Definitions - the charts and their definitions provide prompts to scaffold students' decoding of cognitive strategies so that they can understand and better utilize content specific vocabulary in class.
- Propaganda Posters - these are a form of visual literacy where the intended meanings of the posters are interpreting using a number of literacy skills such as reading, viewing, understanding, interpreting, etc.
- Exemplary Student Work - this poster demonstrates exemplary student work as it not only relates to the assignment at hand, but also exemplifies the use of literacy skills in order to do that. By looking at the poster, it is evident that the student(s) thought critically about what they communicated and how they did it through a combination of photos and text.