Embracing the Common Core
State Standards (CCSS)
Bill Heller
SUNY College at Geneseo
Perry Central Schools (retired)
buckbuck11@aol.com
In this session we will......
1. Briefly review components of the ELA
Common Core.
2. Compare ELA Core with LOTE Standards.
3. Examine ELA Common Core Strategies and
suggest adaptations for LOTE classes.
4. Briefly discuss approaches to LOTE unit
planning which supports common core.
The Good News!
From EngageNY:
“Languages Other Than English teachers should be aware of the
Common Core State Standards and the shifts they represent, and
think about how their own instructional practice may change as a
result. LOTE teachers should deliver a Common Core aligned unit
based on the charge from the Commissioner; however, that unit
should be in LOTE (not in ELA or Math) and be aligned to the six
shifts and/or Common Core Learning Standards -— but taking
into account the level of instruction for the class…”
More Good News!
From EngageNY:
“…the 6-12 literacy standards…are not
meant to replace content standards in
those areas but rather to supplement
them.”
Where do the Common Core SS “fit in”?
Lenses
Address Needs of
Learners
Windows
Content and Goals
Mirrors
Assessment
Window: ACTFL National Standards
Five ELA CCSS Strands:
National WL Standards:
1. Reading
1. Interpretive Mode
2. Writing
2. Presentational Mode
3. Listening and Speaking
3. Interpretive
/Interpersonal/Presentational
Modes
✔
4. Language
4. Vocabulary and Grammar
5. Media and Technology
5. Presentational Mode /
Cultural Products & Practices/
Connections
Window: ACTFL: Proficiency Guidelines
• Levels of proficiency
– Novice (No real functional ability to
communicate. Memorized words or phrases,
word level discourse).
• Low, Mid, High
– Intermediate (Can create with language,
capable of asking simple questions and
answering them with simple full sentences,
can describe, sentence level discourse).
• Low, Mid, High
ACTFL: Proficiency Guidelines
– Advanced (Can narrate and describe in major
time/aspect frames, can survive complicated
situations, paragraph level discourse).
• Low, Mid, High
– Superior (Can give supported opinions,
hypothesize, provide complicated
explanations and deal with abstract topics,
extended discourse).
Inverted Pyramid Representing the
ACTFL Rating Scale
Window 2: ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines
Approximate Expectations:
1. Checkpoint A Year 1 (Grade 7)
Novice Mid
2. Checkpoint A Year 2 (Grade 8/Level I) *
Novice High
3. Checkpoint B Year 1(Level II)*
Novice High
4. Checkpoint B Year 2 (Level III)*
Novice High-Intermediate Low
5. Checkpoint C Year 1 (Level IV)*
Intermediate Low
6. Checkpoint C Year 2 (Level V)
Intermediate Low - Intermediate Mid (?)
Based on data gathered
from 22,000 STAMP Tests
compiled in 2008
www.avantassessment.com
Lens 1: Common Core Curriculum (ELA)
Six Skills:
1. Cite evidence
2. Analyze content
3. Study and apply grammar
4. Study and apply vocabulary
5. Conduct discussions
6. Report findings
✔
Lens 1: Common Core Curriculum (ELA)
Instructional Shifts:
1. Balancing Informational and Literary Text – “close reading”
2. Building Knowledge in the Disciplines
3. Staircase of Complexity
4. Text-Based Answers
5. Writing From Sources – expository and persuasive
6. Academic Vocabulary
Time out!
Question: What concerns or
potential conflicts do you see
with supporting CCSS in ELA
with the communicative goals
of our LOTE Standards?
Examining the CCSS for ELA
Activity: Examine the chart of the
abbreviated CCSS checklist on pp. 4
Code each standard as follows:
+ I already do frequently
✓ I already do occasionally
– I do, but rarely
0 I do not do, but would consider.
✗ Not appropriate for WL
Classes
Sr. Buckbuck
presents…
The Common
Core
Catechism
Issue: How do I increase the “rigor?”
Answer:
It’s a f&@#k%n’
FOREIGN
LANGUAGE!!!
Issue: What are appropriate texts?
Answer: Authentic documents!
Issue: What does “close reading” look like?
Curriculum Entrepreneur, David Colemen (in a talk
ironically entitled “Bringing the Common Core to
Life,”…) disparaged research-based strategies
including:
1. Providing background information.
2. Pre-reading activities, including vocabulary
introduction.
3. Giving a purpose for reading. (“strategy of the weak”)
4. Personalization of the text
See also: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/teacher-one-maddening-day-workingwith-the-common-core/2012/03/15/gIQA8J4WUS_blog.html
Issue: How should we do “close reading”?
ANSWER
Ignore Curriculum Entrepreneur,
David Coleman!!
For now….
1. Stick with well-established, researchbased student-centered “best practices.”
2. Demand research evidence to the contrary.
3. Request model lesson with your students.
Issue: What does “close reading” look like?
So….
1. Provide background information. (all media)
2. Pre-reading activities, including vocabulary
introduction. Give context and provide relevance!
3. Multiple Readings of the Text for different purposes.
4. Giving a purpose for each reading.
5. Start with word/phrase level comprehension 
move to paragraph level.
6. Start with literal comprehension move to
inferential comprehension.
7. Personalization of the text
Issue: What does “close reading” look like?
Reasons for Multiple Readings:
1. Skim to determine audience. (silent/individual)
2. Skim to circle cognates. (silent/individual)
3. Read for main idea /underline (silent/individual)
4. Read for vocabulary given definitions or synonyms.
(pair)
5. Read for literal comprehension / verification.
(individual or pair)
6. Read for argumentation, structure, language use
(group discussion)
Issue: How can I help students justify answers
using text-based evidence?
Techniques:
1. Find-highlight-number. (Can be done in pairs)
2. Comprehension:
• True / False – Verify true / Correct &Verify False
3. Scavenger Hunts:
• Include line numbers in printed texts
4. Graphic Organizers:
• Compare/Contrast (Venn Diagrams)
• Cause  Effect
• Concept Formation (Classification Circles)
Issue: Multiple Sources
Techniques:
1. Use audio and video texts as well as written texts –
adapt “close reading” techniques for “close listening”.
2. Two Sources:
• True Statements – Students identify Source A,
Source B, Both Sources
• Make more challenging by adding statements not
verified in either source.
3. Multiple Sources
• Use a grid for students to identify sources.
Writing, LOTE & CCSS
LOTE teachers can support CCSS goals and be true to
developing Second Language Proficiency by:
1. Regularly incorporating formal and informal
writing activities into teaching and assessments.
2. Focusing primarily on developing writing skills at
the sentence and paragraph discourse level.
3. Reinforcing common expectations for grammar,
usage and style in grading practices.
25
Types of Writing
Classified by Purpose
A. Narrative – letters, stories, anecdotes, journals,
diaries, autobiography
B. Expository – reports, summaries, descriptions,
biography
C. Persuasive – editorials, position papers, essays,
letters to the editor
– CCSS calls for increased practice with expository and
persuasive genres.
26
Issue: How do I expand writing genres?
Techniques:
1. Make sure to cover the four NYS LOTE functions:
• Socializing (Narrative)
• Providing and Obtaining Information (Expository)
• Expressing Feelings (Narrative)
• Persuasion (Persuasion)
2. Use framed paragraph technique to model writing.
What to write....
A. Sentence Level Discourse
• Use textbook questions to summarize a class.
• Alphabetical lists
• Write questions that can be answered from notes.
28
Menus
Students write sentences.
I
My best friend
My friends
My friends and I
My siblings
My family
My teacher
love(s)
like(s)
prefer(s)
enjoy(s)
detest(s)
avoid(s)
has/have to
need(s) to
should
to sing
to go to the movies
to play video games
to play basketball
to do chores
to take a hike
to go camping
to study
to do homework
to visit relatives
to attend a concert
to visit a museum
to take a trip
Variation: Play three truths and a lie.
in the morning
in the afternoon
in the evening
after school
on the weekend
in the summer
every day
always
sometimes
rarely
often
never
all the time
as soon as possible
29
Techniques and Ideas!
B. Paragraph Level Discourse
• Framed Paragraph
• Reactions to quotations – agree/disagree
• Timed Writing (5 – 10 minutes)
• Textbook questions
• Old Regents Questions
• Summarize main ideas
30
Framed Paragraph:
Ayer hice muchas cosas. Por la mañana,
_____________________, ____________________, y
_____________________. Entonces,
_____________________ y ____________________.
Después de clases, _______________________ y
__________________________. Por la noche,
________________________, ______________________ y
________________________. Por fin,
________________________ .
Framed Paragraph
An upper level class is discussing gender roles. Students are asked to give
their opinion about child rearing. Students are given this framed paragraph:
Public and private employers (should / should
not) be required to offer paid child rearing leave.
Offering parents child rearing leave
___________________ because
_____________________ . The cost of
providing paid leave __________________
because ___________________. If child
rearing leave is given, then _______________.
32
Reaction to quotation
To start off a class on choosing a career, the teacher puts this quote on the
projector:
“Measure twice, cut once.”
• What meaning does the quote have to a carpenter?
• What meaning does the quote have to a person who is
thinking about what to do after high school?
33
Techniques and Ideas!
C. Extended Discourse
• Timed writings – 15 - 30 minutes
• Editorial Writing
• Reporting from groups on chart paper
• Cause and Effect or Compare and Contrast Essays
34
Techniques and Ideas!
D. Pre-writing
• Menus
• Word Banks
• Graphic Organizers – Q. A. D.
• Venn Diagrams.
• Picture prompts
• Brainstorming
• Interviews
35
Sample Graphic Organizer
Nombre ______________________________________
Español Graphic Organizer
Hora _____________________
Topic:
Introduction:
¿Quién?
________________________________________________________
¿Dónde?
______________________________________________ __________
¿Cuándo?
________________________________________________________
¿Por qué?
________________________________________________________
¿Problema?
________________________________________________________
Transition:
Body:
_______________________ _________________________________
Primero
________________________________________________________
[detalle]
________________________________________________________
Después
________________________________________________________
[detalle]
________________________________________________________
Entonces
________________________________________________________
[detalle]
________________________________________________________
Transition:
Conclusion:
____________________________________________ ____________
Por fin
________________________________________________________
[detalle]
________________________________________________________
Sentimientos ________________________________________________________
¿por qué?
________________________________________________________
Topic Sentence:
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
36
Revision
E. Sentence Level Discourse
• Slotting – substitution of pronouns or new
vocabulary.
37
Slotting
A student answers a test question like this:
They eat all the food.
Put it on the document camera. Slot for the pronoun “they” and the noun “food”
They
The organisms
The field mice
The herbivores
eat
consume
devour
all the food.
the wheat
The producers
The green plants
38
Revision
E. Sentence Level Discourse
• Slotting – substitution of pronouns or new
vocabulary.
• Sentence expansion – Use 5Ws
39
Sentence Expansion
A student writes on a test:
Because it’s fun.
Put it on the document camera. Expand the sentence for the 5 Ws.
Many teens go to the movies because it’s fun.
Many teens go to the movies on the weekend because
it’s fun to spend time with their friends.
Many local teens go to the movies on the weekend in
nearby Geneseo because it’s close-by and they enjoy
spending time with their friends.
40
Issue: What should my unit plan look like?
Answer: Here’s the CCSS design:
Issue: How can I create LOTE units?
Suggestions:
1. “I can” statements or KUDos
2. Gather texts – (written, audio, video)
3. Build a Foundation
– vocabulary and background knowledge
4. Work from the texts to create speaking
and writing prompts
Issue: What are sources for writing
thematic units?
Answer: “I can” statements
National Council of State Supervisors of
Foreign Language (NCSSFL) – Linguafolio
http://www.ncssfl.org/LinguaFolio/ind
ex.php?checklists
Issue: What are sources for “I can”
statements?
Answer:
Jefferson County (KY) Public Schools
http://www.jefferson.k12.ky.us/Depart
ments/Gheens/CurrMaps.html
From: Jefferson Co. KY World Languages: Level 2
Conclusions:
1. Language Proficiency is JOB #1
2. Stick with LOTE “best practices”
3. Base your units on culturally authentic
documents.
4. Share what you know about teaching
listening and speaking!
5. Contribute to foundational skills for
research (without spending too much time)