Navigating
Common Core and
NGSS
Judi Kusnick
MASE Center and Geology Dept.
Sacramento State University
kusnickje@csus.edu
Why is Common Core my business?
You are here.
But more importantly…
• Under Common Core, literacy is
EVERYBODY’s business.
• Common Core is not the same old same old –
it’s a different kind of standards.
• Let’s take a look at some really interesting stuff
buried in the front matter of the standards.
I should have started here.
I started here.
Let’s look at a few things together
1. Find two partners to share reading
with.
2. For each set of readings, divide up
the page between the three of you
3. Read your sections
4. Summarize your sections for your
partners.
Key Design Considerations:
What does your group think are the
most important key design
considerations?
Key Design Considerations:
Key Design Considerations:
• A focus on results rather than means
• An integrated model of literacy
• Shared responsibility for students’
literacy development
What are students supposed to read
and write (next page)?
• Look at the charts on this page.
• What shifts do you see in what kind of
reading students will be doing, and what
kind of writing?
What are students supposed to read
and write (next page)?
• BIG shift from literary reading to
informational texts in later grades.
• BIG shift from experiential writing to
expository writing in later grades.
• That can’t happen unless the science &
social studies teachers are part of the
program.
What is NOT in the standards?
• Read your section and pick out one key sentence
that you think is most important.
• Share that sentence with your partners.
What is NOT in the standards?
• “The Standards define what all students are
expected to know and be able to do, not how
teachers should teach.”
• “While the Standards focus on what is most
essential, they do not describe all that can or
should be taught.”
• So here’s a new idea – standards as a floor, not
a ceiling; as guidance, not dictation.
The BIGGEST Common Core shift
• The Common Core is not a laundry list of what
teachers are supposed to teach.
• (By the way, neither is the Next Generation
Science Standards)
• It is a vision of an educated, literate citizen,
and a map of how to help students achieve that
vision.
So what does an educated, literate
citizen look like?
• Next page!
• They demonstrate independence.
• They build strong content knowledge.
• They respond to the varying demands of audience, task,
purpose, and discipline.
• They comprehend as well as critique.
• They value evidence.
• They use technology and digital media strategically and
capably.
• They come to understand other perspectives and cultures.
So what does an educated, literate
citizen look like?
• Each member of your group will share which items in that list
resonate most with them.
How are the standards structured?
• All of the standards are based on a few sets of
Anchor Standards.
• I gave you the Anchor Standards for grades 6-12,
but it doesn’t matter – the anchor standards are
identical for ALL grade levels.
• The standards for each grade band describe the
developmental progress toward that those
Anchor Standards.
Now let’s look at the essence of the Next
Generation Science Standards
NGSS has three big differences from the previous
standards:
1.An emphasis on scientific and engineering
practices rather than learning science as “facts”
2.Assessment goals are included as Performance
Expectations
3.Cross-cutting themes are identified
Asking Questions
& Defining
Problems
Using
Mathematics &
Computational
Thinking
Developing &
Using Models
Engaging in
Argument from
Evidence
Planning &
Carrying out
Investigations
Constructing
Explanations &
Designing
Solutions
Analyzing and
Interpreting Data
Obtaining,
Evaluating, &
Communicating
Information
The Science
and
Engineering
Practices
Now let’s do some science
What’s our goal here?
 Provide an example of a science lesson with
literacy and dialogue strategies integrated
throughout.
 Provide a model of engaging science and a
sample of teacher talk that encourages student
engagement.
 Give you some ideas for inserting strategies that
address Common Core standards (S&L, R, W)
and engaging science strategies into your lessons.
What I’m NOT trying to do:
• Teach you science content for your specific
grade level.
• Provide a packaged lesson for every grade level.
• Dictate to you how to teach.
• I just want to enlarge your toolbox for teaching.
Rules of Engagement
 Be considerate and respectful in language and tone.
 Make sure everyone has a chance to express their
ideas.
 Begin speaking by paraphrasing what the last
speaker said, then transition to your comments.
 Try not to steal anyone’s “Aha!” moment by telling
them your answers—instead, ask questions that will
help guide the person to these ideas.
Let’s try it.
• Groups of 4 people.
• Read the Doogie & Kyle scenario
• Think silently about their ideas. Who do you
agree with more?
Time to process
 We’ll use a Structured Think Pair Share protocol
 Draw a chart like this:
THINK
Your ideas go here.
PAIR
Listen to your partner
and record their ideas
here.
SHARE
Talk with your partner to come to some common
understanding, and write your joint ideas here.
Preassessment: Agree/Disagree
• Find your Thinking About Electricity handout.
• Read each statement. Mark agree, disagree, it
depends or not sure.
• Then write a short sentence about your thinking.
• Do all three statements without discussion.
Paraphrase Passport
• First person talks for one minute.
• Next person paraphrases, then talks about their
own idea.
• Continue around the circle (paraphrase ONLY the
person before you, NOT the whole circle)
• When it comes back to the first person, she
paraphrases the last person.
Reactions to paraphrasing?
Reactions to A&D?
Now let’s investigate
• Batteries and Bulbs handout
• First, assign roles in the group of 4.
− Recorder/Reporter
− Questioner
− Materials Manager/Resource Monitor
− Facilitator/Encourager
• Explicit roles increase participation and equity.
Ready to explore!
 Your group will get two bags, one per pair. Please
do not pool the two bags for the whole group yet.
Each bag has:
◦ 2 batteries
◦ 2 holiday lights
◦ 1 piece of wire
 Your job: figure out what the rules are in lighting up
the light bulbs.
 You have 10 minutes to work.
 Record the rules on your whiteboard.
Remember…
• Resource Monitor/ Materials Manager gets the stuff
and tidies up.
• Recorder/Reporter (or their designee) writes your
rules on the whiteboard and reports for the group (or
designates someone)
• Facilitator makes sure everyone gets to handle the
materials, and that everyone is contributing.
• Questioner asks the group questions to keep the
inquiry on track.
What rules did we find?
Wire on each side of battery (+ and -)
More bulbs for one battery, dimmer the light
when the lights are in a string
More batteries, lights get brighter
Can have a wire between the batteries
Wire can go between light and battery
Different lights might be brighter
Wires must be connected in loop
The more wire added, dimmer the lights got
When two lights are next to each other on a
bettery, they are both bright
Now you get to ask the question
• Think about the Doogie & Kyle problem:
− One string of lights was plugged in but no bulbs lit
up.
− One string had all the bulbs but one lit up.
− Kyle thought a broken bulb made the whole string
not light up
− Doogie thought the electricity in the dark string had
gotten used up.
Ask a question that will help us solve
this problem
 You can use the materials you have plus:
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦
More bulbs
More batteries
Different sizes of batteries
Extra wire
???? Whatever we can scrounge
 On half your whiteboard, write your question
and draw the experiment you plan to run. Show
it to us to get your new stuff.
As you experiment…
• Record your observations on the other half of
the board.
• Write a first-draft explanation of what you think
is happening.
• Remember, everyone gets to use the materials
and contribute ideas.
• You have 10 minutes to play.
What can we add to our rules now?
Now let’s do some reading
 Find your text on series and parallel circuits.
 Feel free to use the highlighters as your read.
 Look for answers to these questions:
◦ How are the wires arranged in each kind of circuit?
◦ Does the electricity travel all on the same path or on
different paths?
◦ What happens if a light bulb in the circuit burns out?
Now let’s process the reading
• In your group, use the graphic organizer to sort
out these ideas:
− Things that are true of just series circuits
− Things that are true of just parallel circuits
− Things that are true of both kinds of circuits
Did you already make each kind of
circuit?
• In your group make one series circuit with more
than one light bulb.
• In your group, make one set of parallel circuits
with more than one light bulb.
• Are all the rules the same for both kinds of
circuits?
Now we’re ready to school Doogie
and Kyle
• Write a letter to Doogie and Kyle solving their
problem with the holiday lights.
• Use the graphic organizer to build your
arguments.
• We’re not going to write the final letter – just
talk it through in your group.
Science Literacy Framework
• Four elements:
− Engaging Science
− Purposeful Reading
− Productive Dialogue
− Meaningful Writing
• All the elements interact and are interconnected.
• Strategic thinking throughout – all the elements
advance the learning goals.
Engaging Science:
• Involves students in sense-making
• Opportunities to figure something out
• Applying ideas in a new context
• Involves students in the eight Science and
Engineering Practices of the Next Generation
Science Standards
Purposeful Reading:
• Students making sense of text that strategically
supports the learning.
• Text has sufficient scaffolds for students.
• Students using text as evidence to support
claims.
• Using a variety of text.
Productive Dialogue
• Students using talk to support sense-making and
scientific reasoning.
• Students might be making sense of a science
experience, prior knowledge, or text.
• Dialogue is structured and scaffolded.
• Students are accountable for a talk task – there is
an expected product.
Meaningful writing
• Using writing to organize thinking.
• Constructing arguments:
− Claim
− Explanation
− Evidence
• Taking a stance.
• Both writing-to-learn and formal writing.
Deconstructing the Lesson
Engaging
Science
Productive
Dialogue
Purposeful
Reading
Meaningful
Writing
Context in real life
problem
Roles
Anticipatory set
(A&D) to activate
prior knowledge
Rules of
engagement
Guiding questions
Persuasive writing
Guided inquiry
(student-centered
discourse)
Structured
Think-Pair-Share
Informational text
Arguments with
evidence
I do one, you do
one
Paraphrase
Passport
Text-based
evidence
Writing to learn as
well as formal
writing
Graphic Organizer Graphic Organizer
Now let’s think about this lesson and
NGSS
• Find your Practices handout.
• Which of the practices did you do in this lesson?
Let’s go back and think about each of
these areas:
• Reading
• Writing
• Speaking & Listening
− These standards are not explicitly in the Literacy for
Science & Technical Subjects standards, but kids need
to have good S&L skills to do science well – so we
will also pay attention to them.
Let’s just note a few things about
reading
• Reading requires prior knowledge. So think
about reading as a follow-up or adjunct to
science activity, not as a lead-in or replacement
for science experiences.
• Reading works best as a social sense-making
activity.
• Reading should be:
− Purposeful
− Scaffolded
− Integral to the overall learning experience
We’ll try a reading activity
• Find your Gold Rush text and the Text
Dependent Questions handout.
• Read p. 241 using the Summary Protocol:
− Everyone reads the first paragraph silently.
− The first person leads the group in summarizing that
paragraph in one sentence.
− Read the next paragraph silently.
− The next person leads the summary discussion.
− Continue to the end of the page.
− The product should be a written summary that the
group has agreed upon.
Now the text-dependent questions
• As a group, answer the first four questions
(Remembering, Understanding, Applying and
Analyzing).
• Use the Summary Protocol to read p. 255.
• As a group, answer the last question (Evaluating).
Use the Talking Stick Protocol:
− Everyone puts a pen in the middle of the table.
− To talk, pick up your pen, talk, and put your pen in front
of you.
− No one talks for a second time until all the pens have
been picked up.
− Then you can have an unstructured discussion.
Now you try it.
• Choose a passage in your text.
• Construct a set of text-dependent questions that
uses that text. Try to create at least three
questions at different levels of Blooms.
• Lower grades: text-dependent questions can also
be written for read-alouds.
Let’s use a very simple framework for
writing:
• Writing to learn
− Sense-making, working at higher cognitive levels
− Practicing vocabulary in authentic context
− Emphasis is on the CONTENT, not the form
• Formal writing
− Paragraphs to essays to research projects
− A variety of genres
− Emphasis on BOTH content and form
− Offers penalty-free opportunities for revision.
Let’s look at some writing-to-learn
activities
• Agree/Disagree
• Odd One Out
• Challenge Statement
Writing-to-Learn can be used:
• As preassessment or activating prior knowledge
at the beginning of a unit
• As an anticipation guide for a reading assignment
• As a formative assessment during an activity
• As a review activity
• And probably in many other ways
Now you try it
• Write either an Agree/Disagree or an Odd One
Out
• Choose a unit you will be teaching soon, or a
piece of text that you want to use.
• Figure out what are the most important ideas
you want to elicit
• Write the A/D or OOO around those ideas.
Structuring formal writing:
Communication Triangle
• In the real world, every piece of expository
writing has:
− Author with a real-life role
− Audience with a real-life need
− Format for delivering the information
• Think about these kinds of writing and identify
the role of the writer, the need of the audience,
and the format:
− Morning newspaper
− Environmental Impact Report
− Text message on your phone
Now you try it
• Design a writing assignment using the
Communication Triangle. You can use the Gold
Rush text or a piece of text from your textbook.
Remember to designate:
− Author’s role
− Audience’s need
− Format
Speaking and Listening
• We have been using dialogue protocols all
through today’s work.
• Dialogue protocols help structure student talk
and teach students to be better listeners as well
as speakers.
• You haven’t really learned science until you can
talk science
• You have a Dialogue Toolkit to help you plan
student talk.
The set-up
You are the new director of NASA’s planetary
geology division. One of the fundamental
questions in front of you is this:
Are Earth processes happening on other planets?
We know the Earth has plate tectonics – that the
surface is broken into chunks that move around
and do interesting things. Is this true on other
planets?
The mission to Venus
You will be authorizing a mission to Venus in the
near future. You will spend billions to send a
probe to Venus to collect some data to address this
question. Your task is to think about the existing
evidence, and then to decide where you want to
place the probe to acquire more useful evidence.
Then you must make a recommendation to the
President.
First we have to think about Earth
• Here’s a map of the topography of Earth. You
have a chart (Plates Graphic Organizer) to help
you consider the patterns you see in the
topography:
− Many or few ocean basins?
− What is the shape of the floor of the ocean basins?
Deep in the middle? Deep at the edges?
− What is the distribution of the mountains on land?
Scattered fairly randomly? Organized somehow?
There is no water on this map!
It shows the topography of the rocky (or icy) surface of the Earth.
Dark blue = low; red = high
Now let’s relate the patterns to what we
know about plate tectonics
• You have a handout called Plate Boundaries.
• Read through #1, diverging boundaries.
• With a partner, figure out if any of the patterns you
saw are associated with diverging boundaries
• Record your thinking on your graphic organizer
(Relating Earth Patterns to Plate Tectonics).
• Read about converging boundaries, then repeat the
partner discussion.
Time to look at Venus
• Find your patterns chart.
• Same questions as for Earth:
− Many or few “ocean” basins?
− What is the shape of the floor of the “ocean” basins?
Deep in the middle? Deep at the edges?
− What is the distribution of the mountains on “land”?
Scattered fairly randomly? Organized somehow?
Similar scale as before:
Dark blue = low, Red (white) = high
Visible lines are cracks/faults
Now it’s time to decide
• Does Venus have plate tectonics?
• Use the Claim/Explanation/Evidence chart to
organize your thinking (Does Venus Have Plate
Tectonics?
• You might have only one or two explanations or
lines of evidence for each claim – that’s fine. I
gave you three places to put your thinking in case
you needed that many places.
Back to your original charge:
• You will be authorizing a mission to Venus in
the near future. You will spend billions to send a
probe to Venus to collect some data to address
this question. Your task is to think about the
existing evidence, and then to decide where you
want to place the probe to acquire more useful
evidence.
Write a recommendation to the President
• It must include:
• An opinion on whether the evidence says Venus
has plate tectonics:
− Claims and evidence from graphic organizer
• Where you want to place the probe and why
− What prediction are you testing by placing the probe
there?
− What do you expect to find?
BTW this models the CCSS
assessment
• Smarter Balanced Assessment includes a
performance assessment based in either science
of social studies
• Performance assessment sets a scenario, asks
students to gather information from text and
organize, then write a report or take a position.
11th grade
practice ELA
performance
assessment
Take home message
• CCSS are really your friend.
• Remember that reading and writing are sensemaking activities, just like reasoning in science.
• We can harness those activities to deepen
students’ science understanding AND help them
be more prepared for the future.