Speaking and Listening Vignette
Title: Speaking and Listening and the Common Core
Introduction
Just as the new ELA Common Core Reading Standards have standards in Reading, Writing, and
Language, explicit standards are developed for Speaking and Listening. Through this vignette,
teachers will reflect on how treating speaking and listening as skills to be taught and measured
will change instruction in a Common Core classroom. The focus of the Discussion and In-Action
pieces will include how teachers will need to adjust their lesson planning and how to allow for
the time for meaningful speaking and listening to take place in the classroom, as well as how to
support learners and to assess them.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the vignette, teachers will be able to create lessons that reflect the Speaking and
Listening standards.
Curriculum Alignment
This vignette aligns with the Speaking and Listening Anchor standards of the Common Core
State Standards:
Comprehension and Collaboration
•
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.1 Prepare for and participate effectively in a range
of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’
ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
•
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.2 Integrate and evaluate information presented in
diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.
•
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.3 Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning,
and use of evidence and rhetoric.
Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas
•
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.4 Present information, findings, and supporting
evidence such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization,
development, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
•
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.5 Make strategic use of digital media and visual
displays of data to express information and enhance understanding of
presentations.
•
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.6 Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and
communicative tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated
or appropriate.
Professional Development Time Required
Videos and activities related to this vignette will take about an hour. Additional follow-up time
should be provided for teachers to write and share questions.
Materials Needed
Copy of the Common Core English Language Arts Standards for Speaking and Listening
Vignette: Speaking and Listening and the Common Core
Pre-Activities
While there are no prerequisites to completing this vignette, teachers would benefit from also
studying the Scaffolding Discussion Vignette as it is closely related.
Activities
1. Before using the vignette, teachers should read the Speaking and Listening standards for
their grade level. These are all viewable here: http://www.corestandards.org/ELALiteracy/SL
2. Teachers should then view the Roundtable Discussion in the Speaking and Listening
Vignette.
3. After viewing the Roundtable Discussion in the Speaking and Listening Vignette, allow
teachers think-pair-share with reactions, insights, and connections. Possible talking points
include:

How can we facilitate students “listening with purpose”?

How will teaching and assessing speaking as a skill differ from teaching and
assessing writing as a skill? How will it be similar?

How will teaching and assessing listening as a skill differ from teaching and
assessing reading as a skill? How will it be similar?
4. Have groups/PLTs report back about their discussion.
5. Teachers should then view the “In-Action” Video in the Speaking and Listening
Vignette.
6. After viewing the “In-Action”, have teachers alone or in pairs/PLTs look at the Speaking
and Listening Standards for a grade level in which they teach. Then, have teachers
discuss the following:

In what ways am I already assessing these standards?

Is most of my assessment in these standards formative or summative?

What changes are needed in our classrooms to address more of the Common Core
Speaking and Listening standards? Give examples.

How can we make these changes?
Reflection
Like any teacher, having students speak and listen in my classroom was not new. Even
thinking of it as a teachable, assessable skill, was not entirely new to me. However, the
systematic approach of the Common Core - the idea that there is “mastery” in speaking and
listening - was a new concept. I had not thought of speaking and listening in that systematic way
before.
Speaking, like writing, is expressive. Listening, like reading, is receptive. This, coupled
with the comparison made in the Roundtable Discussion, had me seeing these similarities more
and more. Expressive skills are simpler in many ways for the teacher to assess because there is
something to collect; whether a written essay or spoken podcast. I found receptive skills harder
to assess: How do I know they “got it”? I came to realize that we usually assess receptive skills
by asking for expressive ones: “Write an essay about what you read.” “Turn to your neighbor
and repeat what you heard the instructor say.”
Speaking is often an easier expressive skill than writing, especially for struggling
students. I’ve noted my special programs students often perform as well in a Paideia Seminar, if
not better, than their peers who are used to outscoring them on more traditional written
assessments. It is important that the Speaking and Listening standards are treated with the same
importance as the Reading, Writing, and Language Standards, as they will certainly have a large
role in a student’s success in college and career.
Opportunity for Extension
1. Read reflection piece from above. Discuss.
2. Create rubrics as a PLT or in groups for assessing student speaking or listening. Use them with
students. Share reflections of the process/results at a follow-up meeting or via a wiki or blog.
Websites
ELA Common Core State Standards Self Study LiveBinder:
http://www.livebinders.com/play/play/262077
ELA Resources LiveBinder:
http://www.livebinders.com/play/play/297779
ELA Speaking & Listening Standards:
http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/SL
Rubric referenced in “In-Action” video:
http://www.ncsu.edu/midlink/rub.pres.html
Author Info
Erica Speaks teaches seventh grade language arts at a multi-track year-round public middle
school in Wake County in Raleigh, North Carolina. She began teaching in 2000 her M.A. in
Teaching from The University of South Carolina in Columbia, SC. Mrs. Speaks earned her
National Board Certification in 2004. She serves on her school’s Leadership Team and is the
Team Leader for her interdisciplinary team. Mrs. Speaks publishes a professional blog at
teachingspeaksvolumes.com. She was named a Class of 2013 Kenan Fellow in NC State’s Kenan
Fellows Program for Curriculum and Leadership Development. She has worked with the North
Carolina Department of Instruction during this Fellowship and this collection of professional
development vignettes is the product of that work.