Richard Woods, Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
Richard Woods,
Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
Building Instructional Capacity in
the Age of Georgia Milestones
CSRA RESA
March 13, 2015
ELA/Literacy
Georgia Department of Education
Carolyn Waters, Program Manager
Stephanie Sanders, Program Specialist
3/14/2016
1
Rigorous Academic Writing
Doesn’t Have to Be Scary!
Richard Woods,
Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
• Agenda
• ELA: Where We’ve Been
and Where We’re Going.
• Getting Ready for
Milestones: Teaching to
the Test?
• Cultivating Best Practices
for Rigorous Academic
Writing
3/14/2016
2
English Language Arts/Literacy
Richard Woods,
Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
• Where we’ve been…
• Where we’re going…
3/14/2016
3
Richard Woods, Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
Richard Woods,
Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
Revised Standards for
English Language Arts
(ELA)
3/14/2016
4
English Language Arts
Richard Woods,
Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
• New Revised Standards APPROVED!
• Standards to be implemented in 2015 – 2016
school year.
• Revised standards can be accessed here:
http://www.gadoe.org/Curriculum-Instruction-and-Assessment/Curriculum-and-Instruction/Pages/default.aspx
• No longer CCGPS. SBOE officially approved the name:
Georgia Standards of Excellence (GSE).
• Teacher feedback will be honored by revising Teacher
Guidance Documents to reflect the suggestions of teachers
to “clarify,” “define the terms,” “provide simple illustrations
of what is intended by each standard,” and to “make those
resources easy to access.”
3/14/2016
5
Richard Woods,
Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
3/14/2016
6
Teaching to the Test?
Richard Woods,
Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
Teaching to the test does NOT mean
• spending more time practicing test-taking
• talking about the test instead of teaching/modeling
• teaching decontextualized skills or knowledge
• making the test the justification for teaching “X”
(J.Burke & B. Gilmore. Academic Moves. 2015)
3/14/2016
7
Teaching to the Test?
Richard Woods,
Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
Teaching to the test DOES mean
• being intentional when choosing your texts, topics,
tasks, tests, technology, techniques (By design)
• using a full range of literacies through sustained
inquiries
• Using a progression of increasing complexity
(Learning Progressions)
• Putting a greater emphasis on depth over breadth
(J. Burke & B. Gilmore, Academic Moves for College and Career Readiness, Grades 6 - 12, 2015)
3/14/2016
8
Richard Woods,
Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
3/14/2016
9
The Most Challenging Standards?
Richard Woods,
Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
In reading, students struggle with informational vs.
literary text as well as increasingly complex texts. The
most challenging standards are those that require
synthesis skills, including those related to
• determining central ideas or themes and summarizing details
• analyzing text structure (RL4,5,6 /RI4,5,6)
• integrating and evaluating content in diverse media and
formats
• analyzing similar topics and themes across multiple texts
(3RI2, 5RI5, 6RI2, 7RL5, 6RL7, 8RI9)
(2015 Curriculum Associates, LLC, ASCD Newsletter, Jan. 2015)
3/14/2016
10
The Challenge for Writing
Richard Woods,
Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
In writing, students struggle with
• synthesizing information from multiple texts
• extrapolating a theme and putting it in writing
• creating a thesis that reflects the common theme
of presented, multiple texts
• citing text evidence to support a student’s and/or
the author’s argument or explanation
• understanding the structure of a
literary/informational texts and being able to
analyze it
3/14/2016
11
Richard Woods,
Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
3/14/2016
12
What do we do?
3/14/2016
Richard Woods,
Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
13
Create a Common
Culture
Richard Woods,
Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
• Use a common language
• Create a cohesive curriculum
• Provide collaborative time for
teachers to work together
• Improve consistency within and across departments and
grade levels
• Become a more intentional teacher, team, or faculty
• Establish a culture that accepts responsibility for teaching
all skills students need to succeed on the tests in the
classroom, in college or a career
3/14/2016
14
Key Shifts to focus on:
Richard Woods,
Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
• Close reading strategies
• Text-based evidence
• Writing from sources (including multiple sources)
• Academic language (analyze, synthesize, compare,
evaluate)
• Text complexity
• Importance of argument (claim/counterclaim)
• Emphasis on nonfiction (informational text)
3/14/2016
15
Richard Woods,
Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
3/14/2016
16
Georgia Milestones…
3/14/2016
Richard Woods,
Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
17
Richard Woods, Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
Richard Woods,
Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
Reviewing Sample
Questions
Using released items to strategically assess
students’ understanding and/or misconceptions.
3/14/2016
18
New York
Grade 3
What is the
subtitle?
“Sea Turtles”
Richard Woods,
Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
What 2
details can
I use?
Why are
they suited
for the sea?
Why does the information
in paragraph 5 belong
under the heading “Suited
for the Sea”? Use two
details from the passage
to support your response.
How do I
respond?
https://www.engageny.org/resource/new-york-state-common-core-samplequestions
3/14/2016
19
Close Read Para. 5
“Suited for the Sea”
Richard Woods,
Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
But sea turtles are more than just great swimmers. Some
of them are great divers. The leatherback can dive more
than a thousand feet deep, looking for food. That’s the
length of three football fields. And its deepest dives can
be three times deeper than that!
1. Draw a circle around the paragraph.
2. Highlight unusual words and discuss meaning
3. Write the heading at the top of the paragraph
4. Write your questions in the margins
5. Underline two details
6. Check your “To Do” List. Did you complete it?
3/14/2016
20
Richard Woods, Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
Richard Woods,
Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
Use the Instructional Framework
to Model How to Read the Prompt
Teachers must teach students how to read the prompt:
• Show them
• model it
Each
Teacher
student
• Whole class
does…
does…
• Small group
Small
Whole
• Individual
groups
class
do…
does…
• Check for understanding
3/14/2016
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Make a “To Do” list
TO
Richard Woods,
Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
DO
• Look for
• paragraph 5
• the Heading: Write it
here _______________
• why the info in the
paragraph fits heading
• two details that support
your answer
• Write
• your answer
• Read (close read)
• Find
• Think
3/14/2016
1.
2.
22
New York
Grade 6
• Excerpt from We Were
There, Too!
3/14/2016
Richard Woods,
Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
• How does the information in
lines 1 through 6 relate to the
information in lines 7 through
15? Use two details from the
article to support your
response.
• In lines 38 and 39, the author
states, “Anna Green Winslow
got an education, all right – just
not the one her father
intended.” Explain what the
author means by this
statement. Use two details
from the article to support
your response.
23
Sample Released Item
Richard Woods,
Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
New York, Grade 8
“The Inheritance of Tools”
by Scott Russell Sanders
Prompt for Writing
What character traits of the
grandfather are revealed
through his use of the
hammer? Use two details
from the passage to support
your answer.
https://www.engageny.org/resource/new-york-state-common-core-sample-questions
3/14/2016
24
Sample Released Item (EOC)
Kentucky, Grade 10
“Women Like Us”
Adapted from Edwidge Danticat’s short
story “Women Like Us”
Richard Woods,
Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
Prompt for writing
Write an essay in which you explain
how the author’s use of literary
elements in this passage helps convey
the significance that writing holds for
the narrator. Be sure to use evidence
from the passage to support your
ideas. You may include references to
other texts or authors if you feel these
will help you explain your ideas about
this passage.
http://education.ky.gov/AA/items/Documents/EOC%20CR%20English%2010%20Women%20Like%20Us%20prompt%20and%20rubric.pdf
3/14/2016
25
Who wrote
this?
Write an essay . Explain how the author’s use of
literary elements in this passage helps convey the
significance that writing holds for the narrator.
Why was
this
written?
Richard Woods,
Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
Literary
Devices?
What is the
author’s
point of
view?
3/14/2016
26
Richard Woods, Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
Richard Woods,
Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
Instructional
Strategies
How do we prepare our students for the
analysis of informational texts?
3/14/2016
27
Document Analysis
(Informational Text)
Richard Woods,
Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
1. What do you see?
Draw a box around everything you see?
2. Write the ? on the top of the box
3. Mark the doc (letter/number); source; note(s) and
caption(s) with an
4. Examine the source(s)
5. Consider the notes and captions
6. Close read of document
3/14/2016
28
Richard Woods,
Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
3/14/2016
29
Richard Woods,
Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
3/14/2016
30
Richard Woods, Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
Richard Woods,
Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
Instructional
Strategies
Understanding
Standards and Rubric(s)
3/14/2016
31
Analyzing the Rubric
Richard Woods,
Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
What do the standards for writing mean for student work?
W1, W2, W3
3/14/2016
32
Grade 5 EOG
Richard Woods,
Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
• Aligned to ELACC5W2d Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey
ideas and information clearly. Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to
inform about or explain the topic.
Now that you have read “The Center” and “School Pride Day” and answered a question
about what you read, create a plan for your informational essay.
Think about ideas, facts, definitions, details, and other information and examples you want to
use. Think about how you will introduce your topic and what the main topic will be for each
paragraph. Be sure to identify the sources by title or number when using details or facts
directly from the sources.
Write an informational essay detailing the similarities and differences in how the schools are
described in each of them.
3/14/2016
33
Grade 5 EOG
Richard Woods,
Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
Exemplar Response
The two texts describe the school similarly, but there are also differences. The first
text focuses more on introducing a student to things he or she should know about
the school, while the second text focuses more on the accomplishments of the
school. The first text prepares a student for life in the school. It describes a
favorite after-school club that cleans up the campus. It also talks about how
popular the sports teams are and things to remember when using the cafeteria. It
also prepares the student for how "crazy" it can be in the halls. The second text is
more focused on all of the things that the school has accomplished. It celebrates
the chess team's win and the orchestra's recognitions. It describes the pride
students and teachers have in the school, and it brags a bit about the community
support and mini-libraries. Both texts show the good things the school has to
offer. They also introduce students to the school so that they will feel more
comfortable. While they focus on different things, the texts both represent the
school positively.
3/14/2016
34
Grade 8 EOG
Richard Woods,
Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
• Aligned to ELA CC8RL2 Determine a theme or central idea
of a text and analyze its development over the course of the
text, including its relationship to the characters, setting, and
plot; provide an objective summary of the text.
What is the MAIN theme of "Tranquility Falls"? Use
details from the story to explain its development over
the course of the text.
3/14/2016
35
Grade 8 EOG
Richard Woods,
Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
Exemplar Response
The main theme of the story is that your actions
can be harmful and steps must be taken to undo
any damage you may have done. Brayden first
lets his anger get the best of him, and he
chooses to throw his juice pouch into the river
out of frustration. After hearing a story about a
bear who realizes his actions have polluted a
river, Brayden admits he's made a mistake and
fetches the juice pouch out of the water.
3/14/2016
36
Grade 8 EOG
Richard Woods,
Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
Exemplar Response
The main theme of the story is that your actions can
be harmful and steps must be taken to undo any
damage you may have done. Brayden throws his
juice pouch in the river but then gets it back because
he realizes he was wrong.
3/14/2016
37
Grade 8 EOG
Richard Woods,
Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
Exemplar Response
The main theme of the story is that your actions can
be harmful and steps must be taken to undo any
damage you may have done.
3/14/2016
38
American Literature and Composition EOC
Richard Woods,
Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
• Aligned to ELA11– 12W3b Write narratives to develop real
or imagined experiences or events using effective technique,
well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences. b.
Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, description,
reflection, and multiple plot lines, to develop experiences,
events, and/or characters.
Willa Cather wrote the story using third person point of
view. How would the excerpt be different if Ralph were
narrating? Rewrite the beginning of the story from
Ralph’s perspective.
3/14/2016
39
American Literature and Composition EOC
Exemplar Response
Richard Woods,
Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
“Doughnuts are ready!” Mahailey is calling from the kitchen. I can’t believe that it
is time to get up already, I think as I tug on the blue thermal blanket draped across
the foot of my bed. In my hurry to go to bed last night, I must have left my
bedroom window open. I have to get up and close that window, but I sure wish
that there was some way to do that task from the warmth of my bed. Maybe I will
just invent self-closing windows. I am sure there are many lazy people like me who
don’t want to leave the warmth of their beds. This could be the ticket to a bright
future for me, a future that does not involve milking cows or repairing farm
implements.
I hear thumping sounds coming from Claude’s bedroom next door. That brother of
mine certainly wants to prevent anybody from sleeping. Clumsy Claude! Last night
at the circus, he bolted from his seat just as my friend Cecil was walking down the
aisle with a bag of buttered popcorn. Claude collided with Cecil, creating a
popcorn shower over the people sitting nearby. Carolyn Jones, Cecil’s fifteen-yearold cousin who is visiting from Augusta, had popcorn stuck in her curly brown hair.
I am sure Carolyn will long remember picking the buttery kernels from her hair.
3/14/2016
40
American Literature and Composition EOC
Richard Woods,
Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
Exemplar Response
Mahailey just yelled upstairs to tell me that breakfast is ready. I am going to ignore
that call for just a few minutes and warm myself up. Last night I must have
forgotten to close the bedroom window. This morning my bedroom is quite chilly.
If only there could be a way to close the window without having to get up out of
bed. Maybe I can invent a way of doing that. I imagine that there are other people
like me who dislike getting out of a warm bed. This may just be the invention that
will make me rich!
I hear sounds coming from Claude’s bedroom. He must be moving his clumsy body
around just so I can’t get any more sleep. That brother of mine sure knows how to
make a bad impression. Last night at the circus he bumped into Cecil and made
him spill his popcorn all over the people who were sitting nearby. Cecil’s pretty
cousin from Augusta had to pick popcorn from her hair.
3/14/2016
41
American Literature and Composition EOC
Exemplar Response – Aligned to ELA11– 12 RL1
Richard Woods,
Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
I hear Mahaileys voice telling me that breakfast is ready. I
don’t want to get up out of bed because it is to cold in my
bedroom. I accidentally left my window open last night. I sure
wish that there was a way to close the window without
getting out of bed. Maybe I will use some spare parts to try to
make something to do that job.
Claude is moving around in his room. He sure is a clumsy
brother. Last night he made Cecil spill his popcorn at the
circus. It landed on many people who are sitting nearby. A
pretty girl had popcorn stuck in her hair.
3/14/2016
42
American Literature and Composition EOC
Richard Woods,
Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
Exemplar Response
Breakfast is ready, but I don’t want to get out of bed. My
bedroom is cold. I wish that I had close the window last night.
My brother is very clumsy and loud. He caused a boy to spill
his popcorn at the circus.
3/14/2016
43
Richard Woods,
Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
Resources
44
Assessment Resources
NAEP: Writing Framework for 2011
Richard Woods,
Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
http://www.nagb.org/content/nagb/assets/documents/publications/frameworks/writing2011.pdf
PARCC: Sample Items for ELA/Literacy
https://www.parcconline.org/samples/ELA
Smarter Balance: Sample Items and Performance Tasks
http://www.smarterbalanced.org/sample-items-and-performance-tasks/
Florida Department of Education: FCAT 2.0 Sample Questions and Answer Key
Books
http://fcat.fldoe.org/fcat2/fcatitem.asp
Kentucky Department of Education: Sample Test Items
http://education.ky.gov/AA/items/Pages/default.aspx
3/14/2016
45
Georgia Department of Education
Resources
Richard Woods,
Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
Formative Instructional Practices (FIP)
http://www.gadoe.org/Curriculum-Instruction-andAssessment/Assessment/Pages/GeorgiaFIP.aspx
Formative Item Bank in OAS
http://www.gadoe.org/Curriculum-Instruction-andAssessment/Assessment/Pages/OAS-Resources.aspx
EOC Assessment Guides
http://www.gadoe.org/Curriculum-Instruction-and-Assessment/Assessment/Pages/GeorgiaMilestones-End-of-Course-Assessment-Guides.aspx
3/14/2016
46
Georgia Department of Education
Resources
Richard Woods,
Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
• EOC Assessment Guides
http://www.gadoe.org/Curriculum-Instruction-and-Assessment/Assessment/Pages/Georgia-Milestones-End-ofCourse-Assessment-Guides.aspx
• EOG Assessment Guides
http://www.gadoe.org/Curriculum-Instruction-and-Assessment/Assessment/Pages/Georgia-Milestones-End-ofGrade-Assessment-Guides.aspx
3/14/2016
47
GaDOE Assessment Webinars
Richard Woods,
Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
Assessment Program Updates 2014-2015 – Georgia Milestones (Pt. 1)
Recording: https://sas.elluminate.com/mr.jnlp?suid=M.0022562966FC107A2B357D4658DE06&sid=2012003
Assessment Program Updates 2014-2015 – Georgia Milestones (Pt. 2)
Recording: https://sas.elluminate.com/mr.jnlp?suid=M.4472ECC921A30BB376F44AD2E2715D&sid=2012003
3/14/2016
48
Get on the ELA ListServ!
Check out the ELA Wikis.
Richard Woods,
Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
No username or password required
• ListServ
ELA K-5
ELA 6-8
ELA 9-12
ELA District Support
ELA Administrators
Join-ela-k-5@list.doe.k12.ga.us
Join-ela-6-8@list.doe.k12.ga.us
Join-ela-9-12@list.doe.k12.ga.us
Join-ela-districtsupport@list.doe.k12.ga.us
Join-ela-admin@list.doe.k12.ga.us
• Wikis:
High School Wiki: http://elaccgps9-12.wikispaces.com/
Middle Wiki: http://georgiaelaccgps6-8.wikispaces.com/
Elementary Wiki: http://georgiaelaccgpsk-5.wikispaces.com/
• Summer Academy Wiki
http://2014elasummerinstitute.wikispaces.com/
3/14/2016
49
Question and Answer
3/14/2016
Richard Woods,
Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
50
Contact the GaDOE
ELA Team
Richard Woods,
Georgia’s School Superintendent
“Educating Georgia’s Future”
gadoe.org
Carolyn Waters, ELA Program Manager
cwaters@doe.k12.ga.us
Stephanie Sanders, ELA Program Specialist
ssanders@doe.k12.ga.us
3/14/2016
51