English Language Arts Common Core

Laura Hooven, NCDPIRobin Ventura, NCDPI

WELCOME!!

Session GoalsToday you will:

• Learn about the NC Instructional Shifts within the ELA Common Core

• Analyze Texts for Quantitative, Qualitative, and Reader & Task Elements

• Create a “Placemat” for Analysis of Instructional Texts You Will Use Next Year

• Analyze Lessons for Scaffolding Opportunities and Alignment with Instructional Shifts

AgendaSession Begins (9:00)Introduction and review of agenda Three Shifts in ELA/LiteracyHard Questions/Myth BustersText Complexity Overview Morning BreakText Complexity Analysis LUNCH (12:00 – 12:45) Placemat Gallery WalkText Complexity SurveyA Composition for Lesson DesignAfternoon BreakLesson Design AnnotationAdjournment (3:00)

Logistics• Parking Lot

• Restrooms

• Breaks/Lunch

Essential Question • How can I ensure my choice of reading

selections across grade levels is appropriate? How can these choices challenge my students to increase critical thinking skills and global connections while helping them gain a greater intrinsic value of reading?

THREE INSTRUCTIONAL

SHIFTS

Instructional Shifts in ELA Common Core State Standards

6 Shifts 3 Shifts

Shift 1: Balancing informational and literary textShift 2: Building knowledge in the disciplines

Building knowledge through content-rich nonfiction and informational texts

Shift 4: Text-based answersShift 5: Writing from sources

Reading and writing grounded in evidence from text

Shift 3: Staircase of complexityShift 6: Academic vocabulary

Regular practice with complex text and its academic vocabulary

Building Knowledge through Content-Rich Nonfiction and

Informational Text

• Students read a balance of informational and literary texts.

• Students access the world through texts.

• Teachers embed literacy experiences in content area instruction.

Reading and Writing Grounded in Evidence

from Texts• Students have rigorous conversations that are

dependent on a common text.

• Classroom experiences stay deeply connected to the text.

• Students use evidence to support arguments during discussion.

• Writing emphasizes use of evidence to inform or make an argument.

Regular Practice with Complex Texts and Its Academic Vocabulary

• To be college and career ready, each year students make a “step” of growth on the “staircase” of complexity.

• Students read grade appropriate texts around which instruction is centered.

• Teachers create more time and space for close and careful reading (depth vs. breadth).

• Teachers constantly build students’ vocabulary (Tier II) so that they are able to access grade level complex texts.

Answering Hard Questions

What are hard questions?

Why do we need to practice answering them?

Answering Hard Questions

I just participated in training on the six shifts. Now I hear there are only three. What do I do now?

Myth Busters!

Myth or Fact?

The Common Core State Standards represent a modest change from current practice.

Myth or Fact?

The Common Core State Standards will transform schools.

Myth or Fact?

The Common Core State Standards say that English teachers can only teach fiction/literature 30% of the time.

Myth or Fact?

The Common Core State Standards say that High School English teachers have to teach a whole Shakespearean play every year.

Myth or Fact?

In Appendix B, the text exemplars provide the official reading list for English Language Arts.

Myth or Fact?

Text complexity is just like AR – you can label the books in your library.

Myth or Fact?

Because of the Common Core State Standards, you can no longer teach cursive writing.

Text Complexity

Analyzing a Text for Complexity

• Identify a quantitative measure

• Determine qualitative measure

• Consider your readers and the task you expect them to complete

• Make a recommended placement

Identify the quantitative measure.

Use lexile.com (or your district’s measure). http://www.lexile.com/

Text Complexity Grade Bands and Associated Lexile Ranges

190L-530L 1

420L-820L 2-3

740L-1010L 4-5

920L-1190L 6-8

1050L-1340L 9-10

1180L-1390L 11-CCR

Determine the qualitative measure

Choose a portion of text, preferably in the middle. (In some cases use two passages.)

Annotate the portion of text you have selected.

Look for :• Levels of meaning/purpose• Structure• Language• Knowledge demands

The Book Thief Annotations

Students are likely to find the following characteristics challenging:

–the historical setting;

–much of the text is figurative with extensive use of metaphor, including personification of death itself;

–the innovative stylistic techniques used - the most obvious is the narrator Death’s use of boldface text to relay certain information;

–the intertwining, multiple themes.

Match your annotations to the Text Complexity Qualitative Rubric.

To complete the qualitative measure...

Book Thief Marcus Zusak

Matching our annotations to the rubric

Annotation Rubric

The narrator is not identified until part way through the text.

Meaning: Several layers of meaning that may be difficult to identify or separate; theme is implicit or subtle and may be revealed over the entirety of the text.

The personification of death throughout the text.

Organization: Organization may include subplots, time shifts and more complex characters.

Much of the text is figurative with extensive use of metaphor.

Conventionality: Dense and complex; contains abstract, ironic, and/or figurative language.

Reader and TaskReader variables (such as motivation, knowledge and experiences) and task variables (such as purpose and the complexity generated by the task assigned and the questions posed).

Consider Reader and TaskWhat aspects of the text will likely pose the most challenge for

my students? • Content or theme concerns or challenges?

• Text structure challenges?

• Language feature challenges?

• Knowledge and experience demands?

• Motivation for and interest in the text?

What Common Core State Standards should I focus on when teaching this text? (refer to the shorthand document)• What are natural areas of focus for this text?

• With what standards do my students need the most practice?

Will the complexity of any before, during and after reading tasks or the complexity of any questions asked about the text interfere with the reading experience?

What supports do I need to provide so that all of my students (even those who are struggling readers) can access the text?

Pulling it all together…It is important to consider all sides of the triangle equally to determine placement.

Lexile measurementAnnotations & rubric

Your class & your assigned task

What do we do with all of this information?

Text complexity bands for placement of text:– K-1

– 2-3

– 4-5

– 6-8

– 9-10

– 11-CCR

Why is this process important?

How would teachers use

the placemats?

• Discuss at tables • Share ideas

“Realizing that some of the books on the Lexile scale were not what I expected, but diving into the form to complete text complexity helped rationalize how to really score the book’s difficulty.”

-quote from a teacher

Time-out!

Answering Hard Questions

How do I know if a text is “complex” enough to meet the standards?

How do I teach my students to read difficult materials when we don’t have time to read even simple texts in class?

A Guide for Text Complexity Analysis

• Tool for leading you through the text complexity process

• Step by step protocol for analyzing a text and completing a placemat

Group Practice

Using A Guide for Text Complexity Analysis, complete a placemat in your grade band group.

Your turn!!Create a Placemat

Pick one of the texts that you brought with you today to complete a placemat.

You will need: • A Guide for Text Complexity Analysis (on your CD) • sticky notes for annotations• the rubric (informational or literary to match your

text)• the shorthand document • the placemat

Group Poster• Share placemats with your grade band

table group.

• Select one placemat from your table to showcase.

• Create a poster to display.

Lunch!

Answering Hard Questions

Our students cannot read the materials we put in front of them now. How will they be able to handle more complex text?

Placemat Gallery Walk

A Composition for Lesson Design

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIKhRERqPS4

Words We Live By: Your Annotated Guide to the Constitution by Linda R.

Monk Originally published in New York: Hyperion, 2003.

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 evidence is there in this paragraph regarding Marshall’s claim about the “evolving nature of the constitution”?

The Focusing Question for Writing:Explain how the notion of who “the people” were has changed over time in America?

What did you notice…• How is instruction different?• How might a teacher plan differently?• What might an administrator notice

during a walk through?

A Composition for Lesson Design

Depending on the difficulties of a given text and the teacher’s knowledge of the fluency abilities of students, the order of the student silent read and the teacher reading aloud with students following might be reversed .

Academic vocabulary could be introduced as the teacher reads aloud or as part of a brief introduction to the text.

1. Briefly introduce text (i.e. draw attention to time period, author etc.) then have students read text silently.

2. Teacher reads the text aloud to students as they follow and draws attention to academic vocabulary.

3. Students reread the text independently or with a partner and summarize (rehearsal / partner reading).

4.Teacher asks a series of text dependent questions about the selection. • These questions can only be answered by

referring explicitly back to the text being read.

• Good questions often linger over specific phrases and sentences to ensure careful comprehension of the text.

• These questions serve as scaffolding, sustaining focus.

5. Allow opportunities for text-based writing. Returning students to the text as evidence as well as using the text as a guide or mentor text.

This lesson…• allows the mystery and the adventure of the text to

unfold,

• chunks the text in a meaningful way,

• includes scaffolding that doesn’t simplify the text and asks questions that require evidence,

• and provides keen focus on paragraphs, sentences, and words.

Answering Hard Questions

How can I get through the entire curriculum requirements/texts if I have to slow down to spend more time on shorter texts?

Text-based questions and answers: how can I figure out which are good ones?

7th Inning Stretch Break!

Let’s Explore Exemplars• Annotate the exemplar lesson with a

partner.– Locate each part of the lesson process and

note it on the exemplar.

• Complete the chart in your Trainer Notes.

What did you notice…• How is instruction different?• How might a teacher plan differently?• What might an administrator notice

during a walk through?

Questions?

It’s Time to Go Home!