PA Core Standards
Mrs. Charlena Lynn Welteroth
Language Arts 8
Mrs. Elizabeth Dietrich
Algebra & Geometry
What do the PA Core Standards mean
for parents?
• They describe exactly what your child(ren) should learn
by the end of each grade level.
• They establish clear expectations for students, which
better enables parents, teachers and children to work
toward shared goals.
• They shift instructional intent from high school completion
to college and career readiness. Deer Lakes intends to
prepare students for opportunities beyond high school.
• Requires content to be taught at a much greater depth.
• Curriculum and assessments will evolve to align with the
PA Core Standards.
• Curriculum and classroom instruction will be much more
rigorous for students in Pennsylvania.
How has Deer Lakes responded?
• Our district has been very proactive with regard
to changes involving the PA Core Standards.
 Training on changes in standards and instruction
was provided to ELA and Math teachers by the
Allegheny Intermediate Unit.
 Math and ELA curriculum revisions were
conducted with the assistance of the AIU.
 Teachers in Math, Science, and ELA were
trained to provide instruction that meets the new
PA Core Standards via the prestigious National
Math and Science Initiative (NMSI)
What changes can I expect for my
child in Language Arts?
• Vocabulary instruction will change. Previously
we used the Sadlier-Oxford Vocabulary
Workshop as a text.
• Vocabulary will now be taught in context.
Words will be pulled from the text being studied
in class.
• Students will learn to “pull apart” words and
decipher meaning via affixes, and Greek/Latin
roots.
Writing Instruction
Writing prompts will require a more complex
thought process under the new standards.
• Prompt under previous system:
>Write about a place that you would like to visit someday.
• Prompt under PA Core Standards:
>Discuss how honesty/dishonesty helps to shape the
identity of the main character.
-Requires students to use evidence from the text.
-Requires an academic stance.
-Requires a much deeper understanding of the text as
well as a more mature thought process.
Reading instruction
•
Students will be required to read text on their own. Students
will not be “read to” and the use of audio CD’s is discouraged.
•
Students will be asked to perform a “close read.” This may
mean annotating the text (making comments in the margins) or
answering questions that require an interpretation of the text
rather than just “looking for the obvious.”
•
Students should no longer receive “study guides” that contain a
list of story questions and answers to study.
•
Test questions will go above the “obvious” and may appear as
multiple questions.
 What is the tone of this particular passage?
 Please choose the words that support the development of this tone.
(choose ALL that apply)
 Teachers will begin to rely more on essay responses for
assessment rather than multiple choice questions.
Math Instruction 6-8
• Make sense of problems and persevere in
solving them.
 Problem Solving is integrated in every lesson
through questioning and investigation instead
of having one section at the end of the chapter.
• Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
 Students will transfer from a verbal or written
interpretation to a mathematical statement
written using mathematical symbols and vice
versa.
• Construct viable arguments and critique the
reasoning of other.
 Students will justify their answers and use error
analysis to find the mistakes in other’s work.
Mathematics 6-8
• Model with mathematics.
 Students may apply ratios and proportions in
planning an event
• Use appropriate tools strategically.
 Technology incorporated when appropriate so as
not to undermine the development of number
sense.
 Creation of visual representation will be
emphasized in every course.
• Attend to precision.
 Students will explain clearly using appropriate
math vocabulary.
Mathematics 6-8
• Look for and make use of structure.
• Look for and express regularity in repeated
reasoning.
 Students will reflect on their answers in an
attempt to determine the validity of the process
that they used and make connections to previous
learning outcomes.