Merging Civic and Literacy Skills
In many schools today, all or a significant portion of the allocated social studies period is being creatively transformed to provide additional preparation time for state-mandated reading and writing high-stakes testing. Many educators and parents understand the need for improved literacy instruction; however, they are concerned about the civic void that could result from the shortened or deleted time segment for social studies content instruction. In this article, the authors identify methods for merging social studies content with activities intended to strengthen students' reading and writing skills. The literacy strategies suggested should engage learners to improve their comprehension skills through determining, applying, and synthesizing meaning, and they should empower them with the ability to organize and articulate newly learned information to others. With the merging of civics and literacy skills, learners will demonstrate comprehension of critical social studies content and improve their reading and writing skills simultaneously.