Welcome to the Educator
Enhancement Academy
English Language Arts and
Literacy
Grades 6-8
We are glad you are here!
Day 2
Discussion of Day 2
Parking Lot Questions
http://wvde.state.wv.us/smarter-balanced/
http://www.smarterbalanced.org
http://www.smarterbalanced.org >Smarter Balanced Assessments
ELA Claims
Claim #1 – Reading
“Students can read closely and analytically to comprehend a range
of increasingly complex literary and informational texts.”
Claim #2 – Writing
“Students can produce effective and well-grounded writing for a
range of purposes and audiences.”
Claim #3 – Speaking and Listening
“Students can employ effective speaking and listening skills for a
range of purposes and audiences.”
Claim #4 – Research/Inquiry
“Students can engage in research and inquiry to investigate topics,
and to analyze, integrate, and present information.”
ELA Claims
Overall Claim for Grades 3–8
“Students can demonstrate progress toward college and
career readiness in English language arts and literacy.”
Overall Claim for Grade 11
“Students can demonstrate college and career readiness
in English language arts and literacy.”
Taking a Look at Sample Items
http://sampleitems.smarterbalanced.o
rg/itempreview/sbac/ELA.htm
WESTEST vs. Smarter Balanced
• Let’s look at some differences that we should
expect in the future.
• How can techSteps skills help with the
Smarter Balanced test.
Common Core in Use
The Old Man and the Sea
Analogy/Allusions Video
After Researching Sample Task
Task:
After researching ______________(informational
texts) on _____________ (content), write
___________(essay or substitute) that argues your
position on _____________(content). Be sure to
acknowledge competing views. Give examples
from past or current events or issues to illustrate
and clarify your position. (Argumentation/Analysis)
After Researching Sample Task
Task:
After researching informational and biographical
texts on the legacy of Henry Ford and the Wright
brothers, write an essay that argues your position
on which of these inventors had the most impact on
modern American society. Be sure to acknowledge
competing views. Give examples from past or
current events or issues to illustrate and clarify your
position.
Additional templates can be found at
http://www.literacydesigncollaborative.org/
Creating Text-Dependent
Questions
Step One: Identify the core understandings and key ideas of
the text.
Step Two: Start small to build confidence.
Step Three: Target vocabulary and text structure.
Step Four: Tackle tough sections head-on.
Step Five: Create coherent sequences of text-dependent
questions.
Step Six: Identify the standards that are being addressed.
Step Seven: Create the culminating assessment.
13
Three Types of Text-Dependent
Questions
When you're writing or reviewing a set of questions,
consider the following three categories:
•
•
•
14
Questions that assess themes and central ideas
Questions that assess knowledge of vocabulary
Questions that assess syntax and structure
Structure and Text-Dependent
Questions
•
15
Text-dependent questions can be crafted to
point students’ attention to features of text
that enhance understanding (such as how
section headers and captions lead to greater
clarity or provide hints regarding what is most
important in informational text, or how
illustrations add to a narrative).
Structure and Text Dependent
Questions
Examples:
•
“Look at the illustrations on page 31. Why did the illustrator
include details like the power outlets in the walls?”
•
“Dillard is careful to place opposing descriptions of the
natural and man-made side-by-side. How does this
juxtaposition fit with or challenge what we have already read?
Why might she have chosen this point in the text for these
descriptions?”
16
Reading Strategies and TextDependent Questions
• Text-dependent questions generally call on
students to employ reading strategies.
• Strategies are no longer taught in isolation.
• The text and readers’ need to comprehend it
should determine what strategies are
activated - not the other way around.
17
Syntax and Text Dependent Questions
•
Syntax can predict student performance as much as
vocabulary does.
•
Questions and tasks addressing syntax are powerful.
Example:
Who are the members of the wolf pack? How many
wolves are in the pack? To answer this, pay close
attention to the use of commas and semi-colons in the
last paragraph on pg. 377. The semi-colons separate
or list each member in the pack.
18
The Surprise Party
by Katharine Brush
They were a couple in their late thirties, and they looked unmistakably married. They sat on
the banquette opposite us in a little narrow restaurant, having dinner. The man had a round, selfsatisfied face, with glasses on it; the woman was fadingly pretty, in a big hat. There was nothing
conspicuous about them, nothing particularly noticeable, until the end of their meal, when it
suddenly became obvious that this was an Occasion—in fact, the husband’s birthday, and the
wife had planned a little surprise for him.
It arrived, in the form of a small but glossy birthday cake, with one pink candle burning in
the center. The headwaiter brought it in and placed it before the husband, and meanwhile the
violin-and-piano orchestra played “Happy Birthday to You,” and the wife beamed with shy pride
over her little surprise, and such few people as there were in the restaurant tried to help out with
a pattering of applause. It became clear at once that help was needed, because the husband was
not pleased. Instead, he was hotly embarrassed, and indignant at his wife for embarrassing him.
You looked at him and you saw this and you thought, “Oh, now, don’t be like that!” But he
was like that, and as soon as the little cake had been deposited on the table, and the orchestra
had finished the birthday piece, and the general attention had shifted from the man and the
woman, I saw him say something to her under his breath—some punishing thing, quick and curt
and unkind. I couldn’t bear to look at the woman then, so I stared at my plate and waited for
quite a long time. Not long enough, though. She was still crying when I finally glanced over there
again. Crying quietly and heartbrokenly and hopelessly, all to herself, under the gay big brim of
her best hat.
Lunch
Questions?
Strategies to Use
• Book Pass
• Read Aloud/SSR
– Readicide Kelly Gallagher
• WVDE Unit Plans
Split into Grade Levels
• Look at individual novel or short story brought
– Research 3 nonfiction tie-in texts
– 3 Text Dependent Questions (slide 14)
– Sample Performance Task
– Speaking/Listening Activity
• Best Practice Handout
• School county time