Making Learning Meaningful

Abstract

When encouraging readers of history, we have several broad goals for our students as readers and as learners. We want them to leave their reading with some knowledge of content and to be able to discriminate among ideas for significance, bias, point of view, and perspective. We would like them to think about what they learned and how they learned it, acknowledging the value of talk and others’ opinions and ideas when they are forming their own opinions. We would also hope the study we’ve done would prompt them to ask new questions that lead them to further reading and study. At this stage in their lives, these readers have assumed the reader role of “Text Critic” as they analyze, synthesize, apply, and extend their learning into independent learning and historical expertise. Many of us have enjoyed students who see themselves as historical experts. On Christine’s first day as a social studies teacher, before the bell had rung to allow students to enter class, she encountered her first expert in her new students, Stephen:… “So, you’re going to be my U.S. History teacher. What do you know about Patton?” “Do you mean George Patton from World War II?” “Yes. If you’re going to expect me to learn from you, you better know your World War II stuff. And, you’re going to have to have seen the movie. Have you seen it?” “Well, no. But if you have it . . . “I have it right here with me. Watch it tonight and we can talk about it tomorrow.”… Christine had found her first expert—and her first ally. This is the kind of student we hope we foster as we are planning curriculum and instruction throughout the year. In Ways That Work: Putting Social Studies Standards into Practice, Tarry Lindquist expects these outcomes and plans for them at the beginning of the unit. “Whenever I plan a unit, I first brainstorm ways my students can acquire knowledge, manipulate data, practice skills, and apply their understanding through group activities” (1997, 101). As a result of the time Christine and her students spend working on questioning, thoughtful and careful reading, exposure to multiple texts, and sharing ideas with others, the satisfaction of those goals is evident in her classroom.