I’ve enjoyed both the article about connecting science and literature and the one about connecting history and literature. I think history and ELA almost go hand in hand because most of history is communicated through literature. In the article, a study was done where three teachers (an ELA teacher, a social studies teacher, and a social studies teacher educator) all monitored each other’s teaching to learn how to create the optimal learning environment for their students.
Each teacher agreed that in order to teach historical fiction effectively they need to abide by three different rules of thumb. First, teachers need to grow students’ background knowledge of the historical event they’re learning about. Second, students need to embrace historical empathy to really understand the reasoning behind historical leaders’ actions. Lastly, teachers want to encourage the comparison of fictional and nonfictional writing to give students different ways to think about texts.
I personally think these are all great mindsets to have when teaching any social studies class because many of these classes are based on history. ELA teachers need students to understand history just as much as history teachers need students to be knowledgeable in literature. I think if we as teachers focus on these three, key strategies many students will become more passionate about these particular subjects. Many times, students are passionate about a single subject, and other subjects seem pointless to them. Teaching in ways that promote two different subjects at the same time can increase student engagement in subjects they were previously uninterested in.
This strategy can be used for other subjects as well, and the goal is to show students that what they learn in one classroom can have a positive or negative impact on their understanding in another class. Obviously, our goal as teachers is to set up our students for as much success as we possibly can.
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I actually read the same article as you, and I didn't even think about looking at the same way you did! It's so true that students have favorite subjects and completely isolate themselves to excelling in that specific area alone. Being that literacy is intertwined in all subject areas it is so important to break this assumption in students. As you say, doing this can increase students engagement in subjects that they were indifferent to before.
ReplyDeleteI read both articles as well and agree especially with how social studies and ELA go hand and hand as you said. To learn history is to go through texts from those before us to understand what happened in the past. To add historical fiction, typically making a key event from the past, to help students understand the history. Adding historical fiction to the classroom not only helps the students understand but also enjoy learning about history.
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