This professional development session equips Social Studies teachers with strategies to improve student performance, particularly the ELA components embedded within social studies content. The workshop centers on aligning reading and writing strategies. Participants engage in practical activities to explore evidence-based reading, writing, and vocabulary techniques tailored for social studies classrooms. The session emphasizes leveraging ELA skills to enhance comprehension, critical thinking, and performance.

• A lack of integration between ELA skills and social studies instruction that can hinder student performance.
  

• Challenges in teaching students to analyze informational texts and respond with evidence-based written answers.

Implement Close Reading and Annotation Techniques in Social Studies Contexts
Teachers will learn how to guide students through multiple, purpose-driven readings of complex texts using structured annotation strategies. This builds deeper text comprehension and prepares students to extract relevant evidence efficiently.

Design and Use Text-Dependent Questions to Develop Analytical Thinking
Educators will practice creating and applying questions that require students to cite textual evidence rather than rely on prior knowledge or opinion. This promotes analytical skills crucial for success and for interpreting primary and secondary sources in social studies.

Integrate Writing Strategies Like Claims-Evidence-Reasoning (C-E-R) to Strengthen Argumentation

Participants will explore how to scaffold students’ writing using the C-E-R framework, helping them craft coherent arguments supported by textual evidence. They will also learn how to construct and evaluate writing prompts and rubrics.