“Achieving Beyond Expectations”

“Achieving Beyond Expectations”
Common Core and Literacy First K-5 “Achieving Beyond Expectations”

“Achieving Beyond Expectations”
Common Core and Literacy First Secondary “Achieving Beyond Expectations”

ES Discussion Group: Understanding Text Complexity and Close Reading in the Disciplines
Considering the standards and the shifts? What is familiar? What is new? What may be challenging for schools/teachers/students? How can we strengthen or adapt LF Process to meet challenges?

Common Core and Literacy First Process
More specifically . . . What does CCSS mean by “rich complex text” and how does that match our current definition? How do you bridge the gap between current reading levels and expected reading levels? What is the close reading process? How are we supporting this process in our new program? What LF processes are in place to support close reading of complex text? Where are we doing to strengthen our processes and materials? What does it look like in whole group/flex group?

MS/HS Discussion Group: Understanding Text Complexity and Close Reading in the Disciplines
Considering the standards and the shifts? What is familiar? What is new? What may be challenging for schools/teachers/students? How can we strengthen or adapt LF Process to meet challenges?

The Common Core and Close Reading
Let’s examine what this idea of ‘close reading” really entails, and why it is being talked about in conjunction with the new Common Core State Standards.

Vertical Alignment Example
College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Reading Key Ideas and Details - Literature Anchor Standards Kindergarten Grade 1 Grade 2 Grade 3 Grade 4 Grade 5 Read closely to determine what The text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text. With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a Ask and answer questions about key details in a text. such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text. questions to demonstrate Understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers. Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text. Quote accurately from a text when what the text says explicitly and when drawing Inferences from the

What the Standards Are Asking For
Grade 2 Literary Describe the overall structure of a story, including describing how the beginning introduces the story and the ending concludes the action. Grade 3 Informational Describe the relationship between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text, using language that pertains to time, sequence, and cause/effect. Grades 6-8 Science Distinguish among facts, reasoned judgment based on research findings, and speculation in a text. Grades 9-10 History Analyze in detail a series of events described in a text; determine whether earlier events caused later ones or simply preceded them. The Common Core State Standards talk about “literacy” from a number of different angles. They talk about how students make meaning from literary text, which most of us as English teachers are used to. They also talk about making meaning from informational texts—using text to understand history, politics, science, technology. These are the ways many of us use text as adults, but they are often not talked about while we’re in school. The CCSS are putting a lot of focus and emphasis on this kind of reading, as you can see from the grade 3, 6-8, and 9-10 standards. ALL of these are considered “literacy” standards.

How does this (or should this) re-definition of literacy affect instruction?
Depending on who you ask, there are 3 or 6 clear instructional shifts necessitated by the CCSS. As you can see from this color coding, they 3-shirf version and 6-shift version fit together Let’s take a closer look 9

Cross walk of Common Core Instructional Shifts: ELA Literacy
Both the 6 instructional shifts articulated by the NY State Department of Education and the 3 instructional shifts outlined by Student Achievement Partnerships help educators understand the major changes required by the Common Core in terms of curricular materials and classroom instruction in ELA/Literacy 6 Shifts: EngageNY 3 Shifts: Student Achievement Partners 1:PK-5, Balancing Informational & Literacy Texts: Students read a true balance of informational and literary texts. Elementary school classrooms are , therefore, places where students access the world – science, social studies, the arts and literature – through text. At least 50% of what students read is informational. 1: Building knowledge through content-rich nonfiction and informational texts } = 2: 6-12, Knowledge in the Disciplines: Content area teachers outside of the ELA classroom emphasize literacy experiences in their planning and instruction. Students learn through domain-specific texts in science and social studies classrooms – rather than referring to the text, they are expected to learn from what they read.

3 Shifts: Student Achievement Partners 6 Shifts: EngageNY 4: Text-based Answers: Students have rich and rigorous conversations which are dependent on a common text. Teachers insist that classroom experiences stay deeply connected to the text on the page and that students develop habits for making evidentiary arguments both in conversation, as well as in writing to assess comprehension of a text. 2: Reading and Writing grounded in evidence from text. } = 5: Writing from Sources: Writing needs to emphasize use of evidence to inform or make an argument rather than the personal narrative and other forms of decontextualized prompts. While the narrative still has an important role, students develop skills through written arguments that respond to the ideas, events, facts, and arguments presented in the texts they read.

Text-based Answers Students are expected to engage in rich, evidence-based dialogue about a text they have read Teachers must now train students to stay in the text, to draw conclusions and make arguments about the text and do so through the text itself Teachers should be asking, “where do you see that in the text? What paragraph? What sentence? What word?” and students must begin to think and argue through and with texts by constantly being asked to find evidence in what they have read. When we talk about text-dependent questions and text-based answers, these are the kinds of things we mean. We want students to interact with text in deep ways—to pull text apart, examine it, understand how it works…not simply summarize it. 12

3 Shifts: Student Achievement Partners 6 Shifts: EngageNY 3: Staircase of Complexity: In order to prepare students for the complexity of college and career ready texts, each grade level requires a “step” of growth on the “staircase”. Students read the central, grade appropriate text around which instruction is centered. Teachers are patient, create more time and space in the curriculum for this close and careful reading, and provide appropriate and necessary scaffolding and supports so that it is possible for students reading below level. 3. Regular practice with complex text and its academic vocabulary } = 6: Academic Vocabulary: Students constantly build the vocabulary they need to access grade level complex texts. By focusing strategically on comprehension of pivotal and commonly found words (such as “discourse,” “generation,” “theory,” and “principled”) and less on esoteric literary terms (such as “onomatopoeia” or “homonym”), teachers constantly build students ability to access more complex texts across the content areas.

Ramping up the Rigor We must systematically expose students to increasingly complex texts.
Figure 3: Text Complexity Grade Bands and Associated Lexile Ranges (in Lexiles) Text Complexity Grade Band in the Standards Old Lexile Ranges Lexile Ranges Aligned to CCR Expectations K-1 N/A 2-3 4-5 6-8 9-10 11-CCR Here is the quantitative part of the equation. Look at your grade level and see to what extent the expectations around complexity of text are changing. Notice how the expected reading level begins to creep up even at the Grade 2-3 level, and how far it has moved up by the time students reach 11th grade and graduation. The CCSS expects students to be reading within a range whose lowest limit is HIGHER THAN THE TOP of the previous Lexile range. The Common Core State Standards require students to meet more rigorous expectations regarding text complexity.

Protocol for Analyzing Text
Identify Quantitative Complexity Use lexile.com to find the quantitative measure of text named above. Use the chart below to determine the grade band alignment for the quantitative measure of the text. ___________L Text Complexity Grade Bands Current Lexile Band Suggested Lexile Range 2-3 450L-725L 450L – 790L 4-5 645L-845L 770L – 980L 6-8 860L-1010L 955L – 1155L 9-10 960L-1115L 1080L – 1305L 11-CCR 1070L-1220L 1215L – 1355L Adapted from NYC DOE

2. Identify Qualitative Complexity
Read through the text. Jot down ideas or vocabulary or other characteristics of the text that might make this text difficult to read. Use the Gradients in Complexity rubric that corresponds to the text type (literary/informational text). Read through all the traits of the Gradients of Text Complexity rubric. Highlight those indicators that represent the complexity of the text that you’ve just read. Adapted from NYC DOE

Adapted from NYC DOE

4. Use the information from steps 1-3 to make the following judgments.
3. Refer to the CCSS for reading in your grade band/subject to determine the following. What content expected by the standards are embedded in this text? (e.g. Seminal U.S. documents? Precise procedure? Account of an historical event?) What academic performances/purposes does this text enable readers to engage in? (e.g. Cite evidence? Analyze an author’s claim? Provide a summary? Distinguish between fact and fiction? Analyze text structure? Determine the meaning of words and phrases?) 4. Use the information from steps 1-3 to make the following judgments. What grade level, subject area, and task is this text best suited for? What instructional strategies would help to facilitate student access to this text without degrading the text’s complexity?

It All Points to a Need for “Close Reading”
These new expectations have led to a call for something called “close reading.” In this video, author Douglas Fisher discusses what “close reading” means and why it is important. (play the video, either through the URL or using a downloaded file) Ask participants for their reactions, responses, and points of view, What makes sense? What confuses them? What worries them? (don’t let this discussion linger too long—a handful of minutes is plenty) 19

The Close Reading Process
How does one conduct close reading? There are many ways—but today we’ll learn one process for doing it that you all can share and work with at any grade level. Keep in mind that close reading is NOT MEANT TO BE THE ONLY WAY STUDENTS READ. This is a process for digging deeply into a text—not the way students should read the entirety of a novel or a whole textbook chapter. Close reading gives you the opportunity to slow down and dig deep, and as such, it works best on short pieces of text that are truly worthy of investigation and exploration.

Paying attention to what is printed on the page.
Close Reading Talking with others about the ideas and concepts you extract from text. Paying attention to what is printed on the page. Reading with a pencil. Re-reading with text-dependent questions. Close reading isn’t in the Common Core State Standards. However, an analysis of the Common Core State Standards really says you’ve got to learn the text well. The Common Core State Standards require that students provide evidence and justification for their answers. The only way we know how students can do this - that they really learn to provide evidence and justification - is if they closely read.

College and career ready requires
“. . . students to use reading rather than ‘do’ reading.” College and career ready – part of hidden curriculum Teachers constantly teaching students the processes for interpreting and using what they have read. Doug Buehl, 2012

Common Core State Standards
Students who meet the Standards readily undertake the close, attentive reading that is at the heart of understanding and enjoying complex works of literature. They habitually perform the critical reading necessary to pick carefully through the staggering amount of information available today in print and digitally. They actively seek the wide, deep, and thoughtful engagement with high-quality literary and informational texts that builds knowledge, enlarges experience, and broadens worldviews. (Common Core State Standards, page 3) Even though how to practice close reading is not explicitly defined in the standards nor mentioned in any anchor standard, it is very strongly implied.

Close Reading Requires:
Understanding your purpose in reading Understanding the author’s purpose in writing Seeing ideas in a text as being interconnected Looking for and understanding systems of meaning Engaging a text while reading Getting beyond impressionist reading Formulating questions and seeking answers to those questions while reading

Scaffolding doesn’t mean…
helps students access complex texts directly. allows the reader a first encounter with minimal clarifications. guides the reader with follow-up support. encourages re-reading. Scaffolding doesn’t mean… reducing complexity of text. replacing the text. telling students what they are going to learn. Applying it – making it happen for all students. Teachers provide scaffolding to assist students with complex texts. Scaffolding is how students are able to grow in text complexity. CCSS defines scaffolding as temporary guidance or assistance provided to a student by a teacher, another adult, or a more capable peer, enabling the student to perform a task he or she otherwise would not be able to do alone. A teacher should never build a scaffold for a student without having a plan to remove it. 25

Step One: Set a Purpose for Reading Present an overarching, text-based question that only a close reading will answer Present the step-by-step structure Present a short passage for study Step Two: First Reading (or read-aloud) Read or listen in order to answer questions such as: Is this fiction or non-fiction? Who is the story about? / What topic is the article or essay about? What is the main thing the main character does? / What is the most important thing said about the main topic? What was the author’s purpose in writing? Partner Talk to check meaning. Share understandings with partner. Discuss one surprising part of the reading. STEP ONE Because close reading is used for investigation, it’s important to set a clear purpose for reading before having students dig in. In this exercise, they’re not just reading for the sake of reading; they’re reading to figure out something. Posing a question for students—a big, interesting question—engages students’ attention and helps them read the selected text with a clear goal in mind This question should NOT be a simple, fact-based question. This is not a traditional reading comprehension activity of the sort we’ve seen on standardized tests. Pinpointing important facts may be a PART of this exercise, but it is not the point. The question you pose should be challenging and intriguing, and something that requires thought and investigation to figure out STEP TWO Once students know what they’re reading for and have been given their text, have them do an initial reading of the text. Let them know that they will be reading through this text at least twice—so they don’t have to “get” everything the first time. Right now, you want them to get a general, big-picture understanding of the text, with a focus on the kinds of questions listed on the slide. Teachers may have students jot down notes at this stage, or they may wish to have students simply read and absorb. For very young students, teachers may wish to read the text aloud to students for the first read-through, the second read-through, or both, depending on the skill level of the students. Close reading is about conceptual understanding. If students are still in the decoding stage, they should not be forced to slog through the text on their own for this kind of exercise. 26

Step Three: Second Reading (or read-aloud) Students create 3-column notes to examine issues such as: How does the author use structure to advance the main ideas? What important, interesting, or confusing words, phrases, or imagery does the author use to advance the main ideas? What recurring patterns do you see? What internal similarities or contradictions do you see? What other details do you see that support the main ideas? (How is the author telling this story or advancing this argument or discussion?) What questions would you have for the author along the way? (“Why are you doing that?” “Why did you say it that way?” Partner Talk to share evidence Share your notes with a partner. Show textual evidence. STEP THREE Now it’s time to re-read the text and start digging into it in detail. Students should have a good, general understanding of the text. Now it’s time to pursue the big question you posed for them. The questions listed here are not required questions, and need not be used all the time, for every text. They’re simply suggestions of the kinds of things students should be looking for and thinking about as they engage in the second reading, always with an eye toward that big question that’s been set for them. Some authors and researchers advocate having students annotate and mark up the text directly in their books. Teachers may wish to do that, or they may feel the need to keep school copies of texts pristine. The three-column note structure outlined in the next slide provides a way for students to annotate text without marking up the text directly. 27

Three-Column Note-Taking
Students pose questions about the text to themselves, the author, or the teacher Students jot down notes about the quote, its meaning, and its importance Students copy words, phrases, images, sentences of interest or question Quotes Notes Questions “We wear the mask” (title) Title gives you the whole main idea of the poem It’s a poem, so he doesn’t mean it literally Is “we” everyone or just African Americans? Or African American males? Why is it “the” mask? Does everyone wear the same one? Is there only one? Three-column note-taking helps students be purposeful and on-task when taking notes, instead of wondering what might or might not be worth writing down. The first column is for direct quotations. Students should copy down, word for word, any words, phrases, or sentences they find interesting, curious, or important in relation to the big question at hand. In the second column, students jot down some notes about that quote: what they think it means or demonstrates; why it’s interesting or intriguing; how it provides evidence of some particular idea. In the third column, students engage directly with the text or the author, asking their own questions: why did this character do that? Why did the author use that turn of phrase? What does this argument mean? These are questions that students may want to pose to the teacher in later discussion, or simply ponder on their own. These notes exist for the students, and need not be written in complete sentence form or even complete words. Abbreviations, pictures, diagrams, and symbols are all perfectly appropriate as long as the student understands what he’s written. 28

Three-Column Note-Taking for Non-Readers
Have students listen in pairs and ask questions of each other at pause points. Students can make pictures, write single words, or dictate ideas to the teacher or aide Create a graphic organizer with words and/or other images pre-selected Quotes Notes Questions HIDING PRETENDING AFRAID James asks why the author keeps doing it if he knows it’s wrong or unhealthy When working with much younger students or non-readers, consider creating a graphic organizer for their use, rather than asking them to create the three columns in a notebook. For early readers, teachers may want to pre-populate the “quotes” column with words, phrases, and sentences they want students to think about. Teaches may want to populate this column in its entirety or simply provide a handful of examples to get students started. Having different versions of this graphic organizers built with different levels of scaffolding is a nice way to provide differentiation of instruction. For non-readers and early writers, teachers may want to use images in the quotes column—either pictures taken directly from the book they’re reading or other images representative of some part of the text. In the second column, students may write individual words or draw pictures Teachers may want to have students discuss the text in pairs while reading in order to populate the third column . Teacher aides can be used to transcribe student discussions in cases of very early or non-writers. 29

Step Four: Discussion Teacher poses text-dependent questions that require close analysis of the text, its structure, and the author’s craftsmanship Teacher guides students to refer explicitly to their notes in answering questions Teacher uses questioning to build deep understanding of the text and help students engage with the larger purpose for reading Teacher may scaffold by having students answer overarching questions as a class before attempting any writing STEP FOUR Now that students have worked through the text and made notes, it’s time to get students to use the notes in an open discussion. Teachers may wish to attack the larger question right away, using it to drill down to the details/ Or they may prefer to work from more detailed, text-dependent questions up to the big-picture question Whole-class discussions allow the teacher to guide the conversation more directly, asking pointed questions and helping students make explicit reference to their notes. Small-group or paired discussions may make more sense in cases where students are working more independently and require less guidance. 30

Progression of Text-dependent Questions
Opinions, Arguments, Intertextual Connections Inferences Author’s Purpose Vocab & Text Structure Key Details General Understandings Whole Across texts Entire text Segments Paragraph Sentence Word Part Douglas Fisher, 2012

Step Five: Writing Teacher has students respond to the overarching question(s) in a paragraph (or a paired discussion for lower grades) Teacher guides students to make specific references to the text in answering questions or advancing arguments, using the notes they took while reading STEP FIVE The final step of the close reading process is to get students to write. Having had the support of detailed annotation and note-taking followed by group or class discussion, students should be in a good and confident position to address the big-picture question in a paragraph or two. Students should be guided to connect their ideas and positions to real evidence from the text at all times, using their notes to quote directly from the text and explain the importance and meaning of that text. As students become more proficient at close reading, teachers may decide to spend less time in class discussion and move students directly into the writing stage. 32

DISCUSSION Now that we’ve talked through the steps of the close reading process, let’s see what it looks like in action, using a text your students are working on in Unit 3 of the curriculum. We’ll move away from PowerPoint at this point and hand out a copy of the text to be used in the demonstration. After we walk through the close reading process with one section of this class text, participants will have the opportunity to think through how they might implement this process with another section of the same text.

“Achieving Beyond Expectations”

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