TEACHING THE CORE OF OUR CURRICULUM Presenter: Jim Burke      

 

 

 

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35.  

Tool: Common Core Quick Reference Guide (ELA) Tool: The New Academic Essentials Tool: Teaching by Design Using Webb’s DOK Model Resource: KEY Words (Teacher Edition) Resource: Key Words (Student Edition) Overview: Types of Texts We Read and Write Tool: Essential Performances: Where We Are 9-12 (Step 1) Tool: Essential Performances: Where We Are 9-12 (w/ Sample Perfs) Tool: Essential Performances: Where We Need to Be 9-12 (Step 2) Tool: Decoding a Standard CCSS: Reading Standard 7 (1) (from Common Core Companion) CCSS: Reading Standard 7 (2) (from Common Core Companion) CCSS: Reading Standard 7 (3) (from Common Core Companion) CCSS: Reading Standard 7 (4) (from Common Core Companion) CCSS: Writing Standard 7 (1) (from Common Core Companion) CCSS: Writing Standard 7 (2) (from Common Core Companion) CCSS: Writing Standard 7 (3) (from Common Core Companion) CCSS: Writing Standard 7 (4) (from Common Core Companion) Assignment: Into the Wild: An Inquiry into Freedom Technique: Into the Wild Progressive Paper Tool: Paragraph Notes Tool: Continuum of Academic Signal Verbs Reading: How to Write an Argument (by Gerald Graff) Overview: Understanding Argument Tool: Argument Organizer Assessment: Argument Writing Tool: Source Notes (1) Tool: Source Notes (2) Tool: Listener’s Notes Assignment: Expert Project: A Year-Long Inquiry into One Subject Tool: Expert Project: Critical Notes 2.0 Tool: Lesson Plan Template Overview: The Four Cs of Academic Success Overview: ODONO Cycle Rubric: Achieve’s EQuIP CCSS Rubric

                                             

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

Note: You may photocopy any materials in this packet for classroom use. If you have any questions, please contact me at [email protected] or visit englishcompanion.com

Quick Reference: Common Core State Standards, 6–12 English Language Arts Reading Key Ideas and Details  1. 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.  2. Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.  3. Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text. Craft and Structure  4. Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone.  5. Analyze the structure of texts, including how specific sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of the text (e.g., a section, chapter, scene, or stanza) relate to each other and the whole.  6. Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text. Integration of Knowledge and Ideas  7. Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse formats and media, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.  8. Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, including the validity of the reasoning as well as the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence.  9. Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take. Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity 10. Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently.

Writing Text Types and Purposes*  1. Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.

 2. Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.  3. Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences. Production and Distribution of Writing  4. Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.  5. Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach.  6. Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others. Research to Build and Present Knowledge  7. Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects based on focused questions, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.  8. Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, assess the credibility and accuracy of each source, and integrate the information while avoiding plagiarism.

Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas  4. Present information, findings, and supporting evidence such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.  5. Make strategic use of digital media and visual displays of data to express information and enhance understanding of presentations.  6. Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and communicative tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate.

Language Conventions of Standard English  1. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.  2. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing. Knowledge of Language

 9. Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

 3. Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.

Range of Writing

Vocabulary Acquisition and Use

10. Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.

4.

Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases by using context clues, analyzing meaningful word parts, and consulting general and specialized reference materials, as appropriate.

5.

Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.

6.

Acquire and use accurately a range of general academic and domainspecific words and phrases sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college and career readiness level; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.

Speaking and Listening Comprehension and Collaboration  1. Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.  2. Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.  3. Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric.

Source: Designed by Jim Burke. Visit www.englishcompanion.com for more information. Note: For the complete Common Core standards document, please visit corestandards.org. *These broad types of writing include many subgenres. See Appendix A for definitions of key writing types.

xxii  The Common Core Companion: The Standards Decoded, Grades 9–12 @ 2014 Jim Burke

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THE NEW ACADEMIC ESSENTIALS: COLLEGE AND CAREER READINESS  

Name:

„

Date:

Major/Field:

School/Other:

DOMAINS (Score yourself 0-3. 0 = don’t know it/can’t do it; 3 = major strength)

8/13/13

Fall

Spr

∆

COMMUNICATING: WRITTEN, ORAL, VISUAL, & OTHER MEANS OR MEDIA

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and evidence. Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately. Use writing as one of many different ways to understand and deepen your grasp of a topic or a text. Produce clear, coherent writing that develops and organizes ideas, and uses style appropriate to task, purpose, audience. Demonstrate a command of conventions of standard English grammar, usage, and mechanics when writing or speaking. Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach. Design texts using images, words, different features (e.g., fonts), formats, or media in light of your purpose and audience. Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, assessing its credibility before integrating it. Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support your analysis, reflection, and research. Convey arguments, ideas, and information using visual, graphic, or multimedia formats. Use language when speaking or writing that is appropriate to your subject, occasion, audience, and purpose. Participate effectively in conversations and collaborations in person and online for different purposes and contexts.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.

Read closely to determine the text’s explicit meaning and make logical inferences based on evidence from the text. Determine central ideas/themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details/ideas. Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text. Interpret words and phrases as used in a text, including determining their technical, connotative, and figurative meanings. Analyze how specific word choices, figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in meanings shape meaning or tone. Analyze how text structures––specific sentences, paragraphs, larger sections––relate to each other and affect the whole. Assess how point of view or the author’s purpose shapes the content and style of a text. Integrate and evaluate content in diverse formats and media, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words. Delineate and evaluate the author’s argument, its specific claims, and the validity of reasoning and quality of evidence. Analyze how two or more texts treat similar themes/topics in order to build knowledge and compare the authors’ approaches. Interrogate texts: preview, annotate, outline/summarize, notice repetitions/patterns, compare/contrast with prior texts/topics.

READING: WORDS, IMAGES, INFORMATION, GRAPHICS

LEARNING: TAKING NOTES, TAKING TESTS, OBSERVING, REMEMBERING, & RESEARCHING

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Take effective, organized notes that can be used to help you study, write, research, remember, or understand content. Use different tools and techniques to capture ideas, evidence, or data during reading, observations, lectures, or experiments. Employ a range of strategies when studying for and taking tests of any type. Draw on different techniques to identify what you need to remember and to help you remember and apply that content. Determine the criteria or questions to use when reading, viewing, or observing so you know what to notice and ignore. Create and use a system for gathering, organizing, and using notes and documents essential to success in each class. Seek out and use all available resources, including tutors, websites, and your teachers to help you learn and improve. Identify a question or problem to investigate, collecting, evaluating, and synthesizing data from various sources.

THINKING: IMAGINATION, CURIOSITY, CREATIVITY, & HABITS OF MIND

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

Ask questions to clarify, generate, connect, evaluate, analyze, solve/identify problems, challenge ideas, and show curiosity. Identify, frame, analyze, and solve problems using a variety of tools or approaches. Access and analyze information, determining what it means, why it matters, and how best to convey the findings. Generate ideas, questions, hypotheses, interpretations, problems, solutions, alternatives, perspectives, and arguments. Reflect on your own processes and performances, using the insights to improve your work in the future. Explore other ways of doing, learning, solving, generating by being playful, curious, open, and even daring. Imagine how others would perceive, respond to, or otherwise think about an idea, question, interpretation, or event. Seek critical feedback about your work, allowing yourself to listen to, consider, and use any details that will improve it. Construct logical arguments supported by valid evidence that acknowledges and addresses other perspectives. Synthesize seemingly competing sources or findings when exploring a subject across a range of texts.

MANAGING: YOURSELF, RELATIONSHIPS, RESOURCES, & YOUR REPUTATION

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

Know your needs and strengths; harness these to ensure success with whatever you do, whomever you work. Monitor and manage your stress, impulsivity, attention, and energy to achieve the desired or specified outcomes. Respect other perspectives, cultures, and values when collaborating, evaluating, or communicating. Collaborate effectively with a range of people for different purposes in different situations in-person and online. Make responsible, ethical choices regarding work and relationships; accept the consequences of your decisions. Adhere to a strict work ethic by always being prompt, prepared, precise and accurate; and doing/submitting your own work. Cultivate and maintain an ethos that establishes that you are trustworthy, ethical, committed, competent, and likable. Demonstrate resiliency, initiative, grit, and persistence when encountering obstacles on solo or group projects. Show adaptability and agility as conditions, demands, or required skills and knowledge change suddenly and over time.

TOTAL SCORE

© 2013 Jim Burke. Sources: Academic Literacy (UC/CSU/CCC 2002); Closing the Global Achievement Gap (Wagner 2010); Common Core Standards (2010); Framework for Success in College Writing (CWPA 2011); The Flat World & Education (Darling-Hammond 2010); College Knowledge (Conley 2005); “Interrogating Texts: 6 Reading Habits to Develop in Your First Year at Harvard” (Harvard 2011).

@ 2014 Jim Burke

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Teaching by Design Using Webb’s Depth of Knowledge Model



Created by Jim Burke

This page offers you a quick-reference guide to using Norman Webb’s Depth of Knowledge (DOK) model when you are developing instructional units, assessment tasks, or specific assignments in your content area. Two central concepts in the DOK model are the cognitive demands the learning or assessment tasks make on students, and the depth of knowledge or understanding a given task or question requires to complete or learn it. The assigned DOK level reflects the degree of cognitive processing a task, topic, text, or test demands. Bloom’s Taxonomy assumed certain verbs required a level of cognitive processing; in his DOK model, however, Webb, argues that it is what follows the verb that determines the complexity of the task. Thus, a word like describe could appear at any of the four DOK levels, depending on what one was asked to describe.

LEVEL 1

RECALL & REPRODUCE: We know but do not transform facts, details, terms, or principles. DESCRIPTION: LEVEL 1 Asks students to remember, list, locate, retell, identify, define, or use similar skills on assignments or assessments to show that they know certain target knowledge or skills. At this level, the cognitive demands are basic, requiring knowledge and skills that students either do or do not know; that is, Level 1 questions or tasks do not ask students to use the facts or other details to solve any problems or figure out additional questions.

REPRESENTATIVE ACTIONS • Identify all metaphors used in a passage. • List three examples of irony from the text. • Retell what happens to _____ in the text. • Define the word _____ using a dictionary. • Locate all details to include in works cited. • Label each of the types of sentences in a ¶. • Memorize a passage or a complete poem. • Recall the questions to ask about a poem. • Find the key facts about _____ in a text. • Search online using the terms provided.

ASSIGNMENT & ASSESSMENT TASKS • Which definition is more accurate for the word ____ as it is used in line 4? • What does the author say is the most memorable quality of ____ in his essay? • What are the elements of a Shakespearean sonnet? • In his second soliloquy, Hamlet describes himself as: a.___ b.___ c.___. • What different definitions does the dictionary offer for the word ____?

LEVEL 2

SKILLS & CONCEPTS: We process/transform specified knowledge––then use or apply it. DESCRIPTION: LEVEL 2 Asks students to infer, organize, predict, compare, classify, show cause-effect, solve simple problems, or complete similar processes that require students to determine what a word or concept means––based on any available context or background information––then to go beyond the obvious meaning of the word or concept, using it to estimate, classify, summarize, revise, translate, or modify something to show they understand it.

REPRESENTATIVE ACTIONS • Organize details in order of importance. • Compare how X is similar to Y. • Predict what X will do next based on ___. • Display data as a table or graph. • Summarize an author’s argument. • Translate a table/graph into a paragraph. • Paraphrase a specified portion of the text. • Distinguish the effect of X from Y. • Define ___ based on context clues in text. • Represent the story using a plot diagram.

ASSIGNMENT & ASSESSMENT TASKS • How would you visually represent the relationship between X and Y? • What other words could you use to describe X based on what you know? • What question is the author trying to answer in this essay or presentation? • What other defendible claims could you make about this text? • Which of the following sentences makes the clearest, most effective claim?

LEVEL 3

STRATEGIC THINKING & REASONING: We integrate in-depth knowledge & skills to solve/produce. DESCRIPTION: LEVEL 3 Asks students to assess, develop, draw conclusions, explain events/processes in terms of concepts, solve complicated problems, and engage in similar higher order thinking skills that require planning, reasoning, analysis, and evaluation. Students combine their deepening conceptual knowledge and growing array of skills to think strategically about how to solve and create. Level 3 emphasizes deep understanding of one text or source.

REPRESENTATIVE ACTIONS • State the reasoning behind a position and provide relevant evidence that supports it. • Investigate a problem or question, explaining its origins and how it has evolved over time as a result of human intervention. • Develop a logical argument about how a literary character changes over the course of a story and how they contribute to the meaning of the text as a whole; provide textual evidence to support any claims.

ASSIGNMENT & ASSESSMENT TASKS • What tone is most appropriate given your task, audience, occasion, or purpose?

• What logic informs the sequence of information in this text and how does it relate to the author’s (or your own) purpose? • How could you revise your paper to improve the logic or cohesion of your ideas? • Explain how this poem honors and departs from the sonnet form, and how that departure affects the poem’s meaning.

LEVEL 4

EXTENDED THINKING: We extend our knowledge to address complex, real problems or questions. DESCRIPTION: LEVEL 4 Asks students to extend, integrate, reflect, adjust, design, conduct, and initiate or monitor authentic problems that have no obvious or predictable solution, drawing on a range of sources, texts of different types and perspectives, often in collaboration with others and over an extended period of time. Level 4 thinking demands we extend our thinking across sources, disciplines, and perspectives to solve a problem or create a final product.

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REPRESENTATIVE ACTIONS • Design a multimedia slide presentation that documents the civil rights movement from different perspectives, analyzing key moments and explaining their effect on the movement and the people involved. • Investigate a substantive topic for an extended time from multiple perspectives that results in a 10-page formal paper presented in a 3-5 minute multimedia TED-Talk format to parents and peers.

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ASSIGNMENT & ASSESSMENT TASKS • Identify themes that are common to the different texts provided, explaining how these themes are treated and developed.

• Analyze how identity contributes to the meaning of each text, choosing a metaphor that effective captures what these various sources are saying about identity. • Write an analysis of two (or more) sonnets, constructing and supporting with evidence a claim about what says about a subject they have in common. 3

KEY Words: Language That Opens Doors for All Students (TEACHER EDITION)

Analyze

break something down into its parts in order to understand how it is made, what it is, how it works

Compare

identify similarities between two or more items in order to understand how they are alike, equal, or analogous

Contrast

describe the differences between two or more items in order to understand how they contribute to meaning, quality, or effect

Describe

report what one observes or does in order to capture and convey to others a process, impression, or a sequence of events in a narrative

Evaluate

determine the value, amount, importance, or quality of something in order to understand if it matters or means something

Explain

provide reasons for what happened or one’s actions in order to clarify, justify, or define those events, actions, causes or effects

Formulate

reduce an idea or process to a statement, equation, or model in order to invent, create, or express something

Infer

combine what you know with what you learn in order to draw a conclusion about what texts, actions, images, or events mean

Predict

describe what will happen next in a text, during an experiment or a process in order to engage with and understand it

Summarize

retell the essential details of what happened, what someone did or said, in order to better understand and remember it

Support

offer evidence, examples, details, or data in order to illustrate or bolster your position, claim, or conclusion

Trace

locate and follow the steps in a process or line of reasoning in order to understand the origins of a position, the cause of some effect, or source of an idea

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KEY Words: Language That Opens Doors for All Students (STUDENT EDITION)

Analyze Compare Contrast Describe

break something down into its parts

identify similarities between two or more items

describe the differences between two or more items

report what one observes or does

Evaluate

determine the value, amount, importance, or quality

Explain

provide reasons for what happened or one’s actions

Formulate Infer Predict Summarize Support Trace @ 2014 Jim Burke

reduce an idea to a statement, equation, or model

combine what you know with what you learn

describe what will happen next

retell the essential details of what happened

offer evidence, examples, details, or data

locate and follow the steps in a process or line of reasoning

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Academic Text Types

Examples

By Form

Arguments Provide arguments that support claims about topics or texts, using evidence and logic.

Inform/Explanations Explain or convey ideas and information about concepts, procedures, events, places, or people.

Foundational Texts Represent and express the principles of the nation as reflected through the texts used to create and lead it.

Seminal Texts Influence or express something essential about our culture; to know our country and culture, read these texts.

Literary/Narrative Convey a real or imagined experience through a story, poem, or other form or medium.

Ads Debates Editorials Essays Letters Literary analysis Petition Proposals Reports Reviews Speeches

Articles Charts Diagrams Directions Essays Graphs Infographics Lab Narrative Manuals Presentations Procedural Narratives Reports Resumes Summaries Tables Websites Wikis

13th Amendment Bill of Rights Declaration of Independence Emancipation Proclamation U.S. Constitution

Articles Declarations Diaries Essays Executive Orders Letters Lyrics Opinion/Editorials Pamphlets Poems Sermons Speeches Supreme Court Opinions Tracts

Artworks/Images Biographical Narratives Fairytales/Folktales/Myths Fiction (story/novel) Films Graphic fiction/nonfic Literary Nonfiction Memoir Mixed media narratives Monologues Personal narratives Photoessays Plays Poems Prose Fiction Scripts

By Purpose

Examples

Description

Persuasive

Explanatory

Imaginative

Expressive

Provides arguments that support claims about topics or texts, using evidence and logic.

Explains or conveys ideas and information about concepts, procedures, events, places, or people.

Captures and conveys a real or imagined experience through a story, poem, or other form or medium rich in detail and design.

Uses informal, loosely organized language intended to convey attitudes, feelings, thoughts to an interested audience

Ads Debates Editorials Essays Letters Literary analysis Proposals Reviews Speeches

Articles Essays Infographics Manuals Presentations Reports Resumes Summaries Websites Wikis

Artworks/Images Biographical Narratives Creative Nonfiction Digital stories Graphic fiction Mixed media Monologues Personal narratives Poems Prose Fiction Scripts

Artworks/Images Blogs Emails Journals Mixed Media Personal statements Reader’s responses Reflections Reviews Social network posts Text messages

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ESSENTIAL PERFORMANCES: WHERE WE ARE (with sample standards alignment) Department: Description Read a range of literary texts (stories, plays, poems, art). RS.10

Class Level: 9

10

Date: 11

12

Read a range of literary and informational nonfiction (books, essays, autobiographies, articles). RS.10 Read a range of graphic, visual, and multimedia texts (websites, images, art). RS.10

Arguments: Write to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts. WS.1 ∗

Inform & Explanations: Write to examine and convey complex ideas and information. WS.2 Narratives: Write to develop real or imagined experiences or events. WS.3

Research: Write short and sustained research projects for a range of purposes. WS.7

On-Demand: Write over a shorter time for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences. WS.10

Discussion: Participate in a range of collaborative discussions. SS.1

Speech/Presentation: Present information making strategic use of digital media. SS.4-5

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STEP 1: ESSENTIAL PERFORMANCES: WHERE WE ARE Department: Description

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Class Level: 9

10

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Date: 11

12

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STEP 2: ESSENTIAL PERFORMANCES: WHERE WE NEED TO BE Department: Description

@ 2014 Jim Burke

Class Level: 9

10

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Date: 11

12

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DECODING A STANDARD Use the following guide to help you and your colleagues break down those standards you are focusing on most or with which you are struggling the hardest to better understand. To better understand a standard: 1. Choose a standard you, your team, department, or faculty want to better understand in order to teach it.

Sample Analysis of a Standard Analyze  how  complex  characters  (e.g.,  those  with  multiple   or  conflicting  motivations)  develop  over  the  course  of  a   text,  interact  with  other  characters,  and  advance  the  plot   or  develop  the  theme.  

2. Locate the skills by identifying the signal verbs such as evaluate, compare, or argue, that state what the students are supposed to do.

Analyze  how  complex  characters  (e.g.,  those  with  multiple   or  conflicting  motivations)  develop  over  the  course  of  a   text,  interact  with  other  characters,  and  advance  the  plot   or  develop  the  theme.

3. Determine what concepts the standard asks students to know.

• • • • •

4. Identify any prior knowledge or skills students are required to learn in order to meet this standard.

• Know  the  connotative  and  denotative  meaning  of   certain  words  used  in  the  standard  (e.g.,  complex,   character,  conflicting  motivations,  develop,  advance  the   plot,  theme).   • Be  able  to  apply  close  reading  strategies • Trace  a  character  and  its  development  or  contribution   to  a  story  over  time  when  reading

development  or  evolution  of  complex  character(s)   interactions  between  characters motivations  of  character(s) effect(s)  of  character(s)  on  the  plot   contribution(s)  of  character(s)  to  theme(s)

Your Turn! Choose one of your own to analyze or use the following example WS.7     Conduct  short  as  well  as  more  sustained  research  projects  to  answer  a  question  (including  a  self-­‐ generated  question)  or  solve  a  problem;  narrow  or  broaden  the  inquiry  when  appropriate;  synthesize   multiple  sources  on  the  subject,  demonstrating  understanding  of  the  subject  under  investigation.  

1. Locate the skills by identifying the signal verbs such as evaluate, compare, or argue, that state what the students are supposed to do.

 

2. Determine what concepts the standard asks students to know.

 

3. Identify any prior knowledge or skills students are required to learn in order to meet this standard.

 

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Reading Standards

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas

Reading 7: Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse formats and media, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.* 9–10 Literature

11–12 Literature

Analyze the representation of a subject or a key scene in two different artistic mediums, including what is emphasized or absent in each treatment (e.g., Auden’s “Musée des Beaux Arts” and Breughel’s “Landscape with the Fall of Icarus”).

9–10 Informational Text

Analyze multiple interpretations of a story, drama, or poem (e.g., recorded or live production of a play or recorded novel or poetry), evaluating how each version interprets the source text. (Include at least one play by Shakespeare and one play by an American dramatist.)

11–12 Informational Text

Analyze various accounts of a subject told in different mediums (e.g., a person’s life story in both print and multimedia), determining which details are emphasized in each account.

9–10 History/Social Studies

Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words in order to address a question or solve a problem.

11–12 History/Social Studies

Integrate quantitative or technical analysis (e.g., charts, research data) with qualitative analysis in print or digital text.

9–10 Science/Technical Subjects

Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., visually, quantitatively, as well as in words) in order to address a question or solve a problem.

11–12 Science/Technical Subjects

Translate quantitative or technical information ­expressed in words in a text into visual form (e.g., table or chart) and translate information expressed visually or mathematically (e.g., in an equation) into words.

Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., quantitative data, video, multimedia) in order to address a question or solve a problem.

*Please consult the full Common Core State Standards document (and all updates and appendices) at http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy. See “Research to Build Knowledge” in the Writing section and “Comprehension and Collaboration” in the Speaking and Listening section for additional standards relevant to gathering, assessing, and applying information from print and digital sources. Source: Copyright © 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.

42  The Complete Common Core State Standards: Decoded @ 2014 Jim Burke

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Common Core Reading Standard 7 What the Student Does

11–12 Literature

9–10 Literature Gist: Study the same subject (or scene) in two different artistic mediums (e.g., writing and painting), analyzing how one ­medium emphasizes a detail the other may leave out or downplay.

Gist: Examine different performances of a literary text (e.g., stage, film, audio), assessing the quality and result of various interpretations of the same play by Shakespeare or an American playwright.

• What is the story or scene being represented in these different artistic media? • How does the painter’s or photographer’s treatment of the subject or scene compare with the writer’s? • Which elements—words, color, texture, video, or mixed media—does the author or artist use to emphasize some aspect of the story or character portrayed? What is not included?

• What story, drama, or poem is being interpreted in these different performances? • How do these interpretations compare in their treatment of the same source text? • Which of these different interpretations of Shakespeare’s (or an American playwright’s) play is most interesting, compelling, or insightful?

9–10 Informational Text

11–12 Informational Text

Gist: Examine how alternative reports of the same subject (e.g., event, a person’s life) differ according to the medium used (print, film, other), comparing and discussing the importance of those details each treatment emphasizes—or ignores.

Gist: Examine a range of sources in different media or formats, all focused on how to solve a problem or address a question, choosing those details which, when considered together, offer the best response to the question or problem.

• What is the subject of these competing reports? • Which details are emphasized in one or another of these stories, but perhaps not all the reports? • Which details does one medium or account of the subject emphasize over another—and to what effect?

• What is the question these different sources are trying to answer or problem they want to solve? • Which details from these different sources are most relevant to the question or problem being considered? • What criteria are most appropriate for evaluating these sources?

11–12 History/Social Studies

9–10 History/Social Studies Gist: Examine both quantitative and qualitative analyses in print or digital media, drawing conclusions based on the data and analysis of that data as presented in the different sources.

Gist: Compare various sources in different media and formats (e.g., graphs, charts, infographics, words), choosing the sources your evaluation indicates will address a question or solve a problem.

• What are you investigating? • What conclusions can you draw about this topic from these different sources? • What information in each source best relates to or addresses the topic?

• What question or problem are you attempting to answer or address? • What criteria are you using to evaluate information in the different sources? • What information can you combine from these different sources to best address the question or problem?

9–10 Science/Technical Subjects

11–12 Science/Technical Subjects

Gist: Recast words into numerical or visual explanations and visa versa, expressing quantitative information such as charts, tables, or equations in words.

Gist: Compare various sources of data in different media and formats (e.g., quantitative, data, video, multimedia), choosing those sources you conclude will best address a question or solve a problem.

• What are the key ideas in this text which might be expressed in a different format? • Which format would best express the ideas the writer conveys in writing? • What factors make one format more effective than another as a means revealing the different aspects of your idea?

• What question or problem are you addressing? • What criteria are you using to evaluate information in the different sources? • What information can you combine from these different sources to best address the question or problem?

Part 1  | Reading  43 @ 2014 Jim Burke

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Common Core Reading Standard 7 What the Teacher Does To have students integrate and evaluate content in diverse formats and media, do the following: • Have students start with what the different sources—regardless of format or media—are saying about the subject and how it differs from what other sources are saying about the same subject. • Have students create or locate the criteria by which the content in these different formats and media will be evaluated; then apply those criteria to these sources. • Generate questions students should use to guide their reading of different texts across formats and media, including visual and quantitative documents on their own or embedded into a larger written document. To have students analyze a subject in two different artistic mediums, do the following: • Demonstrate for students how you read such artistic texts, thinking aloud about the questions you ask, what you ask them about, and how you use them to understand and note what is emphasized in artworks, including paintings and photographs such as those by Dorothea Lange that achieve the level of artistic and thematic complexity. • Ask students to first list, then use, the questions they generate or learn to ask when analyzing artworks. • View with students the artistic works online through, for example, Google Art Project, in pairs in the lab where they view and discuss the works in depth and take notes for use in subsequent papers. • Have students study examples of established art critics evaluating the same or similar works through sources such as the Wall Street Journal column “A Masterpiece,” in which a critic shows not only how to read such artworks but also how to write about them. To integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information, do the following: • Develop a focus question students then seek to answer with evidence or examples from different sources, including quantitative, visual, or multimedia sources.

• Model for the class how you integrate ideas from these different sources and formats into one coherent view about a subject, then use examples, details, or quotations from those sources when writing or speaking about them to support your claims about what they mean or why they are important. To have students analyze multiple interpretations of a literary text, do the following: • Set up some sort of note-taking format for students— several columns, one for each version of the work you are studying—and identify key points of emphasis across the interpretations worth comparing (e.g., how each version of Hamlet interprets Claudius’s opening address to the assembled guests). • Have students gather different artists’ renderings of a character, story, or scene from a literary work, then compare them with the source text (e.g., view different paintings of Ophelia and compare these with the lines from Hamlet that describe her). To have students integrate quantitative or technical with qualitative analysis, do the following: • Think aloud as you model this for students, describing what you do, how you do it, and why; use the appropriate terms for the types of charts or data you refer to, and discuss the questions you use to evaluate these different analytical forms to answer a question or solve a problem. To help your English Language Learners, try this: • Prepare these students with information about each format (charts, graphs) or type of media needed to understand what they hear, see, or read since these may be new forms or concepts to some.

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Common Core Reading Standard 7 Academic Vocabulary: Key Words and Phrases Account: This is a report or a story one tells about an experience, era, or event about which people can tell conflicting stories about what happened or what they think is, according to their account, true. Analysis (technical vs. quantitative): To analyze, one breaks something into its components, the parts from which it is made, thereby attempting to understand how it works or what effect it has. Here, the author analyzes something by either technical/quantitative means (charts, diagrams, or numerical or statistical representations) or qualitative methods (written narrative). Artistic mediums: Medium refers to the form one uses to express an idea; options include words, images, or sounds; it can also mean a painting, movie, photograph, mixed media work, or printed page. Digital text: Any document of any sort created or reformatted to be read, viewed, or experienced on a computer, tablet, smartphone, or other digital technology that is interactive, multiple-media, or webenabled, or otherwise incorporates digital technology. Diverse formats: Consider the same information presented in numbers, narrative, and images; graphic, written, mixed media, or spoken not only to allow the reader to consider a subject from multiple perspectives but also to see how and why others communicate this information differently through these diverse formats. Information expressed visually or mathematically: See “Analysis.” The emphasis here is on how the same ideas are expressed in different ways or to different effect in one form or another. Integrate: Readers must combine different perspectives from various media into a coherent understanding or position about the subject. Interpretations: The standard says multiple interpretations, suggesting the same text can often allow for different ideas about what it says or means; readers analyze these different readings of the same

text to reconcile the competing claims about what the text means or says. Representation of a subject or key scene: As it is used here, this refers to a subject or key scene that appears in different mediums; so one would examine, for example, the moment Cain killed Abel as it was interpreted by authors, poets, painters, filmmakers, and so on to see what insights one medium offers that another cannot. Source text: This standard distinguishes between “sources” and “source texts,” which are best understood as primary texts (i.e., the one being read, studied). Otherwise, “source” refers to a website, book, interview, or any other type of source of information. Translate: Students explain information in one form (quantitative or narrative) using another, showing they are able to read and can understand the ideas and claims represented with visuals (charts, graphs) equally well in words (or vice versa). Treatment: This is used as one would use the words response to, adaptation of, or version of the same story (e.g., The Odyssey) or character (e.g., Odysseus) in different mediums (fiction and painting). Version: One could compare Coppola’s treatment of Conrad’s Heart of Darkness in his movie Apocalypse Now, or one could contrast different films of Hamlet available, from the most modern adaptation to the more classical performances. Visual form/visually: Visual explanations, often called infographics, may include the traditional pie chart or bar graph but may also incorporate many other features that make these visual or graphic forms much more complex than the previous generation of such texts. Thus, to read these visuals, students must be able to read them as arguments, explanations, or even narratives expressed through numbers and signs or patterns and shapes that they must learn to restate in words.

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Writing Standards

Research to Build and Present Knowledge

Writing 7: C  onduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a selfgenerated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation. 9–10 English Language Arts

11–12 English Language Arts

Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a selfgenerated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.

 Social Studies, Science, and 9–10 Technical Subjects Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a selfgenerated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.

Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a selfgenerated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.

 Social Studies, Science, and 11–12 Technical Subjects Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a selfgenerated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.

Source: Copyright © 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.

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Common Core Writing Standard 7 What the Student Does

9–10 English Language Arts

11–12 English Language Arts

Gist: Investigate topics, problems, or questions posed by others or generated themselves as part of a short or a more extended research project, limiting or extending the scope of their inquiry as needed. Students examine different sources or perspectives on the subject, first showing they understand, then synthesizing those different sources about the topic they are investigating.

Gist: Investigate topics, problems, or questions posed by others or generated themselves as part of a short or a more extended research project, limiting or extending the scope of their inquiry as needed. Students examine different sources or perspectives on the subject, first showing they understand, then synthesizing those different sources about the topic they are investigating.

• What is the subject of your inquiry—and what are you trying to discover about it? • What questions should you ask when researching this topic? • How might you refine or narrow your search for information or sources related to this topic? • What new ideas or connections can you derive from the different sources you have read, viewed, or examined?

• What is the subject of your inquiry—and what are you trying to discover about it? • What questions should you ask when researching this topic? • How might you refine or narrow your search for information or sources related to this topic? • What new ideas or connections can you derive from the different sources you have read, viewed, or examined?

 Social Studies, Science, and 9–10 Technical Subjects

 Social Studies, Science, and 11–12 Technical Subjects

Gist: Investigate topics, problems, or questions posed by others or generated themselves as part of a short or a more extended research project, limiting or extending the scope of their inquiry as needed. Students examine different sources or perspectives on the subject, first showing they understand, then synthesizing those different sources about the topic they are investigating.

Gist: Investigate topics, problems, or questions posed by others or generated themselves as part of a short or a more extended research project, limiting or extending the scope of their inquiry as needed. Students examine different sources or perspectives on the subject, first showing they understand, then synthesizing those different sources about the topic they are investigating.

• What is the subject of your inquiry—and what are you trying to discover about it? • What questions should you ask when researching this topic? • How might you refine or narrow your search for information or sources related to this topic? • What new ideas or connections can you derive from the different sources you have read, viewed, or examined?

• What is the subject of your inquiry—and what are you trying to discover about it? • What questions should you ask when researching this topic? • How might you refine or narrow your search for information or sources related to this topic? • What new ideas or connections can you derive from the different sources you have read, viewed, or examined?

Part 2  | Writing  111 @ 2014 Jim Burke

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Common Core Writing Standard 7 What the Teacher Does To have students conduct short as well as more sustained research projects, do the following: • Organize units of study around a big idea, an essential question, or a cultural conflict; these might be framed as inquiries into long-standing arguments that provide students opportunities to formulate a response to or take a stand on the subject, which they then gather evidence to support. • Identify key questions or problems students can investigate in some depth within the constraints of a class period, using their findings when writing, speaking, or interviewing someone about that subject. Students might, for example, investigate a specific aspect of the Holocaust to generate questions for a speaker coming the following day and about whom they will write a subsequent paper combining biographical and historical content. To have students answer questions (including self-generated questions) or solve problems, do the following: • Discuss with students the process you or respected writers, scientists, historians, economists, and others go through to discover a subject, and then ask questions or identify problems related to that subject for their inquiry. • Pass out sticky notes to all in the class; then ask them to list a subject on the top of the note that relates to the text or topic the class is studying; then tell them to write a question about that text or topic that could be developed into a compelling paper. Finally, have them stick all the notes on the front board and let the whole class examine them as part of the process of learning to ask questions and solve problems in the papers they write. To have students narrow or broaden an inquiry into a subject, have students do the following: • Begin by restating their topic, task, inquiry, or problem as a question, making it as specific as they can (i.e.,

What is the question their paper is trying to answer?). • Narrow their inquiry (into a question or problem) by adding words and phrases that specifically relate to actions and relationships: contribution, definition, cause, conflict, evolution, and interaction. • Extend or broaden their inquiry by investigating what others have found in the past and how that changed the understanding of that subject in the field, or ask questions about the internal history of the subject (e.g., how has our perception or attitude toward ____ changed over the last decade—and why?) to connect it to the larger questions within the field. • Broaden or narrow their topic or problem by making room in students’ inquiry for alternative or opposing perspectives on your topic or text; some might call this exploring the dialectic nature of any topic or text students might study. To have students synthesize multiple sources on a subject, do the following: • Ask students to identify key ideas, terms, perspectives, or arguments across sources; then guide them through the process, providing models as needed, of analyzing these connections to find some idea, question, or problem that links them all and is worth investigating. • Have students note a set of quotations or specific examples about an idea or problem that is examined by all these texts; then draw from those quotations some conclusion about the “real problem” or the “question no one is asking” about this subject. To help your English Language Learners, try this one thing: • Clarify what synthesis means and how to do it; but also, take time to make sure they first comprehend the texts since students cannot synthesize different texts if they do not first understand them.

Notes

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Common Core Writing Standard 7 Academic Vocabulary: Key Words and Phrases Demonstrating understanding of the subject: Students show the depth of their knowledge and their research skills by gathering a range of quality information, data, evidence, and examples related to the problem, question, or topic they are investigating; they then demonstrate what they have learned by choosing the most salient details and examples and using those to support their claims in a coherent, logical manner throughout the paper.

an event (e.g., dropping of the atomic bomb) from different parts of the country or the world. Longer, more sustained research projects demand far more depth and many more sources from different perspectives. It is a fundamental skill for success in college, one’s career, and at home as a consumer who must increasingly take responsibility for researching the best health care program, insurance policy, or cell phone provider.

Narrow or broaden the inquiry: As students begin to investigate a question, problem, or topic, they often encounter information that suggests they open up the inquiry a bit to allow for more perspectives or possible ideas to explore; at other times, they feel overwhelmed by all the information they find on a topic and would be better served by narrowing an inquiry to a more refined or specific question or topic about which they can make a reasonable claim.

Solve a problem: This is fundamental to the research task or process to answering some question—as a scientist, a historian, an economist, a consumer, or just a curious person. Embedded within this process are such skills as generating questions (to help frame or refine the problem), gathering data and possible solutions, and evaluating and choosing those solutions for which one finds the greatest support and evidence during one’s research.

Questions (includes self-generated questions): Researchers generate their own or investigate others’ questions about a topic of substance; such questions are often the driving purpose of the research: We are investigating X to determine how X leads to Y.

Subject under investigation: This refers to the topic, the research question, or the problem the student seeks to understand and develop an argument about after completing the research. This subject can come from students themselves or from a teacher or institution (e.g., college board or the students’ state or district) who requires students to study in depth a sustained or a brief research project.

Research (short and more sustained): Students and teachers are engaged in research any time they seek information about a question or subject, or ask themselves or others questions about causes, types, effects, meaning, and importance of anything they find themselves studying for class or their interests. Short or brief inquiries might involve getting some background knowledge on an author, a book, or a period; in science, search for and consider previous findings for certain experiments; in social studies, digging up primary sources to see how people thought about an event at that time or opinion pieces in different newspapers to measure the response to

Synthesize multiple sources: Any genuine research project of any substance must consider the subject from different and competing angles if it is to arrive at any meaningful or significant insight. Also, one must consider multiple sources, some of which offer counterarguments or alternative perspectives if their claims and arguments are to be considered reliable, valid, and substantial. Of course, these sources must all come from established, trustworthy sources if they are to be cited or used to support one’s claims.

Notes

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Into the Wild: An Inquiry into Freedom Mr. Burke/English 7CP Overview

We have read Into the Wild as an inquiry into the concept of freedom. To that end, we have considered a range of perspectives (Adler, Thoreau, Maslow); definitions (liberty vs. freedom vs. license vs. autonomous vs. independent); and approaches (philosophical, psychological, socio-economical). All give us useful insights into the book in general and Chris McCandless/Alex Supertramp in particular. The following assignment asks you to examine one aspect of freedom that interests you.

Guidelines

This paper should: £ Have 6 paragraphs: 1 introduction, 1 conclusion, and 4 paragraphs written in response to Into the Wild as we read it (all of which should be related to the same idea) £ Be double-spaced, 1-1.25” margins, 12-point font, formatted in a serif font (like Minion versus this font, which is the sans serif font Arial), with a header formatted with the page number and your name) £ Include abundant textual evidence in the form of direct and indirect quotations, each one properly cited in the text). £ Feature your name, this class, my name, period, and class on first page justified-left

Standards

The following standards apply to this assignment: WS 1. Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence. WS 7. Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects based on focused questions, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation. WS 8. Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, assess the credibility and accuracy of each source, and integrate the information while avoiding plagiarism. WS 9. Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

Directions

This paper asks you to do the following: £ Introduce and establish a precise, knowledgeable claim about your topic. £ Organize your claims, counterclaims, reasons, and evidence to establish a clear relationship among them. £ Develop your claims and counterclaims about your subject fairly and thoroughly using relevant evidence from Into the Wild and other texts we read. £ Use words, phrases, and clauses to clarify the relationship between claims, reasons, evidence, and counterclaims. £ Provide a conclusion that follows from and supports your argument. £ Establish and maintain a formal style appropriate to the topic and audience.

Assessment

This paper will be evaluated using the attached rubric for writing an argument.

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Into the Wild: An Inquiry Into the Idea of Freedom List of Claims/Other for Each Chapter 1. Claim: The first impression one gets of Chris McCandless is that he wants to escape mainstream American society in general and his own past and family in particular. 2. Claim: Alaska is a breathtaking but inhospitable landscape that resists man's best efforts to control it--and the government's attempts to control the people who live there. 3. Claim: We really only feel free when we are with those who truly know and accept us for who we are, which is why McCandless found a sense of home in Carthage with the people there. 4. Claim: It was only after he burned his last money and left behind his remaining possessions that McCandless begins his real odyssey, for only then was he free to live in the world as he chose. 5. Claim: One thing we can never get entirely free of or fully escape is our need for money. 6. Claim: Chris also resisted the demands of intimate relationships with those he met along the way, preferring instead to remain free of any obligations to others. 7. Alternate: Provided students with a series of quotations from chapter 7, all related to the paradox that often the more we try to be free (from something—a desire, a person, past) the more we are bound to that source for in trying to escape it we can only think of it.

Into the Wild: An Inquiry Into the Idea of Freedom Chapter 7 Directions

After reading chapter 7, examine the following quotations from the chapter, looking for a common element to them that would support some claim about an aspect of freedom in this chapter. 1. “Knowing Alex, I think he must have just got stuck on something that happened between him and his dad and couldn’t leave it be” (64). 2. “He brooded at length over what he perceived to be his father’s moral shortcomings, the hypocrisy of his parents’ lifestyle, the tyranny of their conditional love” (64). 3. “McCandless was drawn to women but remained largely celibate, as chaste as a monk” (65). 4. “McCandless seems to have been driven by a variety of lust that supplanted sexual desire” (66). 5. “Once Alex made up his mind about something, there was no changing it” (67). 6. “No, I want to hitch north. Flying would be cheating” (67). What is the subject common (hint: it’s more specific than just “freedom”) to these quotations?

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PARAGRAPH NOTES

Name:

Directions   As you read the assigned text, do each of the following in the order listed:

1. Jot down the title of the text you are reading in the designated space. 2. Identify a topic or question to pay attention to while you read. 3. Note down 4 key quotations on the left side and their page numbers in parentheses using the Introduce the Quotations templates 4. Explain each quotation on the right side to convey its meaning. 5. Write a paragraph at the bottom (and onto the back) about the topic of your inquiry after you finish. Be sure to use most of the quotations you selected.

Text/Title:

Topic/Question:

Author:

Page #s:

Templates for INTRODUCING the Quotations Adopt or adapt one of the following templates for introducing your quotation  X states, “_______________” (23).  According to X, “_______________” (23).  Writing in his book _________, X observes that “______________” (23).  In X’s view, “_____________” (23).

Templates for EXPLAINING Quotations Adopt or adapt one of the following templates for explaining your quotation:  In other words, X believes _____________.  X is insisting that ______________.  The essence of X’s argument is that________.  In making this comment, X argues that______.  X’s point is that _____________.

                                                                        Paragraph:  Draw a conclusion from your quotations; arrange your quotations and commentary; use effective transitions.                        

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CONTINUUM OF ACADEMIC SIGNAL VERBS (created by Jim Burke)

THE AUTHOR

Neutral

Weak

Strong

agrees

admits allows concedes

accepts acknowledges agrees concurs confirms recognizes

applauds embraces endorses extols praises

argues

appeals apologizes believes pleads holds

alleges implies encourages interprets justifies reasons

alerts argues boasts claims contends demands exhorts

believes

assumes considers hopes imagines pretends suspects

attribute believes claims credits declares expresses

disagrees

doubts suspects wonders

challenges debates disagrees distinguishes downplays positions questions

accuses attacks complains contradicts denounces discounts dismisses

discusses

comments considers mentions refers to

discusses explores examines ruminates explores contemplates

reasons debates reiterates studies treats

emphasizes

downplays recognizes subordinates

acknowledges alludes to emphasizes mentions refers to

highlights singles out stresses underscores warns

examines

touches on alludes to

analyzes compares contrasts distinguishes

critiques evaluates investigates inquires

delineates ignores scrutinizes seeks

presents

lists speculates

comments defines describes estimates identifies illustrates implies indicates informs

introduces mentions notes observes outlines presents remarks reports shows

announces confers declares

suggests

alleges hints intimates speculates wonders

advocates encourages posits postulates proposes recommends

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feels figures holds professes subscribes to thinks

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insists implores maintains proves shows threatens warns

asserts assures defends guarentees insists promises upholds disputes disregards distances objects to opposes refutes rejects

asserts evinces evokes urges

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How to Write an Argument from Clueless in Academe, How Schooling Obscures the Life of the Mind (Yale U. Press, 2004), by Gerald Graff 1. Enter a conversation just as you do in real life. Begin your text by directly identifying the prior conversation or debate that you are entering. What you have to say won’t make sense unless your readers know the conversation in which you are saying it. 2. Make a claim, the sooner the better, preferably flagged for the reader by a phrase like “My claim here is that....” You don’t actually have to use this exact phrase, but if you couldn’t do so you’re in trouble. 3. Remind readers of your claim periodically, especially the more you complicate it. If you’re writing about a disputed topic—and if you aren’t, why write?—you’ll also have to stop and tell the reader what you are not saying, what you don’t want readers to take you as saying. Some of them will take you to be saying it anyway, but you don’t have to make it easy for them. 4. Summarize the objections that you anticipate will be made (or that have in fact been made) against your claim. This is done by using such formulas as “Here you will probably object that…,” “To put the point another way…,” or “But why, you may ask, am I so emphatic on this point?” Remember that your critics, even when they get mean and nasty, are your friends: you need them to help you clarify your claim and to indicate why what you’re saying is of interest to other besides yourself. Remember, too, that if naysayers didn’t exist, you’d have no excuse for saying what you are saying. 5. Say explicitly why you think what you’re saying is important and what difference it would make to the world if you are right or wrong. Imagine a reader over your shoulder who asks, “So what?” Or “Who cares about any of this?” Again, you don’t actually have to write such questions in, but if you were to do so and couldn’t answer them you’re in trouble. 6. Write a meta-text into your essay that stands apart from your main text and puts it in perspective. An effective argumentative essay really consists of two texts, one in which you make your argument and a second one in which you tell readers how and how not to read it. This second text is usually signaled by reflexive phrases like “Of course I don’t mean to suggest that…,” “What I’ve been trying to say here, then, is that…,” etc. When student writing is unclear or lame, the reason often has less to do with jargon, verbal obscurity, or bad grammar than with the absence of this layer of metacommentary, which explains why the writer thought it was necessary to write the essay in the first place. 7. Remember that readers can process only one claim at a time, so resist the temptation to try to squeeze in secondary claims that are better left for another essay or paragraph, or for another section of your essay that’s clearly marked off from your main claim. If you’re a professional academic, you are probably so anxious to prove that you’ve left no through unconsidered that you find it hard to resist the temptation to try to say everything all at once. Remember that giving in to this temptation to say it all at once will result in saying nothing that will be understood while producing horribly overloaded paragraphs and sentences like this one, monster-sized discursive footnotes, and readers who fling your text down and reach for the TV Guide. 8. Be bilingual. It is not necessary to avoid Academicspeak—you sometimes need the stuff to say what you want to say. But whenever you do have to say something in Academicspeak, try also to say it in conversational English as well. You’ll be surprised to discover that when you restate an academic point in your nonacademic voice, the point will either sound fresher or you’ll see how shallow it is and remove it. 9. Don’t kid yourself. If you couldn’t explain it to your parents the chances are you don’t understand it yourself.

@ 2014 Jim Burke

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Understanding Arguments: An Overview Many ideas here are adapted from The Craft of Research (Second Edition), by David Booth, Gregory Colomb, and Joe Williams (University of Chicago Press, 2003). Element Question to Ask Traits of Effective… Example Language 1. Make a claim. What do you claim? • not obvious • qualifiers: many, often, (Your proposition, or assertion; • x is true • defendable almost, tends to, might the central point you will argue. • x is important • debatable • verbs: suggests, implies, The “main claim” for a paper is • x should be done • not a fact/opinion supports, contends, also known as the “thesis.”). • x is of a certain • significant demonstrates quality • avoids either/or 2. State your reasons. What reasons support • logical • I think x because… (Sentence or two that explain that claim? • persuasive • X suggests Y since… why readers should accept your • relevant • Because X leads Y, Z must claim.) • substantial happen. • appealing • A leads to B because C… 3. Provide evidence to support What evidence supports • based on… • avoid the logical fallacies your claim. those reasons? • According to A, B stems from • evidence is: (Consists of facts, figures, or • Studies consistently show that • Authoritative statistics used to prove the A leads to B… • Relevant claim. Should be something that • X found that Y caused Z • Specific can be seen, touched, heard, when A happened. • Effective felt; a fact.) • A concluded B based on C • Current • X demonstrated that Y will… • Compelling 4. Acknowledge and respond to Do you acknowledge • Use concessionary • use subordinating opposing perspectives. this alternative/ language to acknowledge conjunctions to signal (A good claim challenges complication/ objection– and respond. concession previously-held beliefs. You –and how do you • Cite specific, important • While x consistently shows y, must recognize the other points- respond? alternatives or not everyone agrees with the of-view, then explain how objections; then address results or the method by yours disproves or otherwise them head on with which these results are improves upon the previous or reliable evidence to obtained. other claims.) support your claim. (5). Ethos (Invisible sixth element of any argument, relates to your own credibility as reflected in the claim and supporting details.)

What is the author’s or speaker’s ethos? How do we know we can believe what he or she says?

• thorough • establish and main credibility throughout • quality of the argument’s construction • integrity of sources

What the writer/speaker does not want to do is use––or at least overuse––the pronoun “I,” as if to imply “if I say or think it, it must be true.”

© 2003 Jim Burke. May be photocopied for classroom use only. Visit www.englishcompanion.com for more information.

@ 2014 Jim Burke

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Argument Organizer

Name: Claim

Claim What is the main point you will argue?

Reason

Reason Why should readers accept your claim?

Evidence

Evidence

Evidence

Evidence • Facts • Figures • Statistics • Observations

Acknowledge & Respond to other perspectives on the subject @ 2014 Jim Burke

Acknowledge

Respond

© 2005 Jim Burke. May reproduce for classroom use only. www.englishcompanion.com

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25

RUBRIC: ARGUMENT WRITING (GRADES 9-12)

NAME: PERIOD: EMAIL ADDRESS: Writing Standard 1: Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.

STATEMENT OF FOCUS & PURPOSE

1. EXCEEDS THE STANDARD

2. MEETS THE STANDARD

3. APPROACHES THE STANDARD

4. MISSES THE STANDARD

INTRODUCE & ESTABLISH PRECISE, KNOWLEDGEABLE CLAIMS THAT ARE DISTINCT FROM ALTERNATE/OPPOSING CLAIMS. }

Introduce a claim that is precise, knowledgeable, significant, and distinct from competing claims.

}

Introduce a claim that is accurate, informed, substantive, and different from competing claims.

}

Introduce a claim that is relevant, speculative, predictable, or difficult to distinguish from other claims.

}

Introduce no claim or one that is flawed, incorrect, or not distinguishable from other claims.

ORGANIZE CLAIMS, COUNTERCLAIMS, REASONS AND EVIDENCE TO ESTABLISH CLEAR RELATIONSHIPS AMONG THEM. }

Use transitions strategically to clarify and emphasize key relationships.

}

Use transitions appropriately to clarify and emphasize key elements.

}

Use transitions inconsistently to clarify and emphasize key elements.

}

Use transitions ineffectively or rarely to clarify and emphasize.

}

Include strong claims, reasons, evidence, and counterclaims.

}

Include reasonable claims, reasons, evidence, and counterclaims.

}

Include claims, reasons, evidence, and counterclaims; some summary.

}

Include few claims, reasons, evidence, counterclaims; summarize

}

Analyze the strengths & limitations of all claims & counterclaims.

}

Examine the strengths & limitations of most claims & counterclaims.

}

Discuss the strengths and limitations of some claims and counterclaims.

}

Discuss no claims/counterclaims at all; offer only summary of text/ideas

ORGANIZATION & DEVELOPMENT

DEVELOP CLAIMS & COUNTERCLAIMS FAIRLY AND THOROUGHLY; SUPPORT WITH RELEVANT DATA OR EVIDENCE. }

Support claims with strong evidence from different quality sources.

}

Support claims with relevant evidence from different reliable sources.

}

Support claims with weak or minimal evidence––or from unreliable sources.

}

Provide no evidence to support claims (perhaps because no claim).

}

Analyze the strengths & limitations of all evidence for quality & bias.

}

Examine some strengths & limitations of most evidence for quality & bias.

}

Discuss few strengths & limitations of some evidence for quality & bias.

}

Ignore the strengths & limitations of all evidence for quality & bias.

USE WORDS, PHRASES, CLAUSES TO CLARIFY RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN CLAIMS, REASONS, EVIDENCE, COUNTERCLAIMS. }

Use language & syntax to clarify & emphasize ideas & relationships.

}

Use language & syntax to clarify & indicate ideas & relationships.

}

Use language & syntax to clarify & consider some relationships.

}

Use neither language or syntax to clarify or emphasize relationships.

PROVIDE A CONCLUSION THAT FOLLOWS FROM AND SUPPORTS THE ARGUMENT PRESENTED IN YOUR PAPER. } Provide a conclusion w/ strong logic,

} Provide a conclusion w/ logic,

insight, & support for your argument.

} Provide a conclusion w/ some logic,

insight, & support for your argument.

} Provides no conclusion w/ logic,

insight, or support for your argument.

insight, or support for argument.

REQUIREMENTS

CONVENTIONS & STYLE

ESTABLISH & MAINTAIN A FORMAL STYLE & OBJECTIVE TONE; OBSERVE DISCIPLINARY NORMS & CONVENTIONS. }

Establish a style and tone specific to the discipline and topic that strengthens your argument.

}

Establish a style and tone appropriate to the discipline and topic that supports your argument.

}

Use a style and tone relevant to the discipline and topic that does not undermine your argument.

}

Use a style or tone not appropriate to the discipline or topic that undermines your argument.

}

Observe all conventions that apply to the text, topic, task, or discipline.

}

Observe most conventions that apply to the text, topic, task, or discipline.

}

Observe some conventions that apply to the text, topic, task, or discipline.

}

Observe few/no conventions that apply to text, topic, task, or discipline.

}

Demonstrate exceptional command of the conventions of grammar, usage, punctuation, & spelling.

}

Demonstrate a command of the conventions of grammar, usage, punctuation, & spelling.

}

Demonstrate a command of many conventions of grammar, usage, punctuation, & spelling.

}

Demonstrate a command of few conventions of grammar, usage, punctuation, & spelling.

}

Read or do more than assigned.

}

Read or do what is assigned.

}

Read or do most of what is assigned.

}

Read or do little that is assigned.

}

Follow all directions to the letter.

}

Follow most directions to the letter.

}

Follow most directions to the letter.

}

Follow few directions to the letter.

}

Include MLA-formatted in-text citations & works cited at the end.

}

Include MLA-formatted in-text citations & works cited at the end.

}

Include some MLA-formatted in-text citations & works cited at the end.

}

Include no MLA-formatted in-text citations & works cited at the end.

Grade

© 2014 Jim Burke. May photocopy for classroom use only.

What Worked

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What Needs Work

Updated:1/5/14 8:17 PM

SOURCE NOTES: WHAT THEY SAY • WHAT THEY MEAN • WHY THEY MATTER NAME: PART ONE: Use the sheet as a tool to help train your attention when reading sources for your research project. When you turn to work on your own project or paper, remember to use these same steps to ensure that you do more than merely summarize others’ ideas. Topic/Research Question Source/Citation information

Sample: Does technology help or hurt us? Sample: Steven Johnson “Watching TV Makes You Smarter” pages 278-294 in They Say/I Say

Quote: What they SAY

Interpret: What it MEANS

“As  the  24  episode  suggests…the  culture  is  getting   more  cognitive  demanding,  not  less.  To  make   sense  of  an  episode  of  24,  you  have  to  integrate   far  more  information  than  you  would  have  a  few   decades  ago  watching  a  comparable  show”  (278   in  TS/IS).  

Johnson  argues  that  today’s  TV  shows  are  much   more  complex  than  they  were  20  years  ago;  as  a   result,  the  shows  make  much  greater  demands  on   our  brains.  

@ 2014 Jim Burke

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Explain: Why it MATTERS This  point  is  important  because  it  refutes   criticisms  that  today’s  media  dumbs  us  down  by   showing  how  their  complexity  actually  makes  us   smarter.  

26

SOURCE NOTES: WHAT THEY SAY • WHAT THEY MEAN • WHY THEY MATTER Quote: What they SAY

Interpret: What it MEANS

“As  the  24  episode  suggests…the  culture  is  getting   more  cognitive  demanding,  not  less.  To  make   sense  of  an  episode  of  24,  you  have  to  integrate   far  more  information  than  you  would  have  a  few   decades  ago  watching  a  comparable  show”  (278   in  TS/IS).  

Johnson  argues  that  today’s  TV  shows  are  much   more  complex  than  they  were  20  years  ago;  as  a   result,  the  shows  make  much  greater  demands  on   our  brains.  

NAME: Explain: Why it MATTERS This  point  is  important  because  it  refutes   criticisms  that  today’s  media  dumbs  us  down  by   showing  how  their  complexity  actually  makes  us   smarter.  

PART TWO: When you finish reading the assigned article, use your notes to write a paragraph in which you say what they say, what it means, why it matters, and what you say in response—and why. You can agree (with a difference), disagree (with reasons), or do both to emphasize specific details or ideas. @ 2014 Jim Burke

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LISTENER’S NOTES Who

Mr. Burke

Says What (Claim)

Name: Date:

I Say (in response)

Period:

Claimed three elements are essential for I agree with the importance of the meaningful work: purpose, pride, and “three Ps” but would add a fourth: pay pleasure.

Reasoning

since work, if it is to be meaningful, should not ask us to sacrifice pay in order to find pleasure in our work.

Reflect and Respond (Establishing and Responding to Standard Views) in a paragraph

1. Most have emphasized ____________, arguing that _____________; however, I would suggest____________. 2. Speakers have argued __________, pointing out that __________, all of which I agree with, but would add_________.

@ 2014 Jim Burke

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The Expert Project: A Year-Long Inquiry into One Subject Mr. Burke/English 7-8CP Overview

Requirements

Standards

“The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows only one big thing” (Isaiah Berlin). Everything is interesting if you dig deep enough and spend enough time with it. And as we get older we discover and devote ourselves to what interests us most, often because we have greater abilities or a more personal connection to that subject or area. This project invites you to pick a topic and explore it in great depth over the course of the year, examining it through a wide range of media and from different perspectives. The important thing is to choose a subject about which you want to become a bit of a “hedgehog” about for the year. Over the course of the year each of you will: } Choose a topic that fascinates you and will merit a year-long inquiry } Write a formal proposal about what you want to study, how, and why } Read/Watch/Listen to: articles, tweets, blogs, podcasts, broadcasts, books, lectures } Write and submit Critical Notes on what you read/watch each week } Choose, read, and write an essay a book related to your subject each grading period } Keep and update a properly formatted works cited as you go through the year } Write an interim “lens paper” as part of fall semester final } Write a major final paper spring semester drawing on all you did and learned } Present your findings to the class and other guests at end of spring semester

The following come from the Common Core Standards for English: RS7: Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse formats and media…. RS8: Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text…. RS9: Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics ….

RS10: Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts….

WS1: Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts…. WS7: Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects….

WS8: Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources….

WS9: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

WS10: Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences. SLS1: Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations …. SLS3: Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric. SLS4: Present information, findings, and supporting evidence….

SLS5: Make strategic use of digital media and visual displays of data….

SLS6: Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and communicative tasks….

Fall Semester

Topics Environment Technology/Science

Fall semester you will gather information, monitor your topic through the media, and develop your initial ideas about it, which you will then explore in greater depth spring semester through the paper you will write and the presentation you will give. Each week you will: } Learn more about your subject by reading, viewing, or listening to one of the following media (all of which you should, by semester’s end, have sampled): article, blog, twitter feed, Facebook feed, or other social network source by an established person in that field. } Take Critical Notes on whatever you read, view, or listen to, discussing not only the message but the media and its meaning. } Update your works cited for the project, keeping track of all citation information } Discuss your subject and ideas about it with others and/or the class when time allows Finance/Economics Law/Crime

@ 2014 Jim Burke

War/Military Transportation

Media Health/Medicine

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Religion/Faith Politics/Gov 39

Expert Project: Critical Notes 2.0

Name: Date:

Period:

These Critical Notes are a weekly required assignment for the Expert Project. They are due each Monday and will be used as part of a weekly discussion with those classmates studying a similar topic. This handout is not a worksheet to fill in; rather, it outlines what to do. All work for this assignment should be done on a separate sheet of paper. Typing is encouraged—but not required. 1. Restate the subject and Guiding Question (GQ) of your Expert Project inquiry. 2. Identify the source and subject of your inquiry this week: I read/viewed/listened to …which was about

3. Collect Works Cited Information Author: Title: Type: Date Published: Date Accessed:

Pages: URL: Issue: City Published: Publication:

4. Before you read, do the following on a separate sheet of paper: £ £ £ £ £

Generate 2-3 questions about the text based on the title, type of text, or some other element. Identify what you understand to be the actual subject of the text. Predict what you think the text will say about its subject based on its title or other details. Jot a couple sentences summing up what you know about this subject. Create a Purpose Question (PQ) based on the title of the article or other text.

5. As you read, take notes, jotting down key ideas, quotations, connections, or details related to the subject of the article and your actual subject for the Expert Project. 6. After you finish reading, restate and answer your PQ (Purpose Question) for this specific text you read this week; then list the main idea and three supporting ideas from the article. 7. Media Critique: Evaluate the author’s choice of media (e.g., words, images, audio; written, spoken, mixed media) and how effective it was in achieving its original purpose. Use these questions to help you: •

Who created this message or text?

•

Who is the intended audience? (Note: Just because it’s about kids or parents doesn’t mean the audience is kids or parents. The real audience might be companies who want to sell to kids or parents, or employers who want to understand the new generation of employees. Ask who benefits from this information.)

•

What techniques do they use to get my attention?

•

Who is not included or discussed in this message?

•

Why are they creating or sending this message?

•

What values, lifestyles, or points of view does this message represent and/or leave out/ignore?

8. Respond/React: What are your own thoughts about this subject and article? Elaborate on your ideas as the purpose here is to add new ideas from here and other sources for your paper in the spring. 9. Connect and Reflect: How does your work this week relate to previous weeks and your project in general? What are the big ideas that are emerging as the weeks pass and you learn more about your subject?

Do all work on a separate sheet of paper

@ 2014 Jim Burke

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DAILY LESSON PLAN Date Instructional Checklist

Class Objectives:

Unit

 Provide the necessary conditions.  Establish and communicate clear, specific learning objectives.

ACT 1:

 Make explicit connections.  Prepare students.  Integrate assessment throughout; include time for reflection.  Teach students strategies.  Demystify literacy practices and performances.  Use different instructional methods, modes, and media.  Ask students to generate.

 Provide meaningful opportunities to practice, perfect, and perform all lessons in class and at home.

ACT 2: Checklist Did you:

    Remember and Reflect

ACT 3:             Homework  

        @ 2014 Jim Burke

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The Four Cs of Academic Success (from School Smarts, Jim Burke. Heinemann 2004) COMMITMENT

CONTENT

Commitment describes the extent to which students care about the work and maintain consistency in their attempt to succeed.

Content refers to information or processes students must know to complete a task or succeed on an assignment in class. Domains include: academic, social, procedural, cultural, vocational, ethical, and cognitive.

Key aspects of commitment are: • Consistency: Everyone can be great or make heroic efforts for a day or even a week; real, sustainable success in a class, or on large assignments requires consistent hard work and “quality conscience” • Effort: Some students resist making a serious effort when they do not believe they can succeed. Without such effort, neither success or improvement are possible • Emotional investment: Refers to how much students care about their success and the quality of their work on this assignment or performance. Directly related to perceived relevance and importance. This is what Jaime Escalante calls ganas, which means “the urge to succeed, to achieve, to grow.” • Faith: Students must believe that the effort they make will eventually lead to the result or success they seek. Faith applies to a method or means by which they hope to achieve success • Permission: Students must give themselves permission to learn and work hard, and others permission to teach and support them if they are to improve and succeed.

Content knowledge includes: • Conventions related to documents, procedures, genres, or experiences • Cultural reference points not specifically related to the subject but necessary to understand the material such as: • People • Events • Trends • Ideas • Dates • Discipline or subject-specific matter such as names, concepts, and terms • Features, cues, or other signals that convey meaning during a process or within a text • Language needed to complete or understand the task • Procedures used during the course of the task or assignment.

Competencies are those skills students need to be able to do to complete the assignment or succeed at some task.

Capacities account for the quantifiable aspects of performance; students can have great skills but lack the capacity to fully employ those skills.

Representative, general competencies include the ability to: • Communicate ideas and information to complete and convey results of the work • Evaluate and make decisions based on information needed to complete the assignment or succeed at the task • Generate ideas, solutions, and interpretations that will lead to the successful completion of the task • Learn while completing the assignment so students can improve their performance on similar assignments in the future • Manage resources (time, people, and materials) needed to complete the task; refers also to ability to govern one’s self • Teach others how to complete certain tasks and understand key concepts • Use a range of tools and strategies to solve the problems they encounter

Primary capacities related to academic performance include: • Confidence in their ideas, methods, skills, and overall abilities related to this task. • Dexterity which allows students, when needed, to do more than one task at the same time (a.k.a. multitasking) • Fluency needed to handle problems or interpret ideas that vary from students’ past experience or learning • Joy one finds in doing the work well and in a way that satisfies that individual’s needs • Memory so students can draw on useful background information or store information needed for subsequent tasks included in the assignment • Resiliency needed to persevere despite initial or periodic obstacles to success on the assignment or performance • Speed with which students can perform one or more tasks needed to complete the assignment or performance • Stamina required to maintain the requisite level of performance; includes physical and mental stamina

COMPETENCIES

@ 2014 Jim Burke

CAPACITIES

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30

ODONO

Life, Learning, Literature

ORIENTATION

Jim Burke

e nc

ples

p Exam

time

t ge os led ers m ble i ow att ss ion Kn hat m is po situat e w hat ur tru lize w d o t is a ea ow an e r n st wh s W e k der ow W n n ple eu k am W We Ex

W ea Su W re d ff e e e r W lose pre in e s g f q a se W ues ith o d o e ti r r g rie on o con des ve ur fid pe o ur iden enc rate los tit e s y

m

Ex a

Examples We recieve guidance or help We see our situation in a new way We discover a way forward We make a new choice

Intervention

es

pl

N ATIO true T N is IE

OR

es

mpl

A Brief Note on ODONO

NEW

IEN We T A We ackno TIO lw o p e N We en ours dge new elv m We ake new es to c truths are hum comm hange(s ) itm ble b u t ho ents pefu l

Exa

R hat ure DISOo not knowabwout the faulyt sis n d r We clea sis by a odel re un aly m We a nter par map or We e have no We les

We

n

xam

m

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time

Exa

Inte

Examples

W e W W kno isd W e kn w h om e k o ow w W no e k w wh & w no cha at i hy s w w wh nge ess e d at wil ent id i Ex is l co ial t am us m pl efu e es l

tio bits liza ha lts rna u tive Inte lop effecistent reseded e e s dev con as n We hieve adopt astery ac t or -m p We self ada ibit We e exh W ples

rupt re a l ion i We z e s o m que ethi n stio We n o g is w b We e t r a y o u r b e l i ro n g ef give u up o r value s s ur p lans E

rld s wo way ay e e h al w oc out t has this n In ve ab orld s be e i w y na he lwa fre re ve t ill a care a e w e e es W beli nd e ar pl e na W m W ee a b Ex

We know how our world works We know who/what we are We know what is true We know the norms

The ODONO model derives from many different sources, experiences, and traditions, but its genesis was the work of Walter Breuggemann. In Praying the Psalms, he sorted the psalms into three categories: psalms of orientation, disorientation, and new orientation. It was a concept I immediately adopted and have since adapted for many years, refining and revising it as I use it in my classes as one among many ways to examine literature, learning, and life. It begins with Orientation at the top and then moves left, through various stages, some of which last longer than others, some of which we must return to for different reasons, as we move through the cycle toward the frail wisdom that will be--inevitably, necessarily--interrupted yet again. Though there is a forward movement, stages we all recognize from our own experience, the ODONO cycle is not linear but recurrsive. We also, as we all realize, are moving within many such cycles at any given time, some more profound or distuptive than others. Deepest thanks to Steve Peha for his contributions to the latest version of the model.

@ 2014 Jim Burke

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31

EQuIP Rubric for Lessons & Units: ELA/Literacy (Grades 3-5) and ELA (Grades 6-12) Grade:

Literacy Lesson/Unit Title:

Overall Rating:

I. Alignment to the Depth of the CCSS

II. Key Shifts in the CCSS

III. Instructional Supports

IV. Assessment

The lesson/unit aligns with the letter and spirit of the CCSS: o Targets a set of grade-level CCSS ELA/Literacy standards. o Includes a clear and explicit purpose for instruction. o Selects text(s) that measure within the grade-level text complexity band and are of sufficient quality and scope for the stated purpose (e.g., presents vocabulary, syntax, text structures, levels of meaning/purpose, and other qualitative characteristics similar to CCSS grade-level exemplars in Appendices A & B). A unit or longer lesson should: o Integrate reading, writing, speaking and listening so that students apply and synthesize advancing literacy skills. o (Grades 3-5) Build students’ content knowledge and their understanding of reading and writing in social studies, the arts, science or technical subjects through the coherent selection of texts.

The lesson/unit addresses key shifts in the CCSS: o Reading Text Closely: Makes reading text(s) closely, examining textual evidence, and discerning deep meaning a central focus of instruction. o Text-Based Evidence: Facilitates rich and rigorous evidence-based discussions and writing about common texts through a sequence of specific, thought-provoking, and text-dependent questions (including, when applicable, questions about illustrations, charts, diagrams, audio/video, and media). o Writing from Sources: Routinely expects that students draw evidence from texts to produce clear and coherent writing that informs, explains, or makes an argument in various written forms (e.g., notes, summaries, short responses, or formal essays). o Academic Vocabulary: Focuses on building students’ academic vocabulary in context throughout instruction. A unit or longer lesson should: o Increasing Text Complexity: Focus students on reading a progression of complex texts drawn from the grade-level band. Provide textcentered learning that is sequenced, scaffolded and supported to advance students toward independent reading of complex texts at the CCR level. o Building Disciplinary Knowledge: Provide opportunities for students to build knowledge about a topic or subject through analysis of a coherent selection of strategically sequenced, discipline-specific texts. o Balance of Texts: Within a collection of grade-level units a balance of informational and literary texts is included according to guidelines in the CCSS (p. 5). o Balance of Writing: Include a balance of on-demand and process writing (e.g., multiple drafts and revisions over time) and short, focused research projects, incorporating digital texts where appropriate.

The lesson/unit is responsive to varied student learning needs: o Cultivates student interest and engagement in reading, writing and speaking about texts. o Addresses instructional expectations and is easy to understand and use. o Provides all students with multiple opportunities to engage with text of appropriate complexity for the grade level; includes appropriate scaffolding so that students directly experience the complexity of the text. o Focuses on challenging sections of text(s) and engages students in a productive struggle through discussion questions and other supports that build toward independence. o Integrates appropriate supports in reading, writing, listening and speaking for students who are ELL, have disabilities, or read well below the grade level text band. o Provides extensions and/or more advanced text for students who read well above the grade level text band. A unit or longer lesson should: o Include a progression of learning where concepts and skills advance and deepen over time (may be more applicable across the year or several units). o Gradually remove supports, requiring students to demonstrate their independent capacities (may be more applicable across the year or several units). o Provide for authentic learning, application of literacy skills, studentdirected inquiry, analysis, evaluation and/or reflection. o Integrate targeted instruction in such areas as grammar and conventions, writing strategies, discussion rules and all aspects of foundational reading for grades 3-5. o Indicate how students are accountable for independent reading based on student choice and interest to build stamina, confidence and motivation (may be more applicable across the year or several units). o Use technology and media to deepen learning and draw attention to evidence and texts as appropriate.

The lesson/unit regularly assesses whether students are mastering standardsbased content and skills: o Elicits direct, observable evidence of the degree to which a student can independently demonstrate the major targeted grade-level CCSS standards with appropriately complex text(s). o Assesses student proficiency using methods that are unbiased and accessible to all students. o Includes aligned rubrics or assessment guidelines that provide sufficient guidance for interpreting student performance. A unit or longer lesson should: o Use varied modes of assessment, including a range of pre-, formative, summative and selfassessment measures.

Rating: 3

2

1

0

Rating: 3

2

1

0

Rating: 3

2

1

0

Rating: 3

2

1

0

The EQuIP rubric is derived from the Tri-State Rubric and the collaborative development process led by Massachusetts, New York, and Rhode Island and facilitated by Achieve. This version of the EQuIP rubric is current as of 06-24-13. View Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/. Educators may use or adapt. If modified, please attribute EQuIP and re-title. @ 2014 Jim Burke

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32

COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS: REPRESENTATIVE QUESTIONS AND PROMPTS Grade 7 (PARCC Example) } Prose Constructed Response from Research Simulation Task (Summary) 1. Based on the information in the text “Biography of Amelia Earhart,” write an essay that summarizes and explains the challenges Earhart faced throughout her life. Remember to use textual evidence to support your ideas. } Technology Enhanced Constructed Response Simulation Task 2. Below are three claims that one could make based on the article “Earhart’s Final Resting Place Believed Found.” a. Part A: Highlight the claim that is supported by the most relevant and sufficient evidence within the article. b. Part B: Click on two facts within the article that best provide evidence to support the claim selected in Part A. 3. You have read three texts describing Amelia Earhart. All three include the claim that Earhart was a brave, courageous person. The three texts are: _____, _____, ______. Consider the argument each author uses to demonstrate Earhart’s bravery. Write an essay that analyzes the strength of the arguments about Earhart’s bravery in at least two of the texts. Remember to use textual evidence to support your ideas. Grade 9 (Based on informational text “Fields of Fingerprints: DNA Testing for Crops”) (PARCC Example) 1. Part A: According to the information in paragraph 1, how is solving crop crimes similar to solving high-profile murder cases? Part B: Which detail from the article best supports the answer to Part A? 2. Part A: The final paragraph is headed by the phrase “Simplifying the Search.” What is the “search” discussed in this paragraph? Part B: Based on the information from the text, what are the two ways that the procedure for developing a DNA fingerprint simplifies the search identified in Part A? 3. The article shows that understanding plant DNA offers many advantages to plant growers and scientists. To complete the chart below, first select the two statements from the left column that are advantages of understanding plant DNA. Then, draft and drop one quotation from the list of possible supporting evidence into the “Supporting Evidence” column to provide textual support for each advantage you selected. You will not use all of the statements from the box titled “Possible Supporting Evidence.” 4. Complete the diagram below by choosing and correctly sequencing the steps of the process of developing a DNA fingerprint, as described in the text. Drag and drop each selected step into the appropriate box. Not all steps will be used. 5. Part A: What is one question the article answers by explaining the steps required to obtain a DNA fingerprint? Part B: Which quotation from the article best reflects an inference that supports the answer to Part A? Grade 10 Prose Constructed Response (Literary Analysis Task) (PARCC Example) (Two different versions of the prompt) 1. Use what you have learned from reading “Daedalus and Icarus” by Ovid and “To a Friend Whose Work Has Come to Triumph” by Anne Sexton to write an essay that provides an analysis how Sexton transforms “Daedalus and Icarus.” As a starting point, you may want to consider what is emphasized, absent, or different in the two texts, but feel free to develop your own focus for analysis. Develop your essay by providing textual evidence from both texts. Be sure to follow the conventions of standard English. 2. Use what you have learned from reading “Daedalus and Icarus” by Ovid and “To a Friend Whose Work Has Come to Triumph” by Anne Sexton to write an essay that analyzes how Icarus’s experience of flying is portrayed differently in the two texts. Develop your essay by providing textual evidence from both texts. Be sure to follow the conventions of standard English. Grade 11 (PARCC Example) 1. Part A: In paragraph 8 of “Abigail Smith Adams,” Abigail Adams is called an “advocate for females.” What is the meaning of advocate for females as used in this paragraph? Part B: Which of Abigail Adams’s actions described in the biography best shows her being an advocate? 2. Part A: Which question below is left unanswered by the biography “Abigail Smith Adams” because insufficient evidence is provided? Part B: Which statement is true about the biography and best supports the answer to Part A? 3. Part A: Which statement accurately describes the relationship between two central ideas in the biography “Abigail Smith Adams”? Part B: Which two sentences from “Abigail Smith Adams” best support the answer to Part A? 4. Part A: How does paragraph 2 of Abigail Adams’s letter to her husband most strongly contribute to the text as a whole? Part B: In which two paragraphs of the letter are the ideas in paragraph 2 discussed more thoroughly? 5. Part A: In his letter, John Adams tells his wife that “through all the gloom, I can see the rays of ravishing light and glory.” Which paraphrase explains what Adams means by this statement? Part B; Which quotation from the text best reflects the meaning of “through all the gloom, I can see the rays of ravishing light and glory”? 6. Question: Both John and Abigail Adams believed strongly in freedom and independence. However, their letters suggest that each of them understood these terms differently based on their experiences. Write an essay that explains their contrasting views on the concepts of freedom and independence. In your essay, make a claim about the idea of freedom and independence and how John Adams add to that understanding and/or how each illustrates a misunderstanding of freedom and independence. Support your response with textual evidence and inferences drawn from all three sources.