Integration of Social Studies and Language Arts in Middle School & High School

Posted by Kellie Hayden Sep 28, 2008

Teachers who teach language arts or social studies can connect what they are doing in the classroom. Just the other day, a social studies teacher asked me, a language arts teacher, if we could work together on a research project. His students are not doing well on questions about bibliographies on our state achievement test. We hope to complete a project this year that will have components for both language arts and social studies.

Civil War Connection Ideas

There are many ways to connect to another subject area. For the Civil War, students can write a short story set in the Civil War time period. In addition, they can write a position paper for the North or the South. Or, they can write a character sketch from a novel based on the Civil War or write poetry with a Civil War theme.

World War II Integration Ideas

For World War II, students can write a persona journal about people involved in the war. For a really fun time, students can participate in a recreation of a WWII USO.

Working with a teacher in another content area can bring new insights and great ideas to the classroom. As many teachers are pressured for high test scores, it helps to work together.