Writing and the
Common Core State
Standards
Joey Hawkins, Vermont Writing Collaborative
A bit of reading, thinking, and
writing (about complex text)
“Disaster in a Massachusetts Mill”
At the end of the article, the author uses the word
“philanthrope” to describe the northern mill owners.
Why does he use this word? Use information from the article
and your own knowledge to support your answer.
Common Core Literacy:
What are the key shifts in ELA?
3. Knowledge Base
2. Evidence matters
“The Longest War”
• 5th grade report (writing to inform)
“2” on 5-point scale (well below standard, but
not as low as “1”)
• scored
• What strengths do you see in this piece?
• What weaknesses do you see?
So…what barriers got in the way for this
student?
What does it take for students (or anyone) to
be able to produce an effective piece
of writing - about anything?
• Adequate knowledge and understanding of
their subject
• An appropriate focus to guide their thinking
• A clear structure within which to develop their
focus with information and ideas
• Control over conventions
• Expectation of success (from lots of
successful experiences)
Effective
Writing
Common Core
Writing
Direct Instruction
Understanding
Backward Design
Writing for Understanding
Informative / Explanatory Writing
Write informative / explanatory texts to examine and
convey complex ideas and information clearly and
accurately through the effective selection, organization,
and analysis of content
“Hmmm……seems to have a lot to do
with critical thinking and deep
understanding!”
What could working with
Complex
textbased
complex text
and evidence
writing to build knowledge look
like in the Kindergarten
classroom?
Unit on Seasonal Changes
Focus on how animals survive in
winter
Backwards Planning: UbD
Keeping the End in Mind
By the end of the sequence, what does the
teacher want kids to know and understand?
BIG IDEA / Enduring Understanding
Animals have certain behaviors that
help them survive. Hibernation is
one of these.
Focusing Questions and
Focus Statements
?
Evidence
Elaboration
?
Focusing Question and
Focus Statement
Focusing Question
How do animals
survive in winter?
Focus Statement
Some animals hibernate
in winter.
Close Reading
Drawing Students Back Into the
Text
"Let's look for that in this picture."
"Does anyone remember what word the
author used to tell us …?"
"Let me see if I can find that part so we can read it again."
"How do you know?"
"Where did you see that?"
"Help me find that part in the book."
Taking Notes
Requires
Direct
Instruction
Can Take
Important
atMany
ALL
Grade
Forms
Levels
Evidence Elaboration
Records Information
Evidence Matters
How do animals
survive in winter?
Evidence
Elaboration
What the animals do
to survive in winter.
Where do the
animals hibernate?
Bears Hibernate
Snakes
hibernate
Frogs hibernate
log or a lair
mud
Bats hibernate
caves
by a pond
Many Ways to Take Notes
Oral Processing
?
Evidence
Elaboration
Write!
?
Evidence
Elaboration
Group Write
Big Books!
Individual Write
Scaffolded
“Chunked”
Elaboration
in pictures
Student
work
8. With guidance and support from
adults,
recall information from experiences or
gather information from provided
sources to answer a question.
2. Use a combination of drawing, dictating,
and
writing to compose
informative/explanatory
texts in which they name what they are
writing about and supply some
information about the topic.
Impacting
Human History
Integrating Content with Literacy
and the Common Core
in Grades 6-8
Joey Hawkins, Vermont Writing Collaborative
Wangari Maathai and the
Green Belt Movement
• The texts: “Wangari
Maathai, Nobel Peace
Prize Laureate, Dies at
71” (New York Times)
Complex text
• “Wangari Maathai:
Trees for Peace”
(Faces)
Less demanding text
The Student Writing
What does a good piece
look like?
What did it take, on the
part of teacher planning
and student time and
effort, to get it?
Addressing the Common
Core Shifts
?
Evidence
Elaboration
Backwards Planning: UbD
Keeping the End in Mind
By the end of the sequence, what does the
teacher want kids to know?
BIG IDEA / Enduring Understanding
Wangari Maathai had a big impact on human
history. She made Kenya green again, which
in turn helped empower poor Kenyan women.
thinking in the final essay students will
write?
How has Wangari Maathai affected
the lives of poor people in Kenya?
?
Focusing Question and
Focus Statement
Focusing Question
How has Wangari
Maathai affected
the lives of poor
people in Kenya?
Focus Statement
Wangari Maathai’s work
helped give poor Kenyans
trees again, which in turn
has helped empower poor
Kenyan women.
.
Take Notes
?
Evidence
Elaboration
Before writing, very close
reading!
• Remember, the New York Times text is a complex
one
• As the teacher, I want ALL my students to be able to
successfully read and understand this text
• Hmmm….how will I do that?
• Aha – closely guided close reading!
What can guided close
reading look like?
• First, students read in their heads
while the teacher reads the text
aloud.
• Next, students work with a partner
to re-read and answer the textdependent questions. Re-read as
many times as you need to – this
is NOT a test, it is a LEARN!
• When students have finished
each question, we’ll discuss as a
class. (Remember – this is a
LEARN..)
Notes Matter!!
• If students are going to write
precisely and
knowledgably, they need a
way to “capture their
knowledge”
• A simple T-chart organizer –
with lots and lots of talking –
can be a huge help
Oral Processing
?
Evidence
Elaboration
More About These Notes
• It’s important to give students as much
guidance as they need here.
• For some students, talking out every idea with
a partner is a necessary bridge to writing
clearly
• Writing is probably the hardest thing we ask
kids to do. Struggling kids cannot write what
they did not speak – so talking ideas matters
Write!
?
Evidence
Elaboration
Provide a model
• Often the teacher provides a model of what this
kind of thinking / writing can look like.
• Remember, we all learn by imitation – basketball
coaches show kids how to do foul shots, writing
teachers show kids how to write
But wait: shouldn’t the writing be
independent?
Yes, absolutely – once you know your
students are capable of that.
•
If they have had very little instruction
with writing, building writing instruction into reading
instruction helps both with deep understanding of
the reading, and more facility with writing.
What questions do you need to have answered to
begin to build Common Core writing into your
curriculum?