The Common Core State Standards for ELA

ELA COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS OVERVIEW OF THE ELA COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS

Design There are four strands: Reading + Reading Foundational Skills K-5 Writing Speaking and Listening Language The ELA Common Core supports an integrated model of literacy. There are media requirements blended throughout.

College and Career Readiness (CCR) Anchor Standards The CCR Anchor Standards: Have broad expectations consistent across grades and content areas. Are based on evidence about college and workforce training expectations. Expect instruction to cover a broad range of increasingly challenging text.

Grade Specific Standards K−12 standards: Are grade-specific end-of-year expectations. Are developmentally appropriate. There is a cumulative progression of skills and understandings. Have a one-to-one correspondence with CCR Anchor Standards.

CCSS GRADE SPECIFIC STANDARD CCR ANCHOR STANDARD CCSS GRADE SPECIFIC STANDARD College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Reading Reading Literature Key Ideas and Details 1. Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text. 1. Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers. 2. Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas. 2. Recount stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures; determine the central message, lesson, or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text. 3. Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text. 3. Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.

CCSS GRADE SPECIFIC STANDARD CCR ANCHOR STANDARD CCSS GRADE SPECIFIC STANDARD College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Reading Reading Literature Key Ideas and Details 1. Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text. 1. Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. 2. Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas. 2. Determine a theme or central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments. 3. Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text. 3. Describe how a particular story’s or drama’s plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution.

CCSS GRADE SPECIFIC STANDARD CCR ANCHOR STANDARD CCSS GRADE SPECIFIC STANDARD College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Reading Reading Literature Key Ideas and Details 1. Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text. 1. Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. 2. Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas. 2. Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text. 3. Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text. 3. Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme.

Annotating the Anchors 1. Circle every strand in the CCR Anchor Standards. 2. Underline the clusters. 3. Place a star next to the most challenging anchor standard in each strand.

Intentional Design Limitations The Standards do NOT define: How teachers should teach. All that can or should be taught. The nature of advanced work beyond the core. The interventions needed for students well below grade level. The full range of support for English Language Learners and students with special needs. Everything needed to be college and career ready.

Abbreviated Table of Contents Appendix A Reading Reading Foundational Skills Writing Speaking and Listening Language Bibliography and Glossary of Key Terms B Text Exemplars Sample Performance Tasks Table of Contents C Samples of Student Writing with annotations

VERTICAL ALIGNMENT

Looking Deeper at Vertical Alignment How do the anchor standards translate through the grades? Directions: For each standard, mark the changes at each grade level. (What’s different?) Revisit two grade-level standards that are side-by-side and focus on the differences between the two. What are the different expectations for students?

Reflection How does vertical alignment speak to classroom instruction? 2. What other ways can you use vertical alignment? 3. How does vertical alignment help teachers understand where scaffolding might be needed as they assist all students in accessing the content? Reflection

First Draft Reading

D. Rumsfeld, Newsweek (2003, p. 113) Read the passage silently. “There are known knowns. There are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don’t know we don’t know.” D. Rumsfeld, Newsweek (2003, p. 113)

Ask yourself… How many times did you read this? At what point did you stop understanding? What strategies did you use to gain comprehension?

Three key questions to ask students after they have read something: They encompass three different levels of thinking. (Sheridan Blau) What does it say? (Literal level – comprehension) (Foundational to answering the second question) What does it mean? (Interpretation level) (More than just appreciating a good story – themes) What does it matter? (Reflection) (The heart of why they read the book)

A CLOSER LOOK

Taking A Closer Look Close reading

Where does close reading appear in the Common Core? College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Reading R.1: Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.

Close Reading of a Cluster of Standards 1. Read with a pencil in hand, annotate the text. Mark the big ideas and skills 2. Look for patterns in the things you’ve noticed about the text – repetitions, contradictions, similarities. Find the commonalities 3. Ask questions about the patterns you’ve noticed – especially how and why? What is a student to know and be able to do?

Unpacking Document

AN INTEGRATED MODEL OF TEACHING AND LEARNING .

An Integrated Model REMEMBER: “While the standards delineate specific expectations in reading, writing, speaking and listening, and language, each standard need not be a separate focus for instruction and assessment. Often several standards can be addressed by a single rich task.” ( CCSS, Introduction, p. 5)

“Read like a detective, write like an investigative reporter.” -David Coleman – co-author of ELA CCSS .

SIX SHIFTS in ELA/LITERACY

Shift 1: PK-5, Balancing Informational & Literary Texts Students read a true balance of informational and literary texts. Elementary school classrooms are, therefore, places where students access the world – science, social studies, the arts and literature – through texts. At least 50% of what students read is informational.

Shift 2: 6-12, Building Knowledge in the Disciplines Content area teachers outside of the ELA classroom emphasize literacy experiences in their planning and instruction. Students learn through domain-specific texts in science and social studies classrooms – rather than referring to the texts, they are expected to learn from what they read.

Shift 3: Staircase of Complexity In order to prepare students for the complexity of college and career ready texts, each grade level requires a “step” of growth on the “staircase”. Students read the central, grade appropriate text around which instruction is centered. Teachers are patient, create more time and space in the curriculum for this close and careful reading, and provide appropriate and necessary scaffolding and supports so that it is possible for students reading below grade level to access the text.

Shift 4: Text-Based Answers Students have rich and rigorous conversations which are dependent on a common text. Teachers insist that classroom experiences stay deeply connected to the text on the page and that students develop habits for making evidentiary arguments both in conversation, as well as in writing to assess comprehension of a text.

Shift 5: Writing from Sources Writing needs to emphasize use of evidence to inform or make an argument rather than the personal narrative and other forms of decontextualized prompts. While the narrative still has an important role, students develop skills through written arguments that respond to the ideas, events, facts, and arguments presented in the texts they read.

Shift 6: Academic Vocabulary Students constantly build the vocabulary they need to access grade level complex texts. By focusing strategically on comprehension of pivotal and commonly found words and less on esoteric literary terms, teachers constantly build students’ ability to access more complex texts across the content areas.

ELA WIKI The ELA wiki contains all of our resources, handouts, and powerpoints. We encourage districts to adapt and use these tools! http://elaccss.ncdpi.wikispaces.net/ELA+Home

Contact Information: Julie Joslin, Ed.D. Section Lead Grades 9-12 English Language Arts Consultant 919-807-3935 Julie.Joslin@dpi.nc.gov Glenda Harrell ESL/Title III Consultant 919-807-3866 Glenda.harrell@dpi.nc.gov Ivanna Mann Thrower 919-807-3860 Ivanna.thrower@dpi.nc.gov Joanne Marino ESL/Title III Consultant 919-807-3861 Joanne.marino@dpi.nc.gov Please complete the evaluation before you leave.