2022 Utah Rural Schools Conference

Social Studies and ELA are ripe for collaborative opportunities but so often we silo these disciplines into separate spheres in both elementary and secondary settings. This session will engage teachers in planning instruction through the lens of literary themes, historical patterns, Utah’s Portrait of a Graduate competencies, and Utah core standards. We will collaboratively work to make connections between historical patterns such as power or perspective and literary themes like identity or survival. We will then connect these patterns and themes to Utah’s Portrait of a Graduate competencies like hard work and resilience. This approach helps students ask deeper questions, make meaningful connections to themselves and the world, and also build their literacy and historical critical thinking skills. Participants will leave with the skills to build and use rich text sets – including novels, picture books, primary sources, and nonfiction – that are connected to these themes and develop student skills.