Document Type

Article

Publication Date

January 2015

Abstract

State and national initiatives have accentuated the significance of distinct instructional procedures and content. The (re)emphasis includes a strong focus on informational texts and diverse literacies, including writing, speaking, and listening. In short, history and social studies content will likely have a more prominent position within English/reading curricula. Beginning in the elementary grades, the required cognitive tasks foster historical thinking in age-appropriate ways. Students are to evaluate multiple texts representing diverse perspectives of the same event or era. Teachers, however, are not provided with practical curricular guides. To guide elementary educators, this research scrutinizes potential curricular supplements and proffers content area literacy strategies that cohere with state and national initiatives. Specifically, we evaluated various tradebooks (both literature and informational texts), located relevant primary source material, and provided instructional procedures that facilitate students’ historical thinking through writing, speaking, and listening. We focused on Amelia Earhart and Abraham Lincoln because of their important historical contributions.

https://works.bepress.com/john_bickford/25/

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