Working on Explaining During Social Studies

On my February 8 post, I talked about developing a "break-out" rubric that focused in on one particular writing skill, in this case a rubric on "Explaining" (AKA Elaborating). I had noticed that students were listing facts as their way of explaining an idea, and needed to expand their understanding of what I was looking for when the instructions said to "Explain...". I came up with a 4-level Explaining rubric that described each level and added a Social Studies example with it:

1	2	3	4
List of facts	Facts with a definition or some other information	Facts with a definition, some interpretation, other information and/or examples	Facts with concrete details, lots of other information, a specific example, definition and interpretation.

After going over this rubric, I had students compare their recent essay to the 4 levels, and self-assess at what level they felt they were currently performing. Most rated themselves a 1 or 2 (pretty accurate, I would say). Next, I had them make a goal of something specific they would do to move themselves to a 3 or 4, and they wrote that goal at the bottom of their essay rubric.

And then we practiced. Since we were at the beginning of the Road to Revolution unit, students were assigned historical roles, two students per role, and designated as a Loyalist, Patriot, or Neutralist. After learning about one or two historical events during the timeline of 1754-1775, we held a "Town Hall meeting" during which one of the partners would debate what they felt the colonists should do: Comply with Britain, Oppose (usually through boycott or petition), or Rebel (declare independence from Britain). Before the Town Hall meeting, the partners prepared the talking points for their role. As a final preparation step, I posted the Explaining rubric, and had the speaker "Practice making your point and EXPLAINING it to your partner. Partners, help them explain their points fully". We had four Town Hall meetings, which gave each partner two opportunities to participate (the non-speaking partner had an active listening sheet to tally responses). 

I noticed that students usually jumped immediately to their example and ended with their decision to comply, oppose, or rebel. I also noticed that they added more information and occasionally connected their example to another example or to something someone else had said. They angled their reasoning to their roles' political stance and/or background.The level of explaining was getting better, especially after the speaker's second Town Hall meeting.

Next, we read primary source documents from Debating the Documents: Loyalists and Patriots (Social Studies School Service), and organized a debate around the central question: "As the American Revolution began, why did some colonists choose to rebel while others did not?" I switched students' roles: if they had been debating the Patriot side during the Town Hall meetings, they now had to debate the Loyalist side ("Groan!"), and vise versa ("Yay!"). Again, they compiled their talking points as a group, while I posted the Explaining rubric for their reference. Then I mixed the groups for the debate, and gave feedback as I walked around: "You gave your example, but didn't state your point. What point are you trying to make? Start with the point, and then give the example. Try it again." "You listed facts, but didn't explain by defining, adding information, or interpretation. Try it again." "You made good points, but didn't support them with explanations. What examples could you use? Try it again."

The final practice came immediately after the debate, when they had 20 minutes to answer our essential question in an explanatory paragraph: When is it necessary for citizens to rebel against their government? What a difference! Oh sure, some students still jumped straight into examples or listed facts without elaboration, but most were at a Level 3 on the Explaining rubric. They stated their ideas and then supported them with examples, connecting the example to the idea. They defined the different Acts or events, and they added interpretations. As I was grading these formative quizzes, I commented on places where they had put a "List of facts-- Level 1" or "example without making a point", so that when they write the essay on the summative test next week, they will remember to lift the level.

I am really pleased that the focus on explanation through explicit definition of the skill, oral and written practice, and feedback made a difference. While I was grading the formative quiz paragraphs, though, I noticed a definite need to include content vocabulary into their writing. I guess I need to develop a "Word Choice" break-out rubric next!