The 2015 Kansas Social Studies Conference began with an opening assembly hosted by Don Gifford and Suzy Myers from the Kansas Department of Education to fit with the theme of Integrating History and ELA. Don started his presentation by introducing us to his self proclaimed “man crush” Alexander Hamilton.
Don suggested that “Hamilton wrote himself out of poverty and into the history books.” He continued by suggesting that we need to encourage reading and writing skills in our classrooms. Suzy then asked us to consider what prevents us from making literacy, especially writing, a central activity in our daily lessons. Research shows that colleges and employers are able to identify reading and writing deficiencies in the classroom and the job place, so why are we not doing more to prevent this?
As educators we should redefine what we consider writing, use meaningful collaboration between social studies and English teachers, and model for our students the transfer of knowledge between content areas by applying grammar in the social studies classroom and content in the English classroom.
For some of you, this post may not be that relevant. You don’t live close to Kansas. Or maybe you’re not a social studies teacher. But if you live in Kansas, or close to Kansas, or don’t mind making a trip to Kansas and you’re a social studies teacher, have I got a deal for you.
