What Did I Miss in the ELA World What Did I Miss in the ELA World? Read like a detective and write like an investigative reporter. - David Coleman

Appendix A = Text Complexity Appendix B = Text Exemplars Appendices Appendix A = Text Complexity Appendix B = Text Exemplars Appendix C = Writing www.corestandards.org

Six Shifts to Three Shifts Students read a balance of literary and informational texts. The split is 60/40 for middle school. Content area teachers outside of ELA emphasize literacy in planning and instruction. Students read grade level appropriate material and to create a “staircase of complexity”. Students have rich and rigorous conversations about the text to develop arguments. Writing is emphasized using evidence to inform and make an argument rather than personal narratives. Vocabulary is more focused on comprehension and strategy rather than on literary terms. Building knowledge through content-rich nonfiction and informational texts. Reading and writing grounded in evidence from text. Regular practice with complex text and its academic vocabulary.

Annotating the Anchors Reading (SS/Sci links) Writing Speaking/Listening Language (Grammar Gallery) (Standards, Clusters, Strands)

Text Complexity

Qualitative = How do I measure the reading piece? Quantitative = Three Part Model Qualitative = How do I measure the reading piece? Quantitative = www.lexile.com Reader/Task = What should I think about before my students ever start to read? 2 – 3 450L – 790L 4 – 5 770L – 980L 6 – 8 955L – 1155L 9 – 10 1080L – 1305L 11 – CCR 1215L – 1355L

Let’s practice! The Book Thief

Three Tiers of Words Tier One Words: words of everyday speech, usually learned in the early grades. *These words are not considered a challenge to the average, native speaker. *While important, they are not the focus of discussion.

Three Tiers of Words Tier Two Words: (what the standards refer to as general academic words) are far more likely to appear in texts than in speech . *They appear in all sorts of texts: informational texts (relative, vary, formulate); technical texts (calibrate, itemize); literary texts (dignified, faltered). *Tier Two words often represent subtle or precise ways to say relatively simple things – saunter instead of walk.

Three Tiers of Words Tier Three Words: (what the standards refer to as domain specific words) are specific to the field of study (lava, circumference) and key to understanding a new concept within the text. *Tier Three words are far more common in informational texts than in literature. *They are often explicitly defined by the author of a text, repeatedly used, and otherwise heavily scaffolded (e.g., made part of a glossary).

Let’s practice using The Dinner Party

Highlight: Tier II words Box: Tier III words Your Turn… Circle: Tier I words Highlight: Tier II words Box: Tier III words

Close Readings

Let’s Practice using The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

Text Based Questions Stanza One What time of year do you think this poem takes place? What evidence in the text supports your argument? Infer why the narrator looks down each road as far as he could. What in the first stanza leads you to believe this idea?

Text Based Questions Stanza Two Compare and contrast the two roads as described by the narrator. Justify your reasoning by citing evidence from the text. Locate an example of personification used in the second stanza. Explain how this is a relevant example of personification.

Text Based Questions Stanza Three In this poem the author uses metaphor to give symbolism to the road. What does the road symbolize? What does the split in the road symbolize? Why does the author doubt that he will ever be able to come back?

Text Based Questions Stanza Four The author uses the word sigh in stanza four. What are the reasons the author might sigh in this poem, thinking about the choices he has made? What do you think is the theme of this poem? Justify your answer with the text.

When would we use text features? Where are text features found in the standards? Text Structure Why should we teach text structure? How does text structure found in the standards? Reading should enhance our writing. Writing should be modeled from the types of text we read.

Break Out Groups Chris Collette – Grammar (6th grade) Misty Key – Roots (7th grade) Kristy Hollar – Text Complexity (8th grade)