Writing in the Social Studies

Writing in the Social Studies is a practical guide for educators. On each page are strategies, tips, and takeaways for teachers to implement in their classroom, while every chapter concludes with helpful handouts to distribute directly to students. Beginning with a framework and pacing guide, Writing in the Social Studies examines foundational, academic, and real-world writing, concluding with a methodology for grading and a spirited plea for teachers to write themselves. Teachers who believe in teaching “skills through content” finally have a blueprint from which to work. Those who understand it is imperative students graduate with the ability to think critically and express a point of view now have a vehicle with which to achieve their goals. Writing in the Social Studies will be the first book to tackle this crucial yet neglected corner of the curriculum. There is a desperate need for professional development in this area, and therefore also tremendous opportunity. It is a professional imperative that social studies educators teach a variety of writing skills through content. As a result they should have access to a resource which clearly and engagingly shows them how. This is Writing in the Social Studies.

Writing is one of the most important, yet least taught skills in American schools today. Aaron Pribble to the rescue! Writing in the Social Studies, which might also be called Writing for the Rest of Us, is, hands down, the best book on teaching writing I’ve read in many years. An essential resource for every secondary school and college teacher and an invaluable guide for new teachers., Inevitably, the best advice about teaching comes from a fellow teacher. Such is the case here. Focusing on the particular writing skills required in social studies, Pribble offers a step-by-step plan for mastering summary, analysis, and research. Whether you are new to the history classroom or glimpse retirement on the horizon, I guarantee you will find ideas here for improving your students’ writing skills. And as night follows day, so will their learning., Aaron Pribble connects all the dots in Writing in the Social Studies: A Practical Guide for Teachers. He lays out why writing is critical within the disciplines of social studies and provides a practical and classroom-ready set of tools for teachers to use to support student writing. , Working with Aaron Pribble over many years, I have watched him work to develop, vet and implement strategies to teach these skills to his students. I have borrowed many of his ideas for use with my own students. Now he has gone a step further and compiled his ideas and strategies into a must-have, user-friendly book that provides lessons that are sure to help any social studies teacher transform their approach to teaching their students how to write.

Aaron Pribble is the author of Teacherland: Inside the Myth of the American Educator and Pitching in the Promised Land: A Story of the First and Only Season in the Israel Baseball League. An award-winning educator, Aaron teaches social studies at Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley, California