Reading Like a Detective, Writing Like an Investigative Reporter: Uncovering the ELA Standards

1. Reading Like a Detective,Writing Like an Investigative Reporter:Uncovering the ELA Standards 4th Grade Teachers February 4, 2014

2. Be- “Attitudes” Be present (put phones on silent & put away laptops/iPads when we are not using them as a group) Be positive and respectful (please limit sidebar conversations) Be engaged and contribute equally

3. Essential Question: • How can we reorient classroom practices in reading so they more closely align with the Common Core State Standards and the instructional shifts?

4. Today’s Learning Targets: • I will be able to define the term close reading and explain why it is important for students to be able to closely read complex texts. • I will be able to explain how the Common Core Standards include all of the skills involved in close reading. • I will understand the criteria for selecting complex texts for close reading and be able to select appropriate texts for my students. • I will understand how to use the gradual release of responsibility to teach my students to be close readers. • I will be able to use the Common Core Standards to prepare text dependent questions and evaluate questions that already exist in my lessons or textbook series.

5. Today’s Agenda Morning Session Power Standards & Unpacking Review of Major ELA Shifts Close Reading Annotating/Coding/Marking Texts Text-Dependent/Text-Based Questions Exploring Resources for Lesson Ideas LUNCH 11:30-12:15 Afternoon Session Finish up with Power Standards Text Complexity Vocabulary Additional Resources More Exploring Sharing http://www.symbaloo.com/mix/elacurriculumresources1

6. Reading Literature (RL) 1,2,3,4 Reading Informational (RI) 1,2,3,4,7,8 Language (L) 4a, 5a Power Standards Each table will use the NCDPI “Unpacking Standards” and the Interactive Standards Progression link on today’s Symbaloo to dig deeper into the ELA power standards. We want to come to a consensus as to what these standards are asking us to do. We will be charting our information collectively and discussing each standard.

7. Unpacking the Power Standards Reading Literature: 1, 2, 3 Reading Informational Texts: 1, 2, 3, 7, 8 Language 4a, 5a -What do these standards say and what do they expect students to be able to do? -Instructionally, what does this look like in the classroom? • Directions: • Read, discuss as table group, jot thoughts, ideas on • chart, rotate posters on signal • Each group will need one person to record ideas on • chart and another person as the spokesperson for • the group when we finish rotations

8. Review: 3 Major Shifts in ELA (close reading, annotating text) (text dependent questions, textual evidence) (text complexity and vocabulary)

9. Why the shifts? • Asking students to make connections to themselves, other texts and the world is a common style of question that guides students away from the text. “But making the personal connection is not he problem. In fact, making connections is what readers often do when comprehending and enjoying a text.” (D. Fisher, N. Frey, & D. Lapp, 2012) “The problem is that less-able readers do not return to the text to compare and contrast their personal experience with that of the author.” (Cordon & Day, 1996) “Either they have not been taught the reasons for returning to the text or they have not been held accountable for applying them.”(D. Fisher, N. Frey, & D. Lapp, 2012) • We often ask students simple questions that require very literal thinking to ensure they have read the text.

10. Shift 1

11. Why Shifting Emphasis to Informational Text Matters • Informational text—biographies & memoirs; speeches, opinion pieces & argumentative essays; historical, scientific or technical accounts of a non-narrative nature—is the single greatest source for building the knowledge base of students. • Due to its text features and students not being sufficiently exposed to it in school, informational text is harder to comprehend than narrative text. • Yet the vast majority of the reading required in college and the workplace is informational in nature, creating a significant gap in preparation. • Therefore the CCSS specifies that 50% of texts at the elementary level should be informational trending to 70% at the secondary level. 2012 The Aspen Institute

12. Informational Texts RI 1,2,3,4,7,8 • Text Features • Text features are to non-fiction what story elements are to fiction.  Text features help the reader make sense of what they are reading and are the building blocks for text structure • Text Structure • Simply put, text structure is how the author organizes the information within the text. • Why do text structures matter to readers? • When readers what kind of structure to expect, it helps them connect to and remember what they’ve read better. • It gives readers clues as to what is most important in the text. • It helps readers summarize the text.  For example, if we’re summarizing a text that has a sequence/time order structure, we want to make sure we summarize in the same structure.  (It wouldn’t make sense to tell an autobiography out of order.)

13. Text Structure Expository texts as a rule are more difficult to comprehend than narrative ones. They require students to have experience with the form or format. Dymock (2005) and Moss (2004) note, students must be taught to use text structures, especially since informational texts are not as commonly used in many elementary classrooms (Duke, 2000). “The goal is not to have students read a text and simply identify the structure that the author used, but rather to predict how the text will work. When readers attend to the text structure, they are more likely to remember what they read. Noticing the text structure also helps students when they need to return to the text to find additional information.” (Fisher, Frey, Lapp, 2012) “When students have been taught to recognize and use text structures, they often return to the text to provide evidence from it to bolster their responses and arguments.” (Fisher, Frey, Lapp, 2012)

14. Text Structures 1. Problem/Solution The author will introduce a problem and tell us how the problem could be fixed.  There may be one solution to fix the problem or several different solutions mentioned. Real life example: Advertisements in magazines for products (problem-pain; solution-Tylenol) 2. Cause and Effect The author describessomething that has happened which has had an effect on or caused something else to happen.  It could be a good effect or a bad effect.  There may be more than one cause and there may also be more than one effect. (Many times, problem/solution and cause and effect seem like “cousins” because they can be together.) Real life example: A newspaper article about a volcano eruption which had an effect on tourism 3. Compare/Contrast The author’s purpose is to tell you how two things are the same and how they are different by comparing them.Real life example: A bargain hunter writing on her blog about buying store-brand items and how it compares with buying name-brand items.

15. 4. Description/List Although this is a very common text structure, I think it’s one of the trickiest because the author throws a lot of information at the reader (or lists facts) about a certain subject.  It’s up to the reader to determine what he thinks is important and sometimes even interesting enough to remember.Real life example: A soccer coach’s letter describing to parents exactly what kind of cleats to buy for their kids. 5. Time Order/Sequence Texts are written in an order or timeline format. Real life examples: recipes, directions, events in history Note: Sometimes the text structure isn’t so easy to distinguish.  For example, the structure of the text as a whole may be Description/List (maybe about Crocodilians), but the author may devote a chapter to Compare/Contrast (Alligators vs. Crocodiles).  We must be explicit about this with students. http://thisreadingmama.com/2014/01/13/teaching-text-structure-to-readers/

16. What is “close reading”? Turn to someone near you and discuss what your understanding of close reading is and what you think it looks like at your grade level.

17. How does your personal definition compare to the explanation that Dr. Doug Fisher shared in the video clip? -Dr. Douglas Fisher

18. What is Close Reading? Close reading is a reading routine/practice in which students critically examine a text, especially through repeated readings. “Just like Sherlock Holmes, when students read closely, they need to examine the evidence and draw logical conclusions to support their ideas and interpret those of the author.” - McLaughlin, M. & Overturf, B., 2013

19. Close Reading Best Practices • Using short passages and excerptsor poems • Diving right into the text with limited pre-reading activities • Focusing on the text itself • Rereading deliberately • Reading with a pencil • Noticing things that are confusing • Discussing the text with others: • Think-Pair Share or Turn and Talk frequently • Small groups and whole class • Responding to text-dependent questions • Critical for all students to have copies of the text that they can use for annotating/coding the text *Close Reading should be done during Shared Reading (or possibly Read Aloud) time with complex text.

20. Anchor Charts There is no one “correct” way to conduct a close reading.

21. Annotating/Coding/Marking Texts • Model, Model, Model • No “right” or “wrong” way • Critical for deep reading/complex texts • Helps develop metacognitive and critical thinking • Mandatory engagement

22. Close Reading Posters For Teachers For Students

23. Close Read-Poetry Example Fog by Carl Sandburg Close Reading Lesson – Fran Long- Balls Creek Francine_Long@catawbaschools.net Fog The fog comes on little cat feet. It sits looking over harbor and city on silent haunches and then moves on. -Carl Sandburg

24. Close Reads Answer… • Questions that assess themes and central ideas • Questions that assess knowledge of vocabulary, meaning, and structure • Questions that assess understanding of the author’s claims/argument or relationship to another text • Questions that assess themes and central ideas

25. A Word of Caution… “If students aren’t directed to read small chunks of text closely, they will never learn to reach deeper levels of analysis. However, if we chop up the books and have them analyze too many segments, they will succumb to readicide.” ~Kelly Gallager, Readicide, 2009 NOT every reading should be a CLOSE READING.

26. Shift 2

27. Text Evidence • The Common Core State Standards expect students to use evidence from texts to present careful analyses, well-defended claims, and clear information.

28. Text-Dependent Questions & Shared Reading

29. What are text-dependent questions? • Are questions that can only be answered correctly by close reading of the text and demand careful attention to the text • Require an understanding that extends beyond recalling facts • Often require students to infer • Do not depend on information from outside sources • Allow students to gather evidence and build knowledge • Provide access to increasing levels of complex text • Call for careful and thoughtful teacher preparation • Require time for students to process • Are worth asking

30. Text-Dependent Questions are NOT… • Low-level, literal, or recall questions • Focused on comprehension strategies • Just questions…

31. Why Ask Text Dependent Questions • 80 to 90% of the ELA Reading Standards in each grade level require text dependent analysis • One of the first and most important steps to implementing the ELA Common Core Standards is to focus on identifying, evaluating, and creating text-dependent questions • Deep Reading, the kind encouraged by the common core standards, asks students to “read like a detective”, looking closely for details • Rather than asking students questions about their prior knowledge or experiences, the standards expect students to struggle with text-dependent questions

32. “Don’t Wait” • Ask text dependent questions frequently, and throughout the selection rather than waiting until the end of a selection. • Experiment with different activities for keeping students engaged (i.e. think-pair-share, stop and jot, small groups, etc.)

33. What does the text say? How does the author say it? How does the text work? What does the author mean? Why does it matter? What is the text’s value? How does the text connect to other information?

34. Progression of Text-dependent Questions Standards Whole 8 & 9 Acrosstexts 3 & 7 Entire text Segments 6 Student Understanding 4 & 5 Paragraph 2 Sentence Word 1 Part

35. General Understandings • Overall view • Sequence of information • Story arc • Main claim and evidence • Gist of passage What does this mean? What is the main idea/claim/argument? How is the information ordered? example: What is this poem trying to describe? (prompt students to give text evidence in answer) Standard 1

36. Key Details • Search for nuances in meaning • Determine importance of ideas • Find supporting details that support main ideas • Answers who, what, when, where, why, how much, or how many. *Often “Right There” Questions example: What does the author compare the fog to?

37. Vocabularyand Text Structure • Bridges literal and inferential meanings • Denotation • Connotation • Shades of meaning • Figurative language • How organization contributes to meaning Talk about the word choice, the set-up of the story: is it a poem, whose point-of-view is the text from, what are the arguments made in the text, how do the words that the author uses show their perspective etc. examples: If the author said, “the fog is like a cat” do you know what that is called? Because the author does not say like or as but still makes this comparison throughout the poem, do you know what that is called? What are haunches?

38. Integration of Knowledge and Ideas • What is the author trying to tell you? • Is there enough evidence to support the author's claim? • How does this compare to other texts/media on the same topic? examples: Why do you think the author compares the fog to a cat? Why did the author choose haunches instead of another part of the cat? Why do you think the author wrote this poem?

39. Author’s Purpose • Genre: Entertain? Explain? Inform? Persuade? (PIE²) • Point of view: First-person, third-person limited, omniscient, unreliable narrator • Critical Literacy: Who’s story is not represented?

40. Inferences • Inferences are more than guesses or simply telling students to “read between the lines.” • readers should know how to probe each argument in persuasive text, each idea in informational text, each key detail in literary text, and observe how these build to a whole • questions should allow students to consider the information that is provided and then make informed guesses from the information provided example: Do you think this poem could have a deeper have meaning than just describing the weather? Standards 3 & 7

41. Opinions, Arguments and Intertextual Connections • Opinions, arguments, and inter-textual text dependent questions are often: • the questions that teachers like to ask because these questions tend to generate a lot of discussion and personal connections but do not require • students to read the text • Opportunities to pair fiction and non-fiction texts • on same topic • These questions are good to follow up • text dependent questions. Standards 8 & 9

42. 80-90% of (CCSS) reading standards require text-dependent analysis yet over 30% of questions in major textbooks do not. Sue Pimentel, Lead Author of Common Core State Standards for ELA/Literacy

43. Text Dependent or Not? Was there ever a time where an animal scared you? 2. Can bears really eat people? 3. Will Opal and Amanda ever be friends? 4. Can people of different ages still be friends? Use evidence from the text to support your answer. 5. Explain how reading this story made you feel about visiting a library? 6. Why does Opal spend so much time with Miss Franny, the town librarian?

44. Creating Text Dependent Questions Using the original non-fiction text you worked with earlier, we are going to now analyze the questions to determine whether we need to make adjustments so that they are more text dependent and/or possibly more aligned to question formats/stems for EOG

45. Time to Investigate

46. Exploring CCS Technology Resources 10:30-12:00 Google Docs Template- Linda McCray http://goo.gl/9VNqM8 SchoolNet: Linda McCray LearnNC: Leslie Black NCWiseOwl: Cindy Lancaster ThinkFinity: Donna Rudisill DiscoveryEd: Sheila Smith Please take your laptop and move to the station with your assigned tech facilitator; you will have about 15-20 minutes at the station. When the signal is given, you will remain in the same location and the tech folks will rotate to you. Be sure to look for the power standards: RL 1,2,3,4 RI 1,2,3,4, 7, 8 L 4a, 5a Questions?????

47. Our Tools Google Docs Template SchoolNet http://goo.gl/9VNqM8 Symbaloo with Links to Resources: http://www.symbaloo.com/mix/elacurriculumresources1 Video Clips of Lessons Additional Resources for topics covered today Common Core Professional Resources for Teachers Sources for fiction and nonfiction selections Lesson Plan Resources

48. Guess what time it is? LUNCH

49. Shift 3

50. Why SelectingGrade Band AppropriateComplex Text Matters • The ability to read complex texts is the single greatest predictor of success in college. • Text complexity in elementary and secondary texts has declined steadily. • Less that 50% of high school graduates are able to read college and career ready complex text. 2012 The Aspen Institute