Collaboration &
the Common Core:
Day Four
Whittier City School District
Summer 2013
Think-Write-Pair-Share
• Answer the following question in writing. In
reflecting on this question, do not limit yourself to
thinking about experiences in school. Consider the
totality of your life experience.
– Thinking back over your whole life, what
were the two or three most significant
learning experiences you ever had? That
is, list the moments (or events) in which
you discovered something of lasting
significance to your life.
Think-Write-Pair-Share
• Did it take place in a classroom?
• Did it take place in a school?
• Was a professional teacher or teacher-like figure
(coach, counselor, etc) instrumental in making
the learning experience?
• If you answered “yes” to question 3, what
did the teacher do to help you learn?
• What factors were instrumental in bringing about
the learning? (Consider your behaviors to be able
to accomplish this task, as well as the experience
that brought about the learning).
Characteristics of Good Teaching
• Teacher acts as a facilitator, actively listens to
his/her students, asks probing questions and
learns from what the student contributes to the
conversation
• Listening to students vs. speaking/lecturing
• Teacher is a part of the inquiry as well
• Learner feels awakened and invigorated about
the learning
“Good teaching is the creating of
those circumstances that lead to
significant learning in others.”
--- Donald Finkel
Objectives
• Revisit ELA Capacities/Habits of
Mind
• Explore and Discuss Learning &
Classroom Environment Shifts
• Examine SBAC Performance
Task
GRIT
• Angela Duckworth GRIT
STOP AND JOT
Turn and talk
– What is grit?
– What are some strategies for getting
our kids to be “gritty”?
Revisiting our WCSD Graduate
Literacy Capacities “Habits of
Mind”
“Habits of mind” in tandem with the
academic content standards intentionally
focus, deepen, differentiate, and
accelerate learning by empowering
students to develop 21st century
competencies.
ELA Capacities of a Literate
Individual
• 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.
In ALL Classrooms.....
• These ELA capacities represent the
behaviors or dispositions that students
exhibit during the learning process
• Therefore, we all need to explicitly
teach and provide students with
opportunities to practice the HABITS
OF MIND.
Exploring the Habits of Mind
• Review the ELA capacities on pg. v
• Underline/Highlight important words or phrases
that describe student behaviors (on your own).
• As a team, reflect and discuss the behaviors
that a student with these capacities might
display.
• Chart these behaviors on the left side your Tchart
Habits of Mind
Behaviors
–
Students are
independently having
conversations about a
book and pushing each
other to cite evidence
Exploring the Instructional Strategies to
Engage Students in the CCSS
Habits of Mind
• Review the Instructional Strategies to
Engage Students in the CCSS Habits
of Mind
STOP & JOT
• How can these strategies support the
development of the habits of mind?
Exploring the Instructional Strategies to
Engage Students in the CCSS
Habits of Mind
• In working with the sequence
remember that the strategies
are cumulative; each prior
strategy supports the next
one. This then creates a shift
form engagement to
empowerment.
Accountable Talk
Read pgs.139 – 142
– if you finish early you can
continue to read 
STOP AND JOT &
Turn and Talk
– What is my current
practice with
accountable talk?
Watch Accountable Talk in Action!
• Bugs bugs accountable talk
STOP AND JOT
What new ideas did I get from the reading &
video to implement next year?
Accountable Talk 4th – 8th
STOP AND JOT
– What is my current
practice with
accountable talk?
– What new ideas did I
get from reading this
section and watching
this video to implement
next year?
Building Capacity
• Think about which capacities are most evident in
your instructional practice at this point.
• What is it you do to elicit these behaviors in
your students?
• Now think about which capacities you would like
to focus on helping students develop in your
classroom next year.
– How can you provide opportunities for them to
develop these behaviors on a daily basis?
• ADD TO YOUR CHART, Ideas for Teaching and
Developing these behaviors
Habits of Mind
Behaviors
–
Students are independently
having conversations about
a book and pushing each
other to cite evidence
Ideas for Teaching/developing
these Behaviors
-- Implement structures and
practice at the beginning of the
school year that teaches
students how to turn and talk,
explicitly model and take turns
at listening and speaking
Gallery Walk
Summary
• These capacities describe student behaviors,
not teacher behaviors.
• Students need to develop a well-grounded
understanding of how to employ these
capacities so that they become Habits of
Mind.
• Our charge is to provide students with
experiences that help them reach this goal.
“Habits of Mind are
the characteristics of
what intelligent
people do when they
are confronted with
problems, the
resolutions of which
are not immediately
apparent.” (Costa)
Morning Break
Grade Level
Speaking & Listening Standards
Power Words Activity
• Actively read and think aloud about your grade level standards with
your small group.
• Collaboratively create a list of 5 Power Words for your group’s set of
standards.
• Record your list of Power Words on your poster
• Present your poster to the entire group.
Speaking & Listening
• Read the middle of pg.
168 - middle of pg. 170.
•How do the strategies we’ve
discussed, such as, accountable talk,
think-pair-share, etc. and the ideas in
this reading, support the Speaking and
Listening standards.
Learning Environment
“Children grow into the intellectual
life around them” --Vygotsky
Choice Words
Peter Johnston
Productive classrooms don’t just teach
skills: they...
– build emotionally and healthy learning
communities
– are intellectual environments that produce
caring, secure, actively literate human
beings
– Use language to create strategic thinkers
Close Reading with Choice
Words by Peter Johnston
• Argues that we need to be thoughtful
of the language that we use with our
students in order to give students
“agency”.
Close Reading with Choice
Words by Peter Johnston
• Read Making Meaning: Making People
on pgs 5-6
TURN & TALK:
– What does it mean when Johnston refers to
“language has “content”, but it also bears
information about the speaker and how he
or she views the listener and their assumed
relationship.”
Close Reading with Choice
Words by Peter Johnston
Read Agency and Becoming Strategic on
pgs. 29-33,
TURN & TALK and discuss:
– According to Johnston, describe a child
who has agency versus a child who does
not.
– How does the language he argues
teachers should use help build agency in
students?
Close Reading with Choice
Words by Peter Johnston
Read Agency and Becoming Strategic on
pgs. 38-41
TURN & TALK and discuss:
– What are the “cautions” that Johnston
discusses in regards to agency?
Quaker Read
Read aloud a phrase that moves you.
21st Century Classroom Environment
Think About....
In creating a student centered learning
environment....
--What will your walls look like?
--Where will you gather your students close to you
to build knowledge and exchange and build on
each other’s ideas?
--How will you configure your desks to promote
student discussion and group work?
Design a map of your classroom in your notebook
for next year.
Enjoy Your Lunch!
Video Analysis
SBAC Item Types
• Selected-response
• Constructed-response
o Complex thinking skills, comparison and
contrast, cause and effect, patterns,
conflicting points of view, categorizing,
summarizing, interpreting information
• Performance Tasks
o Each performance task will take place
across more than one sitting of 45-60 minutes
each and includes reading and writing
• Technology-enhanced
o Requires productive use of technology
Levels of D.O.K.
• Level One – Recall
– Recall of a fact, information, or
procedure
• Level Two – Skills and Concepts
– Use information or conceptual
knowledge
• Level Three – Strategic Thinking
– Reasoning, developing a plan
• Level Four – Extended Thinking
– Requires an investigation, collection of
data and analysis of results
Grade 3 ELA (DOK 4)
Directions to Students:
You will read an article and watch a video
about what animals do to defend themselves
from danger. Then you will answer three
questions about what you have learned. In Part
2, you will write an article that explains how
some animals defend themselves.
DOK 4: 4th grade ELA Example
• During the U.S. Civil War, quilts became
a popular item for women to make. In
Part I, students will watch a video, view
three images, and read two articles
about quilts that were made during the
Civil War.
• In Part II, students will write an
informative essay summarizing the
history and purposes of Civil War quilts.
DOK Level 4
ELA 8th grade Example:
Directions to Students:
You will read an article on fan fiction,
an excerpt from a literary work, and
two pieces of fan fiction inspired by
that work. You will answer some
questions about the sources. Then
you will plan, write, and revise your
own fan fiction narrative.
SBAC Debrief
• How do these assessments compare to the
types of assessments you currently use in your
classroom?
• What can we do to successfully prepare
students to engage in these complex tasks?
Additional Resources
• Sample Units on Engage NY
Feedback
Every Kid Needs a Champion
Have a great summer!