Content Literacy in History/Social Studies 6–12
Pre-Assessment
Welcome to the Pre-Assessment. During this exercise, you will complete an interactive self-assessment
to determine how well you understand how to implement the California Common Core State Standards
for ELA and Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects (CA CCSS for ELA/Literacy)
in secondary history/social studies classrooms.
1. The CA CCSS for ELA/Literacy
a. Emphasize the need for literacy to be a shared responsibility across all content areas
b. Includes ten Reading Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies, 6–12
c. Includes ten Writing Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical
Subjects, 6–12
d. Should be taught in conjunction with the History-Social Science Content Standards for
California Public Schools to build disciplinary literacy and content knowledge simultaneously
e. All of the above
2. The CA CCSS for ELA/Literacy call for teaching many of the disciplinary literacy skills also addressed in
the CA Historical and Social Sciences Analysis Skills from the History-Social Science Content Standards
for California Public Schools.
a. True
b. False
3. Primary sources are NOT materials or documents that
a. Were produced at the time and by the people under study.
b. Provide evidence on which historians rely to describe and interpret the past.
c. Were written later to analyze and interpret an event.
d. Include letters, diaries, newspapers, interviews, and government records.
e. None of the above
4. All of the following approaches can facilitate close reading in history/social studies EXCEPT
a. Structuring instruction around a central inquiry-based question
b. Providing students with questions to relate the topic to their own lives outside of the text
c. Guiding students to read a text multiple times for origin/context, meaning, argument and
evidence, and significance
d. Providing students with discipline-specific text-dependent questions
e. Providing appropriate historical context, without giving away the content of the document
5. The skill of corroboration:
a. Compares evidence from multiple documents on the same topic to come to an interpretation
b. Focuses on one primary source document closely
c. Focuses on the time and place a document was created
d. Is not addressed in the CA CCSS for ELA/Literacy
e. All of the above
6. Which of the following discipline-specific history/social studies skills are addressed in the CA CCSS
Reading Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies?
a. Analyzing an author’s point of view or perspective
b. Analyzing an author’s arguments, evidence, claims, and reasoning
c. Analyzing a series of events and determining causation
d. Understanding discipline-specific vocabulary
e. All of the above
7. Although there are no specific speaking and listening standards for literacy in history/social studies
content, these standards can still be addressed effectively in history/social studies instruction and
can contribute to developing effective civic discourse.
a. True
b. False
8. The texts that students should closely read in geography and economics include:
a. Maps
b. Diagrams and other pictures
c. Charts and graphs
d. Financial data
e. All of the above
9. In addition to shared goals, geography and literacy education both focus on which of these outcomes:
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
Strengthening and building vocabulary
Reinforcement of reading and writing strategies
Practical application of comprehension skills
Supplying nonfiction reading and writing topics
All of the above
10. What is one of the great challenges for English learners in a Histroy/Social Studies classes?
a. Watching videos that describe the content being studied
b. Talking with peers in their home language about the topic
c. Comprehending and analyzing primary and secondary sources
d. Working in groups on tasks that require discussion and deeper understanding
e. Close reading of shorter excerpts of complex text
21st Century Skills Map
c reate d in coo peration wi th t h e Nati o nal C o u nci l f o r th e so c i a l stu d i es
This 21st Century Skills Map
is the result of hundreds of
hours of research, development
and feedback from educators
and business leaders across
the nation. The Partnership
has issued this map for the
core subject of Social Studies.
This tool is available at
www.21stcenturyskills.org.
A
21st Century
Skills
B
Skill Definition
The Partnership advocates for the integration of 21st Century Skills into K-12
education so that students can advance their learning in core academic subjects.
The Partnership has forged alliances with key national organizations that represent the core academic subjects, including Social
Studies, English, Math, Science and Geography. As a result of these collaborations, the Partnership has developed this map to
illustrate the intersection between 21st Century Skills and Social Studies. The maps will enable educators, administrators and
policymakers to gain concrete examples of how 21st Century Skills can be integrated into core subjects.
C Interdisciplinary Theme
D Sample Student
Outcome/Examples
An example from the Social Studies 21st Century
Skills Map illustrates sample outcomes for teaching
Critical Thinking and Problem Solving.
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Publication date: 11/08 LEARNING & INNOVAT ION SKILLS
Creativity and Innovation
• Demonstrating originality
and inventiveness in work
• Developing, implementing
and communicating new
ideas to others
• Being open and
responsive to new and
diverse perspectives
• Acting on creative ideas
to make a tangible and
useful contribution to
the domain in which the
innovation occurs
4th Grade
8th Grade
12th Grade
outcome: Students develop
creative solutions to a class or
school problem.
outcome: Students evidence
original thought and inventiveness
in response to an assignment, issue
or problem.
outcome: Students invent an
original piece of work that can be
published or presented online.
EXAMPLE: Students interview
students and/or teachers to identify
a problem (e.g., bullying on the playground) and
as a group brainstorm creative ways to address
the problem (producing a play that examines the
issue, hosting a contest for best ideas).
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EXAMPLE: Students choose an historical figure
(e.g., Abraham Lincoln, Sojourner Truth) and
create an original story, play, poem or piece of
art that captures/conveys a key aspect of that
person’s life history.
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EXAMPLE: Working in teams,
students create a simulation, role play, or
webquest that covers a current social or
political issue being covered in the news (e.g.,
global warming, poverty, global economy) or an
historic event (American Revolution, Civil War,
WWII). The finished products can be packaged,
presented and/or donated to a local school, with
an accompanying group analysis and reflection
on the most innovative and creative elements in
each of the products.
Publication date: 11/08 LEARNING & INNOVAT ION SKILLS
Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
4th Grade
• Exercising sound
reasoning in
understanding
• Making complex choices
and decisions
• Understanding the
interconnections among
systems
• Identifying and asking
significant questions that
clarify various points of
view and lead to better
solutions
• Framing, analyzing and
synthesizing information
in order to solve problems
and answer questions
outcome: Use technology to
graphically display data about a
community or state public issue
and ask questions about and pose
possible solutions to the issue.
example: Students make a spreadsheet of
the per pupil funding provided to several school
districts within their state and the state math
and reading scores for those districts. They
display the information by district and then by
largest to smallest dollar amount. They discuss
their observations about this data as they seek
to answer such questions as: Which districts
have the highest and lowest funding and scores?
What might the differences be in the schools
in the lowest funded areas compared with the
highest funded areas?
additional notes:
Given the importance of an inquiry approach
to social studies, what follows is a four-step
approach that includes a description of each step
and its alignment with the relevant 21st century
skill. (“Understanding the interconnections
among systems” is an outgrowth of using an
inquiry approach/21st century skills to address
social studies content.)
Step 1: Identify a problem/issue and collect
information so as to define and better
understand the problem/issue. (Exercising sound
reasoning in understanding.)
8th Grade
12th Grade
outcome: Use digitized
resources to investigate and define
political or social issues in the
past and then illustrate, through a
multimedia presentation, how one
such issue relates to their community.
outcome: Using sound reasoning
and relevant examples, students
analyze the historical evolution of
a contemporary public policy issue,
place it within an historical context, and
use a digital publishing tool to report their work.
example: Students use online databases, such
as www.census.gov to determine patterns of
immigration and compare these patterns with
changes in the demographics of their community
and school district.
example: In groups, students explore how
selected societies of the past used their natural
resources for fuel (e.g., England’s use of its forests
at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution)
and the economic impact of that use. Students
use videoconferencing (e.g., www. skype.com) to
collect information from relevant government
officials about the use of corn for biofuel instead
of food and analyze the environmental and
economic implications of this use. Students use
district-approved wikis to publish the results of
their research.
outcome: Working in online
research groups, students research a
contemporary or historic issue, post
significant questions about alternative
courses of action, and/or analyze
the information they have gathered to
generate options for responding to the issue.
example: Students brainstorm a list of
recent and historic natural disasters. Working
in cooperative groups, students research online
the government’s response to a natural disaster,
develop questions, and evaluate the government’s
response. Each group creates a well-reasoned
summary of their findings, posts the results in a
school-approved podcast, and debates alternative
responses in a school-approved blog.
Step 2: Pose questions related to the problem/
issue and recognize how one’s perspective
affects the problem/issue. (Identifying and asking
significant questions that clarify various points of
view and lead to better solutions.)
177 N Church Avenue, Suite 305
Tucson, AZ 85701
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21stcenturyskills.org
outcome: Use technology to
research and graphically display a
reasonable analysis of and prediction
about a public issue. Working through
a student-safe social networking site, groups
of students post a podcast that presents their
analysis of a current public issue and prediction
about a preferred outcome.
example: Students use voting patterns,
demographic data and socio-economic data
from the U.S. Census bureau for the counties
in their state to predict the outcomes of an
upcoming election. Students display their election
projection, with supporting information, on a
digital map. Based on their predictions, students
Publication date: 11/08 LEARNING & INNOVAT ION SKILLS
Critical Thinking and Problem Solving (continued)
4th Grade
8th Grade
12th Grade
Step 3: Analyze a problem and determine
possible solutions to the problem/issue. (Framing,
analyzing and synthesizing information in order
to solve problems and answer questions.)
outcome: Students use a
variety of electronic media
to research and present an
historic event that impacted
the community (e.g., National
History Day).
create a podcast that suggests election strategies
the political parties might utilize for their
candidates.
Step 4: Evaluate solutions to a problem/issue
and then select/justify/act upon a solution to
a problem/issue. (Making complex choices and
decisions.)
outcome: Access information to
discover the interconnections between
government services and their location
in the community.
example: Using electronic reference material,
students investigate how an historic event (e.g.,
Civil Rights Movement or Vietnam War) affected
the local community. Students use clip art, video
and other multimedia products to demonstrate
an interpretation of the event. The students’
presentation should address the key themes of
their analysis.
example: All fourth graders in a school
take an online survey about their sports and
hobby interests, and results are reported in
graphs on the school Web site. Students use GIS
and GPS to find the location of areas in which
these sports can be played throughout their
community and post the results online.
177 N Church Avenue, Suite 305
Tucson, AZ 85701
520-623-2466
21stcenturyskills.org
outcome: Students demonstrate
an understanding through the
use of technology about how the
relationship among social, economic
and governmental systems affects
change in a community over time.
example: Students analyze the relationship
between changes in population in communities
and zoning decisions made by local governments
over a 20-year period by using census data,
digitized zoning maps (Google Earth), population
distribution maps, and transcripts of local
government meetings. Based on this analysis, the
students generate graphic depictions of potential/
predicted growth patterns for a community.
Publication date: 11/08 LEARNING & INNOVAT ION SKILLS
Communication
• Articulate thoughts
and ideas clearly and
effectively through
speaking and writing
4th Grade
8th Grade
12th Grade
outcome: Research, organize and present
historical information in clear, complete and
effective formats.
outcome: Research, organize
and present information in clear,
complete and effective formats.
outcome: Analyze, synthesize, organize and
present information from the social sciences in
clear, complete and effective formats.
EXAMPLE: Working in small groups, students
will choose an area from their state’s history,
organize a storyboard on the person/place/
event, and use digital tools to create a
presentation that teaches their topic to the
remainder of the class.
EXAMPLE: Research information on
the local implications of a global issue of concern
(e.g., child poverty, hunger, homelessness).
Students organize their information and a
possible solution and write a persuasive letter
that is to be proof-read, peer edited, and finally
sent via e-mail to a local public official. EXAMPLE: Research and use concept-mapping
software to create a graphic display (i.e., Venn
diagram) that compares and contrasts various
major world religions in terms of foundations,
beliefs, and relationship to historical and current
issues.
outcome: Interpret, organize and present
information from American history in clear,
complete and effective formats to other students/
adults.
EXAMPLE: Research information on an
issue relevant to an historical period (e.g.,
a determining factor in the outcome of the
American Revolution or the inevitability of the
Civil War) and organize it into a persuasive essay
that is to be proof-read, peer edited, and finally
written and summarized in a class blog and/or
audio podcast.
177 N Church Avenue, Suite 305
Tucson, AZ 85701
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outcome: Access and evaluate information
from various sources dealing with elected
officials’ effectiveness while in office.
EXAMPLE: Over an extended period of time,
students efficiently access the voting records of
different state and local officials on issues that
impact their community (i.e., education and
taxes) and create a digital report card of the
selected official(s) using creative presentation
methods such as a podcast, slideshow, Web site
or district-approved blog.
Publication date: 11/08 LEARNING & INNOVAT ION SKILLS
Collaboration
4th Grade
8th Grade
12th Grade
• Demonstrating ability
to work effectively with
diverse teams
outcome: As a group, work together to
reach a decision and to explain the reasons
for it.
outcome: As a group, work together to
reach a decision and to explain the reasons for it.
• Exercising flexibility
and willingness to
be helpful in making
necessary compromises
to accomplish a common
goal
example: Working in small groups,
encourage and engage other classmates to
assist with a group service-learning project.
Using digital media, students demonstrate
the need to raise the awareness of their
classmates on an issue within their community,
(e.g., students create a digital poster that
persuades classmates to participate in a school
fundraising project).
outcome: Working in small
groups, students will research a
current issue and analyze it in
terms of historical, political and
economic components, various
viewpoints, and potential solutions,
and create a digital presentation that clearly
describes all sides of the issue.
• Assuming shared
responsibility for
collaborative work
outcome: Work as a team to assess
individual and/or group work.
example: Using a teacher-constructed
online rubric, students work in teams to
review their personal performance and
contributions to their team, as well as overall
group performance.
example: Using an open source asynchronous
discussion forum such as Moodle, students
discuss how to respond to a proposed state law
requiring bicycle helmets and develop consensus
about what the team will do. Using a word
processing program, students work in pairs to
author a persuasive letter either for or against
the proposed law, providing sound reasons to
support their position. Send the letter to the
appropriate legislative official.
outcome: Recognize and communicate
diverse perspectives on an historical issue and
demonstrate how diverse perspectives might
lead to different interpretations of an issue.
(Articulating thoughts and ideas clearly and
effectively through speaking and writing.)
example: After watching videos of an
historical event, students read online first-hand
accounts (e.g., WWII, Korean War, Vietnam War).
Students then use a collaboration listserv such as
Videoconferencing for Learning to find students
in other parts of the country with whom they
can discuss and compare interpretations of the
events. Students then summarize and reflect on
their experiences in small group discussions.
outcome: Seek reasonable and ethical
solutions to problems that arise when scientific
advancement and social norms or values come
into conflict.
177 N Church Avenue, Suite 305
Tucson, AZ 85701
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example: Working in small groups, students will
survey favorite forms of recreation among local
teens and research the local history of recreational
youth facilities for teens and the potential sources
of political and economic support. The information
will be graphed and analyzed, and each group
will create a business plan for developing a local
recreation center/club for teens. The survey results,
need and plan will be presented to a community
group or civic association using technology tools.
outcome: Working online with groups of
students from other districts and/or states,
students develop plans to enhance high school
students’ ability to use emerging technologies.
example: Using online surveys, virtual
conferences or videoconferences, students gather
information from peers who participate in virtual
schooling. Students then present the results
and make recommendations about how virtual
schooling might be used in their own setting.
outcome: Work in groups, taking various
roles to plan, investigate and report the results of
their study on a national or global historic and/or
social issue.
Publication date: 11/08 LEARNING & INNOVAT ION SKILLS
Collaboration (continued)
4th Grade
8th Grade
12th Grade
example: Working in teams of two to four,
students explore the impacts and effects of an
invention or technological innovation of the
19th century and create a position paper that
analyzes the pros and cons of the invention (e.g.,
impact of the cotton gin on Southern plantations
and slavery).
example: Working in pairs, conduct online
research and create a report on a historic or social
issue (e.g., HIV/AIDS in the U.S. and in an African
nation), and compare the economic, health and
social implications of HIV/AIDS in various settings.
outcome: Communicate to school or
community members about opportunities to
assist with a group project.
EXAMPLE: Working in small groups, students
will choose an area of community service to
research (e.g., United Way, Kids Who Care,
hospital volunteer opportunities, food and
clothing drives, Red Cross). Each group will then
organize, produce and distribute a video or audio
podcast, public service announcement, or a digital
brochure or poster that promotes student and
community collaboration in that effort.
outcome: Assess their performance as a
group and develop and implement a plan to
work together more productively.
example: Students use a district-approved
wiki or asynchronous discussion board to
reflect on a recent group activity, discussing
both strengths and weaknesses of their team’s
interaction and productivity.
177 N Church Avenue, Suite 305
Tucson, AZ 85701
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21stcenturyskills.org
outcome: Reach consensus on a viable action
that could be taken relative to a political and/or
social issue and then act accordingly.
EXAMPLE: Working in student teams and using
online decision-tree tools, research an issue that is
a challenge for the local community and develop
consensus around three specific actions the group
will take to address the issue (e.g., writing letters
to elected representatives or local paper, organizing
an e-mail campaign or other activity). Prepare a
summary report evaluating the group’s decisionmaking process and what action steps were taken.
outcome: Recognize, empathize with, and
communicate diverse perspectives on an issue
and realize how one’s perspective influences one’s
interpretation of an issue and/or work within a
group.
example: In a group, create and implement
an online survey for community members (e.g.,
regarding the effects of the recent influx of
immigrants) and compare responses with digitized
accounts from other communities. Then divide
into two groups and present two opposing
viewpoints on the issue, analyzing the merits of
each perspective.
Publication date: 11/08 INFORMATION, MEDIA & TEC HNOLOGY SK ILL S
Information Literacy
• Accessing information
efficiently and
effectively, evaluating
information critically
and competently, and
using information
accurately and
creatively for the issue
or problem at hand
• Possessing a
fundamental
understanding of the
ethical/legal issues
surrounding the access
and use of information
4th Grade
8th Grade
12th Grade
outcome: Access information
about communities around
the world from a variety of
information sources.
outcome: Create and
organize original information
data sets about key issues in
the community, state or nation
using a variety of tools.
outcome: Access, reference
and present information using
multiple sources that offer diverse
perspectives about economic
issues.
example: Students use digital databases to
gather data regarding gas prices, home heating
oil prices, wages, etc. in their city over the past
12 months and construct a graph illustrating how
these resources have been used.
example: Students will examine information
about federal tax policy from various sources.
Focusing on the federal income tax, excise tax,
and other forms of federal taxation, students
will compare opinions as presented through
several information outlets including popular
digital and print media, online communities (e.g.,
district-approved blogs, online interest groups),
and community resources, and articulate why
some opinions are more compelling or effective
than others.
example: Working in small
groups, students select a nation from each
continent and use online encyclopedias,
electronic databases and other Web sites to
study several examples of daily life in regions
in those nations. They present findings to the
class using presentation software. Students
create a Venn diagram to compare and contrast
two communities from around the world using
illustrations or information to demonstrate
understanding. OUTCOME: Access information from the
expertise of people inside and/or outside their
own community.
example: Students participate in an online
discussion or interactive videoconference with a
museum educator in order to discuss and analyze
an artifact found in the student’s local community,
drawing conclusions about the item’s purpose
and probable owner.
outcome: Access and analyze visual digital
primary information sources and digital maps.
example: Students access and analyze sources
of information about how transportation systems
have been used over time and/or are being
used today using online sources of current and
historical digital images (e.g., digital photograph
libraries, aerial photographs, satellite imagery),
and then draw conclusions about how they are
related to changes in population distribution.
OUTCOME: Gather original data from various
information sources and create graphs or charts
to display the information. (Using information
accurately and creatively.)
outcome: Access and critique sources of
information from various types of media, which
discuss an historic event. Students analyze the
difference between public and private sources of
information.
example: Students use an online survey
tool to create a survey that collects data about
the local attractions their family likes to visit.
Students store the data in a spreadsheet, evaluate
and display their findings using the spreadsheet’s
example: Students access information about
the Civil War from multiple media sources,
including public (e.g., Mathew Brady photo
177 N Church Avenue, Suite 305
Tucson, AZ 85701
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21stcenturyskills.org
outcome: Develop and use a customized
information gathering strategy to access
multimedia information about a public policy
issue of local, national and/or global significance
and produce an Internet Web page, digital video,
or podcast of the findings.
example: Students create strategies for
locating and using information from digital and
non-digital resources, which includes a selection
of search engines, search parameters, methods
of organizing information once identified,
and a plan for using information for specific
purposes. Students use information they have
gathered from their customized search to
develop a multimedia presentation advocating
for a position on the issue (e.g., improving
migrant laborers’ working conditions, ending
Publication date: 11/08 INFORMATION, MEDIA & TEC HNOLOGY SK ILL S
Information Literacy (continued)
4th Grade
8th Grade
12th Grade
graphing tools, and use digital images to
demonstrate their family’s preferences of their
favorite places to visit within in their community
and state.
collection from the Library of Congress) and
private sources (e.g., Ken Burn’s The Civil
War). Students critique these sources given any
possible bias or political perspective as well
as determining what is factual and what is not.
Compare and contrast the sources with regard
to the information that may be used, and the
restrictions or lack of restrictions on access
to the information (e.g., did the private source
require a source for access). Students will then
make appropriate use of the information in
a short report related to the content of the
information.
homelessness in the local community, eradicating
polio or malaria) and produce a podcast for
other students to use in order to better
understand this problem.
OUTCOME: Conduct an interview related to
an important issue in a student’s life or in their
community, evaluate the information, and create a
slide show that describes the main points of the
discussion.
EXAMPLE: Interview a family member about
the changes in how people work or play over
time in their community. Present the main points
that result from the interview in a multimedia
slide show that integrates video images.
OUTCOME: Access and use
relevant information from the
Internet about how the United
States and other nations around the
world address an economic issue.
OUTCOME: Evaluate various sources
of information for use in solving a
problem or addressing an issue.
example: Students consult the U.S. Dept. of
Energy Web site to create a spreadsheet and
construct a line graph of crude oil prices since
the crisis of the early 1970s. They then examine
data on selected oil producing and consuming
countries from the CIA World Facts database and
develop possible explanations for the fluctuations
in price.
EXAMPLE: Students will access
information about an important issue
in their community (e.g., building a new school)
from their local print newspaper, a Web site, and
a person in their family or community and then
evaluate the similarities and differences in the
information.
OUTCOME: Evaluate the nature of information
ownership and the related accessibility of various
forms of information. Examine issues of copyright
and the proper way to cite various sources.
example: Students examine court cases,
such as John Doe v. Alberto Gonzales, and
others related to information access. Students
prepare a summary description of restrictions
to information access imposed on minors and
government access to private information.
Students demonstrate proper citation and ethical
use of sources.
OUTCOME: Understand how to use and
appropriately cite information created by others.
EXAMPLE: Students will access information
about their state (e.g., images from places in the
state, historical narratives, maps) from digital and
non-digital sources. Students will determine who
created the information and appropriately cite
the source.
177 N Church Avenue, Suite 305
Tucson, AZ 85701
520-623-2466
21stcenturyskills.org
Publication date: 11/08 INFORMATION, MEDIA & TEC HNOLOGY SK ILL S
Media Literacy
• Understand how media
messages are constructed,
for what purposes
and using which tools,
characteristics and
conventions
• Examine how individuals
interpret messages
differently, how values
and points of view are
included or excluded, and
how media can influence
beliefs and behaviors
• Possess a fundamental
understanding of the
ethical/legal issues
surrounding the access
and use of information
4th Grade
8th Grade
12th Grade
outcome: Identify specific purposes for
which media messages are constructed.
outcome: Analyze how media format
influences media messages (e.g., “The medium
is the message.” McLuhan). Analyze how the
meaning of a message is influenced by the specific
media and the historic context in which the
message is conveyed.
outcome: Identify and analyze different ways
that electronic news sources define and present an
issue and raise significant questions about how the
different points of view in the news sources might
affect how people define and act upon the issue.
example: Using the Internet and software
that plays audio and/or video clips, students
analyze various advertisements aimed at
children their age and identify the purpose(s)
of each ad.
outcome: Identify different interpretations
of the same message.
example: Using a video news clip from the
Internet about an event associated with a local
or state issue, students identify how many
different interpretations were recorded and
suggest possible reasons for the differences.
outcome: Identify legal uses of information.
example: Using an online scavenger hunt
(such as http://www.geocities.com/stvdlnrds/
etp/scav/), students explain the meaning of
“Copyright” and “Fair Use.”
example: Using history Web sites and primary
sources, students compare and contrast 19th
century and contemporary presidential election
campaigns and hypothesize about the ways in
which media forms of the 19th and 21st century
have similar and different influences on political
campaigns.
outcome: Explain and demonstrate the
importance of copyright law regarding the access
and use of information.
example: Students research and explain the
issues and laws related to the copyright of digital
music. Students demonstrate their understanding
of the ethical issues when they access and use
digital music in presentations.
example: Students access online global news
media sources (e.g., BBC and others) to analyze
how each describes the relations between Israel
and Palestine and the reasons for the conflicts in
that region. They then compare these portrayals
with digitized primary news reports from the
Israeli founding period and articulate how and why
the reasons for the conflict differ.
outcome: Describe how various forms of
visual media (e.g., graphics, color, layout, pamphlet
design, advertisement composition) are designed
to influence beliefs and behaviors. Evaluate specific
visual media with the following criteria: source,
objectivity and technical accuracy.
example: Research a variety of media types and
formats on the same issue (e.g., AIDS prevention).
Create a visual presentation that describes how
information delivered through various forms of
visual media has the potential to influence people’s
behaviors. Evaluate the source, objectivity and
technical accuracy of the visual media.
outcome: Demonstrate a clear understanding
of the many ethical and legal issues related to the
access and use of information.
example: Using the Internet to research U.S.
copyright and plagiarism laws, create a list of
acceptable practices for students and present them
using video, audio and text. Share the presentation
with students at a local middle school or the
public library.
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Publication date: 11/08 10
INFORMATION, MEDIA & TEC HNOLOGY SK ILL S
ICT Literacy
• Using digital technology,
communication tools
and/or networks
appropriately to access,
manage, integrate,
evaluate and create
information in order to
function in a knowledge
economy
• Using technology as
a tool to research,
organize, evaluate and
communicate information
and the possession
of a fundamental
understanding of the
ethical/legal issues
surrounding the access
and use of information
4th Grade
8th Grade
12th Grade
outcome: Use digital technology
and/or networks appropriately to
access information.
outcome: Use digital
technology and/or networks
appropriately to access
information.
outcome: Use digital technology and/or
networks appropriately to access information.
example: Access simulation
software to experience running
a business (e.g., a lemonade stand). Discuss
factors that influence business decisions
(e.g., supplies, resources, location, potential
customers, price, capital equipment).
example: Conduct research using
the Internet and electronic library databases to
identify and describe the roles of international
and multinational humanitarian organizations.
Formulate a list of questions about each agency’s
role in helping children. E-mail the questions
to the proper contact person at one of the
identified organizations.
outcome: Use digital technology
appropriately to manage and integrate
information from various sources.
example: After accessing digital and print
archives, use a presentation tool to depict a
timeline of an historical event in community or
state history. Incorporate images, text, sound,
animation and/or graphics to enhance the
timeline.
outcome: Use digital technology
appropriately to evaluate information in order
to function in a knowledge economy.
example: Use technology tools to examine
the interaction of human beings and their
physical environment: the use of land, building
of cities, and ecosystem changes in selected
locales and regions. Compare a dated aerial
photo of one’s own community and a more
recent aerial photo captured online. Identify the
changes that have taken place and evaluate the
changes that have occurred.
177 N Church Avenue, Suite 305
outcome: Use digital technology
appropriately to manage and integrate
information from various sources.
example: Create a database of information
about international and humanitarian
organizations and include the data provided by
the agencies about their work with children.
example: Use search engines, online
databases, or identify and join a list serve to
access national and international media to
examine an international conflict. Focus on
the interactions of ethnic, national or cultural
influences on the conflict.
outcome: Use digital technology
appropriately to manage and integrate
information from various sources.
example: Create an online document with
hyperlinks to help middle school students
understand an international conflict. Use the
hyperlinks to provide background information
and context for past and current events in the
conflict.
outcome: Use digital technology to evaluate
information.
outcome: Use digital technology to evaluate
information.
example: Evaluate the extent to which
existing aid for children provided by humanitarian
organizations is sufficient to meet the needs
globally and locally.
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example: Embed evaluation questions in the
online document to encourage students’ critical
thinking about an international conflict as they
encounter hyperlinks within the document.
Publication date: 11/08 11
INFORMATION, MEDIA & TEC HNOLOGY SK ILL S
ICT Literacy (continued)
4th Grade
8th Grade
12th Grade
outcome: Using digital technology,
communication tools and/or networks
appropriately to create information and share
with the school or local community.
outcome: Using digital technology,
communication tools and/or networks
appropriately to create information.
outcome: Using digital technology,
communication tools and/or networks
appropriately to create and share information.
example: Write a letter to the editor, sharing
data about the existing aid for children from
humanitarian organizations and the unmet needs
in the local community. Suggest ways that young
people can become involved.
example: Create an online document that
summarizes what students have learned about
an international conflict and post to a district or
school Web site for other students. example: Participate in a monitored wiki,
for youngsters by youngsters, or post to a class
Web site and share the presentation on local
or state landforms and geographic features.
example: Invite a business member of the
local Chamber of Commerce to the class to
listen to the students’ presentations about
their business simulation and comment on
their conclusions, or use videoconferencing for
students’ presentations and discussions with
the business representative.
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Publication date: 11/08 12
LIFE & C AREE R SKILLS
Flexibility and Adaptability
• Adapting to varied roles
and responsibilities
• Working effectively in a
climate of ambiguity and
changing priorities
4th Grade
8th Grade
12th Grade
outcome: Students recognize that citizens
must “give and take” so that a democratic
system both guarantees rights and assigns
responsibilities fairly.
outcome: Students understand how
compromise is embedded in the legislative
process of the House of Representatives (e.g.,
writing and proposing bills, committee hearings
and amendments, bringing a bill to the floor for
full House vote).
outcome: Students analyze the needs and
wants of co-existing community constituencies
and enact a situation in which they must work
together.
example: Members of the class contact or
visit a local court to find out how citizens are
called to jury duty. By creating a calendar or
weekly wheel, students use their own blind
selection process to divide tasks in their own
classroom. Hold a class meeting to discuss how
to handle responsibilities when a student is
absent.
177 N Church Avenue, Suite 305
example: Students research two different
bills in Congress dealing with immigration issues,
learning how to navigate the government’s
complex online presence by using www.house.
gov. They then construct a sample compromise
bill that includes compatible parts of each of the
bills. Respond to presidential veto.
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example: In a jigsaw activity, students
study the Web sites of local agencies (e.g., fire
department or city planning department) and
organizations (e.g., Chamber of Commerce)
and role play the concerns and roles of each in
a situation such as population growth, revenue
needs, a community event (parade, fair, sporting
event) or a crisis (flood, fire, evacuation). Include
a scenario in which agencies must suddenly
change plans to deal with the situation beyond
their control.
Publication date: 11/08 13
LIFE & C AREE R SKILLS
Initiative and Self Direction
• Monitoring one’s own
understanding and
learning needs
• Going beyond basic
mastery of skills and/or
curriculum to explore
and expand one’s own
learning and opportunities
to gain expertise
• Utilizing time efficiently
and managing workload
4th Grade
8th Grade
outcome: Students participate in writers’
workshop and, with the teacher’s help,
evaluate their writing skills and set goals for
improvement.
outcome: Students choose a research
topic and seek additional resources to become
“experts” on their topic. Students set short- and
long-term goals to complete their research on
time.
example: Students write a draft article
for the class newsletter about a field trip or
community event they attended, share their
letter with peers in a writers’ workshop, and
with the teacher’s help, set a goal to improve
their writing, (e.g., creating a clear topic
sentence for each paragraph).
• Defining, prioritizing and
completing tasks without
direct oversight
12th Grade
example: Students choose an historic figure
to research, plan their online and offline research
strategy to seek additional resources beyond
those available in the classroom and become
“experts” on their topic in preparation for a
History Fair or History Hall of Fame. Each time
students work on the project, they evaluate and
record their progress and set the next steps on a
project management log.
• Demonstrating initiative
to advance skill levels
towards a professional
level
• Demonstrating
commitment to learning
as a lifelong process
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Publication date: 11/08 14
LIFE & C AREE R SKILLS
Social and Cross-Cultural Skills
4th Grade
8th Grade
12th Grade
• Working appropriately
and productively with
others
outcome: Students value their fellow
classmates and work with them to complete
inquiries about problems of common interest.
outcome: Students simulate political
organizations based on compromise and
cooperation.
outcome: Students organize around a topic
of local interest and engage in community-based
work directed at some positive action.
• Leveraging the collective
intelligence of groups
when appropriate
example: Students work in small groups to
discuss problems that they have observed or
heard about in their school such as bullying or
graffiti. Convening as a whole class, students
should come to some common agreement
about the problems that are most meaningful.
After the problem has been selected by
consensus, students take responsibility for
specific elements of an inquiry into the causes
of and possible solutions to the problem.
example: As part of a simulation of
Congressional debate over extension of slavery
into the “western” territories in the 1850’s,
students form political parties that are engaged in
debate. Students in each political party would be
required to work together to craft their message
and deliver it to another group of students by
producing a two to three minute presentation in
support of their position.
example: Students identify a public policy
issue in their community, preferably related
to school policy, and work as a whole class
or in small groups. Students create a wiki for
mobilizing others who are interested in the issue.
This would require agreement on the primary
positions taken by the group and coordination
among students for the purpose of articulating a
persuasive message. outcome: Students produce representations
of an historical figure using multiple presentation
genres.
outcome: Students create an
economic venture that requires
the application of economic
principles such as supply and
demand.
• Bridging cultural
differences and using
differing perspectives to
increase innovation and
the quality of work
outcome: Students produce a class skit
or play depicting some episode in their state’s
history.
example: Students work together as a
whole class to identify an historical episode
in their state’s history. Then, in smaller groups,
students construct a skit or play that includes
a script, costumes, a set, and some direction
and production. The groups would also perform
the skit or play. All or some parts of the skit
or play could also be recorded and possibly
produced, given the ability of the teacher to
support such work, for viewing by audiences
outside the classroom.
177 N Church Avenue, Suite 305
example: Students work in pairs or groups,
determined by their interest and abilities, in
various presentational genres including audio,
video, still imagery, creative text, narrative,
expository writing, music, etc. Each pair or group
researches an historical figure from their state
(possibly a common person as opposed to a
political, military, business figure) and creates
a representation, using the genre selected, of
this person’s life story or some event(s) from
their life. A montage of these projects could
be presented for a wider school or community
audience.
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example: Students work together as a class or
in groups to execute a simple business task such
as selling a certain amount of a popular snack by
a certain date. The activity could be structured
competitively or in such a way that various
groups are attempting to reach group-based
specific sales goals. Students use a range of sales
techniques that incorporate forms of technology
such as video and web-based promotion. Students
could also create a new product or packaging of
an existing product and make a competitive pitch
to fellow students who decide which product
or packaging should be awarded with a “venture
capital” type of investment. The activity could be
incorporated into a co-curricular school-based
venture that has access to some start-up funds.
Publication date: 11/08 15
LIFE & C AREE R SKILLS
Social and Cross-Cultural Skills (continued)
4th Grade
8th Grade
12th Grade
outcome: Students work with
partners in other school settings
to explore daily life in different
cultural contexts.
outcome: Students explore characteristics of
dialect within their community or state, including
vocabulary, word use, grammar and cultural
distinctions that reflect historical trends and
events.
outcome: Students organize a cultural
exhibit for their community.
example: Students use an
educationally oriented global network such as
the non-profit iEARN (International Education
and Resource Network) or the United
Nations’ UNICEF, Voices of Youth project.
Students engage children or children’s stories
in vastly different cultural contexts and develop
an understanding of the similarities between
the life experiences in these two places. This
should be clearly focused on similarities in the
children’s lives and may or may not involve
actual communication with children from
another country. Children represent their
knowledge in some format, such as oral reports
or poster presentations.
177 N Church Avenue, Suite 305
example: Students and/or teachers identify
specific dialect groups in their community or
state and study that group in the context of its
history and cultural traditions. Students record
the stories of people in these communities who
speak with recognizable forms of the dialect and
construct reports on the historical and cultural
significance of the groups.
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example: Students identify cultural groups in
their community and engage these groups for
the purpose of showcasing the groups’ creativity
or productivity. Students plan and host a cultural
fair that showcases the actions and activities
of real people in real parts of the community.
The cultural fair is held after school hours and
includes people from the community who are
first generation immigrants or who represent
strong cultural traditions sharing some aspect of
their work in the community.
Publication date: 11/08 16
LIFE & C AREE R SKILLS
Productivity and Accountability
• Setting and meeting
high standards and
goals for delivering
quality work on time
• Demonstrating diligence
and a positive work
ethic (e.g., being
punctual and reliable)
4th Grade
8th Grade
12th Grade
outcome: Through a service-learning
project that requires the sharing of work
activities, students develop awareness of our
responsibility to help others in society who
experience a crisis.
outcome: Students develop
entrepreneurial skills by
undertaking a business project.
outcome: Students complete a project which
incorporates problem identification, research,
a written and oral presentation, and a related
service project. Students evaluate their own work
with project criteria, set goals for improvement,
and strive to meet project deadlines.
example: The class chooses a fundraising
project with direct significance to its current
social studies curriculum (e.g., hurricane relief,
UNICEF aid to Africa, United Way, Red Cross).
Students read about the situation and about
groups that are trying to help, and then split
up responsibilities for sales, donations, record
keeping and other tasks. Students set individual
and team goals and assess their progress and
modify as needed.
177 N Church Avenue, Suite 305
example: JA World Wide (Junior
Achievement) provides a semester project for
middle school students, in which business leaders
from the community teach a weekly class, and
each student group in the class develops and
markets a product.
Students are responsible for setting goals,
developing and implementing their plans,
monitoring their progress in developing and
marketing their product, and modifying as needed.
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example: Students participate in National
History Day, Mock Trial competition, or other
social studies related long-term, multi-step
projects. Publication date: 11/08 17
LIFE & C AREE R SKILLS
Leadership and Responsibility
• Using interpersonal and
problem-solving skills
to influence and guide
others toward a goal
• Leveraging strengths of
others to accomplish a
common goal
• Demonstrating integrity
and ethical behavior
• Acting responsibly with
the interests of the larger
community in mind
4th Grade
8th Grade
12th Grade
outcome: Develop problem-solving and
leadership skills while seeking to leverage and
guide the skills of others toward a common
goal. Demonstrate responsibility and ethical
behavior.
outcome: Develop problem-solving and
leadership skills while seeking to leverage and
guide the skills of others toward a common goal.
Use electronic tools to gain community support.
Demonstrate responsibility and ethical behavior.
outcome: Develop problem-solving and
leadership skills while seeking to leverage and
guide the skills of others toward a common goal.
Use electronic tools to gain community support.
Demonstrate responsibility and ethical behavior.
example: Students develop interpersonal
and problem solving skills as they participate in
a school-wide service project (e.g., beautify the
school grounds or help plant a neighborhood
garden). Students in each fourth grade class
discuss what each class can contribute to the
group effort. Student leaders from each fourth
grade class meet together with their teachers
to plan the responsibilities of each class. Class
leaders post on the class Web site or wiki
the responsibilities of each class. Parents are
encouraged to log onto the class or school
Web site to find out how they and their
students can support the project.
example: After investigating children’s needs
in the local community, students participate in
a service project to collect clothing, books and
toys for children at a local homeless shelter.
They solicit community support through posting
on the school Web site, creating public service
announcements for local media, and collaborating
with other groups in the school or community
social service organizations. Class members
provide input regarding their strengths and
interests, which the group leader uses to assign
tasks for the service project.
Students develop a list of qualities of helpful
leaders and followers. During the project,
class leaders and group members assess their
own actions according to these qualities.
(Note: class leaders should rotate during the
year so every student has the opportunity to
experience leadership responsibilities.)
The group leader posts the responsibilities
of each member on the class Web site with a
timeline for completion.
example: Students investigate online social
actions sites (e.g., Free the Children, iEARN,
Mercy Corps, or Taking It Global,) and select the
group most attuned to what the students want
to achieve. Students choose one of the issues
(e.g., support women’s micro-business project
in Africa). Then students research and analyze
the potential contributions of other student
groups, local organizations and/or policy leaders
and devise a strategy to secure and leverage
their support. Via a district-approved social
networking site, students engage in an ongoing
online discussion with representatives from each
of the participating groups (public or private,
local, national or international). Throughout the
project, students evaluate their progress toward
accomplishing their goal as they demonstrate
responsibility and ethical behavior.
After using offline and online means to interact
with community officials about the local homeless
shelter, students prepare recommendations in the
form of an electronic presentation for relevant
community leaders to gain additional funding or
resources for the shelter. outcome: Students select individuals that
best represent ethical leaders in the local, state,
national or international community and illustrate
ways that they can emulate them by acting upon a
social concern.
example: Students develop an "ethical leader
hall of fame” Web site and post examples of
how they might act in a similar manner on a
social concern of their choice. For example,
students might choose Nobel Peace Prize winner
Yunus and provide examples of student action
in support of the Micro-Banking Project in
Bangladesh. The Web site could include a blog
so that other students could rank their favorite
leaders in real time and post their comments. 177 N Church Avenue, Suite 305
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Publication date: 11/08 18
Supporting Structures
The followin g i tems a re su ggested as to o ls th at ca n be i nteg r ated i nto t h e p rece d i n g exampl es :
8th Grade
12th Grade
• Access to the Web and personal computing
• Brainstorming, concept mapping software
• CAI and simulation software
•Digital images
•Digital production tools (digital photography and video)
• GIS and GPS tools
• Graphics software (drawing, painting, image editing)
•Interactive online sites
• Multimedia resources (clip art, video, sound, animations)
•Ongoing professional development on the promotion of an inquiry approach through the use of technology
•Online authoring, brainstorming, graphics, spreadsheet and presentation software
•Online collaboration, conferencing, communication tools
•Online sources
• Presentation tools
• Print resources including books, newspapers, magazines and maps
• Productivity/publishing tools (ex. word processing, page layout, etc.)
•Resources in the local community including people, places and information
• Search engines and online search strategies
• Social networking sites
• Software applications for creating information content including Web authoring, podcasting, video and other audio tools
• Spreadsheet and graphing software
• TV, Video and DVD
• Videoconferencing and interactive TV
• Video editing software
•Web publishing software
•Word processing software
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Publication date: 08/07 19
Common Core Shifts for English Language Arts/Literacy 1. Building knowledge
through content-­‐
rich nonfiction
Building knowledge through content rich non-­‐fiction plays an essential role in literacy and in the Standards. In K-­‐5, fulfilling the standards requires a 50-­‐50 balance between informational and literary reading. Informational reading primarily includes content rich non-­‐fiction in history/social studies, science and the arts; the K-­‐5 Standards strongly recommend that students build coherent general knowledge both within each year and across years. In 6-­‐12, ELA classes place much greater attention to a specific category of informational text—literary nonfiction—than has been traditional. In grades 6-­‐12, the Standards for literacy in history/social studies, science and technical subjects ensure that students can independently build knowledge in these disciplines through reading and writing. To be clear, the Standards do require substantial attention to literature throughout K-­‐12, as half of the required work in K-­‐5 and the core of the work of 6-­‐12 ELA teachers. 2. Reading, writing and
speaking grounded in
evidence from text,
both literary and
informational
The Standards place a premium on students writing to sources, i.e., using evidence from texts to present careful analyses, well-­‐defended claims, and clear information. Rather than asking students questions they can answer solely from their prior knowledge or experience, the Standards expect students to answer questions that depend on their having read the text or texts with care. The Standards also require the cultivation of narrative writing throughout the grades, and in later grades a command of sequence and detail will be essential for effective argumentative and informational writing. Likewise, the reading standards focus on students’ ability to read carefully and grasp information, arguments, ideas and details based on text evidence. Students should be able to answer a range of text-­‐dependent questions, questions in which the answers require inferences based on careful attention to the text. 3. Regular practice with
complex text and its
academic language
Rather than focusing solely on the skills of reading and writing, the Standards highlight the growing complexity of the texts students must read to be ready for the demands of college and careers. The Standards build a staircase of text complexity so that all students are ready for the demands of college-­‐ and career-­‐level reading no later than the end of high school. Closely related to text complexity—and inextricably connected to reading comprehension—is a focus on academic vocabulary: words that appear in a variety of content areas (such as ignite and commit). More on the shifts at achievethecore.org General Page 2
General Page 3
Comparing the CA CCSS Reading Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies 6–12
with the CCR Anchor Standards for Reading
CA CCSS Reading Standards for Literacy in Science and Technical Subjects 6–12 (RH) (pp.77-78)
Grade 6–8 Students
Grade 9–10 Students
Grade 11–12 Students
1. Cite specific textual evidence to
support analysis of primary and
secondary sources.
2. Determine the central ideas or
conclusions of a primary or
secondary source; provide an
accurate summary of the text distinct
from prior knowledge or opinions.
3. Identify key steps in a text’s
description of a process related to
history/social studies (e.g., how a bill
becomes a law, how interest rates
are raised or lowered).
4. Determine the meaning of words
and phrases as they are used in a
text, including vocabulary specific to
domains related to history/social
studies.
5. Describe how a text presents
information (e.g., sequentially,
comparatively, causally).
6. Identify aspects of a text that
Key Ideas and Details
1. Cite specific textual evidence to
support analysis of primary and
secondary sources, connecting
insights gained from specific details
to an understanding of the text as a
whole.
2. Determine the central ideas or
2. Determine the central ideas or
information of a primary or
information of a primary or
secondary source; provide an
secondary source; provide an
accurate summary of how key events accurate summary that makes clear
or ideas developed over the course
the relationships among key details
of the text.
and ideas.
3. Analyze in detail a series of events 3. Evaluate various explanations for
described in a text; determine
actions or events and determine
whether earlier events caused later
which explanation best accords with
ones or simply preceded them.
textual evidence, acknowledging
where the text leaves matters
uncertain.
Craft and Structure
4. Determine the meaning of words
4. Determine the meaning of words
and phrases as they are used in a
and phrases as they are used in a
text, including vocabulary describing
text, including analyzing how an
political, social, or economic aspects
author uses and refines the meaning
of history/social studies.
of a key term over the course of a
text (e.g., how Madison defines
faction in Federalist No. 10).
5. Analyze how a text uses structure
5. Analyze in detail how a complex
to emphasize key points or to
primary source is structured,
advance an explanation or analysis.
including how key sentences,
paragraphs, and larger portions of
the text contribute to the whole.
1. Cite specific textual evidence to
support analysis of primary and
secondary sources, attending to such
features as the date and origin of the
information.
6. Compare the point of view of two
6. Evaluate author’s differing points
CCR Anchor Standards for
Reading (p. 74)
1. Read closely to determine what
the text says explicitly and to make
logical inferences from it; cite specific
textual evidence when writing or
speaking to support conclusions
drawn from the text.
2. Determine central ideas or themes
of a text and analyze their
development; summarize the key
supporting details and ideas.
3. Analyze how and why individuals,
events, and ideas develop and
interact over the course of a text.
4. Interpret words and phrases as
they are used in a text, including
determining technical, connotative,
and figurative meanings, and analyze
how specific word choices shape
meaning or tone.
5. Analyze the structure of texts,
including how specific sentences,
paragraphs, and larger portions of
the text (e.g., a section, chapter,
scene, or stanza) relate to each other
and the whole.
6. Assess how point of view or
reveal an author’s point of view or
purpose (e.g., loaded language,
inclusion or avoidance of particular
facts).
7. Integrate visual information (e.g., in
charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or
maps) with other information in print
and digital texts.
8. Distinguish among facts, opinion,
and reasoned judgment in a text.
9. Analyze the relationship between a
primary and secondary source on the
same topic.
10. By the end of grade 8, read and
comprehend history/social studies
texts in the grades 6–8 text
complexity band independently and
proficiently.
or more authors for how they treat
of view on the same historical event
the same or similar topics, including
or issue by assessing the authors’
which details they include and
claims, reasoning, and evidence.
emphasize in their respective
accounts.
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
7. Integrate quantitative or technical 7. Integrate and evaluate multiple
analysis (e.g., charts, research data)
sources of information presented in
with qualitative analysis in print or
diverse formats and media (e.g.,
digital text.
visually, quantitatively, as well as in
words) in order to address a question
or solve a problem.
8. Assess the extent to which the
8. Evaluate an author’s premise,
reasoning and evidence in a text
claims, and evidence by
support the author’s claims.
corroborating or challenging
conclusions with other information.
9. Compare and contrast treatments
of the same topic in several primary
and secondary sources.
9. Integrate information from diverse
sources, both primary and secondary,
into a coherent understanding of an
idea or event, noting discrepancies
among sources.
Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity
10. By the end of grade 10, read and
10. By the end of grade 12, read and
comprehend history/social studies
comprehend history/social studies
texts in the grades 9–10 text
texts in the grades 11–12 text
complexity band independently and
complexity band independently and
proficiently.
proficiently.
purpose shapes the content and style
of a text.
7. Integrate and evaluate content
presented in diverse media and
formats, including visually and
quantitatively, as well as in words.
8. Delineate and evaluate the
argument and specific claims in a
text, including the validity of the
reasoning as well as the relevance
and sufficiency of the evidence.
9. Analyze how two or more texts
address similar themes or topics in
order to build knowledge or to
compare the approaches the authors
take.
10. Read and comprehend complex
literary and informational texts
independently and proficiently.
21
Grades Six
Through
Eight
Historical and Social Sciences Analysis Skills
The intellectual skills noted below are to be learned through, and applied to, the content
standards for grades six through eight. They are to be assessed only in conjunction with
the content standards in grades six through eight.
In addition to the standards for grades six through eight, students demonstrate the following
intellectual reasoning, reflection, and research skills:
Chronological and Spatial Thinking
1. Students explain how major events are related to one another in time.
2. Students construct various time lines of key events, people, and periods of the historical
era they are studying.
3. Students use a variety of maps and documents to identify physical and cultural features
of neighborhoods, cities, states, and countries and to explain the historical migration of
people, expansion and disintegration of empires, and the growth of economic systems.
Research, Evidence, and Point of View
1. Students frame questions that can be answered by historical study and research.
2. Students distinguish fact from opinion in historical narratives and stories.
3. Students distinguish relevant from irrelevant information, essential from incidental
information, and verifiable from unverifiable information in historical narratives and
stories.
4. Students assess the credibility of primary and secondary sources and draw sound con­
clusions from them.
5. Students detect the different historical points of view on historical events and determine
the context in which the historical statements were made (the questions asked, sources
used, author’s perspectives).
21
California Department of Education
Reposted June 23, 2009
22
GRADES SIX THROUGH EIGHT
Historical Interpretation
1. Students explain the central issues and problems from the past, placing people and
events in a matrix of time and place.
2. Students understand and distinguish cause, effect, sequence, and correlation in historical
events, including the long- and short-term causal relations.
3. Students explain the sources of historical continuity and how the combination of ideas
and events explains the emergence of new patterns.
4. Students recognize the role of chance, oversight, and error in history.
5. Students recognize that interpretations of history are subject to change as new informa­
tion is uncovered.
6. Students interpret basic indicators of economic performance and conduct cost-benefit
analyses of economic and political issues.
California Department of Education
Reposted June 23, 2009
40
Grades Nine
Through
Twelve
Historical and Social Sciences Analysis Skills
The intellectual skills noted below are to be learned through, and applied to, the content
standards for grades nine through twelve. They are to be assessed only in conjunction
with the content standards in grades nine through twelve.
In addition to the standards for grades nine through twelve, students demonstrate the following
intellectual, reasoning, reflection, and research skills.
Chronological and Spatial Thinking
1. Students compare the present with the past, evaluating the consequences of past events
and decisions and determining the lessons that were learned.
2. Students analyze how change happens at different rates at different times; understand
that some aspects can change while others remain the same; and understand that change
is complicated and affects not only technology and politics but also values and beliefs.
3. Students use a variety of maps and documents to interpret human movement, including
major patterns of domestic and international migration, changing environmental prefer­
ences and settlement patterns, the frictions that develop between population groups, and
the diffusion of ideas, technological innovations, and goods.
4. Students relate current events to the physical and human characteristics of places and
regions.
Historical Research, Evidence, and Point of View
1. Students distinguish valid arguments from fallacious arguments in historical interpreta­
tions.
2. Students identify bias and prejudice in historical interpretations.
3. Students evaluate major debates among historians concerning alternative interpretations
of the past, including an analysis of authors’ use of evidence and the distinctions be­
tween sound generalizations and misleading oversimplifications.
4. Students construct and test hypotheses; collect, evaluate, and employ information from
multiple primary and secondary sources; and apply it in oral and written presentations.
40
California Department of Education
Reposted June 23, 2009
GRADES NINE THROUGH TWELVE
41
Historical Interpretation
1. Students show the connections, causal and otherwise, between particular historical
events and larger social, economic, and political trends and developments.
2. Students recognize the complexity of historical causes and effects, including the limita­
tions on determining cause and effect.
3. Students interpret past events and issues within the context in which an event unfolded
rather than solely in terms of present-day norms and values.
4. Students understand the meaning, implication, and impact of historical events and
recognize that events could have taken other directions.
5. Students analyze human modifications of landscapes and examine the resulting environ­
mental policy issues.
6. Students conduct cost-benefit analyses and apply basic economic indicators to analyze
the aggregate economic behavior of the U.S. economy.
California Department of Education
Reposted June 23, 2009
Differentiating Primary and Secondary Sources
Primary Sources
"Primary sources are materials produced by people or groups directly involved in the event or
topic under consideration, either as participants or witnesses. These sources provide the evidence
on which historians rely in order to describe and interpret the past. . . . Primary sources provide
windows into the past that allow you to develop your own interpretation, rather than rely on the
interpretation of another historian."
Examples of Primary Sources
"Letters; diaries; newspaper and magazine articles; speeches; autobiographies; treatises; census
data; marriage, birth, and death registers. . . works of art, films, recordings, items of clothing,
household objects, tools, and archaeological remains,. . . [and] oral sources, such as interviews."
Secondary Sources
"Secondary sources are texts... that are written or created by people who were not eyewitnesses
to the event or period in question; instead, the authors of secondary sources synthesize, analyze,
and interpret primary sources. Secondary sources may be written by professional historians, but
popular writers and journalists also write books and articles about historical subjects."
Examples of Secondary Sources:
"Books, articles, documentary films [that analyze and interpret the historical event or issue]."
Primary or Secondary? The Changing Status of a Source
"Primary or Secondary? The Changing Status of a Source "While the definitions provided above
seem fairly straight-forward, it is not always easy to determine whether a particular text is a
primary source or a secondary source. This is because the status of a source as primary or
secondary depends not on how old the source is, but rather on the historical question you are
asking. For example, if you are writing about the reign of Julius Caesar (100-44BCE),
Suetonius's Lives of the Twelve Caesars, written in the early second century CE, would be a
secondary source because Suetonius was not a witness to the events he describes. If, however,
you are writing about the debates among second-century Romans about the use and abuse of
imperial power, Suetonius's work would be a primary source. Thus, the status of a source as
primary or secondary depends on the focus of your research."
Source: Mary Lynn Rampolla. A Pocket Guide to Writing History. (Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2012), 6-9.
Primary and Secondary Source Activity
Read the following topics and sources. Identify whether the source is primary or secondary
given that topic.
1. Topic: Abraham Lincoln’s presidency. Source: “Gettysburg Address,” by Abraham
Lincoln, 1863
a. Primary Source
b. Secondary Source
2. Topic: Abraham Lincoln’s presidency. Source: Lincoln, movie directed by Steven
Spielberg, 2013
a. Primary Source
b. Secondary Source
3. Topic: Abraham Lincoln’s presidency. Source: Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of
Abraham Lincoln, by Doris Kearns Goodwin, 2006
a. Primary Source
b. Secondary Source
4. Topic: Popular culture remembrances of Abraham Lincoln in the 21st Century. Source:
Lincoln, movie directed by Steven Spielberg, 2013
a. Primary Source
b. Secondary Source
5. Topic: The March on Washington, August 28, 1968? Source: “I Have a Dream,” by Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr., 1968
a. Primary Source
b. Secondary Source
6. Topic: The March on Washington, August 28, 1968. Source: Speech at the “Let
Freedom Ring” Ceremony commemorating the March on Washington, by President
Barack Obama, 2013
a. Primary Source
b. Secondary Source
7. Topic: 21st Century American views on the 1968 March on Washington. Source:
Speech at the “Let Freedom Ring” Ceremony commemorating the March on
Washington, by President Barack Obama, 2013
a. Primary Source
b. Secondary Source
General Page 2
General Page 3
General Page 4
Deposition of Captain Thomas Preston, March 12, 1770
Background:
On March 5, 1770, British soldiers fired on a crowd of Bostonians who were throwing ice and
other objects at the soldiers. Five civilians died. The leader of the British soldiers, Captain
Thomas Preston, and several soldiers were arrested. The trial that followed attempted to
determine whether Preston ordered his troops to fire, or whether they fired without the order
in the confusion of events. The following quote is an excerpt from Preston’s deposition before
the trial.
Excerpt from the Deposition of Captain Thomas Preston, March 12, 1770.
“On this a general attack was made on the men by a great number of heavy clubs and
snowballs being thrown at them, by which all our lives were in imminent danger, some
persons at the same time from behind calling out, damn your bloods-why don't you fire.
Instantly three or four of the soldiers fired, one after another, and directly after three more
in the same confusion and hurry. The mob then ran away, except three unhappy men who
instantly expired, in which number was Mr. Gray at whose rope-walk the prior quarrels
took place; one more is since dead, three others are dangerously, and four slightly
wounded. The whole of this melancholy affair was transacted in almost 20 minutes. On my
asking the soldiers why they fired without orders, they said they heard the word fire and
supposed it came from me. This might be the case as many of the mob called out fire, fire,
but I assured the men that I gave no such order; that my words were, don't fire, stop your
firing. In short, it was scarcely possible for the soldiers to know who said fire, or don't fire,
or stop your firing. On the people's assembling again to take away the dead bodies, the
soldiers supposing them coming to attack them, were making ready to fire again, which I
prevented by striking up their firelocks with my hand.”
Source: The Trial of Captain Preston: Key Evidence
http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/bostonmassacre/prestontrialexcerpts.html
“Text Complexity” in the History Classroom:
Teaching to and Beyond the Common Core
by Avishag Reisman, Ph.D. & Sam Wineburg, Ph.D.
Dr. Reisman is a Senior Researcher at UCLA’s
National Center for Research on Evaluation,
Standards, & Student Testing (CRESST). She was
the Project Director for “Reading Like a Historian”
in San Francisco. Her work has appeared in
Cognition and Instruction (2012a) and the Journal
of Curriculum Studies (2012b). Her dissertation,
which emerged from this project, won the 2011
Larry Metcalf Award from the National Council of
the Social Studies.
Dr. Wineburg is the Margaret Jacks Chair of
Education and Professor of History, by courtesy, at
Stanford University, and the Director of the Stanford
History Education Group.
Reading Standard 10 of the recently released
Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects focuses on
“text complexity,” bringing new attention to the
sophistication and variety of the texts students
encounter in school. Who can argue with that?
A steady stream of studies on adolescent reading
comprehension has called for secondary reading
to move beyond the meager diet of narrative fiction and textbook prose (cf. Carnegie Council
on Advancing Adolescent Literacy, 2010; National Institute for Literacy, 2007). In fact, a 2006
American College Testing (ACT) study revealed
that the biggest predictor of college enrollment
and success was not the type of question students
answered but the type of text students read. Text
complexity, rather than students’ ability to answer
questions about an author’s main idea or purpose,
seems to be the best predictor of college readiness
(ACT, 2006). The bottom line is that students
who can face the challenge of complex texts are
more likely get into college and succeed.
texts.” Social studies teachers, on the other
hand, are blessed with easy access to complex
primary sources – the Library of Congress’s
American Memory alone has digitized hundreds
of thousands of documents. But access does
not guarantee success. The documentary record
may provide a treasury of letters, diaries, secret
communiqués, official promulgations, public
speeches and the like, but merely presenting students with complex texts does not work magic.
On the contrary, far from providing a silver bullet that will eradicate the nation’s literacy crisis,
the mere selection of complex texts represents
only the first step in effective document-based
instruction. If struggling readers are to benefit
from complex texts we need to take three additional steps. We must: a) pose a central question;
b) modify the document; and c) offer multiple
opportunities for practice.
We ground our suggestions in a key understanding about history instruction sometimes skipped
by literacy coaches: in order for students to
engage with texts in sophisticated ways, they
This new emphasis on text complexity has sent must see these texts as evidence. That is, students
English Language Arts (ELA) teachers across who are asked to simply pull historical facts
the country scrambling to find “informational from a primary source are no better prepared
24
Social Studies Review 2012
for the literacy demands of college than those
who cull facts from a textbook. It is in learning
to interrogate the reliability and truth claims of
a particular source that students begin to engage
in the sorts of activities that lie at the heart of
historical thinking (Reisman & Wineburg, 2008;
Wineburg 2001; Wineburg, Martin, & MonteSano, 2011).
Our intervention work in San Francisco schools
provides the empirical basis for our suggestions
(Reisman, 2012a; 2012b). We compared 11th
grade students who were taught with a documentbased U.S. history curriculum to students in
traditional classrooms. Students who received
document-based instruction outperformed their
counterparts on measures of reading comprehension, historical thinking, and general reasoning.
At the core of the intervention lay the ‘Document-Based Lesson,’ a new lesson structure that
presented students with a predictable sequence
of activities that over time built up the ability to
cope with complex primary sources (Reisman,
2012b). Here we discuss how we prepared the
documents for the ‘Document-Based Lesson,’
and we make the case for such instruction using the Common Core’s framework for “Text
Complexity.”
Text Complexity: A Dilemma
At first glance, the concept of text complexity
seems straightforward enough: complex texts
presumably have longer, more sophisticated sentences and challenging vocabulary. By this definition, President Polk’s 1846 message to Congress,
a 3,000-word speech requesting a declaration
of war against Mexico, certainly qualifies as a
complex text. A closer look at the Common Core
definition, however, reveals that “text complexity” transcends the sum of its quantitative parts
(i.e., words per sentence; word frequency) (see
CCSS, 2010, Appendix A, p. 4-5). Qualitative
aspects of the text come into play (e.g., levels of
meaning, language conventionality, and knowledge demands), as well as factors that relate to
the specific readers (e.g., their motivation, experience, etc.) and the purpose and complexity of the
questions or task assigned with the reading. In
other words, the interaction between the reader
and the text plays a critical role in defining text
complexity.
A thorny instructional dilemma emerges from
this definition: on the one hand, students should
engage with complex texts that broaden their linguistic repertoire; on the other hand, they should
engage with texts in ways that are rigorous and
intellectually meaningful. If they devote all their
mental resources to assembling a basic understanding of the propositions in the text (what van
Dijk and Kintsch, 1983, call a “textbase model”),
they have few resources remaining to interpret
or analyze what the author is actually saying and
how it relates to what they already know (what
the same researchers call a “situation model”).
Moreover, for many students, no amount of effort could help them decipher Polk’s message
in Figure 1. To engage with Polk’s message,
students would have to appreciate the context for
the speech – namely, the seething tensions between the U.S. and Mexico in the wake of Texas
annexation. The document’s complexity lies in
how Polk blames Mexico for the outbreak of
hostilities, despite clear indications in the speech
itself of American aggression. The instructional
challenge, then, is to simplify the document
sufficiently to allow students to engage with the
true nature of its complexity: a broader historical
context without which the document’s meaning
remains opaque. We argue that key instructional
moves can resolve this dilemma and transform
complex texts into curriculum that can be used
with struggling readers.
Pose a Central Question
The first step in designing history instruction
around complex texts is to give students an
intellectually stimulating purpose for reading.
A central historical question focuses students’
attention and transforms the act of reading into
Text Complexity in the History Classroom / Reisman & Wineburg
25
a process of active inquiry. Historical questions
share two key characteristics: 1) they are open to
multiple interpretations; 2) they direct students
to the historical record, rather than to their philosophical or moral beliefs. For example, a good
historical question asks, “Why did the U.S. drop
the atomic bomb?” rather than “Should the U.S.
have dropped the atomic bomb?” and forces
students to support their claims with textual
evidence. “Should” questions, while important,
too often lead students astray, and the resulting
discussion leaves the text far behind.
archivists would consider unthinkable, but one
that we consider essential. In our work with struggling readers and English Language Learners we
prepare documents by simplifying vocabulary,
conventionalizing spelling and punctuation, and
reordering sentences into straightforward sentence-verb constructions (see, for example, http://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWz08mVUIt8).
In all our adaptations, we urge teachers to preserve the document’s original language and tone.
The extent of the modifications should abate over
the course of the year. When students become
more comfortable reading primary sources, we
“Historical questions can be further divided into increase text complexity by removing these
evaluative questions, which ask students to pass scaffolds.
judgment on historical actors and events (e.g.,
Was the New Deal a success? Was Lincoln a Finally, we recommend presenting documents in
racist?), or interpretive questions, which are ways that would invite, rather than intimidate,
more open-ended (e.g., Who benefitted from the struggling readers. In a 72 lesson curriculum
New Deal? Why did Lincoln pass the Emanci- designed for the 11th grade U.S. history classpation Proclamation?)” (Haroutunian-Gordon, room (http://sheg.stanford.edu), we provided
2009). The most important consideration when documents that are no longer than 250 words,
designing a central question is whether it can be written in large font and surrounded by comfortanswered with evidence from the document, or ing white space. These adaptations are the only
whether it diverts students’ gaze from the textual way struggling readers can be exposed to some
evidence at hand.
of the flavor, cadence, feel, and ethos of Polk’s,
or Augustine’s, or Jefferson’s, or Frederick DougAny number of historical questions could be lass’s words (see Figure 2).
asked of President Polk’s message to Congress,
depending on the teacher’s goals. One question We recognize that such a suggestion will make
immediately comes to mind: Who started the purists’ blood boil. “An outrage that dumbs down
war? Polk argues the Mexicans fired first, yet his and cheapens the past. Inserting contemporary
narrative suggests another story. A clear histori- language into documents while retaining the
cal question allows the teacher to excerpt those designation ‘primary source’ is dishonest! If hisparts of the document that directly address the tory is about getting at truth, how can you justify
question (see Figure 1).
lying to do so?” In our work with teachers, we’ve
encountered similar objections and our answer is
always the same: Don’t lie. When students first
Modify the Document
encounter a primary source, always have them
compare the original to the adaptation to demonPolk’s excerpted speech in Figure 1 would still strate that the sources they’ll be using have been
present a formidable challenge to many strug- specifically prepared for the classroom. Students
gling readers. To make the documents visually can generate questions about the original after
and cognitively accessible to students below working with the adapted forms, or directly comgrade level, we suggest the radical step of physi- pare one or two sentences, considering if and how
cally tampering with them – a decision that many the editing affected their understanding.
26
Social Studies Review 2012
James K. Polk, President of the United States at Washington, D.C., to the Congress of the United
States, in a special message calling for a declaration of war against Mexico.
Washington, May 11, 1846.
To the Senate and the House of Representatives:
The strong desire to establish peace with Mexico on liberal and honorable terms, and the readiness of this
Government to regulate and adjust our boundary and other causes of difference with that power on such
fair and equitable principles as would lead to permanent relations of the most friendly nature, induced me
in September last to seek the reopening of diplomatic relations between the two countries. . . . An envoy of
the United States repaired to Mexico with full powers to adjust every existing difference. . . .The Mexican
Government not only refused to receive him or listen to his propositions, but after a long-continued series of
menaces have at last invaded our territory and shed the blood of our fellow-citizens on our own soil. . .
In my message at the commencement of the present session I informed you that upon the earnest appeal both
of the Congress and convention of Texas I had ordered an efficient military force to take a position “between the Nueces and Del Norte.” This had become necessary to meet a threatened invasion of Texas by the
Mexican forces, for which extensive military preparations had been made. The invasion was threatened solely
because Texas had determined, in accordance with a solemn resolution of the Congress of the United States,
to annex herself to our Union, and under these circumstances it was plainly our duty to extend our protection
over her citizens and soil.
This force was concentrated at Corpus Christi, and remained there until after I had received such information
from Mexico as rendered it probable, if not certain, that the Mexican Government would refuse to receive our
envoy.
Meantime Texas, by the final act of our Congress, had become an integral part of our Union. The Congress of
Texas, by its act of December 19, 1836, had declared the Rio del Norte to be the boundary of that Republic.
Its jurisdiction had been extended and exercised beyond the Nueces. The country between that river and the
Del Norte had been represented in the Congress and in the convention of Texas. . .
The movement of the troops to the Del Norte was made by the commanding general under positive instructions to abstain from all aggressive acts toward Mexico or Mexican citizens and to regard the relations
between that Republic and the United States as peaceful unless she should declare war or commit acts of
hostility indicative of a state of war.
The Mexican forces at Matamoras assumed a belligerent attitude. . . But no open act of hostility was committed until the 24th of April. On that day General Arista, who had succeeded to the command of the Mexican
forces, communicated to General Taylor that “he considered hostilities commenced and should prosecute
them.” A party of dragoons of 63 men and officers were on the same day dispatched from the American camp
up the Rio del Norte, on its left bank, to ascertain whether the Mexican troops had crossed or were preparing
to cross the river, “became engaged with a large body of these troops, and after a short affair, in which some
16 were killed and wounded, appear to have been surrounded and compelled to surrender.
We have tried every effort at reconciliation. The cup of forbearance had been exhausted even before the
recent information from the frontier of the Del Norte. But now, after reiterated menaces, Mexico has passed
the boundary of the United States, has invaded our territory and shed American blood upon the American soil.
She has proclaimed that hostilities have commenced, and that the two nations are now at war.
JAMES K. POLK
Figure 1. Excerpted Document: President Polk’s message to Congress
Text Complexity in the History Classroom / Reisman & Wineburg
27
James K. Polk, President of the United States at Washington, D.C., to the
Congress of the United States in a special message calling for a declaration
of war against Mexico.
Washington, May 11, 1846
To the Senate and the House of Representatives:
The strong desire to establish peace with Mexico led me last September to reopen
diplomatic relations between the two countries. An envoy of the United States went to
Mexico with full powers to negotiate. The Mexican Government refused to receive him
or listen to his propositions.
Upon the request both of the Congress and convention of Texas I had ordered a military
force to take a position “between the Nueces River and Rio Grande.” This had become
necessary to meet a threatened invasion of Texas by the Mexican forces. The invasion
was threatened solely because Texas had determined to annex herself to our Union, and
under these circumstances it was plainly our duty to extend our protection over her citizens and soil.
Meantime Texas, by the final act of our Congress, had become an integral part of our
Union. The Congress of Texas, by its act of December 19, 1836, had declared the Rio
Grande to be the boundary of that Republic. Its jurisdiction had been extended beyond
the Nueces River. . . .
The movement of American troops to the Rio Grande was made under positive instructions to refrain from all aggressive acts and to regard the relations between Mexico and
the United States as peaceful unless she should declare war or commit acts of hostility.
On April 24, the commander of the Mexican forces communicated to General Taylor
that “he considered hostilities commenced and should prosecute them.” A party of 63
men and officers were dispatched from the American camp up the Rio Grande to determine whether the Mexican troops had crossed or were preparing to cross the Rio
Grande. These American troops “became engaged with a large body of Mexican troops,
and after a short battle, in which some 16 were killed and wounded, appear to have been
surrounded and compelled to surrender.”
We have tried every effort at reconciliation. But now, after repeated menaces, Mexico
has passed the boundary of the United States, has invaded our territory and shed American blood upon the American soil.
JAMES K. POLK
Figure 2. Modified Document: President Polk’s message to Congress
28
Social Studies Review 2012
Opportunities for Practice
Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies,
Our third suggestion – providing students with Science, and Technical Subjects. (2010). National
multiple opportunities for practice – is the most Governors Association Center for Best Practices
obvious and, simultaneously, the most chal- and Council of Chief State School Officers.
lenging to fulfill. In our San Francisco study,
students in classes with document-based in- Haroutunian-Gordon, S. Learning to Teach
struction outgrew their counterparts in reading Through Discussion: The Art of Turning the Soul.
comprehension in part because they read every New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009.
day. Reading a single 250-word document will
not make a student a stronger reader, but reading National Institute for Literacy. (2007). What
and interpreting 3-5 documents per week over content-area teachers should know about adothe course of a school year will. When students lescent literacy. Washington, D.C.
read often, their fluency and vocabulary grow,
allowing them to engage with increasingly chal- Reisman, A. (2012). Reading like a historian:
lenging texts.
A document-based history intervention in an
urban high school. Cognition and Instruction,
30(1), 86-112.
Conclusion
Reisman, A. (2012b). The “Document-Based
The recent discovery that students struggle to Lesson”: Bringing disciplinary inquiry into high
comprehend complex texts did not surprise those school history classrooms with struggling adoof us who have long worked with struggling lescent readers. Journal of Curriculum Studies,
readers. However, increasing the complexity of 44(2), 233-264.
classroom texts without thinking deeply about the
accompanying pedagogy is a surefire recipe for Reisman, A., & Wineburg, S. (2008). Teaching
failure. Like any process of skill development, the skill of contextualizing in history. Social Studreading comprehension is gradual. Our three ies, 99(5), 202-207.
suggestions – pose a central question, modify the
document, and provide multiple opportunities for Wineburg, S. (2001). Historical thinking and
practice – allow students to develop the requisite other unnatural acts: Charting the future of
skills to tackle the increasingly complex texts that teaching the past. Philadelphia, PA: Temple.
they will encounter in their journey to college.
van Dijk, T. A., & Kintsch, W. (1983). StrateReferences
gies of discourse comprehension. New York:
Academic Press.
ACT, Inc. (2006). Reading between the lines:
What the ACT reveals about college readiness Wineburg, S., Martin, D., & Monte-Sano, C.
in reading. Iowa City, IA: Author.
(2011). Reading like a historian: Teaching literacy in the middle and high school classroom.
Carnegie Council on Advancing Adolescent New York: Teachers College.
Literacy. (2010). Time to act: An agenda for
advancing adolescent literacy for college and
career success. New York, NY: Carnegie Corporation of New York.
Text Complexity in the History Classroom / Reisman & Wineburg
29
General Page 2
General Page 3
General Page 4
Manifest Destiny, Continued: McKinley Defends U.S. Expansionism
In 1899 Americans divided sharply over whether to annex the Philippines. Annexationists and anti-annexationists,
despite their differences, generally agreed that the U.S. needed opportunities for commercial expansion but
disagreed over how to achieve that goal. Few believed that the Philippines themselves offered a crucial
commercial advantage to the U.S., but many saw them as a crucial way station to Asia. “Had we no interests in
China,” noted one advocate of annexation, “the possession of the Philippines would be meaningless.” In the Paris
Peace negotiations, President William McKinley demanded the Philippines to avoid giving them back to Spain or
allowing a third power to take them. One explanation of his reasoning came from this report of a delegation of
Methodist church leaders. The emphasis on McKinley’s religious inspiration for his imperialist commitments may
have been colored by the religious beliefs of General James Rusling. But Rusling’s account of the islands, falling
unbidden on the U.S., and the arguments for taking the islands reflect McKinley’s official correspondence on the
topic. McKinley disingenuously disavowed the U.S. military action that brought the Philippines under U.S. control,
and acknowledged, directly and indirectly, the equally powerful forces of racism, nationalism, and especially
commercialism, that shaped American actions.
Hold a moment longer! Not quite yet, gentlemen! Before you go I would like to say just a word about
the Philippine business. I have been criticized a good deal about the Philippines, but don’t deserve it.
The truth is I didn’t want the Philippines, and when they came to us, as a gift from the gods, I did not
know what to do with them. When the Spanish War broke out Dewey was at Hongkong, and I ordered
him to go to Manila and to capture or destroy the Spanish fleet, and he had to; because, if defeated, he
had no place to refit on that side of the globe, and if the Dons were victorious they would likely cross
the Pacific and ravage our Oregon and California coasts. And so he had to destroy the Spanish fleet,
and did it! But that was as far as I thought then.
When I next realized that the Philippines had dropped into our laps I confess I did not know what to do
with them. I sought counsel from all sides—Democrats as well as Republicans—but got little help. I
thought first we would take only Manila; then Luzon; then other islands perhaps also. I walked the
floor of the White House night after night until midnight; and I am not ashamed to tell you, gentlemen,
that I went down on my knees and prayed Almighty God for light and guidance more than one night.
And one night late it came to me this way—I don’t know how it was, but it came: (1) That we could not
give them back to Spain—that would be cowardly and dishonorable; (2) that we could not turn them
over to France and Germany—our commercial rivals in the Orient—that would be bad business and
discreditable; (3) that we could not leave them to themselves—they were unfit for self-government—
and they would soon have anarchy and misrule over there worse than Spain’s was; and (4) that there
was nothing left for us to do but to take them all, and to educate the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize
and Christianize them, and by God’s grace do the very best we could by them, as our fellow-men for
whom Christ also died. And then I went to bed, and went to sleep, and slept soundly, and the next
morning I sent for the chief engineer of the War Department (our map-maker), and I told him to put
the Philippines on the map of the United States (pointing to a large map on the wall of his office), and
there they are, and there they will stay while I am President!
Source: General James Rusling, “Interview with President William McKinley,” The Christian Advocate 22
January 1903, 17. Reprinted in Daniel Schirmer and Stephen Rosskamm Shalom, eds., The Philippines
Reader (Boston: South End Press, 1987), 22–23. Retrieved from http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5575/
Realizing Opportunities for English Learners in the Common Core
English Language Arts and Disciplinary Literacy Standards
George C. Bunch, University of California, Santa Cruz
Amanda Kibler, University of Virginia
Susan Pimentel, StandardsWork®
Students who meet the Standards readily undertake the close, attentive reading
that is at the heart of understanding and enjoying complex works of literature.
They habitually perform the critical reading necessary to pick carefully through
the staggering amount of information available today in print and digitally. They
actively seek the wide, deep, and thoughtful engagement with high-quality literary
and informational texts that builds knowledge, enlarges experience, and
broadens worldviews. They reflexively demonstrate the cogent reasoning and
use of evidence that is essential to both private deliberation and responsible
citizenship in a democratic republic. In short, [they] develop the skills in reading,
writing, speaking, and listening that are the foundation for any creative and
purposeful expression in language. (Standards, p. 3).
This brief paper is intended to contribute to a larger—and longer—conversation about what
those collectively responsible for the education of English Learners (ELs) must consider in order
to maximize the affordances presented by the Common Core State Standards for English
Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects
(hereafter referred to as the “the Standards”).1 In order to address how opportunities presented
by the Standards can be realized for ELs—both understood and actualized—we focus on four
particular areas emphasized by the Standards as necessary for career and college readiness
and for becoming “a literate person in the twenty-first century”: engaging with complex texts;
using evidence in writing and research; speaking and listening in order to work collaboratively
and present ideas; and developing the language to do all of the above effectively. Each of these
areas represents a shift from how language and literacy instruction has often been approached,
both in mainstream English language arts (ELA) and in separate courses for ELs, such as
English language development (ELD).2
The selected areas also highlight the fact that literacy instruction is a shared responsibility
among teachers in all disciplines. In grades K–5, the standards articulate expectations for
students in the areas of reading, writing, speaking and listening that apply to all subjects; in
grades 6-12, the standards are divided into two sections—those specifically for ELA and those
for history/social studies, science, and technical subjects. This interdisciplinary approach
reflects the crucial role ELA teachers play in developing students’ literacy skills while at the
same time acknowledging the impact other subject matter teachers have in students’ literacy
development. The Standards acknowledge that college and career readiness requires reading
with “an appreciation of the norms and conventions of each discipline” and writing with
consideration of different kinds of tasks, purposes, and audiences.3 This focus on disciplinary
literacy presents new challenges for both content-area teachers and English and ESL
instructors.
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For each of the domains included in the Standards (reading, writing, listening and speaking, and
language), we first outline what the Standards call upon students to do, emphasizing the
simultaneous challenges and opportunities for ELs. We then offer insights, derived from both
research and theory, for addressing the challenges and realizing the opportunities. Before
turning to each of the areas, however, it is important to emphasize the following overarching
considerations:
•
Any discussion about potential affordances for ELs must consider variation among ELs,
including age, grade level, native languages, language proficiency levels, literacy
background both in English and other languages, and quality of previous schooling.4
•
Instruction for ELs must include both “macro-scaffolding,” in which teachers attend to the
integration of language and content within and across lessons and units, as well as “microscaffolding” during the “moment-to-moment work of teaching.”5
•
Because language and literacy practices vary from discipline to discipline, realizing
opportunities for ELs must involve collaborative efforts across a number of different
instructional settings, including ELA, ELD, and other content-area classrooms.6
•
Practices called for by the Standards, such as argument and critique, are grounded in
particular socially and culturally specific values and practices that may or may not align with
those of students from different backgrounds; students from non-dominant linguistic and
cultural groups may position themselves in various ways vis-a-vis mainstream expectations.7
•
Socialization into new academic discourse communities involves not only the acquisition of
new language and literacy skills, but also potential “internal and interpersonal struggles” and
“emotional investment and power dynamics.”8
Our comments in this paper can best be understood in the context of insights about language,
literacy, and learning outlined in several other papers prepared for this project9:
•
All learning builds on students’ prior knowledge and experiences; instruction for ELs must
consider and expand what ELs bring to the classroom.
•
Instruction should provide apprenticeship for ELs in communities of practice with teachers
and peers in order to develop students’ independence.
•
Language development and cognitive development are interrelated and mutually dependent;
ELs learn language as they learn content.
•
Language can best be understood as action, rather than “form” or “function” alone; students
learn to do things with language when they are engaged in meaningful activities that engage
and challenge them.
•
Literacy involves social practices as well as cognitive processes; reading and writing, as well
as other forms of meaning-making, always represent activity (whether intended or not by
teachers) in which participants have different purposes and take on different roles and
identities.
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•
In order to develop the ability to read complex texts and engage in academic conversations,
ELs need access to such texts and conversations, along with support in engaging with them.
•
Learning languages involves expanding linguistic repertoires in order to engage in a wide
variety of situations, with a wide variety of audiences, for a wide variety of purposes.
•
With support, ELs can build such repertoires and engage productively in the kinds of
language and literacy practices called for by the Standards for both ELA and other
disciplines, even though their developing language will be marked by “non-native” or
imperfect features of English.
1. Reading: Engaging with Complex Texts to Build Knowledge Across
the Curriculum
The Standards require students to read and comprehend both literary and informational texts
that represent steadily increasing complexity as they progress through school. Text complexity,
according to the Standards, involves not only the grammatical features of a text and its
vocabulary demands, but also elements such as the multiple levels of meaning embedded in a
text, the explicitness with which the author’s purpose is stated, the typicality of genre
conventions, and the extent to which the text employs figurative language.10 The Standards
require that 50% of the complex texts read by students at the elementary level be informational
in character—shifting to 75% in high school—reflecting the role of texts in building students’
knowledge across K-12 disciplines and after high school.
Accessing and comprehending texts featuring complexity of the kinds outlined above present
challenges for all students as they grapple with new and cognitively complex ideas and
concepts, particularly for those who have had limited access to such texts either at home or at
school. Those reading in a second language face additional challenges, as they are called upon
to process “intricate, complicated, and, often, obscure linguistic and cultural features accurately
while trying to comprehend content and while remaining distant from it in order to assess the
content’s value and accuracy.”11 To meet this challenge, second language readers draw on a
variety of potential resources, including knowledge of the (second) language they are reading in,
literacy skills in their first language, reading comprehension strategies, background knowledge
related to the target reading, and interest and motivation.12
Beginning-level ELs in the younger grades learning to read for the first time face particular
challenges, as they are attempting to learn to decode written text in a language they are at the
very early stages of acquiring. The use and development of oral language is particularly
important at this stage, as it serves as one foundation that students use to build early reading
skills. The standards themselves emphasize the importance in the early grades of students’
participating in discussions, asking questions, sharing their findings, and building on others’
ideas. It is important to note that research has shown that ELs can develop literacy in English
even as their oral proficiency in English develops. Meanwhile, ELs’ early literacy experiences,
including those in students’ first languages, support subsequent literacy development, and “time
spent on literacy activity in the native language—whether it takes place at home or at school—is
not time lost with respect to English reading acquisition.”13
Throughout the grades, learning about ELs’ language and literacy backgrounds, interests, and
motivations provides teachers with clues as to what supports might help students to
compensate for the linguistic and textual challenges presented by different kinds of texts.
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Understanding students’ knowledge and interests does not mean that only texts that already fit
within ELs’ “comfort zones” should be assigned—indeed, one of the opportunities afforded by
the Standards is the promise of access to a wide variety of texts that can expand those comfort
zones. Leveraging students’ existing background knowledge, and building new knowledge, can
be accomplished in a number of ways before and during a lesson or unit of study—without
preempting the text, translating its contents for students, telling students what they are going to
learn in advance of reading a particular text, or “simplifying” the text itself.14 Possibilities include
pre-reading activities and conversations that access and build on students’ background
knowledge and set up excitement and purpose for reading in a unit; text annotations that gloss
crucial vocabulary or provide necessary contextual information without paraphrasing the text for
students; and activities during and after reading that allow students to engage in knowledgebuilding with their classmates and teachers.15 Crucial to all of the above is teachers’
understanding that texts are approached differently for different purposes, and that students
need opportunities to approach texts with these varied purposes in mind.16
A consideration of students’ second language proficiency, literacy backgrounds, and
background knowledge can also inform instructional efforts to enhance the strategic moves
students can apply to engage successfully in independent reading across the curriculum—
especially when called upon to read texts beyond their English language proficiency levels.
Such instruction can do the following:17
•
Induce readers to consider (or even research) the topic at hand using more accessible texts
(including those in a students’ L1 for ELs who read in their first languages) in preparation for
reading more difficult texts as part of the same lesson or unit.
•
Assist readers in deciding which words in a given text are critical for particular uses of the
text and which can be skipped.
•
Focus readers’ attention on meaning-critical grammatical structures (and how those might
compare with how grammar is used to make similar meaning in students’ first languages).
•
Build on and expand readers’ knowledge about how different kinds of texts are structured.
•
Focus readers’ attention on specific features of text complexity by choosing authentic and
original texts that emphasize one or two features at a time (such as a linguistically more
accessible text that features multiple meanings, a lexically dense piece with a simpler
grammatical structure, or a text in the students’ native language that includes the
challenging text structures of an unfamiliar genre).
•
Integrate a focus on vocabulary-building with meaningful activities centered around texts.18
When envisioning how to support ELs’ reading of the kinds of complex texts called for by the
Standards, and how to recognize students’ developing ability to do so, it is also important to
consider how “comprehension” is defined and measured. As is the case with struggling readers
in the general student population, ELs’ developing ability to “make decisions about a text and to
subsequently evaluate and revise those decisions”—arguably the kind of reading valued by the
Standards—may be masked, and even stifled, by instruction that only values “correct”
interpretations of what a text “really” means on one hand, or the use of a pre-ordained set of
“reading comprehension” strategies on the other. In other words, especially for ELs who may be
called upon to read texts with increasingly unfamiliar content matter expressed in language that
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is beyond their English proficiency levels, what is important to foster and recognize is ELs’ use
of texts and textual evidence for sense-making, even if their inferences and processes do not
initially match those of the more experienced readers or native speakers of English. This is not
to say that a focus on “correct answers” is never justified. Especially in content area classrooms,
such clarification may be crucial. But in terms of fostering—and recognizing—students’ ability to
make sense of complex text, both literary and informational, ELs may be well served by
opportunities to explore—and justify—their own “textual hypotheses,” even if their initial
interpretations diverge from those of the teacher.19
2. Writing: Using Evidence to Inform, Argue, and Analyze
The Standards call upon students, by the time they graduate, to be adept at sharing information
accurately to help readers better grasp a topic or concept, presenting arguments logically to
defend interpretations or judgments, and crafting written language skillfully to achieve their
purposes. The Standards draw on studies showing that a nexus of skills—using evidence,
analyzing information in writing, and conducting research—is essential for success in the
argument-based culture of universities as well as today’s diverse, information-rich professional
environments.20 As students progress through the grades, the Standards ask them to
demonstrate their growing ability to cite specific evidence in defense of the claims they make as
well as consider the strength of the evidence others provide when making arguments.21 The
standards also incorporate and integrate a focus on research skills in order to prepare students
to ask questions and solve problems independently. The goal is to ready students for college
and careers so that they are able to conduct investigations, analyze information, and create
products that reflect the increasing emphasis research receives in an information-based
economy. In relation to research-based writing specifically, ELs not only face the common
obstacles all students experience in attempting to gather, manage, and organize the flow of
information; they also must analyze and evaluate what they read while negotiating a second
language. This research process requires students to read complex texts and use evidence in
writing (and/or orally) while navigating conventions of textual ownership and citations, an area
that offers challenges for all students in an electronic age but that can be particularly
challenging for EL students who have learned these culturally defined practices outside of U.S.
academic settings.22
Just as teachers can carefully scaffold the reading of complex texts, they can also assist ELs to
develop the ability to write for the wide variety of audiences and purposes emphasized by the
Standards. Like first language writing, second language writing develops gradually over time,
with considerable variation in individual learners’ progress through different stages of
development.23 However, second language writing development is also distinct. Although
second language writers are still acquiring oral language proficiency in English, they already
possess age-appropriate oral language proficiency in their home language(s). Depending on
their age and background, some may also have home-language literacy skills from which they
can draw.24 EL writers, however, are a diverse group. Some young children are exposed to
writing for the first time in English-medium ELD or ELA classes. Others learn to write in more
than one language in bilingual classrooms, at home, or in the community. At the secondary level,
some ELs bring first-language literacy skills to the task of writing in English, but many write only
in English, not having acquired home language literacy in the school or home. For individuals
with prior literacy background, writing skills can transfer across languages, although questions
remain regarding how these processes occur.25 ELs’ opportunities for classroom writing also
vary according to teacher expectations, course placement, and content area, and for students
with limited exposure to English outside of school, writing development may occur very slowly.26
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Just as print exposure improves students’ long-term writing development in their first language,
the features of texts read by ELs influence the writing they subsequently produce.27
Several instructional strategies hold promise for ELs in meeting the Writing Standards. Overall,
such strategies focus on developing what is called for by the Standards (e.g. writing different
text types for different audiences and purposes and presenting knowledge gained through
research) rather than ELs’ production of mechanically and grammatically “flawless” writing.28
Accordingly, writing instruction can do the following:
•
Maximize the use of ELs’ existing linguistic and cultural resources by ensuring that students
have meaningful ideas to write about, allowing them to use their home languages or
varieties of language during the writing process, employing technology that students already
use, and drawing upon their background knowledge, practices, and experiences.29
•
Provide ELs with meaningful exposure to the types of texts they will be writing, guiding
students through the linguistic and rhetorical patterns found in different genres.30
•
Ensure that writing instruction creates meaningful opportunities to communicate rather than
mechanical exercises for text production.31 These opportunities include interactions with
peers and teachers about ELs’ writing and sensitive yet substantive feedback about the
content of their writing at multiple points throughout the writing process.
In relation to research skills specifically, instruction can:
•
Encourage students with L1 literacy backgrounds to draw upon this resource to help them
locate, evaluate, and analyze information.
•
Assist students in selecting reading and drafting strategies appropriate for varied research
tasks.
•
Provide explicit guidance on the conventions of textual ownership and citations in U.S.
academic settings, alongside clear yet critical explanations of the purposes these
conventions serve.
•
Create opportunities that allow ELs to learn research processes by participating in teacherguided and collaborative endeavors before attempting research independently.
Teachers can use such approaches to aid students in learning how to conduct investigations,
analyze information, and create final products that meet the expectations of the Standards while
strengthening and deepening the understanding students have of L2.
3. Speaking and Listening: Working Collaboratively, Understanding
Multiple Perspectives, and Presenting Ideas
The Speaking and Listening Standards call upon students to listen critically and participate
actively in cooperative tasks. They require students to build upon others’ ideas, articulate their
own ideas, and confirm their understandings through informal, collaborative group interactions
as well as formal presentations that integrate information from oral, visual, quantitative, and
media sources for different audiences, tasks, purposes, and disciplines. The Standards also
expect students to interpret information; explain how it contributes to target topics, texts, and
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issues; and “present claims and findings by sequencing ideas logically and using pertinent
descriptions, facts, and details to accentuate main ideas or themes.”32
As with reading, the comprehension of oral language requires a number of interrelated
knowledge sources.33 Effective listening comprehension also requires the use of strategies,
such as focusing on relevant parts of a message, making predictions, and monitoring one’s own
comprehension.34 At the same time, speaking and listening in the classroom involve more than
individuals acting alone. Students use interactional competence to participate in the social
context of the classroom, negotiating, constructing, and sometimes resisting norms of
interaction governing various typical classroom participation structures.35 Classrooms feature a
number of different speech events, each of which is “directly governed by the rules or norms of
the use of speech.”36 Even within a single speech event, norms can be quite complex.37
For ELs to realize opportunities presented by the Listening and Speaking Standards, teachers
across the curriculum can support students by offering a wide variety of classroom discourse
structures. Many of the interactive structures conducive to building knowledge and discussing
ideas also hold promise for language development.38 Teachers can do the following:
•
Engage students in individual, small group, and whole-class discussions that move beyond
traditional initiation-response-evaluation structures to “bridging discourses” that encourage
ELs to produce extended oral discourse and engage with academic registers.39
•
Develop collaborative tasks that require effective and linguistically rich discussions.40
•
Allow ELs to collaborate in their home languages as they work on tasks to be completed in
English.41
•
Teach ELs strategies for using their still-developing English language proficiency to engage
in different communicative modes.42 For example, listening comprehension activities can
help ELs to “arrive successfully at a reasonable interpretation of extended discourse,” rather
than to process every word literally, which is impossible even for native English speakers to
do.43
4. Language: Using and Developing Linguistic Resources to Do All of
the Above.
The Standards maintain that in order to be college and career ready, students need a
“firm control over the conventions of standard English,” but also that “they must come to
appreciate that language is at least as much a matter of craft as of rules.”44 According to the
Standards, students must be able to “choose words, syntax, and punctuation to express
themselves to achieve particular functions and rhetorical effects.” It is important to understand
that ELs, by definition, will use “imperfect” (i.e. non-native-like) English as they engage in these
functions and achieve these effects. By focusing on language as it relates to communicative and
academic endeavors, rather than merely as the acquisition of “good” English, teachers can help
students develop and use grammatical structures, vocabulary, and written and oral conventions
as resources for making meaning, for learning, and for communicating with an increasing
number of audiences for an increasing number of purposes.
In the context of the expectations for all students articulated by the Standards, “language
instruction” for ELs can no longer be envisioned as isolated from the context of meaningful and
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engaging academic work. Although the decontextualized teaching of discrete elements of a
second language (e.g. verb tenses, grammatical structures, vocabulary) may be effective for
inducing the use of those elements on restricted tasks and tests that highlight them, it is unclear
whether such instruction is effective for fostering the use of those elements in wider
communication.45 This is not to say that an explicit focus on language is not called for, but rather
that such a focus must occur in conjunction with, and in the service of, meaningful academic
work across the curriculum.46
In supporting the development of ELs’ language, it is also important to keep in mind that all
school-age children (barring either extreme impairment or severe early childhood abuse and
isolation) already have the linguistic resources in at least one language to engage in a wide
range of communicative settings.47 All students, therefore, have first-hand knowledge of the
conventions and the rhetorical craft of language as used in their own communities of practice.48
In fact, children who are in the process of developing more than one language may have a
heightened awareness of such functions and effects because they use two or more languages.
At the same time, students’ linguistic backgrounds will be more or less closely aligned with the
varieties of language privileged in school, and it is undoubtedly in the interest of ELs to expand
their linguistic repertoires to include those varieties. In supporting students to do so, a couple of
final points are important to keep in mind:
•
ELs’ incomplete acquisition of standard varieties of English should not be interpreted as
students’ inability or unwillingness to participate in a wide range of learning, language, and
literacy practices across the disciplines, including those called for by the Standards.
•
With appropriate supports, ELs’ participation in the key practices called for by the
Standards—especially those highlighted in this paper— can promote the development of
both language and literacy.
Conclusion
We conclude by pointing out that “shared responsibility” for preparing ELs for the language and
literacy called for by the Standards rests not only with teachers across the disciplines, but also
with curriculum developers, textbook writers, assessment specialists, teacher educators,
administrators, researchers, policymakers, and others. Our hope is that the brief comments in
this paper can serve as a starting point for envisioning what role each of us—individually and
collectively—might play in realizing the opportunities potentially afforded to English Learners by
the Standards.
Acknowledgments
We wish to thank Guadalupe Valdés, Judit Moschkovich, Kenji Hakuta, Martha Castellón, Aída
Walqui, Lydia Stack, David Pook, Laura Alvarez, Lucinda Pease-Alvarez, and David Pearson for
helpful conversations that contributed to the formulation and articulation of ideas for this paper.
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Notes
1
Our intention is not to render a judgment regarding the content of the standards, the assumptions about literacy upon which they are based, or the appropriateness of the standards for ELs. Nor is it to provide a systematic review of the empirical literature available on the language and literacy development of ELs (for such reviews, see American Educational Research Association, 2004; Genesee, Lindholm-­‐Leary, Saunders, & Christian, 2006; Goldenberg & Coleman, 2010; Saunders & Goldenberg, 2010). 2
Other terms to refer to these classrooms include English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) and English as a Second Language (ESL). 3
Standards, p. 60 and p. 63. 4
Helpful discussions of the range of characteristics necessary to consider can be found in Walqui (2005), Olsen (2010), Valdés, Bunch, Snow, & Lee (2005), and Enright (2011). 5
Schleppegrell & O’Hallaron (2011, p. 7); see also Walqui (2006) and Walqui & van Lier (2010). 6
Lee & Spratley (2010); Olsen (2010); Schleppegrell (2004); Shanahan & Shanahan (2008); Valdés et al. (2005); Wineburg, Martin, & Monte-­‐Sano (2011). 7
Canagarajah (2004), Pennycook (2000). 8
Duff (2010, p. 170). 9
See especially VanLier & Walqui (2012); Hull (2012); Wong Fillmore & Fillmore (2012); Walqui & Heritage (2012) 10
See Appendix A of the ELA and disciplinary literacy standards for further information about how text complexity can be defined and determined. 11
Bernhardt (2011, p. 19). 12
While research on second language readers has only begun to study the ways in which these various factors interrelate, it is likely that second language readers use the resources they have in some areas to compensate for those they are lacking in others (Bernhardt, 2011). 13
Riches & Genesee (2006); see also Goldenberg & Coleman (2010). 14
Available research on second language reading indicates that text simplification is ineffective for promoting comprehension and may even be counterproductive (see Bernhardt, 2011, pp. 59-­‐60). 15
See Walqui & vanLier (2010) for helpful suggestions for creating such activities. 16
Also important to understand is that readers play multiple roles when approaching any text. Gibbons (2002) draws on Luke and Freebody (1990) to point out that readers are simultaneously code breakers, text participants, text users, and text analysts; see also Schleppegrell & Colombi (2002). 17
Many of these strategies are elaborated upon in Bernhardt (2011). 18
For examples, see Kelley, Lesaux, Kieffer, & Faller (2010) and Scott, Skobel, & Wells (2008). 19
This paragraph draws heavily from Aukerman (2008), and the quotations are from that source. 20
See Graff (2003); Postman (1997); Williams & McEnerney (n.d.). 21
Using evidence is particularly emphasized in Reading Standard 1 and Writing Standard 9. 22
See Pecorari (2003) and Flowerdew (2007) for recent perspectives on textual borrowing and second language writers. 23
R. Ellis’s (1994) contention that acquisition of an L2 grammar occurs in stages is echoed in findings for first language writing (Loban, 1976; Henderson, 1981; Graves, 1983). See Fu (2009) and Valdés (2001) for differing descriptions of stages observed in L2 writing development. 24
See Harklau (2002). 25
See Grabe and Kaplan (1996) and Grabe (2003). 26
See Fu (1995), Harklau (1999), Hartman & Tarone (1999), Valdés (2001), and Valdés & Sanders (2006). 27
For the effects of exposure to print in the L1, see Wagner and Stanovich (1996); for the impact of texts read on L2 writing, see Samway and Taylor (1993). 28
See Truscott’s (1996) review claiming no evidence supporting grammar correction in writing instruction and Ferris’ (1999) rebuttal and subsequent publications (2002, 2003). 29
See the recent collection edited by Manchón (2011) regarding the use of writing in the learning process. For uses of the first language while writing, see Fu (2009), Kibler (2010), National Council of Teachers of English (2012), and Souryasack & Lee (2007). Black (2005) and Smythe & Neufeld (2010) suggest the use of various technologies to © Stanford University
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facilitate writing. See Langer (1997), McGinnis (2007), and Trueba, Moll, Diaz, & Diaz (1984) regarding use of students’ background knowledge, practices, and experiences. 30
Such instruction can focus explicitly on the role of grammatical and lexical features in making meaning for different audiences and purposes (e.g. Achugar, Schleppegrell, & Oteíza, 2007; Aguirre-­‐Muñoz, Park, Amabisca, & Boscardin, 2008; Gebhard, Harman, and Seger, 2007; Gebhard & Willett, 2008; Schleppegrell, 2004). 31
For an example, see Bunch, Lotan, Valdés, & Cohen (2005); see also Valdés (2001) and Valdés & Sanders (2006). 32 Standards, p. 49. 33
Sources of information required for listening comprehension include schematic knowledge (factual, sociocultural, and discourse-­‐related background information), contextual knowledge (physical settings, participants, and what has been/will be said), and systemic knowledge (semantics, syntax, and phonology) (Anderson & Lynch, 1988). 34
See Anderson & Lynch (1988) and Goh (2005). It is also important to understand that because comprehension rests on such a broad base of knowledge and strategies relevant to a given situation, the fact that ELs and their interlocutors encounter difficulties in spoken interaction is not surprising: second language listening research has documented a range of lexical, grammatical, and conceptual causes of misunderstandings for non-­‐native speakers in spoken interactions (Rost, 2002). 35
Cazden (1986, 2001); Mehan (1979); Philips (1972, 1983). 36 Hymes (1972, p. 56). 37
In classroom presentations, for example, students are often asked to manage the floor, either as individuals or as a group, while also being ready to respond to the teachers’ unpredictable interjections and directives at moment’s notice, as well as often engage with the student audience’s questions and comments after the delivery of information (Bunch, 2009). Meanwhile, during the entire presentation, students are called upon to address different audiences simultaneously. In almost every presentation, students are asked to address their fellow classmates while knowing that the teacher is the audience who will ultimately be evaluating them. Some presentations additionally call for students to imagine that their audience knows nothing about the topic they are presenting on (even if this is not the case), or to engage in a roleplay in a contemporary or historical context. Engaging in whole-­‐class discussions or group work involve different, but similarly complicated, rules of interaction and audience engagement. 38
See Gutiérrez (1995); Hawkins (2004); McGroarty (1993); McGroarty & Calderón (2005). 39
See Mehan (1979) and Sinclair & Coulthard (1975) for an overview of the three-­‐part classroom discourse structure; the term “bridging discourses” comes from Gibbons (2006); see also Wells (1999) and Valdés (2004). 40
See Bunch (2006, 2009); Bunch, Abram, Lotan, & Valdés, (2001); Bunch et al. (2005). 41
See Anton & DeCamilla (1998); Brooks & Donato (1994); DeGuerrero & Villamil (2000); Kibler (2010); Swain & Lapkin (2000). 42
These include the interpersonal mode, which requires moment-­‐by-­‐moment, unplanned interaction but affords the opportunity for immediate clarification of meaning; the presentational modes, which allows for planning but requires anticipating audiences’ needs; and interpretive mode, which does not require production but does not generally allow for clarification of understanding (National Standards in Foreign Language Education Project, 1996). 43
See Brown & Yule (1983, p. 57). A number of helpful instructional activities for focusing on listening comprehension in the context of K-­‐12 academic content instruction are available in Gibbons (2002) and Zwiers (2008). 44 Standards, p. 51. 45
See Valdés, Capitelli, & Alvarez (2011) for a review of the literature on this topic. 46
For examples of integrating a focus on discrete language features with meaningful academic work, see Gebhard, Harman, & Seger (2007); Schleppegrell (2004), Kelley, Lesaux, Kieffer, & Faller (2010); and Scott, Skobel, & Wells (2008). 47
All students, regardless of their language or cultural background, speak one or more variety of a home language, and that variety is associated with students’ geographical background, racial and ethnic community, and identity affiliations; there are no speakers of any language without an “accent,” and, from a linguistic standpoint, there are no varieties of English (or any other language) that are superior to any other variety (see MacSwan, 2000; MacSwan, Rolstad, & Glass, 2002; Valdés et al., 2005). 48
See Gutiérrez, Morales, & Martinez (2009); Gutiérrez & Orellana (2006); Orellana & Gutiérrez (2006). © Stanford University
10
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The Understanding Language Initiative would like to thank the Carnegie Corporation of New
York and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for making this work possible. For more
information about this paper, please contact UnderstandingLanguage@stanford.edu
Understanding Language
Stanford University School of Education
485 Lasuen Mall
Stanford, CA 94305-3096
ell.stanford.edu
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Universal Design for Learning Guidelines
I. Provide Multiple Means of
Representation
II. Provide Multiple Means of
Action and Expression
III. Provide Multiple Means of
Engagement
1: Provide options for perception
4: Provide options for physical action
7: Provide options for recruiting interest
1.1 Offer ways of customizing the display of information
4.1 Vary the methods for response and navigation
7.1 Optimize individual choice and autonomy
1.2 Offer alternatives for auditory information
4.2 Optimize access to tools and assistive technologies
7.2 Optimize relevance, value, and authenticity
1.3 Offer alternatives for visual information
7.3 Minimize threats and distractions
5: Provide options for expression and communication
8: Provide options for sustaining effort and persistence
5.1 Use multiple media for communication
8.1 Heighten salience of goals and objectives
5.2 Use multiple tools for construction and composition
8.2 Vary demands and resources to optimize challenge
5.3 Build fluencies with graduated levels of support for
practice and performance
8.3 Foster collaboration and community
3: Provide options for comprehension
6: Provide options for executive functions
9: Provide options for self-regulation
3.1 Activate or supply background knowledge
6.1 Guide appropriate goal-setting
3.2. Highlight patterns, critical features, big ideas, and
relationships
9.1 Promote expectations and beliefs that optimize
motivation
6.2 Support planning and strategy development
3.3 Guide information processing, visualization, and
manipulation
6.4 Enhance capacity for monitoring progress
2: Provide options for language, mathematical
expressions, and symbols
2.1 Clarify vocabulary and symbols
2.2 Clarify syntax and structure
2.3 Support decoding of text, mathematical notation,
and symbols
8.4 Increase mastery-oriented feedback
2.4 Promote understanding across languages
2.5 Illustrate through multiple media
6.3 Facilitate managing information and resources
9.2 Facilitate personal coping skills and strategies
9.3 Develop self-assessment and reflection
3.4 Maximize transfer and generalization
Resourceful, knowledgeable learners
Strategic, goal-directed learners
Purposeful, motivated learners
© 2011 by CAST. All rights reserved. www.cast.org, www.udlcenter.org
APA Citation: CAST (2011). Universal design for learning guidelines version 2.0. Wakefield, MA: Author.