introduction to ela/literacy pa core standards, grades 9-12

NEIU19Fall 2013

Introduction to ELA/Literacy

Core State Standards

Grades 9-12

Agenda

• Background of PA Core Standards• Brief overview of Teacher Effectiveness• PA Core ELA Shifts• PA Academic Standards for ELA

• 1.2 Reading Informational Text• 1.3 Reading Literature• Text Complexity

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PA Core

Background

CC Intro

Core State Standards

Initiated in 1996 by the National Governors Association (NGA) and Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO)

Result in College and Career Readiness

Are students leaving schools with the content and skills they need?

Developed in collaboration with teachers, school administrators, and experts and informed by other top performing countries

Fewer, Higher and Clearer Expectations

87% of PA Academic Standards are moderately or very strongly aligned to Common Core Standards

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Teacher

Effectiveness

Teacher Effectivenes

s:

TheDanielson

Framework

Beginning 2013-14, teacher evaluations will be based on classroom observations by principal/supervisor including evidence that demonstrates behaviors associated with improving student achievement:

● Planning and preparation, including selecting standards-based lesson goals and designing effective instruction and assessment

● Classroom environment, including establishing a culture for learning and appropriate classroom management techniques that maximize instructional time

● Instruction, including the use of research-based strategies which engage students in meaningful learning and utilize assessment results to make decisions abut student needs

● Professional responsibilities, including using systems for managing student data and communicating with student families

PA Assessment Information

PennsylvaniaAcademic

Standards for ELA

Standard 1: Foundational Skills begin at Pre Kindergarten and focus on early childhood, with some standards reflected through Grade 5. These foundational skills are a necessary and important component of an effective, comprehensive reading program designed to develop proficient readers with the capacity to comprehend text - both literary and informational across disciplines.

Standard 2: Reading Informational Text enables students to read, understand, and respond to informational text.

Standard 3: Reading Literature enables students to read, understand, and respond to works of literature.

Standard 4: Writing develops the skills of informational, argumentative, and narrative writing as well as the ability to engage in evidence-based analysis of text and research.

Standard 5: Speaking and Listening focuses students on communication skills that enable critical listening and effective presentation of ideas.

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How are the Assessment

Anchors organized?

CoreShifts

Balancing the reading of informational and literary texts so that students can access non-fiction and authentic texts as well as literature.

Grade Level Text Selection1.Grade 4 – 50% Literature vs.

50% Informational2.Grade 12 – 30% Literature

vs. 70% Information

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Shift #1:

5 ELA/Literacy Shifts

Building Knowledge Through Content-Rich Nonfiction:

Why?

•Students are required to read very little informational text in elementary and middle school.

•Non-fiction makes up the vast majority of required reading in college/workplace.

•Informational text is harder for students to comprehend than narrative text.

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5 ELA/Literacy Shifts

Focusing on close and careful reading of text so that students are learning from the text.

Ask text-dependent questionsMultiple readings for varied purposes

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5 ELA/Literacy Shifts

Shift #1:

5 ELA/Literacy Shifts

In “Casey at the Bat,” Casey strikes out. Describe a time when you failed at something.

In “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” Dr. King discusses nonviolent protest. Discuss, in writing, a time when you wanted to fight against something that you felt was unfair.

In “The Gettysburg Address” Lincoln says the nation is dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Why is equality an important value to promote?

What makes Casey’s experiences at bat humorous?

What can you infer from King’s letter about the letter that he received?

“The Gettysburg Address” mentions the year 1776. According to Lincoln’s speech, why is this year significant to the events described in the speech?

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Not Text-Dependent Text-Dependent

Text-Dependent Questions

Building a staircase of complexity (i.e., each grade level requires a “step” of growth on the “staircase”) so that students graduate college or career ready.

○ It is also important to build a staircase of complexity within each grade.

○ Pick a standard and read across grade levels. What changes do you notice progressing from grade to grade.

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Shift #3:

5 ELA/Literacy Shifts

5 ELA/Literacy Shifts

Writing from sources (i.e., using evidence from text to inform or make an argument) so that students use evidence and respond to the ideas, events, facts, and arguments presented in the texts they read.

1. Narrative2.Opinion/Argumentative 3. Informative/Explanatory

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Shift #4:

5 ELA/Literacy Shifts

Stressing an academically focused vocabulary so that students can access more complex texts.

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Shift #5:

Effective vocabulary instruction has to start early, in preschool, and continue throughout the school years

(Nagy, 2005).

Teaching vocabulary helps develop phonological

awareness (Nagy, 2005) and reading comprehension

(Beck, Perfetti, & McKeown, 1982).Vocabulary instruction needs to be long-term and

comprehensive (Nagy, 2005) for ELLs (Carlo, August, & Snow, 2005; Calderón et al., 2005).

Research Behind Vocabulary Instruction

More Research

Command of a large vocabulary frequently sets high-achieving students apart from less successful ones

(Montgomery, 2000).

The average 6-year-old has a vocabulary of approximately 8000 words, and learns 3000-5000

more per year (Senechal & Cornell, 1993). Vocabulary in kindergarten and first grade is a

significant predictor of reading comprehension in the middle and secondary grades

(Cunningham, 2005; Cunningham & Stanovich, 1997; Chall & Dale, 1995; Denton et al. 2011).

Why are “academic

words” important?

They are critical to understanding academic texts.

They appear in all sorts of texts.

They require deliberate effort to learn.

They are far more likely to appear in written texts than in speech.

They often represent subtle or precise ways to say otherwise relatively simple things.

They are seldom heavily scaffolded by authors or teachers.

Common Core State Standards, Appendix A, page 33

3 Tiers of Words

Tier 3 – Highly specialized, subject-specific; low occurrences in texts; lacking generalization◦ E.g., lava, aorta, legislature, circumference

Tier 2 –Abstract, general academic (across content areas); encountered in written language; high utility across instructional areas◦ E.g., vary, relative, innovation, accumulate,

surface, layer

Tier 1 – Basic, concrete, encountered in conversation/ oral vocabulary; words most student will know at a particular grade level◦ E.g., clock, baby

Common Core State Standards, Appendix A, page 33

Choosing words

• Joe interceded in his friends’ dispute.

• Which word would you choose to pre-teach?

Which word?

Determining whether a word is a word. Ask yourself…

is this a generally useful word?does the word relate to other words and ideas that students know or have been learning?is the word useful in helping students understand text?If the answer is ‘yes’ to all three questions, the word is likely a Tier 2 word. If not… probably a Tier 3 word.

interceded

Why?

• Verbs are where the action is – Teach intercede and other ‘inter’ words…– Likely to see it again in grade-level text– Likely to see it on assessments– We are going to start calling these useful words

“Tier 2 words”

Step by Step Vocabulary Instruction For Tier 2 words

1. Read the story/text.

2. Contextualize the word.

3. Have the students say the word.

4. Provide student friendly definition. 5. Give an example in another context.

Steps continued….

6. Engage students in interacting with words.a. Respond with actions.b. Answer questions/give reasons.c. Identify examples and non-examples.

7. Have students repeat the word again.

8. Review and use the new words. (Adapted from Bringing Words to Life by Isabel Beck, Margaret McKeown, Linda Kucan, 2000)

Your turn…

Select a word from the following list:determineanalyzeacquireclarifyinterpretinfluenceconsider

Use either framework to promote deep understanding of your selected word.

Be prepared to share with your colleagues.

Standard 1.2

Reading Informational

Text

Activity Time!

Text Complexity

Quantitative Measures – Readability and other scores of text complexity often best measured by computer software.

Qualitative Measures – Levels of meaning, structure, language conventionality and clarity, and knowledge demands often best measured by an attentive human reader.

Reader and Task Considerations – Background knowledge of reader, motivation, interests, and complexity generated by tasks assigned often best made by educators employing their professional judgment.

Standard 1.3 Reading Literature

Activity

In your grade level, familiarize yourself with the skills in standard 1.3.

Watch America Achieves: The Lottery and look for skills this lesson addressed.

Choose a poem from the text exemplars (Appendix B) and create a lesson plan which incorporates at least three common core skills in standard 1.3.

Present your lessons!

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Where can I find more information?

Visit the PDE SAS WebsiteSelect StandardsSelect Common Core

Pinterest.com/ceceliamecca

Cecelia Mecca, PhD cmecca@iu19.orgMary Lou Heron mheron@iu19.orgMike Zwanch mzwanch@iu19.org

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