1 NYS Common Core Learning Standards RTTT Common Core Training Part II Western Suffolk BOCES Victor Jaccarino January 2012

Overarching goals for today…  To review specific standards in New York State P- 12 Common Core Learning Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy and Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects (CCLS)  To Begin The Process of writing modules for our classrooms

3 Key Phrases in Reading Anchor Standards  Read closely; cite textual evidence to support conclusions  Determine central ideas; analyze development; summarize key supporting details and ideas.  Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text.  Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse formats and media  Delineate and evaluate the argument and claims in text  Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts... from a variety of genres and a wide spectrum of American and world cultures.

4 Review Grade Level Standards For Your Grade Level in Reading  Write down key words and phrases  Underline areas that you believe you might improve in your classroom  Discuss with partner at table how you might include in your classroom

Require students to cite and/or explain all (or the great majority) of the evidence presented in a segment of the text. Far more rigorous challenge than simply asking for evidence. Students can’t “cherry pick” a simple or obvious part of the text. Ask students to paraphrase a particularly dense and complex (in language) passage that is critical to the understanding of the text. Close Reading Questions

Focus on finite chunks of challenging text that are short, dense and critical to the story/ article. Come in clusters that build upon one another to reveal how and why a critical passage was written. Involve re-reading of the passage line by line, multiple times, as well as any sections the passage may allude to. Close Reading Questions

Runners who actually run many miles a day are the winners… Most students read 30 minutes a day but 50% don’t read at all Students need “road miles” –actually reading a lot- instead of talking about reading Study – watched classes with a stopwatch – 17 minutes of reading per hour in reading class- 3-7 minutes of reading per hour in other subjects

Non-Fiction and absorption rate  Students are very familiar with narratives  Non-fiction=more domain specific vocabulary words, complex sentence structure, contains both facts and concepts  Multiple texts on same topic  Give them articles related to what they are reading  Re-embed  The rich get richer…

11 Review Grade Level Standards For Your Grade Level in Reading  Write down key words and phrases  Underline areas that you believe you might improve in your classroom  Discuss with partner at table how you might include in your classroom

 Double the amount of dense non-fiction  Informational texts should not mimic the narrative structure, i.e., biographies, etc. should be articles, speeches, founding documents  More complex texts-2 grade levels above old Lexile levels  Microscope replaces the telescope Shift in Balance

Grade Band Old Lexile Level Lexile Aligned to the CCLS Expectations K-1N/A CCR Lexile Find a Book

GradesLiteratureInformational K-250% 3-550% % -fiction -poetry -dramadrama -ShakespeareShakespeare 70% “substantially more literary non-fiction” -essays -speechesspeeches -opinion pieces -journalismjournalism -historical -scientificscientific -contemporary eventscontemporary events -nature -the arts -Founding DocumentsFounding Documents 14 Reading Types Across the Grade Levels VITAL

Text Dependent Questions  What is (and isn’t) the meaning of “popular sovereignty”? Why does Monk claim that this is the form of government in America?  Is Lucy Stone confused when she asks “Which ‘We the People’?” Explain your answer. Why does Monk say this question has “troubled the nation”?  What does the phrase “founding fathers” mean? Why does Marshall think the founding fathers could not have imagined a female or black Supreme Court Justice?

A photo

A drawing

Ruby Bridges  Cluster the piece into two or three parts determining what the central concerns might be  Write one text dependent question on vocabulary in context  Write one text dependent question that is explicit and gives the teacher opportunity to assess student understanding or memory (Bloom)  Write two text dependent questions that are inferential One analytical One evaluative Remember to answer your questions and cite the evidence

The Gettysburg Address  Write one text dependent question on vocabulary in context  Write one text dependent question that is explicit and gives the teacher opportunity to assess student understanding or memory (Bloom)  Write two text dependent questions that are inferential One analytical One evaluative Remember to answer your questions and cite the evidence

Key Phrases in Writing Standards Found for All Subjects  Write arguments on discipline-specific content  Use data, evidence and reason to support arguments and claims  Use domain-specific vocabulary  Develop claim(s) and counterclaims fairly, supplying data and evidence  Produce writing in which the development, organization, style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.  Develop and strengthen writing by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach.

Key Phrases in Writing Standards Found for All Subjects  Use technology  Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects based on focused questions  Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources; assess the credibility and accuracy; integrate the information while avoiding plagiarism.  Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.  Write routinely over extended time frames

22 Review Grade Level Standards For Your Grade Level in Writing  Write down key words and phrases  Underline areas that you believe you might improve in your classroom  Discuss with partner at table how you might include in your classroom

 Opinion K-5 Argument 6-12 Defend with evidence from text interpretation & judgments with evidence from multiple sources claims and conclusions that answer questions or address problems K-5 – opinion leads to argument 23 Link to standards and appendices

What Questions Might We Ask to Present an Argument  Is Wikipedia a Legitimate Research Source?  Will Lowering the Drinking Age Solve the Problem of Binge Drinking Among College Students?  Do the Harry Potter Books Deserve Their Popularity?  Should College Lectures Be Available as Podcasts?  Is Being a Vegetarian Healthier than Being a Carnivore?  Should the United States Permit Drilling for Oil in Environmentally Sensitive Areas?

Some Elements of an Argument  Claims and Counterclaims  Concessions  Logos: Logic  Ethos: Authority/Evidence  Pathos: Emotional appeal

Template Task: An Example After researching ______(informational texts) on _________(content), write __________ (essay or substitute) that argues your position on____________ (content). Support your position with evidence from your research. L2 Be sure to acknowledge competing views. L3 Give examples from past or current events or issues to illustrate, clarify, and support your position. From: National Writing Project/Literacy Design Collaborative

Here’s How it Plays Out… After researching academic articles on censorship, write an editorial that argues your position on the use of filters by schools. Support your position with evidence from your research. L2 Be sure to acknowledge competing views. L3 Give examples from past or current events or issues to illustrate and clarify your position. From: National Writing Project/Literacy Design Collaborative

OR After researching technical and academic articles on the use of pesticides in agriculture, write a speech that argues your position on its use in managing crop production. Support your position with evidence from your research. L2 Be sure to acknowledge competing views. L3 Give examples from past or current events or issues to illustrate and clarify your position.  From: National Writing Project/Literacy Design Collaborative

Take a Shot at It! After researching ______(informational texts) on _________(content), write __________ (essay or substitute) that argues your position on____________ (content). Support your position with evidence from your research. L2 Be sure to acknowledge competing views. L3 Give examples from past or current events or issues to illustrate, clarify, and support your position.

Review Writing Exemplars from Appendix C  Choose a grade level argument exemplar from Appendix C  List what is right about the exemplar  In your group, discuss what is right and how you might have your students accomplish these points

And Let Us Not Forget... Shift happens….

ELA/Literacy Shift 1: Balancing Informational and Literary Text What the Student Does…What the Teacher Does…  Build background knowledge to increase reading skill  Exposure to the world through reading  Apply strategies to reading informational text.  Provide students equal #s of informational and literary texts  Ensure coherent instruction about content  Teach strategies for informational texts  Teach “through” and “with” informational texts  Scaffold for the difficulties that informational text present to students  Ask students, “What is connected here? How does this fit together? What details tell you that? “ 32

ELA/Literacy Shift 2: 6-12 Knowledge in the Disciplines What the Student Does…What the Teacher Does…  Become better readers by building background knowledge  Handle primary source documents with confidence  Infer, like a detective, where the evidence is in a text to support an argument or opinion  See the text itself as a source of evidence (what did it say vs. what did it not say?)  Shift identity: “I teach reading.”  Stop referring and summarizing and start reading  Slow down the history and science classroom  Teach different approaches for different types of texts  Treat the text itself as a source of evidence  Teach students to write about evidence from the text  Teach students to support their opinion with evidence.  Ask : “How do you know? Why do you think that? Show me in the text where you see evidence for your opinion. “ 33

ELA/Literacy Shift 3: Staircase of Complexity What the Student Does… What the Teacher Does…  Read to see what more they can find and learn as they re-read texts again and again  Read material at own level to build joy of reading and pleasure in the world  Be persistent despite challenges when reading; good readers tolerate frustration  Ensure students are engaged in more complex texts at every grade level  Engage students in rigorous conversation  Provide experience with complex texts  Give students less to read, let them re- read  Use leveled texts carefully to build independence in struggling readers  More time on more complex texts  Provide scaffolding  Engage with texts w/ other adults  Get kids inspired and excited about the beauty of language 34

 Qualitative measures – levels of meaning, structure, language conventionality and clarity, and knowledge demands  Quantitative measures – readability and other scores of text complexity  Reader and Task – background knowledge of reader, motivation, interests, and complexity generated by tasks assigned Text complexity is defined by:

What makes text “complex”?  Uncommon words  Background knowledge requirements  Long sentences  Complicated sentences  Cross-references between sentences

ELA/Literacy Shift 4: Text Based Answers What the Student Does…What the Teacher Does…  Go back to text to find evidence to support their argument in a thoughtful, careful, precise way  Develop a fascination with reading  Create own judgments and become scholars, rather than witnesses of the text  Conducting reading as a close reading of the text and engaging with the author and what the author is trying to say  Facilitate evidence based conversations with students, dependent on the text  Have discipline about asking students where in the text to find evidence, where they saw certain details, where the author communicated something, why the author may believe something; show all this in the words from the text.  Plan and conduct rich conversations about the stuff that the writer is writing about.  Keep students in the text  Identify questions that are text-dependent, worth asking/exploring, deliver richly,  Provide students the opportunity to read the text, encounter references to another text, another event and to dig in more deeply into the text to try and figure out what is going on.  Spend much more time preparing for instruction by reading deeply. 37

Instead of… Reading – Talking – Writing We should be Reading – Writing - Talking

ELA/Literacy Shift 5: Writing from Sources What the Student Does…What the Teacher Does…  Begin to generate own informational texts  Expect that students will generate their own informational texts (spending much less time on personal narratives)  Present opportunities to write from multiple sources about a single topic.  Give opportunities to analyze, synthesize ideas across many texts to draw an opinion or conclusion.  Find ways to push towards a style of writing where the voice comes from drawing on powerful, meaningful evidence.  Give permission to students to start to have their own reaction and draw their own connections. 39

ELA/Literacy Shift 6: Academic Vocabulary What the Student Does… What the Teacher Does…  Spend more time learning words across “webs” and associating words with others instead of learning individual, isolated vocabulary words.  Develop students’ ability to use and access words that show up in everyday text and that may be slightly out of reach  Be strategic about the kind of vocabulary you’re developing and figure out which words fall into which categories- tier 2 vs. tier 3  Determine the words that students are going to read most frequently and spend time mostly on those words  Teach fewer words but teach the webs of words around it  Shift attention on how to plan vocabulary meaningfully using tiers and transferability strategies 40

Choose one of the following Activities 1. Chose an informational text or a literary text used in your own classroom and develop text dependent questions. Be sure the questions are mostly inferential. Some should be vocabulary in context. Develop a module or lesson around the text 2. Choose a text from Appendix B, do a close reading and create text based questions. Be sure the questions are mostly inferential. Some should be vocabulary in context. Develop a module or lesson around the text 3. Develop a process for developing plans for students to write an argument related to a unit, or module, or text, or concept from your classroom. 4. Go to Appendix C, choose a grade level exemplar for writing an argument. Read the annotation of the piece and determine how you would create such an assignment in your classroom

Contact  Victor Jaccarino