Building Students' Historical Literacies

Book excerpt: How can teachers incorporate the richness of historical resources into classrooms in ways that are true to the discipline of history and are pedagogically sound? Now in its second edition, this book explores the notion of historical literacy, adopts a research-supported stance on literacy processes, and promotes the integration of content-area literacy instruction into history content teaching. Providing an original focus on the discipline-specific literacies of historical inquiry, the new edition presents a deeper examination of difficult histories and offers new strategies that can be applied to all genres of historical inquiry. Nokes surveys a broad range of texts, including those that historians and nonhistorians both use and produce in understanding history, and provides a wide variety of practical instructional strategies immediately available to teachers. Featuring new examples and practical resources, the new edition highlights the connection between historical literacies and the critical reading and communication skills that are necessary for informed civic engagement. Equipped with study guides, graphic organizers, and scoring guides for classroom use, this text is an essential resource for preservice and practicing teachers in literacy and social studies education.