1. Jean Schumaker & Beverly Colombo
Common Core State Standards
and How They Are Related to
SIM Writing Programs
Jean Schumaker & Beverly Colombo

2. TODAY’S AGENDA Background Resources
Overall organization of the standards
Organization of the standards related to writing
Text-type writing standards
Writing standards related to conventions
Latest writing program results

3. Background 2009 - Common Core State Standards Initiative began
Participants: Governors & state commissioners of education

4. Goals of the initiative
Create a national set of shared standards
Hold the same expectations for U.S. students as students in other nations
Prepare students for success in post- secondary education and jobs in the global economy

5. An Historical Perspective
An outgrowth of the 20-year Standards- based Education Movement but “better”
Different from the state standards movement

6. Drawbacks to the State Standards
They delegitimized textbooks
They took power away from local school boards who choose textbooks
Too many standards were accepted for the time available in the school year
Teachers still had to select content
Resources could not be shared across states

7. Improvements of CCSS Fewer standards (85% of instructional time)
Aligned with college and work expectations
Inclusive of rigorous content through higher order skills
Internationally benchmarked
Research- and evidence-based

8. Resources
Understanding Common Core State Standards by John Kendall

9. Curriculum Guides Common Core Curriculum Maps in English Language Arts
• Grades K – 5
• Grades 6 – 8
• Grades 9 – 12

10. Organization of the CCSS

11. Two Sets of Standards
Language and literacy
Mathematics

12. Language and Literacy Standards: Four Strands
Reading
Writing
(Text Types)
Speaking and Listening
Language
(Conventions)

13. Writing Strand Organization
Text types and purposes
Production and distribution of writing
Research to build and present writing
Range of writing

14. Writing Strand Standards
Three Text Types
Opinion (Persuasive/Argumentative)
Informative
Narrative

15. Language Strand Organization
Conventions of Standard English
Knowledge of Language
Vocabulary Acquisition and Use

16. Where To Find Them?? Go to www/corestandards.org for the home page
Go to for the writing and language standards

19. The Website
Show picture of home page here.

21. Example Text-type Standards: Grade 3
Write opinion pieces
• Introduce an opinion
• Provide reasons supporting the opinion
• Provide a concluding statement
Write informative text
• Introduce a topic
• Provide facts, definitions, details

22. Example Text-type Standards: Grade 3
Write narratives
• Introduce a situation
• Use dialogue and descriptions of actions to establish events
• Use temporal words to establish sequence
• Provide closure

23. Let’s Take a Look Across the Grades
Discuss the Analysis for Narrative Writing
Discuss the Analysis for Persuasive Writing
Discuss the Analysis for Informative Writing
(See handouts)

24. The Writing Conventions

27. Example Grade 3 Standards
Conventions in grammar and usage:
• Form and use the simple verb tenses
• Ensure subject-verb agreement, pronoun-antecedent agreement
• Use coordinating and subordinating conjunctions
• Produce simple, compound, complex sentences

28. Other Example Standards
Conventions in cap, punctuation, spelling • Capital letters in titles
• Commas in addresses
• Commas and quotation marks in dialogue
• Apostrophes in possessives

29. Example Grade 3 Standards
Conventions in grammar and usage:
• Form and use the simple verb tenses
• Ensure subject-verb agreement, pronoun-antecendent agreement
• Use coordinating and subordinating conjunctions
• Produce simple, compound, complex sentences

30. Curriculum map for Grade 3-Unit 3
Objective: Learn about conjunctions and use them to create simple, compound, and complex sentences
Terminology: Coordinating conjunction, subordinating conjunction, simple sentence, compound sentence, complex sentence
No lesson, no activities

31. Let’s see how SIM and the standards match up
Discuss the standards charts
(See handouts)

32. What might a Scope and Sequence look like across the grades?

33. SIM WRITING PRODUCTS The Writing Strategies
The Capitalization, Commas, and Punctuation CDs
The Paragraph Writing CD
The Advanced Paragraph Writing CD
(soon to come!)

34. Other Materials Learning Sheets on CDs (pdfs)
Fundamentals, Proficiency, Paragraph, Themes
Proficiency Volume II instructor’s manual
Proficiency Volume II scoring activities
New Fundamentals lessons (Questions, Exclamations, Commands, etc.) (not available yet)
Proficiency

35. Issues What to do about curricula? • Skills are scattered
• No curricula provided
What to do about students in later grades who have not met the standards set for earlier grades?
What to do about standards that are too difficult for students in a particular grade?

36. Overview of writing strategies research projects
OSEP RtI Demo project
The Riverbank story
Writing Mechanics Strategies research
Paragraph Writing CD research
Advanced Theme Writing- current work
Other materials
Dialogue – issues, your experiences, thoughts, ideas, questions