Shelby County Schools Common Core Modules for Social Studies/History Grades 6-12

© 2013 University of Pittsburgh Tennessee Department of Education History/Social Studies Grades 6-12 Supporting Rigorous History/Social Studies Teaching and Learning Module 4: Complex Texts and Overarching Questions

Central Drivers of Instruction 3 Overarching Questions CCSS Culminating Assessment Complex Texts

Resources?!?! Then what? Step 1 Research and compile a stockpile of texts for your content and as time allows complete a text analysis. Step 2 Design your units of study incorporating the Central Drivers of Instruction. – Overarching Questions – Daily lessons with complex texts and formative assessments along the way – Develop text-based questions to accompany the complex texts selected – Culminating Assessment Step 3 Reflect and revise (ongoing process) 4

Questions for Sequencing Texts How will the texts be accessed by learners? How will the ideas of one text be used to understand ideas in other texts? How will the structure of one text be used to understand the structure of other texts? How will the texts be used as models of writing? What ideas from the texts will be revisited and set up to prompt retrospective work? 5

Sequencing Complex Texts Content is easier to grasp Content is more difficult to grasp Content is more relevant to students’ lives and experiences Content is less relevant to students’ lives and experiences Language and/or structure is less complex Language and/or structure is more complex Text provides key background knowledge on topic Text requires key background knowledge 6

Rules of Thumb for the First Text in a Unit Placing a text first in the unit sequence might be because it: – Is less difficult to read than later ones and thus makes students‘comprehension easier at first. – Is closer to students’ life experiences. – Provides easier access to the overarching questions that will drive the work of the unit. – Provides a more accessible point of view for the reader. – Provides a model of the genre or model of the culminating assessment. 7

Central Drivers of Instruction 8 Overarching Questions CCSS Culminating Assessment Complex Texts

Overarching Questions Overarching questions present the big ideas/inquiries of an instructional unit. These text-based questions reach across and connect all of the texts under study. Each text allows students to deepen their responses to the overarching questions. Rules of Thumb: Have a limited number of overarching questions. Have one or two that relate to the big ideas in the texts. Have one or two that relate to the assessment task(s). 9

10 Tips for Designing Overarching Questions Questions to ask yourself: What two to four questions reach across all the texts in the unit? What questions align to key CCSS prompted by the set of texts? What questions will generate enthusiasm and sustain prolonged inquiry? What questions facilitate students being able to generate new knowledge based on the texts in the unit?

11 Sample Overarching Questions Grade 10 – The Ebola Enigma What are the unanswered questions about Ebola? What does it mean for findings to be warranted? What is the relationship between findings and evidence? What makes an argument effective? Grade 9 – Argument & Methods How do three different leaders across time imagine solutions to reach racial equality? What methods do these speakers use to build and support their arguments? Grade 7 – Modern Issues About Food What are these authors’ concerns about what we should eat? How are their arguments similar? How are they different? How compelling are the authors’ arguments in these texts? What makes them compelling? What are the characteristics of an effective explanatory essay? Grade 5 – Space Exploration What are the benefits and costs of space exploration according to these authors? What methods do writers use to build and support their opinions?