Social Studies Disciplinary Literacy Support for Middle School Students

Social Studies Generation (SoGen) is comprised of three six-week sequences around topics commonly included in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade social studies content standards. These curricular materials can be used in place of the standard curriculum materials, or as a supplement. They provide opportunities to read, write, discuss, and build arguments about central concepts in social studies.

Each week-long unit is comprised of 40-50 minute social studies lessons each day and highlights 5–10 academic words. There are also supplementary activities for other content areas to continue the cross-disciplinary benefits of Word Generation. Students integrate information from multiple texts, often from differing perspectives. All activities relate to the central question or topic of the week, build relevant knowledge, and provide opportunities to encounter the new academic vocabulary in multiple semantic contexts. By bringing the conflict closer to students' lives, and providing them with tools to identify the claims, reasons, and evidence associated with the perspective, students are equipped with both the background and the tools to engage in argumentation.