What does it mean to be discipline literate
My chosen discipline is Social Studies. In social studies, we are content rich, meaning that the vocabulary and literacy required changes with each unit, and a new set of unique words are given each time. Whether it be Cuneiform, Hieroglyphs, Sanscrit, Latin or Hanzi. That is just the vocabulary for writing systems in ancient civilizations! Social studies covers a very broad area of information.
I chose this word art to help show how complex social studies is. I know that many seem to think that it is a “soft” area of the curriculum; but tell me where we would be without Economics, Geographic maps, Civics/Government and the framework of history to guide the future. Social studies is the study of people, and the complex systems that govern our working world as we know it. The following SPICE chart sums up nicely the content involved in social studies curricula.
So, now we know what social studies means, that is the first step in understanding what literacy will look like in this construct. Each area has content with vocabulary that means something entirely different depending on the lens through which you view it. With the following meme, take the concept of a social construct. The meaning can change, depending on the time, place, culture and view point of the person looking at a situation.
So, in the 1800’s, the social construct of the “wild west” as it regards the immigration of Asian peoples was vastly different than that of the “49ers” even though they were in the same location and time period. The really fun thing about Social studies is that if you change one factor or focus, the entire story changes. Social studies is the story of people, from Macro to Micro, it is always about people. Smagorinsky says that historical thinking is “Analyzing evidence, weighing conflicting accounts, consider the influence of bias, and developing evidence based arguments”(2011)
I had to throw this in, because in speaking about being literate in a content area, those who are not Math literate would not understand the following joke….
In Math, 1+1=2. The end. The same is only sometimes true about social studies. There are some hard fast rules. You cannot become industrialized without agriculture. You cannot change from hunter-gatherers without domestication.
However, the most vital, and important of hard, fast social studies rules is this. “Never start a land war in Asia”
If Alexander, Ceasar, Attila, Napoleon and Hitler had studied history, maybe they would have known that they were bound for defeat. But without this content literacy, would the previous phrase even make sense?
The ultimate goal of Social studies teachers is “for students to be truly literate, able to read the world and take action to change it”. (Plaut, 09) You cannot change what you do not know, you cannot improve what you cannot comprehend.
References
Best 20 Birthday pick up lines ideas on Pinterest | Love lines for girlfriend, Corny pick up lines and Cheesy love lines. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.pinterest.co.uk/explore/birthday-pick-up-lines/?lp=true
Best 25 Ap world history ideas on Pinterest | World history, World of empire and Viking timeline. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://pinterest.com/explore/ap-world-history/?lp=true
Images tagged “social studies”. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://imgflip.com/tag/social studies
Plaut, S. (2009). The right to literacy in secondary schools: Creating a culture of thinking. Teachers College Press.
Secondary Instruction and Professional Development. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.fcusd.org/Page/13202
Smagorinsky, P. (2011). The Background for Current Literacy Studies. Vygotsky and Literacy Research, 99–121. doi:10.1007/978–94–6091–696–0_5
Ap euro jokes. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://pinterest.com/carlybn/ap-euro-jokes/?lp=true
C. (2012, January 26). The Agricultural Revolution: Crash Course World History #1. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yocja_N5s1I
M. (2012, July 01). The Princess Bride, Never go in against a Sicilian. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15_-cKwNWDA
