Categorization & Organization
Almost every post I write talks about the need for categorization and organization. I often encourage the use of graphic organizers and suggest tools to help your students record and recall content. Highlighters can be one of the most those effective tools for your visual learners. Whether you establish set criteria for each color, or you simply use the highlighters for keeping track of important facts, these versatile tools will keep your students focused and help them to “see” the content on the page.
Primary Source Analysis
The skill of primary source analysis should #1 in the Social Studies classroom. Primary sources help us to identify bias, to ascertain multiple perspectives, and to examine the key features of a particular time period. Highlighters can be used to identify each of those aspects and to pick through the rhetoric often included in documented sources.
Comparison
One of the most challenging tasks in the Social Studies is that of comparison. While T-Charts and Venn Diagrams can help with larger tasks, highlighters can be the quick go-to for easy alignment for later attention.
Fun!
Why should learning be boring? Sometimes, putting a little color onto our pages helps our brains awaken for better focus. Have students highlight as they read, highlight around sections of reading, or highlight the borders of the page to brighten the subject matter!
However you choose to use highlighters in your classroom, they should be a tool that is always available for your students. Remember that we each learn in different ways; what works for one may not work for others. Making highlighters or markers, or even crayons, available to your students simply gives them more visual and kinesthetic ways in which to process your classroom content!
Happy Teaching!