Linking Five-Paragraph Essays, Seminars, and Differentiated Projects in Secondary School Humanities Curriculum

Abstract

Discussion-based learning linked to expository writing across the humanities curriculum are explored with examples of a pedagogical process for Socratic seminars and the five-paragraph essay format combined with project options for middle school and high school humanities curricula. Combining these teaching and learning tools at the instructional leadership level may support student learning of content knowledge, reasoning skills, and literacy skills across content area departments. Rubric design is presented with examples of a way to address differentiation in formative assessment for summative skill measures.