4: PSAT/SAT and Founding Documents
SOCIAL STUDIES SUPPORT FOR PSAT/SAT
The PSAT/SAT focuses primarily on a student's reading, writing, language, and mathematics skills that indicate readiness for and success in postsecondary education. However, there are many areas in Social Studies that can support success on the PSAT/SAT and in life beyond high school! This is a brief overview of the Social Studies related skills students will find on the PSAT/SAT and how teachers can help better prepare students for these types of questions.
All information specific to the PSAT/SAT Test comes from The Redesigned SAT Teacher Implementation Guide.
US Founding Documents and Other Primary Sources
The historical documents presented on the PSAT/SAT do not require that students have previously read or studied them. Documents presented will ask students to be able to deeply analyze arguments and evidence. As such, teachers will need to support students in the practice of reading and analyzing challenging text.
This list provides a small selection of ideas for primary source documents from in the Texas Social Studies TEKS and provides a link to the document or lesson plan using documents.
7th Grade:
- 3.C William B. Travis' letter "To the People of Texas and All Americans in the World
- 4.C The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
8th Grade:
- 3.B Mayflower Compact and the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut
- 4.A Proclamation of 1763
- 4.C Articles of Confederation
- 5.E Washington's Farewell Address and the Monroe Doctrine
- 5.G Indian Removal Act
- 8.B Emancipation Proclamation
- 8.C Lincoln's First Inaugural Address and Second Inaugural Address, Gettysburg Address, and Jefferson Davis' Inaugural Address
- 15.A Magna Carta, English Bill of Rights, Federalist Papers
- 26.A The Battle Hymn of the Republic
- More Landmark Documents in US History - Digital History Collection
- Important Speeches in American History - American Rhetoric
World Geography
- 14.C The United Nations Charter, European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights
- 17.B 4 Noble Truths, Sermon on the Mount, The Bhagavad Gita, Muhammad's Last Sermon, Ten Commandments, Sayings of Kabir
- Library of Congress' Places in the News
- World Digital Library
- Any current events articles from regions/themes of study
World History
- 3.A Thucydides - Pericles' Funeral Oration, The Twelve Tables
- 5.A Machiavelli - The Prince
- 5.B Martin Luther - 95 Theses
- 7.C Equiano - Excerpts from Slave Narratives
- 8.B Lives of Industrial Workers in the 19th Century
- 8.C Kipling - The White Man's Burden
- 10.C Wilson - Fourteen Points
- 10.D Lenin - Call to Power
- 11.B Roosevelt's Radio Address - New Deal
- 13.A Churchill - Iron Curtain Speech
US History
- 1.A Declaration of Independence, US Constitution, Bill of Rights
- 3.C The Social Gospel
- 4.A Roosevelt Corollary
- 5.A 19th Amendment
- 5.B Sinclair - The Jungle, Anthony - Women's Right to Vote, Wells - Autobiography, DuBois - Souls of Black Folk
- 6.B Bryan - Cross of Gold, Marcus Garvey Collection
- 7.B Roosevelt - Four Freedoms
- 7.D Executive Order 9066
- 8.B Senate Censure of McCarthy
- 9.C Cesar Chavez,
- 9.D Black Panther Platform
- 9.E MLK - I Have a Dream, Letter from a Birmingham Jail
- 10.B Reagan - Evil Empire Speech
- 16.A Harding - Return to Normalcy
- Important Speeches in American History - American Rhetoric
- More Landmark Documents in US History - Digital History Collection
Information compiled by Amy Mount, PK-12 Social Studies Coordinator at Garland ISD. For questions or comments, please email almount@garlandisd.net. Connect with Amy on Twitter at @msmrocks.