4 As of Literacy
As Social Studies teachers, we must embed reading and thinking strategies in our social studies and history instruction, so that comprehension and thinking strategies become tools for learning and understanding content. Teaching historical literacy means we merge thoughtful, foundational literacy practices with challenging, engaging resources to immerse kids in historical ways of thinking! (Goudvis & Harvey, 2016)
Too often students experience history as a passive slog through the textbook, with a "coverage" curriculum that's a mile wide and an inch deep. Instead, students should be reading and actively responding to a wide range of historical sources, viewing and analyzing images; reading historical fiction, first-person accounts, letters, and all manner of sources; and engaging in simulations so they can understand and empathize with the experiences of people who lived "long ago and far away." (Goudvis & Harvey, 2016)