GED® Social Studies Solutions
GDC Teachers’ Conference
July 2015
Steve Schmidt
Appalachian State University
abspd.appstate.edu
GDC Students’ Most Missed Test Items For“Near Passers*” (*GED® Scores from 145 to 149)
Produce writing that develops the idea(s), claim(s) and/or argument(s) thoroughly and
logically, with well-chosen examples, facts, or details from primary and secondary source
documents
Writing analytic responses to source texts
Evaluate the credibility of an author in historical and contemporary political discourse
Compare differing sets of ideas related to political, historical, economic, geographic, or societal
contexts; evaluate the assumptions and implications inherent in differing positions
Analyze how a historical context shapes an author's point of view
Compare treatments of the same social studies topic in various primary and secondary
sources, noting discrepancies between and among the sources
Identify the chronological structure of a historical narrative and sequence steps in a process
Bottom Line for the Most Missed Areas Above:
We need to help our students read, write, and think!
I Can’t Funeral
Write down as many I can’t statements as you can on a scrap sheet of paper.
Eulogy for I Can’t
Friends, we gather today to honor the memory of "I Can't." While he was with us here on earth, he touched the lives of everyone, some more than others. His name, unfortunately, has been spoken in every public building: schools, city halls, and state capitols and even the White House.
We have provided "I Can't" with his final resting place today. He is survived by his brothers and sisters, "I can,” “I will” and "I'm going to right away.” They are not as well-known as their famous relative and are certainly not as strong and powerful yet. Perhaps someday, with your help, they will make and even bigger mark on the world. May “I Can't” rest in peace and may everyone present pick up their lives and move forward in his absence. Amen.
What we can do is:
· Help our students’ read, write, and think
We also have the gift of _time___
What other advantages do we have in a correctional setting?
Help Our Students’ Read
1. It Takes Time!
How many hours of instruction does it take for students’ reading to improve one grade level
equivalent on a standardized test (TABE,CASAS, etc.)? Source: Comings (2009)
Put a guess in the blank: ______to ______hours
It takes 100 to 150 hours!
Does this number surprise you? Why/why not?
2. Material Selection
GED® test questions are based on real life situations that adults encounter. We can use more than just GED® study books to prepare students. Brainstorm some examples of real life reading materials we can use with our students:
3. Reading/Writing are Married
Writing on the GED® Social Studies Test begins with reading. The goal of reading is for students to understand what they read.
Reading must be an active process. We will look at a way for students to actively engage in reading by using a close reading strategy
Close Reading Strategy Instructions
1. Number the paragraphs
Number each paragraph in the left hand margin. This helps locate information during discussions.
2. Chunk: 1–3 / 4 / 5-6 / 7-8
Chunking breaks a large, overwhelming text into manageable sections. Look where
natural breaks are where the author shifts focus. Tell students where to group at first
(as in the example above) and then allow them to group on their own over time. Draw lines to
separate each chunk.
3. Circle key terms
Have students circle key words in the text. Key words are repeated throughout the text. If you only circle 5 key words in a text, you should have a good idea what the reading is about.
4. Underline the claims
Instead of asking students to underline “the important stuff,” have them underline the
author’s claims, the specific belief statements the author makes. Authors usually make several
belief statements in a paper.
5. Left Margin: Summarize
In the left margin, have students summarize each chunk in 10 words or less.
6. Right Margin: Text Marking
In the right margin, have students do some text marking such as:
✔- I knew this before
! – This is new to me
? – Not sure what this means
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Have a Criminal Record? You Can Still Find a Pathway to a Career
For those labeled as “criminals,” the path to success can seem impossible. Having a criminal record carries a stigma, and there are other barriers that make it hard for ex-offenders to pursue the career of their dreams.
How do I know? I’ve been there. Growing up in Brockton Massachusetts, I was a product of my environment. I had adopted the street mentality and became a rebel in society. I have been stabbed, locked up, and sold drugs to survive in the streets. It was a vicious cycle that I realized had to be broken.
I discovered YouthBuild, a national organization that helps young people gain the skills and education they need to leave street life. Through the YouthBuild chapter in Brockton, I got my GED®, and shortly after I gained some college credits. I was trying to make a change in my life, but my criminal background was a huge barrier. I was being turned down left and right by potential employers even after successfully passing the interview process. Once employers found out that I had a criminal record, they essentially slammed the door in my face.
Although the path to a career is more difficult, for ex-offenders, it is still possible. I have found that there are three important steps you can take to build your credibility within your community and with employers: Education, Volunteer Services, and Discipline and Honesty.
They can take away your freedom, in most cases temporarily, but they can never take away your education. Education has a huge impact on your ability to succeed. Most importantly, it gives you the skills you need to get a good job. Furthermore, research shows that as offenders get more education, their chance of re-offending decreases. Employers will see from your educational background that you are indeed a hard worker; they might be less judgmental of your criminal record and more likely to give you a chance.
Volunteering is another method to gain transferable skills and build credibility. The job market is tough even for those who do not have criminal histories. Even entry-level jobs require previous experience. The best way to get your foot in the door is to do some volunteer work in the community. Volunteering not only provides you with an opportunity to gain experience, it highlights your character. It shows that you are headed in the right direction, and it will appeal to employers.
When an employer has to make a decision on whether to hire someone with a criminal background they feel they are taking a risk. They wonder whether you will commit another crime, possibly on the job. The best way to deal with this situation is to advocate for yourself and explain to your prospective employer that you have “changed.” But your words alone are not enough. You need to show examples of ways you have been held accountable (such as in school or as a volunteer) and you have delivered on your promises. Sometimes it is enough to let time work its magic. If years have passed since you were last involved in crime, then your employer may give you the benefit of the doubt.
No matter what, you must be honest with your future employers. You must disclose any past criminal involvement in order for you to be able to build trust. Although it may be hard and embarrassing to disclose such information, you should do it anyway. Coming to terms with your mistakes and being honest about them is key to bringing about change. If you are in denial about it, then you won’t make much progress.
The road to getting a career for ex-offenders is a tough one. In order to succeed, you must be able to put up a good fight and never give up. You must be able to step out of your comfort zone. All the methods of proving yourself to society may be strange to you. You may have never been acquainted with the college experience, understood the value of volunteer services, or had the willpower to resist instant gratification and refrain from crime. But with hard work and dedication, you can do it. Don’t let your past mistakes define who you are.
Lashon Amado is an ex-offender and a GED® Graduate
Used by permission from The Change Agent
18
Help our Students’ Write
Help students prepare for extended responses by:
1. Journaling
Our students are under stress. Journaling is a way they can practice writing while helping them relieve anxiety and be ready to learn. Start class with 5 or 10 minutes of structured (by giving a writing prompt) or unstructured (students can write on anything) journaling.
2. Quick Writes
A Quick Write helps students think about a topic before, during, and after reading. Students are asked to respond to a question or prompt related to a text and should write down whatever comes to their mind without worrying about grammar or organization.
The writing topics are related to a text and may be:
· Summaries of learning
· An explanation of a concept or vocabulary
· A prediction, inference, or hypothesis
Give students from 2 to 10 minutes to write. Quick Writes can be used as part of instruction, assessment, or discussion. They help bring out the writer in students, build their writing confidence, and help their reading skills too!
Prompt
What information did you learn about interdependence from reading this passage?
Did you know the microprocessor that lives in a laptop computer is a world traveler? It begins life as a pile of quartz chips and charcoal at a factory in Brazil. After being heated and processed, it is sent for more refining to a German factory. After being formed into blocks of polysilicon, it goes to Japan where it is made into tiny circular wafers. These thin disks are then shipped to the United States where Intel Corporation turns them into microprocessors by adding hundreds of tiny chips. They then journey for testing to the Philippines where more circuitry is added and testing takes place.
Continuing its journey, the chips move to a factory in China where they are placed on the laptop’s motherboard along with many other components made in Southeast Asia. The motherboard, along with the other parts of the computer including the battery, hard drive and keyboard, are assembled at another Chinese factory. Finally, the completed laptop is shipped to the United States for distribution. The other parts that make up this computer come from as many as 50 countries on six continents including steel from Russia, copper from Chile, glass from Korea and lithium from Zimbabwe.
So what’s the point of knowing how well traveled a laptop is? The global makeup of the laptop computer is a great example of an economic concept called interdependence. Interdependence means we rely on others to make or do things we do not make or do ourselves. No one country has all the raw materials it needs to produce the products it wants to sell. So, it must trade with other countries to get the materials it needs. Most all the other manufactured goods we buy have similar stories of raw material mining and finished product processing taking place around the globe. The next time you see a laptop; remember the amazing global journey it had just to reach you!
My Quick Write
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How to Score Higher on Extended Responses from GED® Testing Service
§ Write essays that are 4 – 7 paragraphs and 300 – 500 words long
§ Paraphrase evidence rather than quoting directly from the source
§ Focus on fully developing two or three main ideas with supporting evidence
§ Spend at least 5 – 10 minutes proofreading for correct grammar
§ Become familiar with common enduring issues - they are on every social studies test
§ Write responses based on information in the prompts, not on personal opinion
Writing the Social Studies Extended Response
The Three Parts of the Prompt:
1. Enduring Issue
“Government has no other end, but the preservation of property.”
- John Locke, 1690
2. Later Writing
This March 30, 1973 speech from Marlon Brando was delivered at the Academy Awards where he refused an award to protest the United States’ treatment of Native Americans.
For 200 years we have said to the Indian people who are fighting for their land, their life, their families and their right to be free: ''Lay down your arms, my friends, and then we will remain together. Only if you lay down your arms, my friends, can we then talk of peace and come to an agreement which will be good for you.''
When they laid down their arms, we murdered them. We lied to them. We cheated them out of their lands. We starved them into signing fraudulent agreements that we called treaties which we never kept. We turned them into beggars on a continent that gave life for as long as life can remember. And by any interpretation of history, however twisted, we did not do right. We were not lawful nor were we just in what we did . . .
What kind of moral schizophrenia is it that allows us to shout at the top of our national voice for all the world to hear that we live up to our commitment when every page of history and when all the thirsty, starving, humiliating days and nights of the last 100 years in the lives of the American Indian contradict that voice?
It would seem that the respect for principle and the love of one's neighbor have become dysfunctional in this country of ours . . . and that we do not live up to our agreements.
I would hope that those who are listening would not look upon this as a rude intrusion, but as an earnest effort to focus attention on an issue that might very well determine whether or not this country has the right to say from this point forward we believe in the inalienable rights of all people to remain free and independent on lands that have supported their life beyond living memory.