English Language Arts Update

1. English Language Arts Update September 23, 2011

2. ELA Fall Professional Development We are visiting all regions across the state conducting a second round of professional development focused on the Common Core State Standards: • We are discussing the Six Shifts in ELA/Literacy using videos with John B. King, Jr., (New York State Commissioner of Education), Kate Gerson,(Senior Fellow with the Segents Research Fund , and David Coleman, contributing author to the Common Core. • This professional development is conducted paperless. Participants need a laptop and will receive a CD with resources, handouts, a Viewing Guide, and the videos.

3. Six Shifts in ELA/Literacy Shift 1: K-5, Balancing Informational & Literary Texts Shift 2: 6-12, Building Knowledge in the Disciplines Shift 3: Staircase of Complexity Shift 4: Text-Based Answers Shift 5: Writing from Sources Shift 6: Academic Vocabulary

4. Instructional Toolkit Resources: • Currently we are creating graphic organizers that support student mastery of the new standards.

6. ELA Quarterly Webinars: The dates for these chats: November 3 January 12 March 8 April 26 Held from 3:30 – 4:30 • These webinars will walk teachers through a close reading of a cluster of standards and consider instructional practices and student expectations for mastery.

7. Institutes of Higher Education: • ELA consultants are delivering professional development for Institutes of Higher Education (IHE) in Raleigh, Wilmington, and Boone on Oct 7, 10, and 13th • This training will include information we shared during the Summer Institutes as well as what we are currently delivering across NC.

8. NC Virtual Public Schools: • Next month we will provide NCVPS teachers with training about the standards as they begin to realign their course offerings to the CCSS.

9. What Can a Small Bird Be? • As we travel to the RESAs, we are distributing a children’s book, What Can a Small Bird Be? This book was written and illustrated by high school students from around the state. It was funded by a character education grant. Every middle and elementary school will receive a copy. • This delightful book was created during an arts residency program hosted by the ELA Section and the North Carolina Museum of Art. The book is a featured exhibit at the museum until January. If you are interested in purchasing additional copies of the book, please contact:publications@dpi.state.nc.us

11. Kenan Fellows • This past summer, secondary ELA worked with two Kenan Fellows, Marlin James and Jeff Belcher as they prepared resources for high school ELA and Social Studies, combining primary source documents, literature, and literacy skills. • These resources will be piloted in several classrooms this fall and spring prior to being released to NC teachers next summer.

12. Smarter Balance Assessment Consortium: SBAC • We had an opportunity to review the Content Specifications for ELA and make comments to SBAC through a survey. • These content specs are available to view on the SBAC site: http://www.k12.wa.us/SMARTER/PressReleases/DraftContentSpecs.aspx. Information about the Content Specifications and timeline are also available at this site.

13. SBAC cont… • SBAC also released sample items. The ELA item was an example of an “extended performance event”. • The six instructional shifts are evident in the following 11th grade example (see next slide). Students are asked to write from several sources and synthesize information from texts. The questions are text-based requiring students to return to the text. This sample builds on students’ background knowledge in social studies. • The SBAC sample shows alignment to the CCSS in additional ways: • through the use of research • use of the reflective essay which is an example of literary non-fiction (a type of informational writing that is emphasized in the CCSS for high school)

15. NC Assessments: • ELA continues to review test items and selections for the NC Common Core Assessments. • Additional assessment questions can be directed to: ACRE-feedback@dpi.nc.gov

16. OWI (Online Writing Instruction) • The on-demand tasks will be removed from the Moodle design. • The number of content-specific writing opportunities available to registered students will range from 2 to 20. This online portfolio will be available for grades 3 through 12.

17. OWI…cont. • The NCDPI consultants are developing sample content-specific writing assignments for grades 4-7 and will soon be developing sample content-specific writing assignments for grades 3, 5, 6, and 8 through 12. • Content-specific writing assignments will align to the Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects, 6-12, as well as each specific content area’s NC Essential Standards or the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics or English Language Arts. • OWI rubrics will be modified to align with the above documents.

18. ELA WIKI • The ELA wiki contains all of our resources, handouts, and powerpoints. • We encourage districts to adapt and use these tools! • http://elaccss.ncdpi.wikispaces.net/ELA+Home

19. How do we begin? • Be a tour guide through the unpacking… http://dpi.state.nc.us/acre/standards/common-core-tools/#unela

20. Contact Information: