Supporting All Students and Communicating with all Adults Regarding the Common Core

All students (IDEA) All students must be challenged to excel within the general curriculum and be prepared for success in their post-school lives, including college and/or careers.

For students with disabilities, the How must be flexible, not the What… 6 Shifts in ELA/Literacy Balancing Informational and Literary Text Building Knowledge in the Disciplines Staircase of Complexity Text-based Answers Writing from Sources Academic Vocabulary 6 Shifts in Mathematics Focus Coherence Fluency Deep Understanding Applications Dual Intensity

Accommodations Provide multiple means for students to learn the standards, Provide opportunities for students to express what they know and can do Use devices, practices, interventions, or procedures to afford equal access to instruction or assessment. Reduce or eliminate the impact of the student’s disability so that he or she can achieve the standard. Maintain the rigor of the content being taught Maintain achievement expectations

Modifications Change the core content standard or the performance expectation. ELA/ Literacy 7 RL 4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of rhymes and other repetitions of sounds (e.g., alliteration) on a specific verse or stanza of a poem or section of a story or drama.

What must be protected… In ELA/Reading, the standards… establish a “staircase” of increasing complexity in what students must be able to read require the progressive development of reading comprehension so that students advancing through the grades are able to gain more from whatever they read. if followed from early grades ensure a level of background knowledge and academic vocabulary in secondary students

What must be protected… In ELA/Writing: The ability to write logical arguments based on substantive claims, sound reasoning, and relevant evidence is a cornerstone of the writing standards, with opinion writing—a basic form of argument—extending down into the earliest grades. Research—both short, focused projects (such as those commonly required in the workplace) and longer term in depth research —is emphasized throughout the standards but most prominently in the writing strand since a written analysis and presentation of findings is so often critical.

What must be protected… In ELA/Speaking and Listening: The standards require that students gain, evaluate, and present increasingly complex information, ideas, and evidence through listening and speaking as well as through media. An important focus of the speaking and listening standards is academic discussion in one-on-one, small-group, and whole-class settings. Formal presentations are one important way such talk occurs, but so is the more informal discussion that takes place as students collaborate to answer questions, build understanding, and solve problems

What must be protected… In ELA/Language: The standards expect that students will grow their vocabularies through a mix of conversations, direct instruction, and reading. The standards will help students determine word meanings, appreciate the nuances of words, and steadily expand their repertoire of words and phrases. The standards help prepare students for real life experience at college and in 21st century careers. The standards recognize that students must be able to use formal English in their writing and speaking but that they must also be able to make informed, skillful choices among the many ways to express themselves through language.

What about Early Literacy? In ELA/Early Literacy , the stakes are high: 42%of 3rd grade boys and 34% of third grade girls in third grade read below grade level* One in six children who are not reading proficiently in third grade will not graduate high school* * Hernandez, D. (2011).Double Jeopardy: How third grade reading skills and poverty Influence High school graduation. Annie E Casey Foundation.

Rapid Naming Phonological Deficit Deficit The Double Deficit How quickly we link stimuli to words Phonological Deficit Connecting letters and letter combos to sounds Solving for these Deficits: Frequent opportunities for students to learn and reinforce the spelling/sound patterns necessary for proficient decoding in these early grades Frequent opportunities for oral comprehension, rich language experiences, background knowledge to keep students’ comprehension progressing Frequent exposures to coherent texts which are connected to the primary materials.

Poverty: Make that a Triple Deficit Rapid Naming Deficit How quickly we link stimuli to words Phonological Deficit Connecting letters and letter combos to sounds Poverty Massive Language Gap Deliberate skills instruction (Lisa Delpit was right!) Frequent opportunities for oral comprehension, rich language experiences, background knowledge to keep students’ comprehension progressing Frequent exposures to coherent texts which are connected to the primary materials. Exposure to varied, spiraled, and sophisticated syntax, content knowledge, and vocabulary. Leveled text structure does not prohibit domain specific acceleration

The CCSS ELA and Early Literacy The K-5 Reading, Language, and Reading: Foundational Skills standards demand a curriculum that addresses the triple deficit. The standards require a early literacy program that “overwhelms the problem” that is too frequently not addressed in traditional early literacy programs, including the imperative building of background knowledge/schema and academic vocabulary.

The ELA standards inherently address SWDs and Reluctant learners The CCSS in Reading require teachers slow down—and go deep—with texts at grade-level complexity while encouraging students to read a volume of text of their choice, at their level, independently. For readers with compounded skill deficits, this may mean slowing down to the paragraph, sentence, even word level….

“…  for students with disabilities reading should allow for the use of Braille, screen-reader technology, or other assistive devices, while writing should include the use of a scribe, computer, or speech-to-text technology. In a similar vein, speaking and listening should be interpreted broadly to include sign language.” http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/introduction/key-design-consideration

In math… Focus: The CCSS in math also require teachers to slow down and dig deeply into content. Students get the gift of time. Teachers spend time on fewer concepts. Instead of a mile wide and an inch deep, take time to master essential content. Focus on the major work. The standards are yelling, “SLOW DOWN!”

Idea #1: Use PARCC MCFs to evaluate unit and grade-level goals Example, Grade 5:

Coherence: The CCSS call on us to carefully, logically connect standards from grade to grade. Connect to the way content was taught the year before. The standards are designed to be an escalator, not a roller coaster. Baked into the standards is a guide to understanding prerequisite content for a given cluster or domain.

Idea #2: Use domain and cluster headings to develop remediation plans

Rigor – What It Really Means In math, rigor simply means that our curriculum should be based on three ideas: Fluency: Students are practicing procedures efficiently and accurately Conceptual Understanding: Students know how, but also know why Application: Students can apply their thinking, often in real world situations

Idea #3: Build fluency with a dedicated block of time each day; use key fluencies to differentiate

Idea #4: Emphasize visual models at every grade level to increase conceptual understanding

Idea #5: Adapt curriculum modules to meet student needs At the grade and unit level: Use Overviews to locate modules and topics that focus on the Major Work or to remediate within a domain or cluster Modify assessments to focus on the Major Work At the lesson level: Adapt fluency activities to meet student needs (in terms of content and timings) Use conceptual understanding activities on a daily basis Go slow to go fast

EngageNY overview documents can guide to curriculum on the Major Work

Assessment rubrics show standard alignment; use to choose items that meet students’ needs

Assess, track and celebrate improvement on fluencies from any grade level

Dedicate daily time for work on conceptual understanding using module examples

Importance of building a supportive culture Principals are central to empowering teachers and creating a culture that challenges everyone to grow without fear. Teachers have the power to to support students’ sense of well-being and confidence without propping them up and doing the work for them. The adults in a student’s life have the power to define efficacy. Hard work+ Effective Effort + Support + Strategies = Getting Smarter.

Alfred Binet “A few modern philosophers…assert that an individuals’ intelligence is a fixed quantity, a quantity which cannot be increased. We must protest and react against this brutal pessimism… With practice, training, and above all, method, we manage to increase our attention, our memory, our judgment… and literally become more intelligent than we were before.” Binet co-authored the IQ test.

Fixed Mindset Assumptions: Intelligence is a “thing.” Intelligence is innate and fixed. Intelligence is measurable and is unevenly distributed. Innate ability determines learning and achievement.

Growth Mindset Assumptions: Innate ability explains only part of learning and achievement. Intelligence is not fixed. Intelligence grows incrementally and is influenced by expectations, confidence and effective effort. Effective effort=working hard and smart (using effective strategies)

Effective Effort Strategic Support What You Need to Know Get Smart. Smart is not something you are. Smart is something you get. Think you can. Get Smart. Effective Effort Strategic Support

Fixed Mindset vs. Growth Mindset The fixed mindset creates an urgency to prove yourself over and over. If you have only a certain amount of intelligence, personality and moral character, then you’d better prove you have a healthy dose of these. The growth mindset is based on the belief that your basic qualities are things you can cultivate through your efforts. Although everyone may differ in every way…everyone can change and grow through application and experience.

Jeff Howard on Dweck Very smart Kinda smart Kinda dumb

Quiet Reflection: Who are your VSs, KSs, KDs? Very smart Kinda smart Kinda dumb

Perceptions Count Our perceptions influence our: Self Concept Expectations for future situations Feelings of power and efficacy Subsequent motivation to put forth effort Language Behavior

Attribution Theory: Why Do I Believe This? EXTERNAL FACTORS TASK DIFFICULTY LUCK INTERNAL FACTORS SUFFICIENT ABILITY EFFORT

CALVIN AND HOBBES by Bill Watterson

Self reflection What is your story?

Students How do you see fixed mindset playing out in your work? How does it affect the behavior of adults and/or students around you? How do the beliefs we have about students play out in Common Core implementation?

Smart is something you can get.

Teachers Voices Matter EngageNY.org

Data: Common Core Communications Too few members of the public and parents know about Common Core 52% of parents say they have heard nothing or little (June/July 2013 – Associated Press) For those that do… 71% favored implementation 18% opposed ( 2013, University of Michican) EngageNY.org

Teachers Voice Most credible for all audiences on education issues Includes parents, the public at large and policymakers EngageNY.org

Tell a Story Moment of Common Core impact What is your personal story about? What is the “moment of truth” that takes place? What message do you want to leave your audience with? EngageNY.org

Put your expertise to work Share!! Peers/Colleagues/Friends Policymakers Social and Traditional Media Connect and Support Each Other EngageNY.org