Highlights from The Path to College and Careers: What Prospective Educators Need to Know about the CommonCore State Standards for ELA/Literacy from Common Core State Standards Higher Education Institute, Feb. 5-6, 2013, Orlando, FL English Language Arts Anne Angstrom, Ph.D. Edison State College School of Education The Common Core Path to College and Careers Engage with Complex Text Extract and Employ Evidence Build Knowledge Key Features and Their Implications 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Backmapping Coordinated Structure Challenging Text Disciplinary Literacy Informational Text Close Reading Multiple Texts Writing About Texts Backmapping Common Core standards began with college/career readiness standards and backmapped from there Coordinated Structure Common Core State Standards have very strong progressions and an informative organization that requires attention; can be followed from grade level to grade level; strong connections across comprehension, oral language, and writing Text difficulty is central and all cognitive skills have to be executed with texts of a specified difficulty range; Greater need to scaffold (cognitive, motivational) challenging reading (neither reading the texts to students nor telling them what they say) Challenging Text Disciplinary Literacy The Common Core State Standards requires specialized reading emphasis for history/social studies and science/technical subjects These are disciplinary standards, not content area reading standards—the idea is not how the application of generalizable reading and study strategies to subject matter but how to read in the specialized ways required for a disciplinary reading Informational Text Common Core Standards require the teaching of comprehension within both informational and literary texts Close Reading •The Common Core standards are based more on literary theory (“New Criticism”) •Great emphasis on the information in the text (and in the use of such information as evidence) •Great emphasis on analyzing how text works •Less time on background information, comprehension strategies, picture walks, etc. (though these still can be brought in by teachers in appropriate ways) •Greater emphasis on careful reading of a text, weighing of author’s diction, grammar, and organization to make sense of the text (more attention to how text works, tone, author perspective) *Greater emphasis on text-dependent questions Multiple Texts •CCSS emphasize the interpretation of multiple texts throughout (at all grade levels, and in reading, writing, and oral language; 12-15% of the ELA standards mention multiple texts explicitly) •Most of this emphasis is on comparisons of information and features across texts (synthesis plays big role too, especially as one moves up the grades) •There will be a greater need for combinations of texts that can be used together ; text synthesis (how to combine the information from multiple sources into one’s own text or presentation); and comparative evaluation Writing About Texts Greater emphasis on: (1) writing summaries of texts, (2) writing based on text models, (3) writing analyses and critiques of texts, (4) writing syntheses of text Where are we? Where are we going? Text Complexity and Grade-Level Bands Each band represents complexity, quality, and range of student reading within the grade levels. Emphasis on multidisciplinary integration of texts. Texts may present opposing points of view. Assessment questions will be text-dependent, which means they will require students to do a close reading to seek text-based evidence. Three-Part Model for Measuring Text Complexity Qualitative: measured by human reader (differences in language, purpose of text, clarity, knowledge demands) Quantitative: measured by computer software (word length & frequency, sentence length) Reader and Text: measured by the teacher (Does the task and text meet the student?) How do we measure text complexity as teachers? Look for texts to consistently get them out of their comfort zones. “Three Bears Approach” Not too easy, not too hard, just right! 2. A variety of texts can add complexity and allow for the transfer of skills from one genre to another. 3. The way we layer texts by bundling them creates opportunities for layering meaning. We can compare structure, vocabulary, content, concept, points of view. 1. Summing it up… We need to know our students—their reading backgrounds, vocabulary, familiarity with genres and text structures. We must create a good match between the task and the text. The more complex the concept we need to teach, the more accessible the text should be. We don’t need to put exit-level texts in front of students before they are ready for them. We must consistently work up to them. --Sarah Brown Wessling www.teachingchannel.org Application: Instructional Strategies The Socratic Seminar Teaching The N Word With Socratic Seminar Socratic Seminar: Patience and Practice Approaching Shakespeare through Soliloquy Writing and Performance Soliloquy to Love The Intertextual Triad Additional Resources Common Core Standards for ELA Common Core Resources from IRA PARCC Sample Assessment Items http://www.achievethecore.org/steal-these-tools http://www.achievethecore.org/steal-these- tools/professional-developmentmodules/understanding-text-dependent-questions www.teachingchannel.org