Books by Rice, Schmidt, and Ogle, Klemp, and McBride

by Beth Munger

What Was It Like? Teaching History and Culture Through Young Adult Literature by Linda J. Rice (Teachers College Press, New York, 2006)

Ohio University professor Linda Rice, along with colleague and contributing author, Jacqueline Glasgow, packs seven powerful thematic social studies units into easy-to-duplicate lessons. Middle and high school teachers and college professors who want to engage students while helping them to understand other cultures, time periods, conflicts, and even themselves will find What Was It Like? to be a practical handbook of important themes, questions, and active learning strategies. Chapter 1 introduces the theoretical underpinning of the book by delving into research on active learning. Rice briefly examines some of the components of the role of creativity and collaboration in active learning, explaining in short how to use the Socratic seminar, personal and analytical writing, and core questions, to name but a few strategies. She includes reflections on the theme of the book— conflicts in history at home and abroad— as a way of introducing the social studies units presented in the chapters that follow. Each of the remaining seven chapters embraces a compassionate and thorough foray into young adult literature geared around a thematic focus. The Great Depression, Mexican American migrant farm experiences, the Holocaust, Japanese internment, Korean perseverance during the Japanese occupation, the civil rights movement, and Vietnam are all explored through relevant and important young adult literature titles.

Brimming with examples created in actual class settings by preservice teachers, each chapter provides ways to use the overarching theme of the book in cultural, historical, and personal contexts. Because each chapter is a self-contained mini-unit— complete with an annotated bibliography, references, classroom examples, active learning projects, and a thematic connection to the two or three young adult literature titles recommended for the unit— the chapters may be used independently of one another. Sample graphic organizers, visual aids, poetry, photographs, research topics, and hypothetical questions make this book an immediate choice for collaborative work between social studies and English language arts teachers. A book written by teachers for teachers, What Was It Like? takes the best of young adult literature and pairs it with creative, easy-to-use, active learning strategies.

Social Studies That Sticks: How to Bring Content and Concepts to Life by Laurel Schmidt (Heinemann, Portsmouth, NH, 2007)

In Social Studies That Sticks, veteran educator Laurel Schmidt champions "teaching social studies so kids learn." In an upbeat teacher-friendly voice, Schmidt models how to restructure any social studies curriculum using the stages of a brain-compatible learning cycle: awareness, exploration, inquiry, and action. She shows how we can teach the standards and still move kids from passivity to activity through a dynamic approach rich in literacy opportunities, multidisciplinary real-world tasks, and self-assessment.

In Section One, "Getting the Big Picture," Schmidt examines the "what and how of social studies instruction" and identifies the essential questions at the "heart of social studies— the big problems that people were trying to solve over time, and the efforts that caused the human race to change, develop, evolve, and occasionally devolve."

In Section Two, "Tools of the Trade," Schmidt provides activities, strategies, and resources that allow students to explore the tools and processes used by real historians and social scientists in the course of their work: "primary source documents, biographies and first-person narratives, objects and art, place-based explorations and other nontraditional materials to investigate social studies topics." In Section Three, "Real-World Connections," she suggests ways that students can explore the real world using the skills presented in the first two sections of the book. Students learn "through investigating their community as classroom, examining cultural perspectives, comparing current and historic events, and pursuing social justice projects."

To assist teachers in choosing other possibilities for further study, Schmidt also provides a list of resources ranging from professional organizations to strategies that can be used for teaching social studies. Upper elementary and middle school teachers will find Schmidt's guidebook a useful tool for putting the "social back in social studies" by bringing the content to life for students in the context of social learning.

Building Literacy in Social Studies: Strategies for Improving Comprehension and Critical Thinking by Donna Ogle, Ron Klemp, and Bill McBride (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Alexandria, VA, 2007)

Authors Ogle, Klemp, and McBride have created a useful and practical sourcebook that is divided into two parts. Each chapter in Part 1 begins with a scenario that features fictional teacher John Reaf, who confronts the kinds of problems regarding literacy that social studies (and other) teachers typically face. Addressing problems that range from reading social studies texts to promoting civic engagement, the authors analyze the problem illustrated in the scenario and describe research-based strategies that target it. They then continue the scenario by having Reaf implement a strategy, which allows readers to see what it would "look like" in the social studies classroom. Just a few of the suggested strategies include using graphic organizers such as a concept definition map and a compare-contrast y-chart, studying propaganda and persuasion techniques, and going on a scavenger hunt through a social studies text's table of contents.

Part 2 focuses on practical literacy strategies for reading textbooks, primary and secondary sources, and newspapers and magazines. Each of the three chapters in this part provides specific instructions, along with sample documents and passages, that the teacher can use to model strategies, step-by-step activities for students, a sample filled-in graphic organizer for each strategy, and a blank graphic organizer for use by both the teacher and students.

Appendices and a bibliography contribute to the book's practical application. Appendix C, which presents a civic engagement quiz plus resources for promoting civic engagement, is especially interesting.

Beth Munger teaches composition, reading, and American literature at Ohio Dominican University. She has also taught composition and literature at Ohio State University and Columbus State Community College. Munger holds a bachelor of arts degree from Ohio Wesleyan University, where she majored in English and history, and a master of arts degree from Ohio State University in the field of rhetoric and composition. She has worked on several ORC projects, including Advancing Literacy Instruction Together (AdLIT), Ohio Writing Institute Network for Success (OhioWINS), and the English Language Arts Program Models.

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