Mastering the Common Core State Standards A Hands-On Approach In partnership with M-DCPS’ Department of Social Sciences and the American Institute for History Education (c)2011

What are the Common Core State Standards? O The Common Core State Standards for Literacy and Mathematics (CCSS) are the culmination of an effort by the states to create the next generation of K–12 standards in order to help ensure that all students are college and career ready in literacy no later than the end of high school. O The Standards are (1) research and evidence based, (2) aligned with college and work expectations, (3) rigorous, and (4) internationally benchmarked. O The focus is on learning expectations for students, not how students get there (c)2011

O The Common Core State Standards provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help them. O The standards are designed to be rigorous and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers. O With American students fully prepared for the future, our communities will be best positioned to compete successfully in the global economy. (c)2011

What are the literacy standards for social studies/ history? O Embedded in the CCSS for Literary in grades 6-12 are standards for literacy in history/ social studies. O These standards: O are based on teachers using their content area expertise to help students meet the particular challenges of reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language in their content area. O are not meant to replace content standards but rather to supplement them. States may incorporate these standards into their standards for those subjects or adopt them as content area literacy standards. O focus on the reading, comprehension and analysis of increasingly complex informational text. (c)2011

How will the CCSS impact assessment? O Common Core State Assessments are currently in development. O They will most likely ask students to: O read, comprehend and analyze documents O compare and contrast documents and/ or identify common thematic threads O synthesize information and apply it to a writing task O The assessments will be online and require students to download documents and complete the writing task online. (c)2011

Taking a Closer Look at the Standards O Included in the literacy standards are standards for literacy in history/ social studies for grades O The standards are divided into three broad categories: O Key Ideas and Details O Craft and Structure O Integration of Knowledge and Ideas O Each category is further divided into three specific skills. (c)2011

Small Group Activity O Read the CCSS standards for the grade you teach and make a list of the skills that students will need to master to meet each of the standards for that grade. O Form groups of the same grade and discuss the skills. O Record your grade level list on the appropriate piece of chart paper. O Post your charts for a Gallery Walk. (c)2011

O After the Gallery Walk, return to your table and discuss: O What skills are consistent across the grade levels? O How do the skills build in sophistication across the grades? O Where do the skills for literacy and history intersect? (c)2011

The Common Core Learning Framework O Contextualization O Establishing time, scope and Sequence O Understanding the big picture O Establishing the values and beliefs of the time O Craft and Structure O Identifying and defining key terms O Determining the main idea O Identifying the Author’s bias or point of view O Key Ideas and Details O Assessing the reliability of the information O Evaluation of argument and reasoning O Comparing ideas within and across texts O Integration of Knowledge and Ideas O Analysis of multiple sources and perspectives O Understanding multiple perspectives O Assessing different interpretations over time (c)2011

Thinking Like a Historian Building student understanding of the past (c)2011

Historical Thinking and the Common Core The Common Core Standards require students to: Analyze documents Compare and Contrast multiple documents Interpret documents and readings Synthesize the information into a written product Thinking Like a Historian provides students with many of the discreet skills that are absolutely necessary to successfully navigate the assessments mandated by the Common Core State Standards (c)2011

Sam Weinburg … “History presented as a series of problems to be explored, rather than a set of stories to be committed to memory, may be a new experience for your students…Identifying and working through an historical problem, complete with guiding questions, varied and contradictory sources and no single right answer challenges students’ ideas that history is static, where the only thinking involved is figuring out how so much material can be memorized.” Wood, Gordon (2008). The Purpose of the Past. New York, New York. Penguin Press. (c)2011 Wood, Gordon (2008). The Purpose of the Past. New York, New York. Penguin Press.

Gordon S. Wood We Americans have such a thin and meager sense of history that we cannot get too much of it. What we need more than anything is a deeper and fuller sense of the historical process, a sense of where we have come from and how we became what we are. Wood, Gordon (2008). The Purpose of the Past. New York, New York. Penguin Press. (c)2011 Wood, Gordon (2008). The Purpose of the Past. New York, New York. Penguin Press.

Building Step by Step The ten skills are divided into three major steps or tiers Each tier serves as a foundation for those that come afterward The tiers build from the broadest and more general to the more specific (c)2011

Tier 1 Building a Foundation to Acquire Historical Knowledge Tier 2 Analyzing and Evaluating Historical Material Tier 3 Context and Interpretation of the Past A Scaffolded Approach (c)2011

Tier 1 Building a Foundation to Acquire Historical Knowledge (c)2011

Seeing the BIG Picture of History O Establishing time, scope, and sequence in which the events of an era take place O Establishing the location at which events happened O Associated events with contemporary actions throughout the world (c)2011

Determining the Main Idea O Eliminate details and information that is non-essential O Establish the crucial elements of events, documents, or other material (c)2011

Avoid Historical Presentism O Establishing the values and beliefs of the time as a lens to analyze the past O Using the values of the time to analyze historical meaning O Compare and contrast the values of the past with those of the present (c)2011

Bias and Reliability of Sources O Determination of bias and unique point of view of historical sources O Establishing and assess the degree of reliability of historical sources (c)2011

Tier 2 Tier 1 Building a Foundation to Acquire Historical Knowledge Tier 2 Analyzing and Evaluating Historical Material (c)2011

Establish a Personal Connection to the Past O Seek and utilize personal or local connections to history whenever possible O Seeing history as the story of people and their voice rather than dry and disconnected events (c)2011

Analyzing Causation and Consequence O Studying the differences between single-causation and multi- causation of the events of the past O Assessing the degree of causation O Impact of the consequences of events and decisions of the past, including those that were desired, and those that were unintended (c)2011

Analyzing Change throughout the Past O Determination of different types of change that took place in the past, including political, economic, and social O Analysis of the impact of the different types of change at the time O Examine the impact of change across periods of time (c)2011

Tier 3 Tier 1 Building a Foundation to Acquire Historical Knowledge Tier 2 Analyzing and Evaluating Historical Material Tier 3 Context and Interpretation of the Past (c)2011

Utilizing Historiographical Approaches O Examining the differing interpretations of historical events that have been developed in the past O Compare and contrast the differing interpretations of historical events O Evaluating the accuracy of current and previous schools of historical interpretation to develop a personal philosophy of the past (c)2011

Using Counterfactual Arguments O Utilizing counterfactual arguments to deepen student understanding of specific episodes of history O Developing carefully constructed series of “what if?” questions to guide students through alternate historical outcomes (c)2011

Understanding History through Common Themes and Ideas O Establishment of the essential themes of history and determination of their presence 1)Foundations of Freedom 2)Creation of an American Culture 3)Conflict and Compromise 4)Political and Social Movements 5)America on the World Stage O Analysis of the essential themes in different periods of history and across history (c)2011

Reading Like an Historian Developing the ability to understand written information (c)2011

What Does it Mean to Read Like an Historian? O “True historians comprehend a subtext on the literal, inferred and critical levels. These subtexts include what the writer is saying literally but also any possible biases and unconscious assumptions the writer had about the world. Historians try to reconstruct authors’ purposes, intentions, and goals, as well as understand authors’ assumptions, world view and beliefs”. Sam Wineburg (c)2011

What are the keys to reading history? O Effective readers of history have a variety of comprehension strategies that they bring to reading a text. These strategies can be grouped in three categories: O Before reading or activation of background or prior knowledge O During reading or active engagement with the content O Continuous or metacognition O Effective readers of history are in charge of the process, monitoring how they read and adjusting to ensure success. (c)2011

What differentiates expert from novice readers of history? O The expert reader: O Seeks to discover context and know content O Sees any text as a construction of a vision of the world O Sees texts as made by persons with a view of events O Considers textbooks less trustworthy than other kinds of documents O The novice reader: O Seeks only to know content O Sees text as a description of the world O Sees texts as accounts of what really happened O Considers textbooks very trustworthy sources (c)2011

O Compares texts to judge different accounts of the same event or topic O Assumes bias in texts O Gets interested in contradictions and ambiguities O Checks sources of documents O Acknowledges uncertainty and complexity O Learns the “right answer” O Assumes neutrality, objectivity in texts O Resolves or ignores contradictions and ambiguities O Reads the documents only O Communicates “the truth”, sounding as certain as possible (c)2011

O Asks what the text does (purpose) O Understands the subtexts of the writer’s language O Considers word choice (connotation and denotation) and tone O Reads slowly, simulating a social exchange between two readers, “actual” and ‘mock” O Asks what the text says (facts) O Understands the literal meaning of the writer’s language O Ignores word choice and tone O Reads to gather lots of information (c)2011

O Resurrects texts like a magician O Reads like a witness to living, evolving events O Reads like lawyers making a case O Acknowledges uncertainty and complexity O Processes texts like a computer O Reads like seekers of solid facts O Read like jurors listening to a case someone else made O Communicates “the truth”, sounding as certain as possible (c)2011

What factors affect the readability of history texts? O Lack of prior knowledge O Unfamiliar text structure or schema O Difficulty identifying important material from less important material O Academic vocabulary and abstract concepts (“isms”) O Level of analysis and synthesis O Role of visuals, such as maps, graphs and charts, as sources of information (c)2011

Level of Examination: Interpretation CCLF: Contextualization Prior Knowledge O Prior knowledge: O supports students in making connections to the text or the content. O creates a foundation for new facts, ideas and concepts. O activates student interest and curiosity, and creates a purpose for learning. (c)2011

Level of Examination: Analysis CCLF: Craft and Structure Text Structure or Schema O Narrative and expository text differ in their organizational pattern, language and purpose. O Narrative text O typically follows one structure or story grammar. O includes such elements as theme, plot, conflict, resolution, characters and setting. (c)2011

O Expository text explains something and reflects a variety of structures or organizational patterns: definition, cause-effect, sequence, categorization, comparison/contrast, enumeration, process, problem-solution, and description. O Students read expository text to gain factual information, identify main ideas and trends, and analyze divergent viewpoints on a topic, individual or event. (c)2011

Level of Examination: Analysis CCLF: Determining the Main Idea Differentiating Information O Effective readers discern which concepts to focus on and which information to retain. They interact with the text and internalize information. O Note-taking provides a structure for recording and reorganizing information and ideas. O The structure supports retention and recall by making information accessible and providing cues to trigger memory. (c)2011

O Note-taking supports students in: O determining which information is important. O making connections between main ideas and details even when the author has not made the connections explicit. O extending and transferring knowledge after reading which results in deeper construction of meaning. (c)2011

Level of Examination: Analysis CCLF: Identifying and Determining the Key Terms Academic Vocabulary O Academic vocabulary: O is the vocabulary critical to understanding concepts in history. O is an essential component of building prior or background knowledge. O The more terms a student knows about a given topic, the easier it is to understand and learn new information. (c)2011

O There are 4 categories of vocabulary in history: O Terms associated with instructional or directional tools (“north”, “below”). O Concrete terms (“Stamp Act”) O Functional terms (“sequencing”) O Conceptual terms (“democracy”, “taxation”) (c)2011

Level of Examination: Compare and Contrast CCLF: Analysis of Multiple Sources and Perspectives Level of Analysis and Synthesis O Historians don’t settle for one perspective on an historical issue; they piece together many, sometimes competing, versions of events to construct an accurate interpretation. O Multiple perspectives are usual and have to be tested against evidence, and accounted for in judgments and conclusions. (c)2011

O The writing of history is based on a critical analysis, evaluation, and selection of authentic source materials and composition of these materials into a narrative subject to scholarly methods of criticism. O The result is a body of historical literature on any event or individual in history that reflects the process of historical thinking. (c)2011

Level of Examination: Compare and Contrast CCLF: Comparing Ideas Within and Across Texts Analyzing Visuals O Visual literacy is the ability to interpret information presented in the form of an image. O Visual literacy is based on the idea that pictures can be “read”. O Students view an image and construct an interpretation. (c)2011

O Level 1 is basic identification of the subject or elements in a graphic, photograph, or work of art. O Level 2 is understanding what we see and comprehending visual relationships. O Level 3 is placing the image in the broader context of the historical period. O Level 4 is the synthesis: “What narrative does it tell?” (c)2011

What is the Role of Questioning? O Expert readers of history ask questions when they read. O Questioning improves comprehension in four ways: O by fostering interaction with the text O by creating motivation to read O by clarifying information in the text O by supporting inferring beyond the literal meaning O Questioning the text helps students assume responsibility for their learning. (c)2011

The Pillars of the Common Core O The skills for thinking and reading like an historian form the pillars of the Common Core Learning Framework. O These skills support student in becoming expert readers and interpreters of history. O What strategies can history teachers use to help their students make meaning of history texts? (c)2011