ACTION, ACTION . . .
Learn All About It!
Increasing Rigor
Presented by April Willard
Instructional Coach, Liberty Drive Elementary
Thomasville City Schools
What is Governor’s
Teacher Network?
This initiative, funded by the state’s Race to the
Top grant, provides a statewide platform for
teachers to share their best work around
instruction and professional development and help
advance Race to the Top (RttT) funded educational
remodeling efforts across the state.
GTN Pathway 1 - Professional
Development
Network teachers will define an instructional problem that has
become a trend in their classroom, school, or district.
They will investigate and select an evidence-based strategy that
is likely to solve the problem, put the strategy into action in
their classroom or school, and design an action research model
for examining the effectiveness of the strategy.
(Action research is systematically putting specific educational
research into action in classrooms to address a particular issue
or problem.)
GTN Pathway 1 - Professional
Development
• Network teachers will document the results of the action
research and will plan PD sessions in order to share the
findings with other educators within the district and region.
• The PD will address the processes that were used to identify
the problem, selected and modified strategies, and the
results of applying the strategies.
• This work will, upon completion, become part of the state
Professional Learning Network (PLN).
Action Research
Systematic inquiry conducted by teachers and
other educators to find solutions for critical,
challenging, relevant issues in their classrooms
and schools.
Mills, Geoffrey E, Action Research: A Guide for the Teacher
Researcher, 2014
What is Action Research?
Main Goals Include:
•Positively impact student outcomes
•Identify and promote effective instructional
practices
•Create opportunities for teachers to become
reflective practitioners
•Share research results with other educators
Mills, Geoffrey E, Action Research: A Guide for the Teacher Researcher,
2014
Action Research at
LDES
The Problem
The need to increase the rigor of instructional
practices in ELA classrooms to provide a
rigorous environment for all students regardless
of the reading level of the students.
Action Research at
LDES
The Rationale
As teachers work to continue to understand and implement
Common Core Standards, it is necessary that teachers make
instructional shifts in order to meet the rigorous requirements
of the standards.
Although the standards themselves are considered rigorous;
the instructional practices of teachers must shift in order to
meet the high demands of the standards and the
assessments.
Action Research at
LDES
The Plan
• Increase teacher understanding of rigor
• Research instructional strategies that can
potentially increase rigor in instructional practices
• Provide staff development on instructional
practices
• Collect data throughout the year and analyze in
order to modify plan
Data Collection
Teacher pre and post assessments to assess understanding of rigor
Professional development reflection forms
Rubrics designed to assess the level of rigor in instructional practices through
observations
Common formative assessment data
Formal running record assessments
Teacher self-assessments and reflections
Action Research at
LDES
Desired Outcome
Teachers will have a better understanding of the
shifts in instruction needed to meet the demands of
the ELA standards. They will understand what rigor is
and how to plan and execute rigorous ELA lessons.
GOAL: Teachers will utilize strategies in the classroom so
students are able to read increasingly more complex text.
What Research Says
about ELA and Rigor
•
•
•
•
•
Text difficulty is not the real issue – instruction is the
issue
Students cannot learn from text they cannot read
Appropriately scaffolded instruction is need
Close reading with support from the teacher helps
students be able to access more complex text
“Readability” is not the same a “learnability”
Readability and
Learnability
Read the below sentence
For sale: Baby shoes, never worn
Complex Text
“Performance on complex texts is the clearest
differentiator in reading between students who are
likely to be ready for college and those who are
not.”
The Crisis of Text Complexity
– Complexity of texts students are expected to read is way
below what is required to achieve college and career
readiness:
• High school textbooks have declined in all subject
areas over several decades
• Average length of sentences in K-8 textbooks has
declined from 20 to 14 words
• Vocabulary demands have declined, e.g., 8th grade
textbooks = former 5th grade texts; 12th grade
anthologies = former 7th grade texts
– Complexity of college and careers texts has remained
steady or increased, resulting in a huge gap (350L)
Scaffolding Reading
Experience
Pre-reading
During
Post
Relating the reading to
student’s lives
Silent reading
Questioning – text
dependent
Activating prior
knowledge
Supported reading
Writing
Frontload vocabulary
Group discussion
Scaffolding During Lesson
Ask yourself “What extra support might my students need to be
successful with this complex text?”
•
•
•
•
Asking guiding questions
Chunking information
Using graphic organizers
Provide tools for note-taking
Scaffolded Instruction: Be Mindful
• All students benefit from scaffolded instruction,
not just your struggling readers.
• Lessons are tailored to group needs, based on
recent assessments.
• Teachers provide more support for students than
in a close reading lesson.
• Questions are essential to scaffolded instruction.
• When cues and prompts are exhausted and
misconceptions remain, provide a direct
explanation.
Scaffolded Instruction: Be Mindful
• Round robin reading is ineffective.
• Choral reading is not appropriate for
this type of instruction.
• Small groups, no more than six, are not
static.
• Instruction is 10–20 minutes, based on
needs and stamina.
• It is a cognitively demanding time.
Scaffolding to support students’ ability
to read increasingly complex texts
 Non-text sources
◦ For example, multi-media and class discussions, build the
foundation of vocabulary, language and content
knowledge
 Easier, supplemental texts
◦ can provide instructional-level reading material
 Instructional scaffolding activities
◦ For example, teacher-facilitated read-alouds, discussion
of text excerpts, partner reading, peer coaching
 Explicit instruction
◦ on vocabulary, text structure, &
comprehension strategies
 Multiple texts
Students need to engage
with . . .
• Grade-appropriate materials for exposure to
structures, content, vocabulary;
• Instructional-level materials that allow them to
progress;
• Easy materials that allow them to practice.
– If familiar/interesting, material can be more
challenging.
– If unfamiliar/uninteresting, material may need to be
less challenging.
21
Text Complexity
Close Reading with
Struggling Readers
You Don’t Know You’re Beautiful
You're insecure,
Don't know what for,
You're turning heads when you walk through the door,
Don't need make-up, to cover up,
Being the way that you are is enough
Everyone else in the room can see it,
Everyone else but you
Baby you light up my world like nobody else,
The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed,
But when you smile at the ground it ain't hard to tell,
You don't know, oh oh,
You don't know you're beautiful,
If only you saw what I can see,
You'll understand why I want you so desperately,
Right now I'm looking at you and I can't believe,
You don't know, oh oh,
You don't know you're beautiful, oh oh,
That's what makes you beautiful
Close Reading
It is not new practice
Foremost, reader is
focused on the
author’s meaning
Texts that are
worthy, not for all
texts
Directed in all
content classes
Six guiding practices
for all close reading
instruction,
regardless of the
content
Texts should be
complex enough to
undergo repeated
readings for deep
comprehension
Implemented for
K–12
The more you look – the
deeper you look – the “closer
you read” the more you find!
Close Reading
• First Read
– Get the BIG picture
• Second Read
– Hone in on specifics
• Third Read
– Deep critical thinking
Six Practices of Close Reading
First Practice: Select Short, Worthy
Passages
Second Practice: Student Rereading
Third Practice: Limited Frontloading
Fourth Practice: Text-Dependent Questions
Fifth Practice: Annotation
Sixth Practice: After-Reading Tasks
Close Reading
• Great books (challenging books)
need to be read and reread
• Each reading should accomplish
a separate purpose
• The first reading of a text should
allow the reader to determine
what a text says
• The second reading should allow
the reader to determine how a
text works
• The third reading should allow the
reader to evaluate the quality and
value of the text (and to connect
the text to other texts)
Close Reading•
•
•
•
•
•
•
All focus on text meaning
Minimize background
preparation/explanation (and text
apparatus)
Students must do the
reading/interpretation
Teacher’s major role is to ask
text dependent questions
Multi-day commitment to texts
Purposeful rereading (not
practice, but separate journeys)
Short reads
Video Clip
Grade 5
Close Reading
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9emLkXlMcOs
Studies clearly
show that
effective literacy
instructors
engage students.
Richard Allington
• Close reading instruction is vital if we
want our students to independently read
complex texts.
• This type of reading instruction allow for
the shift in learning responsibility.
• Close reading is effective for wholegroup or small-group instruction.
Increasing Rigor in ELA
Text Complexity
Provided training in PLC meetings on what makes a text
complex
Discussed strategies to scaffold and support students reading of
complex text
Utilized video clips to show effective use of complex text in
whole class instruction
Provided training on close reading and complex text looking at
types of questions to guide students to deeper understanding
Reading Levels
Mid-Year Assessments
Grade 4 / 5
Beginning of Year
% Reading at or Above GL
Mid Year
% Reading at or Above GL
Grade 4 56%
Grade 5 29%
Grade 4
Grade 5 40%
Classroom Observation Tool: Rigor
Area of Focus
August –
September
October –
December
January February
30 Classroom
Observation
28 Classroom
Observations
20 Classroom
Observations
Class Discussion:
Student Responses
Level 3 or Higher:
40%
Level 3 or Higher:
43%
Level 3 or Higher:
50%
Rigor of Text
Level 2 or Higher:
33%
Level 2 or Higher:
43%
Level 2 or Higher:
60%
Rigor of Task
Level 2 or Higher:
50%
Level 2 or Higher:
54%
Level 2 or Higher:
65%
Increasing Rigor in ELA
Text Complexity
Continue to collect data to inform focus for PLC meetings and professional
development needs
Provide more training on facilitating classroom discussions - connecting students
responses to each other and show how ideas are related – it is important to
ensure that questions engage students in deeper thinking and don’t just prompt
them to recall information they have read or been told
Work towards creating more engaging ELA task that provides opportunities for
students to closely read text, think about text, talk about text, write about text
References
• Marzano, R. & Toth, M. (2014 March). Teaching for rigor: A call for a
critical instructional shift. Retrieved from
http://www.marzanocenter.com/Teacher-Evaluation-Resources/#ES
• Fisher, D & Frey, N. (2014). Scaffolded reading instruction of contentarea texts. The Reading Teacher, 67 (5), 347-351.
• Clark, K & Graves, M. (2005). Scaffolding students’ comprehension of
text. The Reading Teacher, 58 (6), 570-580.
• Mills, Geoffrey E, Action Research: A Guide for the Teacher
Researcher, 2014
Thank you for your participation.
Contact Information:
Name:
April Willard
School/District:
Thomasville City Schools
Phone:
336-474-4186
Email:
willarda@tcs.k12.nc.us