Implementing the ELA Common Core Standards in the Elementary Classroom

1. Implementing the ELA Common Core Standards in the Elementary Classroom Julie Chiaverini University of California Irvine April 2014

2. Stand Up If…

3. Our Objectives • Review the framework and importance of the Language Arts Common Core State Standards • Identify 3 major shifts in instructional expectations • Discuss classroom implementation strategies • Interactive Instruction- 5 Minute Limit

4. Common Core Framework

5. Why the Common Core State Standards are Better… • Have a clear design with central goals and high standards. • Emphasize much higher-level comprehension skills than previous standards. • Convey that intellectual growth occurs through time, across years, and across disciplines. • Respect the professional judgment of classroom teachers.

6. “Read like a detective and write like a conscientious investigative reporter.”~David ColemanCo-author of the Common Core

7. 3 Major Shifts in Instruction A Change in Practice… • To… • Content knowledge comes from a balance of reading, writing, lecture, and hands-on experience • From… • Content knowledge primarily from teacher-led lecture

8. Shift #1Regular Practice with Complex Texts and Academic Language

9. Complex Text & Academic Language

10. Complex Texts & Academic Language

11. Shift #2Reading and Writing are Grounded in Evidence

12. Provide Evidence

13. Provide Evidence

14. Shift #3Building knowledge through Content-rich NONFICTION

15. More Nonfiction Texts

16. More Nonfiction Texts

17. “Think of literacy as a spine, it holds everything together. The branches of learning connect to it, meaning that all core content teachers have a responsibility to teach literacy.”~Vicki Phillips and Carina Wong,The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

18. Common Core Implementation “Where is my scripted Teacher Guide to teaching with Common Core State Standards?” “It’s not working!! I am asking the open-ended questions and students don’t know how to answer them.” “How do I assess my students?

19. “Where is my scripted Teacher Guide to teaching with Common Core Standards?”

20. Balanced Literacy Daily Expectations • Reading Workshop- 60-75 minutes per day • Reading Focus Lesson/Shared Reading • Guided Reading Groups • Independent Practice w/ conferring • Share • Word Study- 15-20 minutes per day • Word Strategies/Spelling/Vocabulary • Guided Practice • Writing Workshop- 45-60 minutes per day • Writing Focus Lesson/Read Aloud • Guided Practice • Independent Practice w/ conferring • Share

21. “It’s not working!! I am asking the open-ended questions and students don’t know how to answer them.”

22. “How do I assess my students?” Performance Assessments & Rubrics “Performance tasks challenge students to apply their knowledge and skills to respond to complex real-world problems…These activities are meant to measure capacities such as depth of understanding, writing and research skills, and complex analysis, which cannot be adequately assessed with traditional assessment questions…” - Smarter Balance Assessment Committee Recall, Identify, List, Match Classify, Compare Analyze, Evaluate

23. Sample Performance Assessments • Kindergarten- Students read two texts on the topic of pancakes (TomieDePaola’sPancakes for Breakfast and Christina Rossetti’s “Mix a Pancake”) and distinguish between the text that is a strorybook and the text that is a poem. [RL.K.5] • 3rd grade- When discussing E.B. White’s book Charlotte’s Web, students distinguish their own point of view regarding Wilbur the Pig from that of Fern Arable as well as from the narrator. [RL.3.6] • 5th grade- Students explain the relationship between time and clocks using specific information drawn from Bruce Koscielniak’sAbout Time: A First Look at Time and Clocks. [RI.5.3] • ~Common Core State Standards for ELA Appendix B

24. Performance Assessment & Rubric Example Grade 2- Enhancing Reading Comprehension through Series Books Performance-Based Assessment: Modeling Good Reading Strategies • Students will read a text in pairs, using good reading strategies learned throughout the unit to deepen comprehension and work through unfamiliar words or phrases. Then, students will conduct interviews to reinforce reading for meaning.

26. Did we meet our objectives… • Review the framework and importance of the Language Arts Common Core State Standards • Identify 3 major shifts in instructional expectations • Complex Text & Academic Vocabulary • Provide Evidence • More Nonfiction Texts • Discuss classroom implementation strategies • Balanced Literacy approach • Interactive Instruction • Performance Assessments & Rubrics

27. Helpful Resources • Marshall Memo • ACSD Smart Brief • “Pathways to Common Core” by Lucy Calkins • “The Continuum of Literacy Learning” by Fountas & Pinnell • Achieve the Core: www.Achievethecore.org • Columbia Teacher’s College Reading and Writing Project: www.readingandwritingproject.com • Smarter Balanced Assessment: www.smarterbalanced.org

28. Implementing the ELA Common Core Standards in the Elementary Classroom Julie Chiaverini University of California Irvine April 2014 Thank you! Jchiaver@UCI.edu