I've been on a bit of a literacy and social studies kick, recently--this will be my third post on the subject.
Post 1 reviewed research that shows that, in elementary school, "Social studies is the only subject with a clear, positive, and statistically significant effect on reading improvement" and explored some of the reasons why. It also highlighted the strategy of "write your way in/write your way out."
Post 2 focused on "chunking"--breaking longer/harder texts into smaller sections to make them more manageable and less intimidating to read.
This post is going to focus on the hows and whys of activating prior knowledge.
Build and Activating Prior Knowledge...
Why do it? According to education writer Natalie Wexler, information is like Velcro—it sticks to things you already know. It’s really hard to remember facts you learn in a vacuum. It’s much easier to remember things that relate to information you already have. And, importantly, relevant knowledge dramatically improves reading comprehension. So if we want kids to be able to read social studies textbooks in middle or high school, we need to start introducing domain-specific vocabulary, concepts and building background knowledge in elementary school.
...Through Picture Books
Salish Kootenai College professor Tammy Elser, who's taught me almost everything I know about literacy, suggests that every classroom should have a physical world map and a physical Montana map. And EVERY TIME teachers read a picture book, they should help students figure out where the story takes place and how far that place is from Montana.
- Reading a picture book whose main character is a talking lion? Before you start, use the pictures to introduce information and vocabulary about habitat (the savannah) and show students on your maps where the savannah is (southern Africa.) And, of course, have students tell you if they think the story is going to be fiction or non-fiction.
- Choose stories that allow you to introduce science and social studies vocabulary and background knowledge, knowing these topics will be taught in later grades.
... Through Vocabulary Instruction and Repetition
In Unit 4 of Montana: A History of Our Home we ask students to first listen to, and then read, a homesteading reminiscence. Actually, they listen to the reminiscence twice. The first time, they listen to answer specific questions. (Establishing goals for listening help students pay attention.) The second time, they listen while underlining "treasure words" (vocabulary).
Then they play a game retired elementary school librarian Ruth Ferris introduced me to, "hot seat."
- Students are divided into two teams.
- Someone from Team 1 sits in front of the class with their back to the board in the “hot seat.”
- The teacher writes one of the treasure words on the board.
- Team 1 teammates take turns trying to describe the word (which is on a handout with its definition) to their teammate in the hot seat using only one to three words but WITHOUT using the actual word or any of its derivatives.
- After one minute or when the student guesses the word, choose someone from Team 2 to sit in the hot seat.
After all this, students read the reminiscence for themselves, illustrating three paragraphs of their choice.
Repetition makes students more likely to remember the content--and the new vocabulary they've been introduced to.
...Through Exit Tickets, Quick Writes, or Other Assignments
Lots of teachers use exit tickets to quickly assess student understanding so they know what concepts or topics they need to revisit. But any way you require students to reflect will help them cement learning.
Montana: A History of Our Home incorporates lots of exit tickets. It also asks students to "write their way in" and "write their way out."
"Write Your Way In" activates prior knowledge and curiosity about a subject. It also lets teachers know what students do/don't know about a specific topic.
"Write Your Way Out" provides an opportunity for students to reflect on what they've learned.
Both are incredibly low stakes ways to get students writing.
... By Combining Reading, Activities, and Short Lectures
Many lessons in Montana: A History of Our Home ask students to read in their textbooks to find out information they need to answer specific questions--for example, why people emigrated to Montana. In some cases, lessons include brief lectures to introduce new background knowledge and vocabulary. Almost always, these strategies are tied to an activity that introduces the topic or allows students to apply what they learned from the reading to make sense of the activity. By combining reading (and, YES--your students should be reading, rather than you reading to them), listening, and learning activities, students get reading practice and are better able to retain new information and vocabulary.
... Through K/W/L Charts
Although I don't think we incorporated this in any of our Montana: A History of Our Home lesson plans, you can't go wrong with an old-fashioned K/W/L Chart, where as a class, you record what students know about a topic (K), what they want to know (W), and, at the end of the lesson, what they learned (L). K/W/L was invented by Reading and Language professor Donna Ogle precisely to help students activate background knowledge. Introducing the method, she wrote: “To read well, we must access the knowledge we already have about the topic, or make it available appropriately so that comprehension can occur”.
Beyond Montana: A History of Our Home
In most of the examples above, I highlighted lessons from MTHS's fourth-grade curriculum Montana: A History of Our Home because
- we've done the work of integrating literacy into social studies for teachers
- it's the curriculum I know best,
- I want teachers to use it, and
- It's available to download for free.
But, obviously, you can play hot seat, provide reasons for repeated readings, ask students to write their way in/out, implement exit tickets, and give students a purpose for reading with any topic. I hope you will!
