The SIOP Model for Teaching History-Social Studies to English Learners (SIOP Series) by Deborah J. Short

by Deborah J. Short

Deborah Short, MaryEllen Vogt, and Jana EchevarríaThe SIOP Model for Teaching History-Social Studies to English LearnersBased on the best-selling resource Making Content Comprehensible for English The SIOP Model by acclaimed authors Jana Echevarría, MaryEllen Vogt, and Deborah Short, K-12 history-social studies teachers, coaches, and intervention specialists now have access to research-based, SIOP-tested techniques for lessons specifically for the history-social studies classroom.In The SIOP Model for Teaching History-Social Studies to English Learners SIOP techniques, activities, sample lessons and complete units guide educators in promoting academic language and development along with comprehensible content. To learn about other SIOP Model resources available, see the inside front cover.Overwhelming Response from Reviewers!“I LOVE the Teacher Think Alouds—brilliant!! I will have my student teachers do this in their reflections.” -Maggie Beddow, CSU Sacramento, Sacramento CA“The lessons are a strength of the book… they demonstrate and illustrate how to implement SIOP in the content area…[and] seem much more likely to elicit higher level thinking skills.”-Robin L. Gordon, Mount St. Mary’s College, Los Angeles CATake a Glimpse InsidePresents a systematic process for teaching both history-social studies academic content and language to English learners. Offers ideas and activities for social studies, history, geography, civics and government, and economics (not just history and social studies) for grade-bands K-2, 3-5 (or 6), 6-8, and 9-12. Provides use-tomorrow strategies for implementing the eight components of the SIOP Model in a history-social studies classroom. Includes lesson plans and comprehensive units that illustrate how a particular activity can be effective for all students, not just English learners.

Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[Nicholas · Rating 1 out of 5]

Poorly organized and lacking in any meaningful content, this book is more of a recap of good overall teaching strategies. More of a collection of common sense teaching practices, the book is unduly burdened with research into mundane facts that some doctoral candidate might have seized upon as a good dissertation because topics in this field are so overly researched. The findings: students who have teachers that teach them academic language are more successful academically than those who do not. Really? No kidding. You mean people who don't understand what they're reading, don't do well on exams of the content of their reading? Why didn't we think of that sooner.

After the initial phase of justifying the existence of this book, the authors move on to a host of strategies that are meant to foster academic language development. As usual with books of this kind, the examples are extremely poor and probably not really applicable in real life. One of the standout examples involved teaching about the transcontinental railroad by clearing the center of your room, building fake obstacles and having students use popsicle sticks laid end to end to simulate the building of the railroad. The activity probably takes the greater part of 35-40 minutes and has NO content value whatsoever. Sure students will be talking, but about the content? Unlikely.

If you want a better book on applicable teaching strategies, try Doug Lemov's Teach Like a Champion. The strategies are presented in a shorter, more approachable way and the research smattered throughout is relevant: why this strategy works and is valuable. Period. As to teaching English Learners, good teaching strategies that address vocabulary building are good for ALL students, not just ELs. Whether people are native English speakers or not, there's a need to introduce new, higher level vocabulary in each discipline, at every level of education. Otherwise, what's the point of going to school? You could just read Wikipedia all day.