Highlights from The Path to College and Careers: What Prospective Educators Need to Know about the Common

Core 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 standardsthe 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 authors 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 ones 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 studentstheir 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 dont 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