Overview: Providing different types of support to students before, during, and after discourse can facilitate student sensemaking, help all students feel more confident and prepared to participate, build language skills, and provide options for communication and expression. Supports should both help students learn and use the norms and vocabulary of social studies discourse and validate and build off of their home languages and everyday forms of discourse.
Example Strategies:
| Strategy | Description and Resources |
|---|---|
| Graphic Organizers | Graphic organizers support various learners in capturing and organizing information visually. Graphic organizers can be utilized for discourse and other activities in the classroom.
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| Sentence Stems |
Sentence stems can be provided in almost any writing or speaking activity to lower barriers to participation and help students learn the norms and vocabulary of science discourse. Sentence stems are particularly useful for building specific discourse or science practice skills, e.g. disagreeing respectfully, clarifying ideas, or arguing from evidence, but can also be tailored to specific activities or content. Frequently used sentence stems can be posted on the wall or provided to students on laminated cards. |
| Historical Thinking Skills | Our social studies classrooms utilize the historical thinking skills of corroboration, contextualization, sourcing, and close read regularly, as we equipping students with the critical thinking skills needed to engage with primary and secondary source historical documents, both individually, and in discussion. The following classroom resources can aid students in knowing what questions to ask to access each skill.
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