WELCOME BACK
TO SCHOOL!
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=funny+videos+for+
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ELA RESOURCES
(IS THIS SESSION FOR ME?)
Need some resources for ELA? Would you like to easily find lesson plans already
written by RIT Band? Would you like to locate leveled text, materials and
questions to use with whole group or small group lessons? Then this session is for
you! With a few clicks and some ink, you will have ELA materials that match
Common Core Standards ready for you students! (Appropriate for teachers of
grades K-10).
BEFORE WE TALK
“ WHAT ”…LET ’S TALK “ WHY ”
 New standards don’t always match our
old “stuff.”
 Materials we have might not be
rigorous enough.
 Differentiation – RIT Band Groups –
small groups….so many things to plan
for!
W H Y S H O U LD W E W O R K T O
F I ND Q U A L I T Y MA TE RI A L S :
SO WE CAN DIFFERENTIATE AND MEET EACH STUDENT WHERE THEY ARE!
 What kids DO during reading block determines what kids LEARN during reading
block.
 Reading without comprehension is just “barking print.” It produces no reading
growth. It is critical to have the right level text.
 At least 90% accuracy is essential for reading acceleration.
 20 minutes of quality, high success reading works better than repeated reading of
more difficult text.
W H Y S H O U LD W E D I F F E REN TI A TE ?
Think of your students as a leaf
 A few students are at the tip. They’ve already mastered much of the
work and are ready to move on to something new.
 More students fall somewhere in the broad center, generally ready for
grade-level instruction.
 A few students are at the stem, still working on the foundational skills
they need to grow.
W H Y S H O U LD W E TE A C H
SMA L L G RO U P S ?
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In small groups you can keep all students engaged on their personal “next step”
learning level.
In small groups you can precisely target the skills and instruction needed for each
student.
In small groups you can closely monitor student performance.
Small group work provides more opportunities for immediate feedback.
It provides the teacher more time to meet the needs of the most challenging
students who may require greater teacher guidance.
It provides high achievers time to work independently at a pace that promotes
active learning.
Teachers have more time to teach & students have more time to learn (hard to
believe that's possible, but it's true!)
TO P U L L O F F E F F E C TI V E RI T B A ND SMA L L G RO U P
I N S T R U C T I O N, Y O U N E E D T O B E O K W I T H D O I N G
DIFFERENT THINGS FO R DIFFERENT KIDS B ASED O N
THEIR NEEDS.
TRY TO ADOPT THE FOLLOWING MENTALITY FOR YOUR
STUDENTS, AND TEACH THEM TO DO THE SAME:
FAIR VS. EQUAL
 Equal means the same.
 I will not be treating students exactly the same way.
 Being fair means that I will do my best to give each student what he or
she needs to be successful.
 What you need and what someone else needs may be very different.
 I will always try to be FAIR, but this means things won’t always feel
EQUAL.
L A ST LY , YO U N E ED TO KE EP I N M I ND T H E
G O A L S O F YO U R S C H O OL A ND O U R STA TE .
All students need to grow in their learning. Gaps need to close.
All students need to make gains. How do we do this? Take them
from where they are and move forward. But they are all in
different places, you say? That’s why we need small group
instruction along with great ELA resources!
W E H A V E A G RE A T TO O L – U S E
T H E RI T S C O RE S !
From their website: “NWEA's Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) tests
measure a student's instructional achievement level, not a student's mastery
level. Achievement on the MAP tests shows evidence of what a student has
learned and can do with approximately 50 percent accuracy within a subject
and goal area.”
C H A R A C TE RI STI C S O F T H E RI T S C A L E
I NC L U D E :
 It is an achievement scale.
 It is an accurate scale.
 It is an equal interval scale.
 It helps to measure growth over time.
 It has the same meaning regardless of grade or age of the student
LOOK AT THE RIT BANDS IN
YO U R C L A SS.
You may have 5-6 different RIT Bands, but you can do groups however you want.
 Need simple to start? Do 3 groups – low, middle and high.
 Like even numbers? Then do 4 groups – low, low average, average, high.
 Have 30 kids in your class? Do 6 groups: Novice, Apprentice, Proficient Low,
Proficient High, and Distinguished.
N E ED RE S O U RC E S ?
B E RE S O U RC E F U L !
You don’t have to spend
your nights with your head in a
dumpster! There are easier
ways to find resources!!
ELA RESOURCES
 www.fortheteachers.org
 www.foridahoteachers.org
 OK, both of these sites are simply awesome. You can find lesson plans already written by RIT Band. Really!
And you can also find leveled text, materials and questions to use with small group lessons. So, if you were doing
main idea in 6th grade, you would select that, print off the plan, write your RIT groups in the blanks, print out 3
leveled articles and go. A few clicks and some ink, and you have lessons to match what you are teaching in whole
group broken down by RIT level for your small group students.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Readworks.org
 This site is advertised as the “solution to comprehension” and it might well be. It has
tons of lesson plans, and 1,000s of non-fiction articles that are leveled and ready to print.
As a middle school teacher focusing on sequencing in a unit about Europe, I could go to
ReadWorks, go to “find passages,” put in 6th Grade, sequence, and France and it gives
me an article with the Lexile level listed to print. What? I’m telling you, it can be this
easy!
READWORKS
 900 New Passages for K-8
 Coming this fall:
 - Engaging, high quality reading passages with question sets
 - Non-fiction and original fiction
 - Aligned with the latest science and social studies standards
 Common Core Aligned
 - Meets ELA Standards for All 50 States
- Complements Core Reading Programs
- Based on Leading Research
- Free! http://www.readworks.org/
LEARN ZILLION
 http://learnzillion.com/lessons?filters%5Bsubject%5D=ela
 LearnZillion is a learning platform that combines video lessons, assessments, and
progress reporting. Each lesson highlights a Common Core standard, starting with math
in grades 3-9.
 The LearnZillion Story: “We knew what lessons our students needed but we didn’t
have enough time to teach each student the right lesson. To create more time, and to
share best practices across classrooms, our teachers began to capture their expertise on
screencasts. We posted them on a homemade website and coupled them with a short
quiz to help us track student progress.” This was the starting point of LearnZillion.
SO FAR, SO FREE!
BUT WHAT IF WE HAVE A
“LITTLE” MONEY?
 With My eBookroom, we have all the advantages of a print bookroom plus
24/7 access, more than 1600 digital books from a variety of series, and over
300 Interactive Whiteboard activities.
 http://www.brainshark.com/hmhsupp/vu?pi=zEez
X45LLz51GTz0
 https://www-
k6.thinkcentral.com/ePCEval/evalLogin.do
 A one time cost of $780 covers a 6 year subscription.
DATAWORKS
 What are Common Core Learning Objectives &
Essential Tools?
 These guides convert Common Core Standards into
explicit, teachable Learning Objectives. Now teachers can
rapidly comprehend, internalize, and implement new Common
Core Standards. Exclusive bonus: Includes grade-level
Common Core vocabulary lists that define key words students
need to know to be successful.
 $9.99 Per Grade Level
DATAWORKS – GREAT
TEACHING TIP S!
D A TA W O R K S REA D Y TO TEA C H L E S S O N S
 What are Common Core READY TO TEACH Lessons?
 Original and written for expressly Common Core Standards, these supplemental, multi-media
Explicit Direct Instruction (EDI) lessons engage all learners through whole-class instruction as
teachers introduce new concepts and skills and model the kind of thinking Core Standards and
assessments require.
 Lesson features: Rigorous, grade-level expository text and 2 – 7 new academic vocabulary words
defined
 Emphasis on deep conceptual understanding with optional scaffolding for differentiation
 Opportunities to use evidentiary arguments and/or multiple representations when solving
problems
 $14.99 Per Lesson – teacher pricing
 http://pendleton.kyschools.us/userfiles/80/Classes/6018/3rdELARI2.0MAINIDEADWCCSS.ppt
 http://pendleton.kyschools.us/userfiles/80/Classes/6018/3rdELARI2.0MAINIDEADWCCSS-0.ppt
MORE COOL
DATAWORKS TOOLS
 Vocabulary For Each Grade Level
 Reading Success: Readers can read effectively when they can understand at least 95% of the words they
read. Knowing only the most common 2000 words, studies show that readers should be able to comprehend
about 80% of an average academic text. Adding in a list of 570 Academic and Content Vocabulary* words brings
that total up to 90% comprehension (Nation & Waring, 1997). The remaining unknown words in academic text
will largely be Content and Support Vocabulary and should be learned within the context of lessons throughout
the school year.
U S E N W E A RE S O U RC E S F O R E A SY
MA P G A I N S
Want t o improve your MAP scores in an easy way? Work on
vocabulary! Somet imes it ’ s t he simple t hings t hat bog kids down.
Not knowing key t erms is a big problem, but one t hat can be
f ixed quickly. And, by /using DesCart es, it is also possible t o
t each t he “ ri ght t here” vocabulary – st art ing a st udent where
t hey are and t aking t he next st ep t o move t hemf orward! Let ’ s
do it !
To st art , f ollow t his link t o go t o NWEA’ s sit e:
ht t p:/ / www.nwea.org/
NEXT STEP
Log in to the reports site from there, then go to the DataTools section on the left-hand side of the page, and look for
DesCartes. Following this link, scroll to the bottom of the
page and look for a box that says:
Appendices
Vocabulary by Subject Area and RIT Range
Signs and Symbols by Subject Area and RIT Range
HERE YOU GO!
Fromt here, cli ck on t he “ vocabulary by subject
area” li ne and i t wi ll t ake you t o a wonderf ul 3 8
page resource t hat looks li ke t hi s:
RIT Score Range: 231–240
archetype
omniscient
oxymoron
paradox
pathetic fallacy
standard English
stereotype
symbolize
syntax
RIT Score Range: 241–250
cliché
iambic pentameter
BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!
I f you f ollow t he “ si gns and symbols” li nk, you wi ll
f i nd anot her gr eat r esour ce t hat looks li ke t hi s:
RIT Score Range: 221–230
( ) parenthesis around an
integer
|| absolute value
dm decimeter/decimetre
height
hour (SI metric)
intersection
km kilometer/kilometre
measure of angle
measurement span down
measurement span left
measurement span right
measurement span up
number
pi
repeating decimal overbar
sec second
CHECK OUT MY WEBPAGE
All of the links today – and more – are on my webpage:
http://pendleton.kyschools.us/olc/teacher.aspx?s=80