ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a variety of classroom approaches that allow students to demonstrate their understanding at a deep level. Writer’s Workshop revolves around certain criteria that primarily include mini-lessons, work time, conferencing, and publishing. Growth in knowledge can happen for many students in giving them time and space to write about what they are learning, whether in ELA or social studies or any other class. A way for students to process learning through writing is Document-Based Questioning (DBQ). The DBQ Project developed a concept referred to as Mini-Q’s, which offer primary source documents, background texts, and a controlling question for elementary students. There are four key components of DBQ: the question, supporting texts and documents, the instruction that provides students scaffolding to be successful, and the assessment criteria. Literature circles can be used with novels, short stories, essays, poems, or informative texts, or primary source documents in the social studies classroom.
