Middle School Social Studies Teachers’ Enactment of Content-Area Literacy

• In Event: Curriculum in Middle-Level Education

Abstract

The recent adoption of the Literacy in History/Social Studies Common Core State Standards (2010) requires middle school social studies teachers to provide literacy instruction embedded in the domain of history and stresses that secondary teachers must understand the literacy demands in their content area and be able to provide instruction to equip students to comprehend increasingly complex texts as they progress through secondary education. This comparative case study used data from classroom observations, teacher interviews and student interviews to examine two seventh grade social studies teachers’ experiences with adopting content area literacy instruction in diverse middle school classrooms. The findings reveal the teachers were able to effectively incorporate content area literacy practices into a state mandated social studies classroom.

Authors

• Leila Richey Nuland, George Mason University

• Erin Marie Ramirez, George Mason University

• Ana M. Taboada Barber, George Mason University

• Elizabeth G. Sturtevant, George Mason University

• Julie K. Kidd, George Mason University