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I have always felt strongly about including the arts into SS and by doing this you are going to help inspire creativity! You exposing them to these mediums could spark a new interest or serve as a great outlet for coping with stress. Also, it’s a way for all students to be involved and may engage your reluctant participants! I often had students analyze photos or paintings as part of a lesson and have them do a quick write about it. These primary sources are just as effective as combing through a document written in antiquated language and “super-scrolly” handwriting. My favorite photos were those including people like this one from the Library of Congress site. You can tell a lot from the expression on a person’s face. If you would like more information about where to find primary sources and how to use them click here: https://www.thesocialstudieswhisperer.com/2016/10/using-primary-sources-periscope-series/
One of my favorite pieces of art to use was John Brown’s mural. I included more about this in this post with Historical Happenings for the week of October 15th. Here is a link to that post! https://www.thesocialstudieswhisperer.com/2018/10/historical-happenings-for-the-week-of-october-15th/
I love music as well!! When I was in the classroom, I would infuse as much music into instruction as I could. Um, and use song lyrics as quotes. And by playing the clips or songs repeatedly you help build that academic language. If I could find a song that was about the time period of related to the time period, I would have kids listen and write or draw a response. Or I would use the lyrics as a close reading passage in conjunction with listening. Most songs are less than 5 minutes long so this is a great transition or attention getter.
One of my absolute favorite ways to include music is by using the website www.flocabulary.com. When I say I love this site, I mean it! I have written multiple blog posts, a rap, and a Valentine’s Day Ode to Flocab. My ELLs loved the clips and so did this teacher. The clips also feature the lyrics, which really builds that vocab. They offer a great free trial but I happily paid out of my own pocket! I had a technically non-English speaking child quote the lyrics from the Point of View clip when we were doing the activity you will see featured in the last post in the series about modifying the D-Day activity. He didn’t understand everything we were doing but he remembered the chorus to the song and was able to help another student!!
What do you want your legacy as a classroom teacher to be? Building test takers or being the inspiration for a new passion? Find a way to incorporate the arts. I will elaborate more on how I used poetry and literature in future endeavors. Letting students explore and show off their own talents in music or art is going to mean the world to ELLs especially. This gives them a chance to shine while acquiring English. Obviously there is a time and a place and students have to be encouraged to develop literacy skills. I always made sure I included options for the arts during projects.
I often used things like choice boards that gave multiple options to appeal to a variety of levels of learners and learning styles. Late in the year, I let my students try Jigsaws as a means to teach each other content or to review. I was excited to see how many chose to do skits, make stick puppets, or sing as their way to teach classmates their assigned content! Below you see some samples of my Civil Rights Movement Choice Board. When you give students the opportunity to showcase their talents they are more motivated. And it’s a chance to get to know them in a new way! I learned that one of my students was a gifted singer when she chose to sing The Star Spangled Banner as part of a project and her explanation of why was so moving.
Want some ideas for activities? Here are some examples of Choice Boards I have done:
- https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Womens-History-Choice-Board-3051215
- https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/WWI-Choice-Board-3422013
- https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Editable-Roaring-20s-Choice-Board-2383895
- https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Legal-Challenge-Choice-Board-3510236
- https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Christmas-Through-the-Ages-Choice-Board-Set-2927407
- https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Holiday-History-Hop-Task-Rotation-Choice-Board-2257933
- https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Civil-Rights-Movement-Project-4404488
Don’t miss the rest of the blog series! Find each link below!
- Introduction: https://www.thesocialstudieswhisperer.com/2019/07/introduction-to-meeting-the-needs-of-english-language-learners-during-social-studies/
- Setting Up Your Space: https://www.thesocialstudieswhisperer.com/2019/07/setting-up-your-social-studies-space-with-english-language-learners-in-mind/
- Posting Learning Objectives: https://www.thesocialstudieswhisperer.com/2019/07/posting-learning-objectives-with-english-language-learners-in-mind/
- Meeting the Needs of Beginning Language Learners: https://www.thesocialstudieswhisperer.com/2019/07/meeting-the-needs-of-beginning-language-learners-in-social-studies/
- Building Listening, Speaking, and Vocabulary Skills in S.S.: https://www.thesocialstudieswhisperer.com/2019/07/building-listening-speaking-and-vocabulary-skills-in-social-studies/
- Non-Verbal Cues: https://www.thesocialstudieswhisperer.com/2019/07/supporting-english-language-learners-in-social-studies-with-non-verbal-cues/
- Learning Stations: https://www.thesocialstudieswhisperer.com/2019/07/using-learning-stations-in-social-studies/
- Even Playing Field: https://www.thesocialstudieswhisperer.com/2019/07/giving-english-language-learners-an-even-playing-field-in-social-studies/
- Picture Dictionaries: https://www.thesocialstudieswhisperer.com/2019/07/how-to-make-picture-dictionaries-to-support-your-english-language-learners/
- Being Prepared Ahead of Time/Resource Database: https://www.thesocialstudieswhisperer.com/2019/07/how-to-be-prepared-ahead-of-time-to-meet-the-needs-of-english-language-learners-in-social-studies/
The ideas from the blog series are the framework to the e-book I wrote. Check it out by clicking the picture!
