ELA/ LIteracy Shifts of the Common Core Standards

1. ELA/LIteracy Shifts of the Common Core Standards INCLUDES material from achievethecore.org and engageny.org Department of Education | Diocese of San Jose | November 2013

2. 1Making the change • What is the Common Core? • How does your instruction change when you implement the new ELA standards? What looks different? Department of Education | Diocese of San Jose | November 2013

3. AS we think about where we are… • Adoption and implementation are not the same thing! • We have adopted the ELA Common Core. • Where are we in implementation of it? Department of Education | Diocese of San Jose | November 2013

4. Let’s Focus our lens • First, we focus on the forest (the BIG picture) of the ELA Common Core…not the trees (the individual standards)!!! Department of Education | Diocese of San Jose | November 2013

5. 6 shifts 1: Balancing Informational & Literary Text Students read a true balance of informational and literary texts. 2: Knowledge in the Disciplines Students build knowledge about the world through TEXT rather than the teacher or activities. 3: Staircase of Complexity Students read the central, grade appropriate text around which instruction is centered. Teachers are patient, create more time and space and support in the curriculum for close reading. 4: Text-based Answers Students engage in rich and rigorous evidence based conversations about text. 5: Writing from Sources Writing emphasizes use of evidence from sources to inform or make an argument. 6: Academic Vocabulary Students constantly build the transferable vocabulary they need to access grade level complex texts. This can be done effectively by spiraling like content in increasingly complex texts. Department of Education | Diocese of San Jose | November 2013

6. 3 shifts • Building knowledge through content-richnonfiction • Reading, writing,and speaking grounded in evidence from text, both literary and informational • Regular practice with complex text and its academic language Department of Education | Diocese of San Jose | November 2013

7. Shift #1 • Shift #1: Building Content Knowledge through Content-Rich Nonfiction Department of Education | Diocese of San Jose | November 2013

8. Shift #1: Building Knowledge Through Content-Rich Nonfiction • 50/50 balance K-5 • 70/30 in grades 9-12 • Studentslearning to read should exercise their ability to comprehend complex text through read-aloud texts. • In grades 2+, students begin reading more complex texts, consolidating the foundational skills with reading comprehension. • Reading aloud texts that are well-above grade level should be done throughout K-5 and beyond. Department of Education | Diocese of San Jose | November 2013

9. Why this shift? • Students are required to read very little informational text in elementary and middle school. • Non-fiction makes up the vast majority of required reading in college/workplace. • Informational text is harder for students to comprehend than narrative text. • Students need to learn how to read different types of informational text. Department of Education | Diocese of San Jose | November 2013

10. ALL Teachers Support Literacy! • This interdisciplinary approach stems from extensive research establishing the need for college and career ready students to be proficient in reading complex informational texts, independently, in a variety of content areas. • Most of the required reading in college and workforce training programs is informational in structure and challenging in content. • Postsecondary education programs typically provide students with both a higher volume of such reading than is generally required in K–12 schools and little scaffolding. • The 2009 reading framework of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) requires a high and increasing proportion of informational text on its assessment as students advance through the grades. Department of Education | Diocese of San Jose | November 2013

11. Building knowledge… • Not random reading • Sequencing texts to build knowledge • Literacy in social studies/history, science, technical subjects, and the arts is embedded Department of Education | Diocese of San Jose | November 2013

12. Stop and Reflect on this Shift • What is it? • What does it (or will it) look like in practice in my school (or in my classroom)? • What are some “baby steps” we could take? Department of Education | Diocese of San Jose | November 2013

13. Shift #2 • Shift #2:Reading, Writing, and Speaking Grounded in Evidence From Text, Both Literary and Informational Department of Education | Diocese of San Jose | November 2013

14. Reading, Writing and Speaking Grounded in Evidence from Text: Why? • Most college and workplace writing requires evidence. • Ability to cite evidence differentiates strong from weak student performance on NAEP. • Evidence is a major emphasis of the ELA Standards: Reading Standard 1, Writing Standard 9, Speaking and Listening standards 2, 3, and 4, all focus on the gathering, evaluating and presenting of evidence from text. • Being able to locate and deploy evidence are hallmarks of strong readers and writers. Department of Education | Diocese of San Jose | November 2013

15. 1Talk about these Examples… • In “Casey at the Bat,” Casey strikes out. Describe a time when you failed at something. • In “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” Dr. King discusses nonviolent protest. Discuss, in writing, a time when you wanted to fight against something that you felt was unfair. • In “The Gettysburg Address” Lincoln says the nation is dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Why is equality an important value to promote? Department of Education | Diocese of San Jose | November 2013

16. And then these… What makes Casey’s experiences at bat humorous? What can you infer from King’s letter about the letter that he received? “The Gettysburg Address” mentions the year 1776. According to Lincoln’s speech, why is this year significant to the events described in the speech? Department of Education | Diocese of San Jose | November 2013

17. Sample Literature assessment pre-Common Core • From The Adventures of Tom Sawyer • Have the students identify the different methods of removing warts that Tom and Huckleberry talk about. Discuss the charms that they say and the items (i.e. dead cats) they use. Ask students to devise their own charm to remove warts. Students could develop a method that would fit in the time of Tom Sawyer and a method that would incorporate items and words from current time. Boys played with dead cats and frogs, during Tom’s time. Are there cultural ideas or artifacts from the current time that could be used in the charm? Department of Education | Diocese of San Jose | November 2013

18. Sample Literature assessment Common Core From The Adventures of Tom SawyerWhy does Tom hesitate to allow Ben to paint the fence? How does Twain construct his sentences to reflect that hesitation? What effect do Tom’s hesitations have on Ben? Department of Education | Diocese of San Jose | November 2013

19. Stop and Reflect on this Shift • What is it? • What does it (or will it) look like in practice in my school (or in my classroom)? • What are some “baby steps” we could take? • https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/analyzing-text-lesson Department of Education | Diocese of San Jose | November 2013

20. Shift #3 • Shift #3:Regular Practice with Complex Text and Its Academic Language Department of Education | Diocese of San Jose | November 2013

21. Regular Practice With Complex Text and its Academic Language: Why? • Gap between complexity of college and high school texts is huge. • What students can read, in terms of complexity is the greatest predictor of success in college (ACT study). • Too many students are reading at too low a level.(<50% of graduates can read sufficiently complex texts). • Standards include a staircase of increasing text complexity from elementary through high school. • Standards also focus on building general academic vocabulary so critical to comprehension. Department of Education | Diocese of San Jose | November 2013

22. What are the Features of Complex Text? • Subtle and/or frequent transitions • Multiple and/or subtle themes and purposes • Density of information • Unfamiliar settings, topics or events • Lack of repetition, overlap or similarity in words and sentences • Complex sentences • Uncommon vocabulary • Lack of words, sentences or paragraphs that review or pull things together for the student • Longer paragraphs • Any text structure which is less narrative and/or mixes structures Department of Education | Diocese of San Jose | November 2013

23. Determining Text Complexity Department of Education | Diocese of San Jose | November 2013

24. 1Thinking about text complexity…The Book Thief • Read Exemplar text from Common Core Appendix. • Note Lexile is 730L (grades 3-4), but it has been placed on the Grade 9-10 band. Why? • Question: How might you as teacher provide support to help students read this book successfully? Department of Education | Diocese of San Jose | November 2013

25. Scaffolding Complex Text • The standards require that students read appropriately complex text at each grade level – independently (Standard 10). • We need to find ways to scaffold student learning as they meet the standard: • Multiple readings • Read Aloud • Chunking text (a little at a time) • Provide support while reading, rather than before. Department of Education | Diocese of San Jose | November 2013

26. More ideas for scaffolding and support • Chunking • Reading and rereading • Read aloud • Strategic think aloud • Scaffolding questions • Heterogeneous small groups • Recording • Pre-prepping struggling readers to support confidence and participation • Annotation strategies • Cornell notes • Paraphrasing and journaling Department of Education | Diocese of San Jose | November 2013

27. Close Analytic Reading • Requires prompting students with text-dependent questions to unpack complex text and gain knowledge. • Text dependent questions require text-based answers – evidence. • Not teacher summarizing text, but guiding students through the text for information. • Supports fluency Department of Education | Diocese of San Jose | November 2013

28. Sample quick annotation strategy • ? = Ask a question • “The text mentions a the DNA study. What does DNA stand for?” • !!! = Note an interesting passage • “I didn’t realize that tapeworms can grow to 23 meters!” • C = connection to another text or piece of evidence • “The Ebola virus is like the AIDS virus we read about yesterday because….” • (check)= Access prior knowledge; I already knew that! • “I knew that photosynthesis required water.” • X = Challenge your own thinking, new information • “I had no idea that Nobel invented dynamite.” • * = Reason that looks important • “I’ll need this piece of evidence about Triceratops to support my thesis.” • "Box it" = Remember words you don't know, are repeated, or you just like • “I’ve seen the word ignominious several times, and I need to look it up.” Department of Education | Diocese of San Jose | November 2013

29. Instructional practices that don’t align with the Shift Previewing the topic of the reading in a text-free way (just “teacher talk”). Providing simple text to weak readers and complex texts to strong readers. Teaching strategies and skills outside of the context of reading appropriately complex text. Department of Education | Diocese of San Jose | November 2013

30. Why Academic Vocabulary? • Academic vocabulary includes the words that are critical to understanding concepts taught in school. • Knowledge of this vocabulary will not guarantee success, but lack of academic vocabulary knowledge can ensure failure. (Biemiller 1999) Department of Education | Diocese of San Jose | November 2013

31. Teaching Vocabulary • The most effective strategies for teaching academic vocabulary involve multiple exposures to new words in a variety of contexts. • Two-thirds of all academic English words come from Latin, French (through Latin), or Greek. • Focus on “tier 2” (high utility, cross curricular) words: resources, prediction, maintain, maximum as well as those “tier 3” (domain specific) words needed for the particular course of study: isotope, calcify Department of Education | Diocese of San Jose | November 2013

32. Stop and Reflect on this Shift • What is it? • What does it (or will it) look like in practice in my school (or in my classroom)? • What are some “baby steps” we could take? • http://vimeo.com/58540086 Department of Education | Diocese of San Jose | November 2013

33. Reflection • As a classroom teacher, where am I in understanding and implementing each of these shifts? • As an administrator, where are my teachers in understanding and implementing each of these shifts? Department of Education | Diocese of San Jose | November 2013

34. Structure of the ELA Common Core • Four Strands: Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening, Language • There are Reading and Writing Strands for History/Social Studies, Science and Technical Subjects • Text complexity standards are listed by grade “bands”: K-1, 2-3, 4-5, 6-8, 9-10, 11-12, CCR – College and Career Ready) Department of Education | Diocese of San Jose | November 2013

35. 1Identify the standards? RI . 4 . 2 W. 11-12. 1b Department of Education | Diocese of San Jose | November 2013

36. 1Next steps? • For me? • For my faculty? • For all Diocesan schools? • Question: If we were to prioritize ONE idea from these shifts as a Diocesan wide ELA instructional focus for the rest of this year, what should we choose? Department of Education | Diocese of San Jose | November 2013

37. Activity #1: Name the Standards (Based on achievethecore.org materials. Requires 20-45 minutes) Directions: • 1. Participants work in pairs or groups of no more than 4. • 2. Read each of the Reading Anchor Standards and “name” the standard with a 1-5 word phrase. (Example: Standard 1 could be Evidence, 2 might be Central ideas…) • 3. Pairs/groups should reach consensus on the most precise “name” for each standard. • 4. Discuss findings with the larger group. Agree and post a “name” for each standard. • 5. If time or at another time, continue the exercise with the Writing, Speaking and Listening, and Language Arts Standards. Department of Education | Diocese of San Jose | November 2013

38. Activity #2: Reading Informational Text (Based on NYC materials. Requires 20-50 minutes) Directions: • 1. Participants work in groups of 3. • 2. Assign person in a group a different grade band (K-2, 3-5, 6-8.) • 3. Assign each group one Reading Informational Text Standard. Have each person read and highlight the key skills and concepts in their grade bandof that Standard, • 4. Have each group discuss how the standard changes across the grade bands. • 5. In same groups identify specific implications for teachers. (See next slide for an example.) • 6. Have each group report their findings to the whole group. • 5. If time or at another time, continue the exercise with the Writing, Speaking and Listening, and Language Arts Standards. Department of Education | Diocese of San Jose | November 2013

39. Reading Informational Text (cont.) • “If students have to ______, then teachers have to_______.” • Example (from RI.5.6) : If students have to analyze multiple accounts of the same event or topic, noting important similarities and differences in the point of view they represent, then teachers have to • teach the concept of point ofview • provide several texts on the same topic that have varying points ofview • model how to compare and contrast similarities and differences in oral and written work Department of Education | Diocese of San Jose | November 2013

40. Teacher reflection questions • What about my current practice will stay the same? • What will change? • What help do I need to make these changes? • What two concrete actions am I willing to commit to so right now that I can better support my students to meet the demands of the ELA Common Core? Department of Education | Diocese of San Jose | November 2013