English Language Arts
Spring – Phase 2

Common Core State Standards Initiative
◦
◦
◦
◦

State-led
College and Career Ready
Adopted in 2010 by California
Research based
Next Generation Assessments
◦ Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC)
◦ 2014-2015

Overview of English Language Arts
◦ Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening, Language
◦ Anchor standards match grade specific standards

Every K-5 LBUSD classroom teacher will
◦ Be able to explain the 3 Common Core Instructional
Shifts for English Language Arts
◦ Bring more informational text into English
Language Arts
◦ Ask text-dependent questions
English Language Arts/Literacy
#1 Building knowledge through content-rich
nonfiction and informational text
◦ 80% of required reading in college and the
workplace is informational or non-fiction
◦ Harder for students to comprehend
◦ Students are asked to read very little informational
texts in lower grades
◦ Common Core calls for 50% Narrative and 50%
Informational at K-5
#2 Reading and writing grounded in evidence
from text
◦ Most college and workplace writing is evidence
based
◦ Reunite reading and writing
◦ Students should write about what they read, moving
away from decontextualized prompts
◦ Text should be at the center of learning
◦ Students need to be able to “read like a detective
and write like a reporter”
#3 Regular practice with complex text and its
academic vocabulary
◦ Complexity in text at K-12 has eroded
 Length of sentences in K-8 textbooks have gone from
20-14
 Vocabulary demands have declined
◦ Complexity of college and career text has remained
steady or increased
◦ What is complex text?
 Author’s tone, word choice, and intent is highly
sophisticated
 Unconventional text structures
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.
VIII.
IX.
Foundational Skills
Read Aloud K-2
Fluency
Academic Language
Learning from Text Independently
Word Study
Volume of Student Reading
Evidence-Based Writing
Close Analytical Reading


Brainstorm the classroom practices,
resources, and challenges/opportunities for
grades 2-3 for your shift
Share out

Where do we find it?
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦
Social Studies Text
Science Text
Health Text
Read Alouds
Open Court Leveled Classroom Libraries
Teacher collections
Instructional leveled books
Other?




Read the handout on text-dependent
questions
What are text dependent questions?
Why are text dependent questions important?
What do answering text dependent questions
lead to?



Read the questions from Lesson 2, “Electric
Circuits” found in the margins of the Grade 4
Science Teacher’s Edition
Determine if these questions can only be
answered by referring explicitly back to the
text in front of them
Which of the questions are text dependent?






What in the text makes you say that?
Where did you find your answer?
Can anyone find the sentence that tells us
that and reread it for the class?
Is that correct? Let’s look back and see if we
can find where it tells us that.
Reread page ___ to find the answer.
Prove it

Using your science or social studies TE:
◦ Select a lesson you will be teaching
◦ Go through the questions in the margin to
determine whether or not they are text dependent
◦ Create additional text dependent questions to go
with that portion of the text
◦ Practice following up the question with ways to get
students back into the text
Questions
Comments
Concerns

Every K-5 LBUSD classroom teacher will
◦ Be able to explain the 3 Common Core Instructional
Shifts for English Language Arts
◦ Bring more informational text into English
Language Arts
◦ Ask text-dependent questions