Integrating the Common Core State Standards into your work

1. Integrating the Common Core State Standards into your work Use the CCSS to support and enhance your programs

2. English – Language Arts Standards Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening, and Language Standards Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science and Technical Subjects Includes “Anchor Standards” for all grades and specific scope-and-sequence standards broken out by grade level

3. Anchor Standards • Key Ideas and Details – • Identifying big concepts as well as well as specifics • Craft and Structure – • Analyzing the way texts are organized • Integration of Knowledge and Ideas – • Connecting concepts, making arguments • Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity – • Reading and comprehending a variety of texts

4. Focus on “Text” • What is “text”? • In the CCSS, “text” refers to the written word • Including: Literature and Informational Text • Students should read a variety of texts over the course of the year • As students get older the emphasis shifts from Literature to Informational Text • CPS has outlined: • Grade 4: 50% literature, 50% informational • Grade 8: 45% literature, 55% informational • Grade 12: 30% literature, 70% informational

5. What else can we consider “text”? Think beyond books! What else do you use in your programs? Dance? Photographs? Music? A theatre performance? Art?

6. Why use CCSS? • The CCSS are national standards being adopted by nearly every U.S. state • The CCSS will replace the Illinois Standards by 2014 • The CCSS were developed using Backward Design: • What are the skills students need to have in order to be college and career ready? • Not what information students need to know, but the skills they need to have for success after 12th grade (Example- analyzing informational text) • Working backward, the CCSS task force outlined those skills according to each grade level • The CCSS do not outline HOW to teach or WHAT to teach but instead focus on developing life-long academic skills

7. Keep in mind… You probably can’t do it all – Try to use the CCSS to support what you already do instead of changing your work OR trying to hit every standard.

8. Writers’ Theatre’s CCSS Application • The Novel Series Study Plan (NSSP) – a literary arts program that uses vocabulary, writing, discussion and theatre activities to study a novel • Backward Design – What do I want my students to know and be able to do after the NSSP unit? • Identify vocabulary words and literary devices in the book and outline why the author used those particular words and phrases • Write both academic and personal responses to the book • Discuss the big ideas and questions in small groups • Creatively explore the book using their bodies and voices

9. I outlined the goals, but how do I get there? • There are two avenues – • You can start with your current program/activities and work to incorporate/align CCSS (*WT did this) • The NSSP is an existing program with a curriculum that was designed with teachers and administrators so we wanted to make adjustments, not overhaul it • OR you can go directly to the CCSS and create activities based on the standards • If I was creating a NEW program or curriculum I might use this approach Select the route that works best for you!

10. Our challenge at WT: • Our Novel Series Unit Plan is a framework that is designed to be customized based on the book selected, the goals for the students, and the essential question • So, how do we keep that flexibility AND align with standards?

11. WT Approach • Identify the activities/lessons we have used in each area of the unit • Vocabulary, writing, discussion, and theatre • Identify how those activities/lessons contribute to the overall goals for the unit • Do they support the goals for the unit? • Are the tasks challenging? • Consider flexibility and differentiation – • Can these activities/lessons work for different books, different students/schools, different reading levels? • Is there still a way to customize the unit plans/give teachers and students choices?

12. Predict Student Outcomes: • What will my students do when they are given this activity/task/lesson? • How will they complete these activities? • How do I know that this activity will lead them to a deeper understanding?

13. Align with CCSS • If the activities/lessons you have chosen are: • Going to lead your students to a deeper understanding • Going to support your goals for the unit • Assessable • Challenging • > Then, it is time to look at the CCSS and align your work with the standards

14. What’s next? • We discarded any activities that don’t fit those requirements • We categorized the remaining activities by the corresponding CCS standard • We narrowed down the standards we were addressing

15. NSSP and CCSS • Vocabulary: • Reading: Literature #4 or #5 or Language #5 (depending on which activities the teachers choose) • Discussion: • Speaking and Listening #1 • Writing: • Writing #1, 3 or 4 (depending on which activities the teachers choose) • Theatre: • Speaking and Listening #6 (Fine Arts Standards do not exist yet)

16. Think about assessment: • What does “A” work look like? What does “B” work look like? Etc. • How do I want to measure/assess these activities? • Rubric? Survey? Quiz/Test? Portfolio? Other? • WT uses a CCSS rubric with the same language as the ISAT (Emerging (1), Developing (2), Meeting (3), Exceeding(4)), a portfolio of student work, a student survey, a teacher survey, and NWEA data to assess the program

17. WT Example - Vocabulary Task: • FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE FINDER: Your job is to locate examples of figurative language throughout the novel. Locate examples of the following: Similes, Metaphors, Personification, Alliteration, and Hyperbole. Make sure to copy the examples straight out of the text and don’t forget to use quotation marks. Be sure to include the page numbers for the examples you found. Then, answer: why do you think the author chose to use figurative language at this point in the book? How did the figurative language impact you as a reader? Share your examples with a partner. • Goal – Students should BOTH identify figurative language AND explain why the author used the devices AND the impact it had on them as a reader. We want to go beyond activities that ask students to simply identify, or define things and toward activities where students are developing literary skills and making connections. • CCSS: English/Language Arts – Language #5 -- Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.

18. Let’s try it! • Tell us about your programs • What are your goals? • What subjects do you cover? • What kinds of activities/lessons do you use?

19. Let’s try it! • Think about an activity you use, or a lesson you implement – how can you connect that to the CCSS standards? • Write down an activity from your program and see if you can find a corresponding CCSS • Share out