Help for teachers shifting from old standards to the new Common Core.

1. ELA Common Core Learning Standards and Unit Development

2. Discuss Common Core Shifts Look at student reading and writing exemplars Create an assessment and unit plan from a text exemplar. Objectives for the day:

3. 6 Major Shifts in ELA

4. What percentage of what adults read is informational text?Shift 1: Balancing Informational and Literary Text

5. -80 percent of what adults read is informational.-In most school districts 80 percent of what a student reads is literary.National Geographic School Publishing (2003)

6. There must be a balance of informational and literary text. By high school, 70 percent of a student’s reading should be informational.

7. Literacy must be promoted across all content areas using a variety of informational text. Reading strategies must be built in all content areas. Shift 2: Building Knowledge in the Disciplines

8. Build on prior knowledge. Build specialized vocabulary. Learn to deconstruct complex sentences. Use knowledge of text structures and genres to predict main and subordinate ideas. Map graphic and mathematical representations against explanations in the text. Pose discipline relevant questions. Compare claims and propositions across texts. Use norms for reasoning within the discipline to evaluate claims. Discipline Specific Reading Strategies

9. Use double-entry journals where students post questions, observations of patterns in the texts, summarize and make connections. KWL graphic organizer, students identify what they KNOW, WHAT they want to know, and what they have LEARNED. Graphic organizers that use text structures to guide what kinds of information students are reading for. Annotations of texts to pose questions, mark main ideas, make predictions, mark reactions. Strategies for Creating Self Directed Learners

10. 3 Factors in Determining Text Complexity Quantitative-measures difficulty (Lexile) Qualitative-levels of meaning Reader Task Components-reader motivation and prior knowledge Shift 3: Staircase of Complexity http://www.corestandards.org/assets/Appendix_A.pdf

11. http://www.corestandards.org/assets/Appendix_B.pdf TEXT EXEMPLARS

12. Answers must be supported with the text through close reading. Our questions should be guided questions that prompt students to revisit the text. Pre-reading/Front loading of material is eliminated, understanding comes from reading of the text. Shift 4: Text Based Answers

13. Gettysburg Address Unit http://engageny.org/resource/the-gettysburg-address-a-curricular-exemplar-in-literacy/

14. 1. Describe the problem in this text and how it is solved. Use information from the article/passage to support your answer. 2. Describe the process of _____ using information from the text. 3. What is the author’s purpose of structuring the paragraphs in this way? Use details from the passage to support your answer. Some Generic Close Reading Questions

15. Less creative and narrative writing, more argumentative and persuasive Students respond to ideas, events, facts and arguments presented in the texts they read Shift 5: Writing from Sources

16. http://www.corestandards.org/assets/Appendix_C.pdf Student Writing Examples

17. Students build vocabulary across disciplines. Concentrate on more commonly found words than on esoteric terms. Build students’ ability to access more complex texts across content areas. Shift 6: Academic Vocabulary

18. http://web1.d25.k12.id.us/home/title1/download/HighInvocab.pdf High Incidence WordsAcross Disciplines

19. What are the components of a good unit?

20. Looking at Standards per grade level, and the shifts presented, what would you like to concentrate on for your unit. Choose a targeted standard. Create your assessment FIRST. Consider at least 3-5 multiple choice, a couple short answer, and an extended response. Look at and provide an exemplar of student writing. Design unit around assessment. Teach unit. Discuss unit results and what will be done next time. Unit Design