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COMMON SENSE CORE ARTS STANDARDS©

(How to Get Your Head Around Arts Adapted Common Core State ELA Standards

… in a Day) by: Bruce D. Taylor

INTRODUCTION: In 2009 the foundation of Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts (ELA) was laid. One year later, to the day, those standards were published and adopted by a majority of states. In the spring of 2015 the first series of Common Core aligned standardized tests will be implemented across the country, the results of which will determine whether principals keep their jobs, play a significant role in teacher evaluations and factor into school accountability measures. What the consequences will be for arts education remain to be seen. Wow! Not much time to learn how to adapt to a profound change in what constitutes teaching and learning in this country, is it? At the moment, educators do not know for sure what methodology will actually work in preparing students for what will be expected of them within the Common Core framework. Why? Because these standards haven’t been around that long (obviously) and we still won’t know what upcoming assessments will consist of, how well they measure student achievement in this new paradigm, and what they will actually tell us about how to effectively prepare kids to grow up as capable adults in an increasingly complex, conceptual, and globalized society and 21st century economy. So, what now? The educational establishment has a tendency to make the comprehensible complex. It is a mind set perfectly compatible with the content-overload approach that was the focus of traditional pedagogy for decades. It is my goal to make this seemingly complex set of standards comprehensible, especially for arts specialists. It used to be that our educational process was primarily based upon the access, delivery, and retention of content. But today it is quite possible for students to obtain the answer (i.e. content) to any fact based question simply by reaching into their back pockets for their cell phones.

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Through touch or voice activated applications, content is available on any subject, at any time, from practically any place on the planet. In the future, the emphasis will be learning what to do with information, not simply remember it. The ability to adapt to rapid changes, make sense of the ever expanding amount of content in any category of human endeavor, and to devise one’s own techniques and approaches that result in meaningful accomplishment means a significant shift from “nouns” (i.e. knowing stuff) to “verbs” (i.e. doing things). This is the essence of Common Core. I want you to realize that adjusting to Common Core ELA through an arts lens is relatively simple. Not easy perhaps, but simple. After all, David Coleman’s team was hired on June 1, 2009 to design the standards and on June 2, 2010 they were published. Thus, it appears that Common Core was formulated in less than a year, so how complicated can it be? Read through the following pages and see if you don’t agree. PART I, Section 1: Cognitive Strategies Common Core ELA has three structural elements I: Cognitive Strategies – How students should think. II: Anchor Standards – Expansion of the Cognitive Strategies into the building blocks of gestational standards that lay out what will be expected of students. III: Grade by grade level variations of each of the Anchor Standards. That’s it. The key to the whole framework is looking at which verbs (which I refer to as “action” terms) are cited most often in the standards and the direct objects, nouns, of those verbs (which I refer to as “target terms”). Once you have familiarity with these two categories of vocabulary, I have every confidence you have the capacity to devise your own innovative ways to teach kids what they need to be able to do within the framework of Common Core. After all, you are the one who knows what works best for your kids. Oh yes, and you are creative enough to do it. So, let’s break it down. Below is the list of Cognitive Strategies for English Language Arts. I have digested each one to its essence and put each “action term” in italics:

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1. Make sense of problems 2. Reason abstractly 3. Make use of structure 4. Analyze why and how 5. Integrate and evaluate content 6. Interact and collaborate with others 7. Demonstrate understanding Can’t we employ these terms in arts education? Of course!!! Before I go any further, let me point out why it is so important for you and your students to truly understand these terms and the ones that follow, not just define them. There is a considerable body of research that divides vocabulary acquisition into three “tiers.” Tier I consists of the words all kids generally learn at home such as car, door, food, bath, sad, foot, smile, etc. These words constitute about 2% of English vocabulary, Tier II are words that are used a lot because they show up in multiple contexts and include most of the critical terms found in the Common Core framework such as evaluate, analyze, interpret, infer, support, etc. comprising another 2%. The rest of them, 96%, are domain specific words that are context dependent and require understanding when one needs to use them in order to accomplish a distinct task. In other words, Tier II words constitute the bridge between I and III. If students do not understand the conceptual basis of Tier II words, chances are they will have a harder time transitioning to Tier III or go much beyond Tier I. Many of the key words in the Common Core are Tier II. Let’s examine each of the Cognitive Strategies in turn, by zeroing in on the verbs embedded in them. 1. “Make sense.” What does that mean? A complementary concept would be to combine “figure out” with “understand.” The student would have to figure out what makes something a problem and why a solution is necessary before they could go about solving it. The combination of knowing what and why of a problem constitutes understanding of it; essential for devising a solution. 2. “Reason” means to have the ability to arrive at a conclusion, make a judgment, or draw an inference that could form the basis for a belief or course of action. But then you have this squirrely term “abstractly.” In this context, abstract refers to a mental construct without reference to a concrete reality – all done in the mind, as opposed relating to something representational. 3. “Make use” Simply put, to employ something’s structural elements in order to do what you need to do, as opposed to using a single entity such as a tool.

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4. “Analyze” is probably the most important term in Common Core. This verb is the one most often referred to in the 56 pages that make up all the ELA standards and is cited a total of 146 times. So what does it mean? It does not mean, “to study closely!” That would be “to examine.” Analyze means to break something down into what makes it, it - its essential elements. To analyze how something is put together and/or why it was put together that way. Often fundamental to the process of analysis is an ability to perceive the structure of something (i.e. how it is put together). 5. “Integrate” and “evaluate” are closely related in this context to “synthesize” which is one of the highest of higher order thinking skills. Integrate means to combine one thing with something else (as with content) in order to create a larger whole and the companion term of evaluate stems from the root word of “value” - to make a value judgment (good bad, right wrong). 6. “Interact” and “collaborate” are siblings. Kids learn to collaborate (i.e. combine thoughts and ideas in a collegial manner) by first interacting with each other. In other words, talk with each other in close proximity. I don’t know why “interact” is even referenced in that you can’t collaborate unless you do interact. Oh well. 7. “Demonstrate understanding” (by word or deed). Students can demonstrate understanding by explaining something in words (written or spoken), by creating something such as a drawing or PowerPoint presentation, or by doing or creating something that highlights the meaning of specific content. Now you have what I would call the “Seven Pillars of ELA Wisdom” upon which the Anchor Standards are built. From here on out I will use the terms “content” or “works of art” in place of “text.” PART I, Section 2: Anchor Standards – Arts Adapted The Anchor Standards are divided into three main parts: Reading = Study Works of Art, Writing = Create Works of Art, Speaking = Perform Works of Art & Listening = Be an Audience for Works of Art. Reading and Writing each have ten anchor standards, Speaking and Listening only six. Keep in mind that we find their genesis in the Cognitive Strategies. Let’s take Reading first.

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The Anchor Standards for Reading, or Studying a Work of Art, are subsequently broken down into three subheadings of three standards each with a fourth category that adds only one more. This last one, the tenth, only deals with complexity and independent study. Again, I will digest each down to its essence for you, through an arts lens. The first set of three standards deals with what an author/artist created (i.e. the content – work of art). The second set with the author/artist’s craft and what the author/artist meant or wanted to communicate to the audience. The third set is what the student should be able to do as a result of both. READING = STUDY A WORK OF ART KEY IDEAS AND DETAILS (Meaning: Reduce an understanding of content/work of art to what it is important and what is less so, but supportive of what is important.) 1. What does the content conveys explicitly and what you can infer from the work? Support the conclusions you reach from studying the content by backing them up with specific evidence from the content (The point of access to understanding this standard is the difference between “explicit” and “inference.” In this context, explicit does not mean inappropriate as in pornography, but means unambiguous, clear, with no room for interpretation as in an instructional manual and this distinction is important when reading what Common Core refers to as “informational text.” Texts from which you can draw inferences are not straightforward and reveal information indirectly in ways that requires the reader to figure it out and is found most prevalently in narrative texts.) 2. Separate main ideas (such as central ideas and themes) from key supporting details and analyze their development; summarize the supporting ideas and details in relation to the main idea. (Analyzing the development of main ideas and supporting details implies how the content is structured in order to trace those developments, then summarizing the content by separating what’s important to convey from what isn’t.) 3. Analyze why and how aspects of a work of art develop and interact with each other. (This comes directly from the fourth cognitive strategy, so just refer to my explanation of that on the previous page.) CRAFT AND STRUCTURE (This section refers to the author/artist’s craft and use of structure. Any crafted work of art, including texts, fits within a specific structure. The author/artist employs certain tools and devices within the framework of that structure.)

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4. Interpret content in order to determine meaning and analyze how that meaning is shaped by the artist’s choices in creating the work of art. (This standard requires familiarity with connotative and figurative devices including metaphor, simile, allegory, symbol and analogy; not just in literary forms. Notice the term “analyze” pops up again.) 5. Analyze the structural elements of content and how they relate to each other and create a whole work of art. (“Analyze” again! In a way, this standard is asking students to deconstruct content into its essential components in order to understand how the author/artist fashioned the content of the work.) 6. Assess how the author/artist’s intentions shape his or her work. (“Assess” is defined as providing the measurement of something, but this does not seem to be the understanding within the framework of Common Core. Assess in this context appears to be conceptually related to “make a determination.” Too bad the authors of Common Core did not use the most common definition of the word.) INTEGRATION OR KNOWLEDGE AND IDEAS (This section requires action on the part of the student; to do something as a result of the first six standards.) 7. Integrate and evaluate all types of content. (Directly from the fifth cognitive strategy. Content today in our hyper-connected world takes all sorts of forms, most of which are artistic in nature such as the Internet, due to the pervasiveness of technology. In a way, this is an expectation more familiar for today’s young people as they are far more plugged into media content than their elders.) 8. Examine the claims made in a work for validity and relevance. (I predict that the upcoming assessments will make much of this standard. It will be important for students to cite actual examples when they determine whether something the author/artist claims as fact is indeed true, can be verified or is logical given the circumstances or context.) 9. Take a single topic and analyze how two different authors/artists address it in their work. (There’s that “analyze” again! Perhaps those who drafted Common Core overuse this term. In any case, the more important concept in this standard is to compare and contrast as the way to analyze works created on the same theme or topic.) RANGE OF READING AND LEVEL OF TEXT COMPLEXITY (This one’s the outlier. Just means more, harder, and by oneself.) 10. Study and comprehend complex works of art independently and proficiently.

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Now let’s look at Writing (i.e. Creating works of art). There’s one thing to keep in mind – writing is a creative act! There is no such thing as noncreative writing. Furthermore, actual writing is done in your head, not with your fingers. Kids seem to think talking and writing are the use of two separate languages. In the early grades if we could get kids to write as well as they talk, we would think that’s quite an achievement. Matter of fact, when they do talk to each other, kids routinely use metaphor, figurative and connotative language; they just don’t realize it (e.g. “Whoa, that girl is hot!”). So, that should be the point of departure for each of the following standards – think first, create second, write down third, revise fourth. Again, these standards for writing/creating are divided into three sections: Types of writing/works of art, How to distribute it, and Increase the student’s ability as a writer/artist. As is my wont above, I have rewritten these standards in a more common sense style. WRITING = CREATE WORKS OF ART TYPES AND PURPOSES (Often kids create things, including when they write, in a form of stream-of-consciousness without regard as to why or for whom. Realizing that we devise ways to communicate that share common characteristics with an audience helps students to convey more effectively what they are trying to get across. This applies to the process of creation in all art forms. According to Common Core, the basic text types are narrative, informational, argumentative, and literary.) 1. Present arguments that effectively support what the writer/artist wants others to believe. (The emphasis here is for the artist to include what is factual, logical, and relevant in making the case for a specific claim the artist is making, sometimes in contrast to a counter argument made by someone else.) 2. Convey information in ways that complex ideas are conveyed clearly and accurately. (The key to this is how the content/work is organized; essential to providing clarity. The emphasis is on communicating factual information, not just your opinions.) 3. Create well-structured narratives. (There are many tried and true structures for creating narratives in various forms such as short stories, scripts, poetry, and novels. Familiarity with the structure of each improves the artist’s ability to relate a narrative effectively to his or her audience.) PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION OF WORKS OF ART (This distinction is often lost in that many artists feel that self-expression is the end goal of writing rather than meaningful communication to

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someone else. In this, Common Core most definitively falls on the side of effective communication which means creating something for a predetermined reaction in or response from the audience.) 4. Create an effective work of art with a specific audience in mind. (An artist’s work is affected by how that work is distributed and for whom the content is intended. In most cases, there is no one-size-fits-all style or form. What you want to communicate, why you want to communicate it, and to whom it will be distributed all play a part in how the artist fashions the content.) 5. Improve your craft. (This is nothing new. We have all told students, “First draft is not last draft.” This applies to any work of art as well. Common Core makes more of an issue between the intentions of the writer/artist and how well the artist uses the tools to communicate them. ) 6. Go beyond writing on paper by utilizing the capabilities of technology to disseminate content and increase collaboration with others who are at a far greater distance from the writer. (This standard suggests that writing is thought of as more than words on a paper surface, but can include aural forms, animation, and images as well. In other words, works of art. Indeed, the Internet itself is a visual and aural artistic medium that delivers information and narratives that serve as catalysts for interaction among many different cultures.) RESEARCH TO BUILD AND PRESENT KNOWLEDGE (Using the skills acquired from the Reading/Study section of the Anchor Standards, this part of the Writing/Creating section is more about acquiring additional content, then to use that increased information and knowledge to, in turn, produce more content based on what was acquired.) 7. Do research on a specific subject in order to demonstrate you have gained increased understanding of that subject. (“To demonstrate understanding,” referenced as the last cognitive strategy, means that once you have learned more about the subject as a result of research, the more effective you will be in communicating your thoughts about it.) 8. When gathering information, make sure the information is credible and accurate and give credit to your sources. (I believe this standard is in direct response to a concern that much of the content on the Internet is misleading at best and outright deception at worst. This standard encourages the student to distinguish truth from lies, opinions from facts, and hyperbole from logic.) 9. Provide evidence drawn from texts to support a particular contention stemming from research, analysis, or reflection. (In other words, prove it. “Support” in the Common Core context means to justify.)

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RANGE OF WRITING (Again, this refers to the range and amount done.) 10. Create works of art over extended time frames for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.

*** Finally we come to Speaking (Presenting) and Listening (Being an Audience). Think of this as the “performance” section. There are only six anchor standards in it. It should really be entitled Listening and Speaking because that is the way this set of standards is presented. The first three standards assume the student to be a receptive listener, both when collaborating with others and also when on the receiving end of someone else’s presentation. The second trio puts the student in the role of performer. COMPREHENSION AND COLLABORATION (This area deals with the sifting of ideas and information from a variety of inputs. Input from collaborators, diverse media, and from different perspectives on the part of speakers.) 1. Prepare and work together on a variety of artistic projects with diverse partners to collaboratively create effective content. (The main thrust of this standard is summed up in the word “diverse.” The standard encourages students to be open to the ideas and information offered by others in the formulation of original works of art.) 2. Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media. (A variation on #1 above. Instead of working with diverse partners, the focus is on diverse sources. “Media” by definition, are artistic sources.) 3. Evaluate the content of a speaker’s presentation. (Really a variation on #8 in the Writing/Creating section. Same principle – make judgments as to the validity of what you are hearing from the speaker/performer.) PRESENTATION OF KNOWLEDGE AND IDEAS (Now the student takes on the role of a speaker or presenter of content. Everything that was mentioned in the first three standards is now applied here.) 4. Present content in such a way that an audience can clearly understand it due to the craft with which the work of art is put together. (This is a follow on to #5 of the Writing/Creating anchor standards, except that the content is presented verbally rather than in writing. In both cases, the student is conveying information in the form of words, as in a performance).

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5. Make use of media and visual displays to enhance understanding by the audience. (The caution here is to realize that media and images are used to complement and enhance generative content, not supplant it.) 6. Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and audiences. (Key word – adapt. In order to adapt, one has to try and gain an understanding of the conditions and factors that will affect the ways in which you use words, expressions, and the organization of your presentation. Again, to go beyond self-expression by taking into account who it is you wish to affect with your presentation.

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So, there you have them. All 26 of the ELA Anchor Standards, of which you really have to be familiar with 24 of them. From here on out, all the grade level standards, K through 12, are merely variations on these 24 “themes” if you will, as in music. However. However…… Is it enough to simply understand the Anchor Standards? Not quite. Let’s move on to the importance of having kids comprehend the meaning certain “key terms” that are embedded throughout Common Core. PART II, Section 1: Critical Vocabulary of Common Core When I highlighted the verbs in the Cognitive Strategies, I was foreshadowing what might be the most important first step in having kids become proficient on Common Core aligned assessments and a critical factor in overall student achievement within the realm of English Language Arts, but also a serious consideration for arts education. A couple of years ago, as I was trying to figure out what David Coleman and his colleagues were driving at with Common Core, I noticed that certain words in the standards kept popping up all the time; in many instances, dozens of times. So, I highlighted all the verbs and nouns that were referenced the most, then counted up the number of times each term was cited throughout all 56 pages of the ELA standards. I thought of the verbs as “action terms,” i.e. what did they want students to do, and I called the nouns “target terms” or what would be done to what. Here is what I found:

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COMMON CORE “KEY TERMS” IN ORDER OF THE NUMBER OF TIMES REFERENCED (# of times) IN ALL 56 PAGES OF THE ELA STANDARDS

HIGH VALUE “ACTION” TERMS HIGH VALUE “TARGET” TERMS

Analyze (146) Text/Content (561) Support (140) Central/Main Idea (188) Develop (116) Meaning (178) Determine (89) Evidence (121) Demonstrate (86) Details (101) Draw (out) (65) Structure (64) Context (58)

SECONDARY “ACTION” TERMS SECONDARY “TARGET” TERMS

Explain (43) Story (46) Evaluate (40) Argument (43) Identify (38) Theme (39) Comprehend (38) Narrative (29) Contrast (35) Reference (29) Compare (31) Point of View (28)

THIRD LEVEL “ACTION” TERMS THIRD LEVEL “TARGET” TERMS

Describe (34) Explicit (27) Distinguish (30) Tone (25) Refer (29) Figurative Language (24) Recognize (28) Connotative Language (24)

I took my cue from the “tier” idea of vocabulary I mentioned in PART I, Section1. Now, it stands to reason that any assessment aligned with Common Core, whether it’s the PARCC, Smarter Balanced, or any other construction will have to be based on Common Core as the primary source. Of course! This means that when they ask kids to “do” something on the test, it follows that that doing must relate to, perforce, one of the verbs. The more often that verb is referenced it also follows the more important it is for kids to be able to employ it; likewise, the same for the nouns. To prove my theory, I dug down into the PARCC sample questions to look for the “key words” used in their formulation. Guess what - Same terms!!!

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Verbs Nouns Analyze Text Support Central/Main Idea Develop Meaning Determine Evidence Demonstrate Details Explain Structure Evaluate Context Identify Story Contrast Argument Compare Theme Infer Narrative Organize Explicit Cite Figurative Language Delineate Conclusion

Well, well, well. Seems some three-dozen or so words are pretty critical, yes? So I wondered, “How many of these terms do kids understand, or not?” Before I found out how important this kind of thinking was, I asked about one hundred high school kids I worked with to define about two dozen of these terms in their own words, plus some that were embedded in their existing ELA curriculum because I would think that if they don’t understand the conceptual basis of a given term, its meaning more than just a definition for it, how can they hope to adequately answer a test question based on it? I recalled a scene in the film The Blind Side where the protagonist Michael Oher fails a test. The character portrayed by Sandra Bullock discovers that Michael actually knows the content cold, but fails the test because his vocabulary is deficient. Without knowing the meaning of key words, he cannot answer the questions. Might this become the case with the upcoming Common Core assessments? Below are the terms included in an assessment I gave those kids on their definitions of Common Core critical terms.

PRE-ASSESSMENT OF COMMON CORE KEY TERMS

Below are listed critical terms associated with the Common Core State Cognitive Strategies, and Anchor Standards as well as some terms directly related to the ACT & English Language Arts. Students were asked to define these terms in their own words. During my presentation I will let you know what percentage of the kids correctly defined each term, as it applies to CCSS. Below is the dictionary definition of the term in italics followed by my own “common sense” definition in SMALL CAPS. The number of high school students (grades 9 & 10) who took part in this pre-assessment was one hundred.

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ANALYZE: “To break something down into its constituent parts or elements; determine the essential features of.” TAKE SOMETHING APART AND SEE HOW IT ALL FITS TOGETHER. CAN ALSO REFER TO

MEANING.

INTEGRATE: “To combine or complete to produce a whole or larger entity (as in structure). PUT

PIECES BACK TOGETHER AS IN A STRUCTURE.

STRUCTURE: “..the component parts of something (e.g. Story structure: The way in which characters, events, reactions, goals, attempts, and outcomes are organized together to create a cohesive plot.).” THE

COMBINATION OF ELEMENTS THAT ENABLE SOMETHING TO STAY TOGETHER AS A WHOLE.

INTERPRET: “To provide the meaning of; explain, explicate..” COME UP WITH YOUR OWN MEANING

FOR OR UNDERSTANDING OF SOMETHING.

EVALUATE: “To judge or determine the significance, worth or quality of.” E-VALUE-ate; TO MAKE A

VALUE JUDGMENT ABOUT HOW MUCH SOMETHING IS WORTH AS IN GOOD, BAD, EXCELLENT, POOR.

ASSESS: “To estimate or measure the value, worth or character, as in one’s efforts.” TO MEASURE HOW

FAR SOMETHING IS ACCOMPLISHED, AS WITH A PERCENTAGE (%)

DETERMINE: “To conclude or ascertain, as after reasoning, observation, etc. TO DECIDE ON

SOMETHING ONCE YOU HAVE CONSIDERED WHAT IT IS BY THINKING ABOUT IT.

DEVELOP: “To elaborate or expand in detail.” TO TAKE BASIC INFORMATION OR ELEMENTS OF

SOMETHING AND EXPAND ON IT WITH MORE DETAIL OR ADD MORE ELEMENTS

METAPHOR: “A comparative not using the words ‘like’ or ‘as.’” UNDERSTANDING ONE THING IN

TERMS OF ANOTHER.

THEME (literary): “A unifying idea or dominant idea.” THE “POINT” OF THE WORK, THE OVERALL

SUBJECT BEING ADDRESSED IN THE STORY OR ITS UNDERLYING MESSAGE/MEANING.

EXPLICIT: (Note: About 30% defined this as “inappropriate”) “Fully and clearly expressed or demonstrated, leaving nothing merely implied. VERY CLEAR, LEAVING NOTHING TO THE IMAGINATION. IT SAYS (SHOWS) WHAT IT MEANS AND MEANS (SHOWS) WHAT IT SAYS

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE: “Metaphorical in nature, not literal, involving a figure of speech.” LANGUAGE THAT IS NOT EXPLICIT, BUT SUBTLE AND NON-LITERAL.

REVISE: “To alter something already written in order to improve, make corrections or update.” MAKE

IT BETTER, IMPROVE ON IT.

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INFERENCE: “An educated guess based upon the evidence contained within a text.” TO FIGURE OUT

SOMETHING ELSE THAT MIGHT BE CONTAINED WITHIN WHAT OTHERWISE SEEMS OBVIOUS OR EXPLICIT.

ADAPT: “To make suitable to requirements or conditions; e.g. to adapt text for a different purpose or audience.” CHANGE SOMETHING SO THAT IT FITS OR WORKS BETTER GIVEN CERTAIN REQUIREMENTS OR

CONDITIONS.

CONNOTATIVE: “Signifying or suggesting a associative or secondary meaning to something else in addition to the primary meaning.” A WORD CAN HAVE MULTIPLE MEANINGS WITHOUT CHANGING ITS

SPELLING (E.G. THAT GIRL IS HOT).

NARRATIVE: “A story or account of events, whether true or fictitious.” TO RELATE A SERIES OF

EVENTS CONNECTED TO EACH OTHER.

PARAPHRASE: “A restatement of a statement or passage giving meaning in another form as for clarity.” SAY IT IN YOUR OWN WORDS.

WRITING/LITERARY STYLE: “Writing style is the manner in which an author chooses to write to his or her audience.” THE STYLE OF WRITING IS A REFLECTION OF HOW THE ARTIST USES LANGUAGE OR

THEIR CULTURAL CONTEXT TO CONNECT WITH THE AUDIENCE.

POINT OF VIEW: “Point of view is the way the author allows you to see and hear what's going on.” THROUGH WHOSE EYES IS THE NARRATIVE BEING DELIVERED (NOTE: PRONOUNS OFTEN GIVE YOU A HINT)

LITERARY TONE: “The tone of a literary work is the perspective or attitude that the author adopts with regards to a specific character, place or development.” WHAT THE AUTHOR THINKS OF THE

CHARACTER(S) OR THE SETTING AS REFLECTED IN HIS WRITING.

LITERARY MOOD: “The way the author wants the reader feels when reading a story.” THE AUTHOR

MANIPULATES THE READER’S EMOTIONS THROUGH THE WAY THE NARRATIVE IS WRITTEN.

DELINEATE: “To portray in words; describe or outline with precision.” TO POINT OUT THE

SIGNIFICANT ASPECTS OF SOMETHING.

SYNTAX: “The study of the rules for the formation of grammatical sentences in a language.” THE

PROPER WAY TO STRUCTURE SENTENCES.

SENSORY LANGUAGE: “Of or pertaining to the senses.” USING LANGUAGE THAT RELATES TO WHAT

YOU CAN SEE, SMELL, FEEL, TASTE, HEAR – YOUR SENSES.

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I have had this pre-assessment given to other groups of students in other cities, but the averages I’ll share with you during my presentation remained the same. By way of comparison, I also had a group of about 80 teachers provide their own definitions for a shorter list of terms drawn from Common Core: ANALYZE INFER INTERPRET MAIN IDEA THEME EXPLICIT ORGANIZE SUMMARIZE METAPHOR CONCLUSION During my sessions I’ll let you know how that turned out. The conclusion one will draw is that both teachers and students have to understand the meanings of these critical terms in order to meet the expectations set by Common Core and measured by the standardized assessments coming out in the spring of 2015. Here is a little bit of intriguing information I recently came across that raises the stakes even higher. According to Marilee Sprenger and Donna Walker Tileston, authors of numerous books on children’s brain and literacy development, “Researchers estimate 85% of achievement on standardized tests are based on the vocabulary of the Common Core Standards.” Hmmm, it seems to me that we should begin here. Because the signal difference between Common Core and what went before is that the Common Core paradigm requires kids to think about what something means more than identifying what it says. In the past, students were often asked to simply recognize various components of a literary passage, similar to having a kid read something out loud. However, we have all had the experience of a student sounding out words with no real comprehension of their meanings. Perhaps they might even be able to define a word, but not really understanding what that definition means. Perhaps there is a silver lining in all this. If what those researchers say is true, as stated in the previous paragraph, this is why I say that perhaps dealing with Common Core may not be easy, but is essentially simple. Plus the possibility that understanding what is essentially Tier II

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vocabulary words will help kids overall, regardless of subject matter. I hasten to add as well that it is the intent of Common Core that ELA standards are applied throughout all aspects of the academic curriculum. Many of the questions on the math assessments, for example, will be word problems requiring an ability to read and delineate key details from text. Ms. Spenger went even further with these critical terms of Common Core by assigning each term to the grade level where it should be introduced as part of students’ vocabulary. But we don’t have the full thirteen years to have kids become conversant with these terms in time for the PARCC and Smarter Balanced tests. I think it’s important to deal with as many of these terms as you can based upon the frequency with how many times they show up in the standards. All of the purveyors of Common Core stress that in order to teach through Common Core you don’t start with content, you start with a standard when constructing your lesson plan. I would back up one step – make sure the kids understand the meanings of the key terms within the standards. Part of what I am currently doing with schools and teachers is to work together to devise several forms of remediation that quickly get students up to speed and able to apply such understanding within the ELA context by teaching key terms’ critical concepts through an arts lens. PART II, Section 2: Reduction of Concepts For this section, let me match the critical “action” terms (verbs) with what Common Core determined to be their “targets” (nouns/direct objects) as listed in the standards. In a way, this is a summary of most of what Common Core wants the student to do to what. ANALYZE what? (Definition: To break content down into its constituent parts or essential features and examine them) Development (e.g. of ideas) Influences How elements develop over time Cultural experience Specific choices and their impact Interpretations Structure Source material Themes, central ideas, and topics Interactions How visual elements contribute to meaning Connections Point of view (e.g. of characters or author) Key details How elements interact Purpose Differences Events Results

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SUPPORT what? (Definition: To hold up, justify) Conclusions Claims Points Analysis Main idea (by using key details) Opinions Comprehension Point of view Purpose Reasons (e.g. with facts and details) Reflection Evidence Argument Information Explanation DEVELOP what? (Definition: Add to, expand, elaborate; add details) Central ideas and themes Ideas Narrative Experiences and events Claims Topic (with facts) Individuals (i.e. characters) Plot Point of view Elements of a story Concept Understanding DETERMINE what? (Definition: To decide or conclude through reasoning or observation) Explicit text Inferences Central ideas and themes Meaning (e.g. of words) Purpose Point of view What is required Meaning of symbols DEMONSTRATE UNDERSTANDING of what? (Definition: To describe, explain, display or illustrate through examples) Key details Message, idea, or theme Character Setting Plot Text Explicit information Inferences Key events Organization Structure Figurative language Differing perspectives Topic EVALUATE what? (Definition: To make a judgment, to set a value on) Content Argument Claims Information Validity Relevance Point of view Advantages and disadvantages Effectiveness Reasoning Motives Evidence Explanations Conclusions COMPARE AND CONTRAST what? (Definition: Examine in order to note likenesses between two things or what they have in common / Examine in order to note significant differences between two or more things) Similar stories Versions Two or more of the same element Point of view Themes Settings Plots Treatment Important points Structure

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Key details Experience of Genres of the same story Factual and fictional events One creator (e.g. author) to another Topic Information EXPLAIN what or how? (Definition: To make clear or understandable; make plain) Differences What is explicit Inferences How key details are used Characters’ actions Elements fit together How images contribute and clarify Ideas Relationships Context Use of reasons and evidence Topic How claims are supported Meaning How elements are developed From an analysis of key concepts, the dominant “target terms” seem to be: CENTRAL IDEA – Similar to theme, but this term generally refers to non-fictional or informational texts. In fiction, it is the author’s comment, usually implied, on the subject of his or her story, in other words, a theme.

MEANING – What is intended to be, or is, expressed or indicated; significance of.

THEME - A unifying or dominant idea or motif; message or moral.

TOPIC – The focus of discussion or of a text. “Subject” would be slightly different in that it would be the focus of examination or explanation.

KEY DETAILS – The most important points that support or combine to complete or make up the main idea.

STRUCTURE – The combination of essential elements of something. The relationship or organization of component parts.

ELEMENTS – Components within a structure.

POINT OF VIEW - From whose vantage point is the story told or how they see things.

IDEA - Any conception existing in the mind as a result of mental understanding, awareness, or activity. Something you think up.

CLAIMS – An assertion that someone presents as fact or as true.

EXPLICIT - Clear, leaving no room for interpretation, leaving nothing merely implied.

INFERENCE – Derived by reasoning, concluded from context or evidence.

EVIDENCE – Facts or examples that can be directly referred to.

PURPOSE – Reason for, motivation, desired end result. As an exercise, you could choose a standard, separate out the action term and the target term. Then create what I call the “Common Core Equation” by putting those two words together and add the content you choose. When I conduct workshops on this process, we go through exercises

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using arts-based hypothetical examples modeled on the PARCC assessment formats (of which there seems to be, at present, only four). In summary, Common Core’s goal of “less is more” is illustrated by the use of a limited number of cognitive constructs embodied by a select number of what I call “key terms.” If kids understand the meanings of these words and are able to employ the “habits of mind” developed through them, they will be able to transfer those capabilities in a variety of learning domains. Indeed, in their day-to-day lives as they grow up. It is my belief that arts education can contribute significantly to overall student achievement in this era of Common Core because these ELA standards are, in reality, ARTS standards! Furthermore, these “habits of mind” can be taught through artistic practice while still teaching the arts. Cordially, Bruce D. Taylor www.brucedtaylor.com / brutay@mac.com