Creating Conditions for Student Success Shifting to the Common Core Laurie Dougherty [email protected]

English Language Arts (ELA) and Literacy

Key Ideas Traditional Classroom Focus on literature (fiction) Literary skills (identifying terms & devices like theme)

ELA taught in isolation

Common Core Classroom Informational texts prepare for college and career Cross-content literacy

ELA taught in collaboration

Design and Organization Four strands    

Reading (including Reading Foundational Skills) Writing Speaking and Listening Language (Conventions and Vocabulary)

Integrated model of literacy Media requirements throughout

Appendices 

Appendix A - background information development of the standards/approach to text complexity.

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Appendix B - text exemplars/sample performance tasks.

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Appendix C - annotated writing samples demonstrating writing standards.

The Six Shifts of English/Language Arts Reading

of Informational Text Text Complexity Academic Vocabulary Text-based Answers Writing from Sources Literacy Instruction: All Content Areas 5

Close Reading Short Passages  Complex Texts  Limited Frontloading  Repeated Readings  Text Dependent Questions  Annotation 

Close Reading 

Use projected text, model thinking as we respond to a short piece of text.

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Provide students copies of text. Read together asking students to write their thinking in margins or highlight words/phrases.

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Students share thinking with a partner.

Close Reading 1st Reading: What does the text say? Students read independently. Partner talk to check meaning.  2nd Reading: How does the text work? Teacher reads and think aloud followed by text-dependent questions and discussion.  3rd Reading: What does the text mean? Students write from the text. 

Shift 1: Increase Reading of Informational Text Grade

Literary

Informational

4 8

50% 45% 30%

50% 55% 70%

12

The percentage of Informational reading is accumulative across content areas. 9

 Collect

high interest nonfiction texts

Informational Text Strategies 

Note Taking Summarizing Two of the most useful academic skills Note taking then summarizing Templates help organize thinking

Informational Text Strategies Note Taking  Coding Text (example: + I already know this, * something new, ! wow really interesting.) 

Cornell Notes – two column notes, one column summarizes important ideas, the other lists thoughts and responses (Daniels and Zemelman)

Informational Text Strategies Summarizing Frames  Topic (fascinating) Facts (you) Learned (and how the information) Changed (your thinking.) (Laura Robb) 

Gist: Generating interaction between schemata and text (Frey, Fisher, Hernandez)

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Key Word Strategies (Hoyt)

Informational Text Strategies 

Ten Important Words (Yopp and Yopp)

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5 V.I.P.’s (Linda Hoyt)

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PARIS - Predict, Ask questions - Retell, Infer, Summarize (Mills) Use small white boards

Shift 2: Text Complexity  Past 50 years - Increased demands of college, careers, and citizenship on readers  Past 50 years - Increased difficulty of college textbooks (measured by Lexile scores)  Expectation - college students read complex texts with high level of independence  ACT test data - few students in general prepared for post-secondary reading

Text Complexity: Three Part Model

Three Part Test of Text Complexity #1 Qualitative Dimensions

Level of sophistication of content, themes, language, structure of text

Best assessed by a teacher

#2 Quantitative Length of sentences; Dimensions frequency of unique words

Easily measured by a computer program like Lexile Analyzer

#3 Reader and Task considerations

Best assessed by a teacher

Assignments or activities that require high level reasoning

17

Three Part Test Applied to SPT Qualitative

Levels

of Meaning: Multiple levels of meaning: pioneer story, also story of a motherless family Structure: Conventional narrative sequence Language: Use of language simple but elegant. Some archaic words (e.g., hearthstones). Knowledge Demand: High: Pioneer life and effects of geography on life

Quantitative

Grade 2-3

Reader and Task

Determined by the teacher.

Conclusion by CCSS: Appropriate for teacherled discussions with third graders (i.e., early Stage 2 readers)

18

Three Part Test Applied to TFC Qualitative

Levels

of Meaning: Straightforward characters; follows pattern of many simply written books Structure: Follows conventional narrative sequence Language: Very straightforward Knowledge Demand: Little, if any

Quantitative

Grade Band 2-3

Reader and Task

Determined by the teacher.

Conclusion by CCSS: End of Grade 1

19

Text Complexity Strategies Needs of struggling readers often addressed by changing the text rather than by changing instruction.  To adjust instruction teachers can provide scaffolding to assist students with complex texts.  Goal: for students to complete work independently so scaffolding needs to be removed as quickly as possible.  Up-level students as quickly as possible 

Building Background “…the research literature supports one compelling fact: what students already know about the content is one of the strongest indicators of how well they learn new information relative to the content.” Robert Marzano, 2004 http://watchknowlearn.org  http://www.learn360.com 

Building Background SIOP Model (Echevarria, Vogt, & Short)

Concepts – background experiences explicitly linked  Past learning and new concepts explicitly linked  Key vocabulary emphasized (introduced, written, repeated, and highlighted.) 

Preview Text “THIEVES” Strategy (Manz)  Title  Headings  Introduction  Every First Sentence  Visuals & Vocabulary  End of Chapter Questions  Summary

Understand Text Structure 

Chronological Order

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Compare Contrast

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Cause and Effect

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Description

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Question Answer

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Problem and Solution

Shift 3: Academic Vocabulary 

Differences in students’ vocabulary levels a key factor in academic achievement disparities

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Repeated exposure to the words they are trying to learn.

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Three tiers of words: emphasis on Tier 2 words (general academic words)

Academic Vocabulary Beck’s vocabulary work forms the conceptual framework for how CCSS treats vocabulary.

 Tier 1: General Vocabulary learned through spoken language.  Tier 2: Unfamiliar vocabulary found in written text.  Tier 3: Academic vocabulary “domain specific;” critical to understanding concepts of the content

Tier 2 Words In Bringing Words to Life, Beck (2002) has guidelines that help determine which Tier 2 words to teach:

 Is this generally a useful word?

 Does the word relate to other words /ideas that students know or have been learning?  Is the word useful in helping students understand text?

Effective Vocabulary Instruction (Marzano, 2004) 

Estimated number of terms that can be taught per week:

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3rd (4); 4th (5); 5th (10); 6th (15)

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Instruction should focus on terms that have a high probability of enhancing academic success

Effective Vocabulary Instruction (Marzano, 2004)      

Provide description, explanation, or example of term. Students restate explanation in their own words. Students create nonlinguistic representation of term. Students do activities that help them add to their knowledge of terms. Students asked to discuss terms with one another. Students are involved in games that allow them to play with terms.

Vocabulary Activities List Group Label – Word Sorts, open or closed  Survival Words – Rating  Graphic Organizers 

Word converge diverge fossils magma plastic subduction

supercontinent tectonics

New to me

I've seen it

I know this word. It means:

Google Images

Vocabulary Cards

Vocabulary Games Password  Talk a Mile a Minute  Hollywood Squares  Fly Swat 

More Games (Marzano)

Shift 4: Text-based Answers   

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Rich/rigorous conversations based on a central text Emphasis on students making explicit references to textual evidence. College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Reading: “…referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.” Sample standard from Grade 4: “Refer to details and examples in a text…” “…drawing on specific details in the text…” “based on specific information in the text…”

Text-Based Answers Question-Answer Relationship. Taffy Raphael (1984)

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Right There locate the answer usually within a single sentence.

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Think and Search require reader to compile answer across several sentence or paragraphs.

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Author and You summarize and predict based on multiple

sources in the text and support their positions using prior knowledge and text references.

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On My Own students draw conclusions or formulate opinions based on readings of two or more texts.

More Ways to Respond Pass the Paper  Use three levels of questioning  Literal, Inferential, and Evaluative Comprehension  Green, Yellow, Red light  Hand, Head, Heart

Important Practices 

Literature Circles

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Book Clubs

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Reciprocal Teaching

Shift 5: Increase Writing from Sources Emphasis on selection and use of sources when writing to inform or to make an argument  Research/inquiry to investigate and write about topics  Performance tasks focus on research skills  Research to Build/Present Knowledge College and Career Readiness Anchor Standard for writing 

Math, Science, Social Studies, M.C. Tests

Increased Writing

Source: Reeves, D.B. NASSP Bulletin, December 2000

“When we spend more time on nonfiction writing with collaborative scoring, our test scores improve . r = .7 to .9” Time Devoted to Writing

Shift 6:Literacy Across All Content Areas 

Separate literacy standards: Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects

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Correlates to the increased emphasis on reading informational text

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Content area (domain-specific) text during ELA instruction; attention to literacy through reading and writing in social science and science classrooms and throughout the curriculum

Literacy Framework 

Across all disciplines

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Modeling skills and strategies

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Guided practice of skills and strategies

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Gradual release of responsibility

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Integration of knowledge and ideas

Sources 

Atwell, Nancie (1987, 1998). In The Middle: Writing, Reading, and Learning with Adolescents. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

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Beck, Isabel L., McKeown, Margaret G., & Kuca, Linda (2002). Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction. Guilford Press

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Callkins, Lucy, Ehrenworth, Mary & Lehman, Christopher (2012). Pathways to the Common Core: Accelerating Achievement Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann

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Echevarría, J., Vogt, M. E, & Short, D. J. (2000). Making content comprehensible for English learners: The SIOP model. Newton, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

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Daniels, Harvey, and Steven Zemelman. (2004) Subjects Matter: Every Teacher’s Guide to Content-Area Reading. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

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Harvey, Stephanie. (1998). Nonfiction Matters. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.

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Hoyt, Linda (1999). Revisit, Reflect, Retell. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

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Hoyt, Linda (2000). Snapshots Literacy Mini Lessons Up Close. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

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Marzano, R. J. (2004). Building background knowledge for academic achievement: Research on what works in schools. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

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Robb, Laura (2004). Nonfiction Writing: From the Inside Out. New York, NY: Scholastic.

Journal Articles 

Frey, Nancy, Douglas Fisher, and Ted Hernandez. “‘What’s the Gist?’ Summary Writing for Struggling Adolescent Writers.” Voices from the Middle 11.2 (December 2003): 43–49.

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Frey, Nancy and Douglas Fisher. “Close Reading in Elementary Schools” The Reading Teacher 66.3 (November 2012) 179-188

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Kucan, Linda. “I Poems” The Reading Teacher 60.6 (March2007) 518-525.

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Manz, Suzanne Liff. “A strategy for previewing textbooks: Teaching readers to become THIEVES.” The Reading Teacher 55.5 (February 2002): 434-435.

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Mills, Kathy A. “Floating on a Sea of Talk: Reading Comprehension Through Speaking and Listening” The Reading Teacher 63.4 (December 2009/January 2010): 325-329.

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Putman, S. Michael, and Tara Kingsley. “The Atoms Family: Using Podcasts to Enhance the Development of Science Vocabulary.” The Reading Teacher 63.2 (October 2009): 100-107.

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Smith, Antony, and Robin L. Angotti. “Why Are There So Many Words in Math?” Voices from the Middle, 20.1, (September 2012) : 43-51

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Yopp, Ruth Helen, and Hallie Kay Yopp“Ten Important Words Plus.” The Reading Teacher 61.2 (October 2007): 157-160.

Websites 

http://www.readwritethink.org/ Sponsored by NCTE, IRA and Thinkfinity This website has lesson plans, classroom resources, and professional development material.

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http://www.jc-schools.net/tutorials/vocab/ppt-vocab.html This is a great website out of Tennessee, based on Robert Marzano’s work. It has several games for reinforcing vocabulary. In addition, it provides a list of academic vocabulary for content areas through grade 10.

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http://watchknowlearn.org This is an excellent source of videos and other materials for building background on a huge variety of topics.

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http://www.learn360.com 73,000 media resources from trusted educational publishers and producers to build Bacground

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http://www.ode.state.or.us/go/CommonCore Oregon CCSS Toolkit

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http://www.ode.state.or.us/search/page/?id=3359 Common Core State Standards – ELA & Literacy Resources

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www.lexile.com You can search books by title, then find their lexile score.

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http://elementary.oslis.org/@@mla-elementary This is an easy citation maker for elementary students.