Shifts in the Common Core

What the shift are you talking about? Card Sort Activity (10 minutes) Handout: Reflecting on the Common Core Shifts Handout: CC Shifts for ELA/Literacy and math Handout: Making the Shifts

Article: “Making the Shifts” ~Sandra Alberti Read beginning through Shift 1 on p. 25.

Shift 1: Building Knowledge Through Content-Rich Nonfiction ELA & Literacy in Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects Shared responsibility for students’ literacy development. Much of our knowledge base comes from informational text. Informational text makes up the vast majority of required reading in college/workplace (80%) Informational text is harder for students to comprehend than narrative text. Yet, students are asked to read very little of it in elementary (7-15%) and middle school Students need to see text as a source of knowledge – as they read a series of text on a particular concept, they are building their knowledge and understanding of that concept, in addition to their reading skills. GradeLiteraryInformational 450% 845%55% 1230%70% % on table reflect the sum of student reading, not just in ELA settings.

45-50% of Informational text learning should come from teachers of science, social studies, arts, technical subjects. The standards demand that students work on literacy in all the content areas, not as a distraction or as an addition to their study of content, but to build their understanding of the content being studies.. How much informational text should English teachers include?

Article: “Making the Shifts” Read. ELA/Literacy Shift 2: Reading, Writing, and Speaking Grounded in Evidence This shift deals with what students do with the text they read. Reading, writing and speaking grounded in evidence from text. Creating text-dependent questions is key to addressing this shift. Most college and career writing requires students to take a position or inform others citing evidence from the text, not provide a personal opinion. The ability to cite evidence differentiates strong from weak student performance on NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress). Being able to locate and deploy evidence are hallmarks of strong readers and writers.

Shift #2: Reading and Writing Grounded in Evidence Distribution of Communicative Purpose by Grade: Writing By grade 12 80% of student communication (writing, speaking, presentation, etc.) is to persuade or explain GROUNDED IN EVIDENCE. * What types of writing typically occurs in science and social studies classrooms? * How do these percentages support the development of historians, scientists, art critics, medical technicians, etc.? GradeTo PersuadeTo ExplainTo Convey Experience 430%35% 8 30% 1240% 20%

Article: “Making the Shifts” Read ELA/Literacy Shift 3: Regular Practice with Complex Texts and Academic Language Text complexity has three parts: 1) Qualitative: such as levels of meaning or purpose; structure, language conventionality and clarity; and knowledge demands. These are judged by attentive human analysis 2) Quantitative: aspects such as word length or frequency, sentence length, and text cohesion, that are difficult if not impossible for a human reader to evaluate efficiently, especially in long texts, and are thus typically measured by computer software. 3) Reader and task considerations: While the prior two elements of the model focus on the inherent complexity of text, variables specific to particular readers (such as motivation, knowledge, and experiences) and to particular tasks (such as purpose and the complexity of the task assigned and the questions posed) must also be considered when determining whether a text is appropriate for a given student. Academic Language refers to both the vocabulary and syntax that is characteristic of more complex texts. Words considered academic vocabulary typically appear across content areas - they are words such as dedicate, ignite, specificity, etc. These words often "unlock" complex text for students and should be specifically addressed - not necessarily defined - for students through close reading exemplars. The exemplars on achievethecore.org illustrate how to address these words in the study of a text.

Gap between complexity of college and high school texts is huge. What students can read, in terms of complexity is the greatest predictor of success in college (ACT study). Too many students reading at too low a level (less than 50% of graduates can read sufficiently complex texts). Standards include a staircase of increasing text complexity from elementary to high school. Standards also focus on building vocabulary that is shared across many types of complex texts and many content areas. Emphasis is not for everyone to become an English teacher but instead to teach students how to read and write as scientists, social scientists, engineers, and artists do. ELA/Literacy Shift #3 Our work should include: Identifying a structure for measuring text complexity in our curriculum. Conduct an inventory of our materials to get the right balance of complex informational text and literature is available in each class. Determine who is responsible for teaching and assessing which standards so that the right balance is achieved. Plan and provide collaborative PD within and across departments to focus on how to use informational and analytical texts to engage students in deeper learning of content.

Article: “Making the Shifts” Read “The Mathematics Standards” through the end of the article. Video You Tube: The Hunt Institute The Mathematics Standards: Key Changes and Their Evidence (4:38) High School Math Courses (2:50) The Importance of Mathematical Practices (4:02)

Focusing Attention Within Number and Operations Operations and Algebraic Thinking Expressions and Equations Algebra →→ Number and Operations— Base Ten → The Number System → Number and Operations— Fractions → K High School

What can we do now? Utilize PLC time We need to determine how to help our current students engage in literacy and mathematics curriculum with the skills they have. We need to prepare for students who will be coming to us with the learning they will receive in elementary and middle school in the coming years. Our UIP Success in Sight Classroom assessments Academy pathways, internships, capstone projects Bell Schedule ASCA Model – academic, social/emotional, career counseling Transition Planning PLC development