Why is reading in a Social Studies classroom so important?
For many social studies teachers, helping students develop reading skills is a low priority—nice to do if there's time, but not necessary. After all, there's scarcely time to meet the multitude of state-mandated subject-area learning objectives. Why add reading instruction to the list? The answer is that reading skills are essential to the learning of subjects. In the learning of social studies, students must read to learn. Struggling readers stand to learn a lot less than those who are proficient in reading. Fortunately, you do not need to be a reading specialist to help ensure that no student is left behind. You can make a difference by recognizing social studies-specific reading difficulties and by teaching strategies designed to overcome them.
On the right, you can watch a video that provides tips on using multimedia to support reading in social studies courses. The video also discusses why reading is important in a social students classroom and makes note of how these tips would be very useful with the implementation of Common Core. The implementation of multimedia resources may allow students to be more engaged in the classroom. |
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What are some difficulties the average student faces when reading social studies material?
Three of the most difficult things a social studies reader has to face are:
Below is an example of words with multiple meanings. These meanings may be confusing to students if the teacher fails to explain the meaning as it is applied in social studies.
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What are some of the best ways to help students overcome the difficulties of reading social studies text?
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What are some difficulties a ESL student has to face in a Social Studies classroom?
While these students already have to contend with the same problems native English speaking students do, they often have to overcome even more difficulties to be successful.
Some problems that ESL students have to overcome:
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Effective Teaching Strategies that help ESL students learn Social Studies
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