Transcript Slide 1

“Stop asking me if we’re almost there!
We’re nomads, for crying out loud!”
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NYS Common Core Learning Standards
Understanding the Change
Being the Change
How to Change
LIASCD
October 2011
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Areas of focus
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Reading
Writing
Speaking and Listening
Language
Media and Technology - Research & Media
skills built into the Standards as a whole
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What is included in the Common Core Standards
document?
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P-12 Anchor Standards for English Language
Arts
P-12 Grade Level Standards (We used to call
these performance indicators.)
Foundational Skills in reading (P-5)
Illustrative texts
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What else is included in the Common Core
Standards document?
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Reading Standards in History/Social
Studies, Science, and Technical
Subjects
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Writing Standards in History/Social
Studies, Science, and Technical
Subjects
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Six Shifts in ELA Literacy
Shift in Standards….
1. Balancing Informational
and Literary Text
2. Building Knowledge in
the Disciplines
3. Staircase of Complexity
4. Text-based Answers
5. Writing from Sources
6. Academic Vocabulary
Shift in Assessments…
1&2 Non-fiction Texts
Authentic Texts
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Higher Level of Text
Complexity
Paired Passages
4&5 Focus on command of
evidence from text:
rubrics and prompts
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Academic Vocabulary
Balancing information and Literacy
Texts: PK-5
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Students read a true balance of
informational and literary texts.
Elementary school classrooms are,
therefore, places where students access
the world – science, social studies, the
arts and literature – through text. At least
50% of what students read is
informational.
Building Knowledge in the
Disciplines: 6-12
Content area teachers outside of the ELA
classroom emphasize literacy experiences
in their planning and instruction. Students
learn through domain-specific texts in
science and social studies classrooms –
rather than referring to the text, they are
expected to learn from what they read.
Reading Types Across the Grade Levels
Grades
Literature
Informational
K-2
50%
50%
3-5
50%
50%
6-12
30%
-fiction
-poetry
-drama
-Shakespeare
70%
“substantially more literary
non-fiction”
-essays
-speeches
-opinion pieces
-biographies
-journalism
-historical
-scientific
-contemporary events
-nature
-the arts
-Founding Documents
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Staircase of Complexity
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In order to prepare students for the complexity of
college and career ready texts, each grade level
requires a “step” of growth on the “staircase.”
Students read the central, grade appropriate text
around which instruction is centered.
Teachers are patient, create more time and space in
the curriculum for this close and careful reading, and
provide appropriate and necessary scaffolding and
supports so that it is possible for students reading
below grade level.
Text-Based Answers
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Students have rich and rigorous conversations
which are dependent on a common text.
Teachers insist that classroom experiences stay
deeply connected to the text on the page and
that students develop habits for making
evidentiary arguments both in conversation, as
well as in writing to assess comprehension of a
text.
Writing From Sources
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Writing needs to emphasize use of evidence
to inform or make an argument rather than the
personal narrative and other forms of
decontextualized prompts.
While the narrative still has an important role,
students develop skills through written
arguments that respond to the ideas, events,
facts, and arguments presented in the texts
they read.
Academic Vocabulary
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Handout
Students constantly build the vocabulary they
need to access grade level complex texts.
By focusing strategically on comprehension
of pivotal and commonly found words (such
as “discourse,” “generation,” “theory,” and
theory
“principled”) and less on esoteric literary
terms (such as “onomatopoeia” or
“homonym”), teachers constantly build
students’ ability to access more complex texts
across the content areas.
What Does a Grade Level Standard
Look Like for Writing?
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Grade 4
Write narratives to develop real or
imagined experiences or events using
effective technique, descriptive details, and
clear event sequences.
Grade 7
Write arguments to support claims with
clear reasons and relevant evidence.
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Argument – persuasion
Defend with evidence from text
 History/social studies – interpretation &
judgments with evidence from multiple sources
 Science – claims and conclusions that answer
questions or address problems
 K-5 – opinion leads to argument
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Overview of Standards for History/Social Studies,
Science, and Technical Subjects (AKA Everything Else)
Reading Standards
 Knowledge of domain-specific vocabulary
 Analyze, evaluate, and differentiate primary and secondary
sources
 Synthesize quantitative and technical information, including
facts presented in maps, timelines, flowcharts, or diagrams
Writing Standards
 Write arguments on discipline-specific content and
informative/explanatory texts
 Use data, evidence and reason to support arguments and
claims
 Use of domain-specific vocabulary
What do grade level standards in literacy in social
studies, science, and technical subjects look like?
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Social Studies Grade 9-10 Determine the meaning of words and
phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary describing
political, social, or economic aspects of history/social studies.
Science Grade 9-10 Analyze the author’s purpose in providing an
explanation, describing a procedure, or discussing an experiment
in a text, defining the question the author seeks to address.
Technical Subjects Grade 9-10 Develop claim(s) and
counterclaims fairly, supplying data and evidence for each while
pointing out the strengths and limitations of both claim(s) and
counterclaims in a discipline-appropriate form and in a manner
that anticipates the audience’s knowledge level and concerns.
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What Do We Need To Do?
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By September 15, 2011, create awareness, foster fluency,
and develop a common language supporting Common Core
implementation.
By October 1, 2011, collaboratively diagnose school
capacity for implementing The Common Core and create
action plan to ensure Phase I execution: 1 Common Core
Aligned Unit in every classroom, each semester.
By October 15, 2011, Introduce Common Core aligned
curriculum model modules/units and unpack the qualities of a
model unit.
By October 31, 2011, build capacity and foster
accountability so that every teacher delivers at least one
Common Core aligned unit in every classroom each semester.
Building as we go along…
The Challenge: Linking the CCLS to
Curriculum/Instruction in All Areas
Curriculum & Instruction
 Need to focus on areas of inquiry - not specific
standards in isolation
 Content area teachers and language arts/literacy
teachers will need to plan and work together to help
students meet the standards
 Teachers must place an emphasis on thinking
with/about texts in all forms, including digital
formats
 Develop Units that recognize that less is more
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Instead of going a mile wide and an
inch deep…
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Go an inch wide and a mile deep
The Bigger Picture
Literacy tasks across the curriculum
must address application of literacy
standards in History/Social Studies,
Science, Math, and Technical
Subjects in all areas of study.
Text Dependent Questions
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What is (and isn’t) the meaning of “popular
sovereignty”? Why does Monk claim that this is
the form of government in America?
Is Lucy Stone confused when she asks “Which
‘We the People’?” Why does Monk say this
question has “troubled the nation”?
What does the phrase “founding fathers” mean?
Why does Marshall think the founding fathers
could not have imagined a female or black
Supreme Court Justice?
What Else Can We Do With This?
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WHAT CONCLUSIONS WOULD YOU
DRAW ABOUT THE AUTHOR'S POINT
OF VIEW ON THE NATURE OF THE
UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION?
HOW DO YOU KNOW?
Common Core and Science
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Imbed informational text into your science curriculum.
Literacy is not taking the place of science content or hands-on
laboratory skills.
Require students to cite from text to support their conclusions
or opinions.
Provide text with two or more opinions, and ask students to
choose a side to support with research.
Ask students to define vocabulary in context from the text.
Framework for K-12 Science Education released July 2011,
currently being developed into common core science
standards. Download from
http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13165
Text-Based Questions
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Based on the article: New Research Examines Role of Clouds in
Climate Change, Scientific American, September 7, 2011.
1. Use evidence from the text to explain what those who downplay
climate change believe to be the role of cloud cover and contrast
that with what the current evidence shows.
2. What information can you cite from the text that explains the
evidence that Roy Spencer used to downplay human impact on
climate change?
3. What text-based information can you use to understand Andrew
Dessler's research explaining climate and weather.
4. What is the meaning of the phrase "cherry picked" as used in
this article?
5. Research the climate patterns that are characterized by an El
Nino and La Nina.
First, a short video….