In searching for alternatives to multiple choice tests and document-based questions, the authors were inspired by the common practice of "do-nows" (also known as "bell work") in which teachers give students a brief task at the beginning of class to prepare them for the day's lesson. Could these minutes at the start of class be…

Decades of research into which instructional strategies are successful in K-12 history and social studies conclude that having students write is extremely important. Effective writing assignments--whether a 3- to 5-paragraph essay, a longer term-paper-style assignment, or even a fictional short story based on a historical period or event--require…

The Federal Writers' Project was an arm of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), Franklin Delano Roosevelt's massive program to put the unemployed back to work. The Writers' Project was charged with producing an extensive guidebook for each of the 48 states; and more than 6,000 local newspaper writers, novelists, poets, college professors, and…

Maintains that teaching is, among other things, the art of connecting students with course content in personal, relevant, and exciting ways. Presents three classroom lessons that incorporate journals, plays, and essays into social studies teaching. Includes discussion questions and follow-up assignments. (CFR)

Presents sample writing assignments that enable students to practice social studies skills. Suggests that the use of creative writing assignments allows students to make a jump in time or place to the era and area being studied. Argues that using the imagination is a better approach to learning than memorizing facts. (DK)

Discusses the use of writing assignments for teaching social studies. Suggests that alternatives to the standard research paper may be more advantageous to students by providing increased opportunity for creativity. Describes oral history projects, diaries, letters, advertisements, monologues, brief investigations, and position papers as suitable…

Presents results of a project examining the effects of writing to learn in elementary social studies. Explains that the research explored journal writing activities as a means of improving social studies achievement, writing fluency, and communication. Concludes that journal writing does increase writing fluency and learning retention. (DK)

Suggests that using historical novels in a unified studies approach to social studies and reading instruction may enhance students' learning in both content areas. Describes a historical fiction project utilizing three novels pertaining to United States history. Concludes that the whole class instruction unified each class through participation in…

Contends that geography teachers are always looking for ways to excite their students while engaging them in geographic skills development. Describes using "Wanted Posters" as a springboard to geographic learning in middle schools. Includes sources for obtaining wanted posters from government and social service agencies. (CFR)

Presents instructional materials and suggestions for using primary source documents regarding Admiral Peary's search for the North Pole. Cache notes were brief dispatches left for the press in ice hutches along with provisions and maps. Includes a photocopy of a cache note from Peary's expedition with suggested research topics and activities. (MJP)

Asserts that, for generations of immigrants, the federal immigration station at Ellis Island, New York, left an indelible first impression of life in the United States. Presents a lesson plan based on photographs of immigrants at Ellis Island and two poems about immigration. (CFR)

Describes exercises in which students create a fictional character from history and write a journal entry in a cooperative group activity. Discusses further assignments in which individual students create additional characters descended from the original for study of later historical periods. Suggests that the project demonstrates how historical…

Argues that the illuminating, conceptual, and contextual qualities of literature make it an excellent resource for teaching social studies concepts, especially those concerning multiculturalism. Advocates reading the books as complete works rather than piecemeal assignments. Includes suggestions for selected books and related topics. (MJP)

Describes an easy project that uses postcards to engage elementary and middle school students in reading, writing, and social studies. Students write letters to the editors of different newspapers asking their readers to send postcards to the class. Follow up activities include response letters, maps, and writing assignments. (MJP)

Notes that teachers can make writing assignments more acceptable by using innovative techniques. Suggests that using letter writing for research projects is a good motivational technique. Asks students to assume roles of persons of a specific historical period and write from the first-person perspective. Includes sample letter. (NL)