One of the most powerful pictures I ever saw in education was the image of students of different shapes and sizes in front of the fence that represents “equality” and then those same students standing on boxes that represented “equity.” The question I struggled with most was, “how do I bring this to my social studies content?” I struggled with how to make my curriculum accessible and equitable for all my students. I would have never guessed my answer would have come from state testing. My first training about content and language supports showed me that even if standardized tests could be differentiated, then any classroom lesson could be too.
The following supports showed me that differentiation should not have a limit teachers. But my struggle was how!? We all want to, but the truth is many of us are not quite sure where to start. Social studies content is broad in scope but specific in detail. We have more standards in nearly every state than any other subject and oftentimes have terms that even a dictionary can not help students understand. Where do we even start?
Getting Started
This is where studying things like the supports given in state testing come in handy. In Texas, these are referred to as content and language supports. Other states refer to them as curriculum or classroom accommodations. They can be given to students with special education services, emerging bilingual students, and 504 plan students. They are slightly different by subject, but helpful across all areas of testing. They are made to essentially infuse content with visuals, graphic organizers, and clarifying language to help students make sense of what they are learning. Taking content resources and amplifying them through accommodated supports makes social studies more accessible and equitable for all students.
Different Types of Support Strategies
Visuals
There is simply no limit to the amount of visuals you can use with social studies content. However, the trick to this support is that you have to be strategic with how you use them. You have to be specific about chosen visuals and how they help students with their understanding. Primary sources, maps, reference guides, timelines, and other visual resources are always a winner in this area! Ideally, choose visuals that you can refer back to at least five times throughout the year. Additionally, choose terms to pair with the visuals that are essential for students’ understanding of the content. It is also helpful to use the same images across classrooms at a campus or even across campuses within a district.
Graphic Organizers
While not commonly utilized in social studies, graphic organizers used with maps, atlases, primary sources, or other visuals can help many students organize the facts and connect information in social studies. Students often struggle to see the causes and effects across time periods and connections between eras, so graphic organizers can be especially important in instruction to establish relevance of content.
Clarifying Language
Social studies has the heaviest level of new vocabulary than any other content. Clarifying language is a two fold strategy: simplifying unnecessary words and rewording primary sources. The reality, however, is that some of these terms are essential to the content, such as “nullifying” or “ratifying,” but some other words that we often use such as “developing,” “significant,” or “conflict” hinder many students’ understanding of a period or event. By providing support that simplifies these words and using a variety of these such as “important” instead of “significant,” students have more opportunities to understand the bigger ideas.
Primary sources and excerpts from great documents are where new technology can also help with clarifying language support. Using sites that reword this classical or outdated language helps students make sense of what George Washington or Frederick Douglass’ greatest speeches meant. Many times the big ideas are more important than the specific language they used.
Social studies content can be overwhelming, but I would argue is the most important content to learn! Many people diminish social studies to boring memorization of facts and dates because they struggle to understand the content, but we know it is so much more than that. Social studies is what teaches us where we came from, the struggles others fought, and the ideals we are still striving to achieve and our students need support to be able to grasp those ideas. Whether it is a translation app, a daily alarm, a pedometer, or your daily coffee, nearly all of us have something that helps us make sense of our daily lives. In the real world, we use different supports nearly every day. Why wouldn’t we do the same in our teaching?
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Kimberly Peña has been in education for 15 years, first as a secondary history teacher, then as an Instructional Coach, and Assessment Specialist before her current position as a Social Studies Curriculum Coordinator. She has been a lover of studying history since she was a child. She is passionate about making social studies education accessible and equitable for all students.