The Massachusetts Council for the Social Studies has a TPS project that this year is overseeing a collaboration between Multilingual Learner specialists and History teacher to demonstrate HOW to scaffold a document-based-question (DBQ) with 10 primary sources for beginning and intermediate English Learners. 

Primary Sources and Political Parties: Reading Complex Texts, a blog post by  Colleen Smith  published on April 30, 2024 addresses the challenge, for all students, of tackling a text that is complex. As she says, 

• "While students may grumble at deciphering language used at a different time and place, spending time on that task helps students build vocabulary, construct meaning, and often form new questions that spark additional inquiry."

I have been thinking a lot about complex text and students who are learning new skills and content in what is for them an ADDITIONAL language. This post brought me freshly face-to-face with how challenging that can be.

To quote from George Washington's letter to Alexander Hamilton, 

• "Differences in political opinions are as unavoidable as, to a certain point, they may, perhaps, be necessary; but it is exceedingly to be regretted that subjects cannot be discussed with temper on the one hand, or decisions submitted to without having the motives which led to them improperly implicated on the other: and this regret borders on chagrin when we find that men of abilities, zealous patriots, having the same general objects in view, and the same upright intentions to prosecute them, will not exercise more charity in deciding on the opinions and actions of one another." 

On the one hand, language barriers should not dissuade teachers from challenging students with the grade level tasks of inquiry, analysis, and having age-appropriate discussions. This may mean translating, trans-languaging (encouraging students to use their other language skills in reading, discussing, and writing their ideas down), and simplifying texts to get across the central ideas.

• (e.g. what happens when political disagreements are expressed by saying that anyone who does not agree with them is untrustworthy?)

On the other hand, a  20-year veteran history teacher who co-leads the project PLC notes that she often has multilingual students in high school, currently or previously classed as ELLs, who have NEVER ever been presented with a primary source, only a pre-digested summary. Dr Lily K. Filmore evocatively named the "juicy sentence" that has complexity, richness, and variation in structure. Not diving into juicy sentences deprives students of...well, the juice!

I encourage TPS Network readers to read Colleen Smith's post to see how she suggests guiding students through the reading of George Washington's letter. 

And of course, please share any strategies you might add, especially with multilingual learners, to support increasing student comfort with complex texts!