ELA Common Core State Standards
• Overview of the Big Shifts in Common Core Standards for
English Language Arts
• Overview of the Standards for Literacy in History/Social
Studies, Science and Technical Subjects
****If we engage students in reading and writing in all
subject areas we can help close the gaps in reading and
writing scores.
Standards for English Language Arts:
Organization
Four strands
• Reading (including Reading Foundational Skills
• Writing
• Speaking and Listening
• Language
An integrated model of literacy across subjects
Media requirements blended throughout
Design and Organization
College and Career
Readiness (CCR)
anchor standards
• Broad expectations
consistent across
grades and content
areas
• Based on evidence
about college and
workforce training
expectations
• Range and content
Design and Organization
K−12 standards
• Grade-specific end-ofyear expectations
• Developmentally
appropriate, cumulative
progression of skills and
understandings
• One-to-one
correspondence with
CCR standards
Standards for Literacy in History/Social
Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects
• It is important to note that the 6-12 literacy
standards in history/social studies, science,
and technical studies are not meant to
replace content standards in those areas
but rather to supplement them.
Focus on Informational Text in subjects
other than English Language Arts
• Students need to engage in the reading of high quality
challenging texts in Science, Social Studies and Technical
Subjects.
• Distribution of Literary and Informational Passages by
Grade in the 2009 NAEP on page 5 of the ELA Common
Core Document shows:
Grade 4: 50% Literary Text 50% Informational
Grade 8: 45% Literary Text
55% Informational
Grade 12: 30% Literary Text 70% Informational
***This is for all subject areas, not just ELA
Teaching Fiction and Non-Fiction
• How much informational text vs. literature English teachers are
expected to teach?
• One of the big shifts is more of a focus on informational texts but that
needs to happen in Social Studies, Science and Technical subjects,
not just ELA.
• The Common Core Standards in ELA support teaching literature and
poetry in English class, as evidenced by the examples on p. 57 and p.
58 of the standards.
• For more on this topic, read the article in EdWeek at this link:
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2013/01/30/19nonfiction_ep.h32.ht
ml?tkn=NRTFMKi77KB%2B%2BLg7USyHD6fkKQm%2BJAX8bMfV&c
mp=ENL-CM-NEWS1
•
A Big Question
• Can I be the teacher I want to be and teach the Common
Core?
• Jim Burke, English teacher at Burlingame High School
and author of several texts on teaching English says Yes!
• “You have to be willing to accept a certain amount of
mess in this process of redevelopment, reimagining the
curriculum. A class is a working draft. You inevitably
have some stuff on the floor,” says Burke.
• From Indetpretations Differ on Common Core’s Nonfiction Rule by Catherine
Gewertz, Education Week, January 29 2013
The Big Shifts in ELA
• Look at the Six Pedagogical Shifts Demanded by the
Common Core State Standards in ELA/Literacy.
• Choose one of them and write down ideas for making that
shift happen in your classroom/building.
• Share ideas with your table mates.
Common Core Shifts in ELA
Shift 1 Pre K-5
Balancing Informational & Literary Texts
The standards call for a much greater emphasis
on nonfiction. The document proposes that about
half the reading in elementary school should be
informational/nonfictional.
What Can Teachers Do?
• Include more non-fiction and informational texts
in content areas as well as literary nonfiction in
English language arts.
• Use more primary sources.
• Expect students to write more expository prose.
Shift 2 6-12
Knowledge in the Disciplines – Literacy in Content
Areas
The Standards include criteria for literacy in history/social
science, science and technical subjects. This reflects a
recognition that understanding texts in each of these
subject areas requires a unique set of skills and that
instruction in understanding a historical document for
example, is an integral part of teaching history.
What can teachers do?
• Content area teachers can spend time making
sure that students are able to glean information
from a document and make judgments about its
credibility.
• Teachers can help students understand the
nuances of the reading and writing in their
specific discipline.
• Example: Literature Circles in a Science
Classroom
Shift 3
“Staircase” of Complexity
Students will be required to read increasingly
complex text in order to reach the level required
for success in college and the workplace. The
Standards document cites evidence that the
complex texts used in schools has actually
declined over the past forty years.
What can teachers do?
• Choose materials that are appropriate for their
grade level and use strategies such as guided
highlighted reading for complex text.
• States and organizations have developed tools to
help teachers evaluate complexity. (See Appendix
A and B of the Common Core Standards in
English Language Arts)
Shift 4
Text-based Answers – Focus on Evidence
In reading, students will be expected to use
evidence to demonstrate their comprehension of
texts and to read closely in order to make
evidence-based claims.
What can teachers do?
• Teachers can take time to read carefully with their
students and in many cases reread texts several
times.
• Engage students in rich and rigorous
conversations which are dependent on a
common text.
Shift 5
Writing from Sources
Writing needs to emphasize use of evidence to
inform or make an argument rather than the
personal narrative and other forms of
decontextualized prompts. While the narrative
still has an important role, students develop
skills through written arguments that respond to
the ideas, events, facts, and arguments
presented in the texts they read.
What can teachers do?
• Require students to support claims with multiple
and appropriate sources of evidence.
• Expect students to cite evidence to justify
statements rather than rely on opinions or
personal feelings.
• Give students templates to structure arguments.
(see handout)
• Read about the “Writing Revolution” at New Dorp
High School on Staten Island.
Shift 6
Academic Vocabulary
Students constantly build the vocabulary they
need to access grade level complex texts.
What can teachers do?
• Focus strategically on comprehension of pivotal
and commonly found words (such as “discourse,”
“generation,” “theory,” and “principled”) and less
on esoteric literary terms. (such as
“onomatopoeia” or “homonym”)
• Constantly build students’ ability to access more
complex texts across the content areas.
• See the High-incidence Academic Word List on
the Common Core wiki at: http://commoncore.wiki.inghamisd.org/English+Language+Arts
Shift 7
Speaking and Listening
The standards expect students to be able to
demonstrate that they can speak and listen
effectively – two aspects of literacy rarely included
in state standards. Smarter Balanced Assessment
Consortium has created a speaking and listening
assessment.
What can teachers do?
Ask students to engage in small-group and wholeclass discussions and evaluate them on how well
they understand the speakers’ points.