GENERATION
NO CHILD LEFT
BEHIND
LaTricea Adams, Ed.S.
Tennessee State University Doctoral Candidate
Cesar Chavez Public Charter Schools Assessment & Data Specialist
Strategies for
Empowering New
Students to Think
Critically in the
Humanities
ESSENTIAL QUESTION
How can we build the cognitive stamina of
students who came through the wave of
No Child Left Behind?
SESSION OUTCOMES
 Self-evaluate on the current level of critical thinking of
students as evident by current pedagogy (pre- and post
survey).
 Build the framework for facilitating close reading and
Socratic questioning (Socratic Seminar) and incorporating
authentic intellectual performance tasks into instructional
time.
AGENDA
Mini-Segment Description
Time Allotted
NCLB…The Saga of
“Education Reform”
5 minutes
Self-Assessment
5 minutes
Intellectual Standards
5 Minutes
Close Reading
10 minutes
Authentic Intellectual Performance Task
10 minutes
Socratic Seminar
10 minutes
Next Steps to Moving Pedagogical Practice (Post SelfAssessment)
5 minutes
TRANSITION
No Child Left Behind…
The Saga of
“Education Reform”
NCLB…THE SAGA OF
“EDUCATION REFORM”
 In August of 1981 , the National
Commission on Excellence in Education
was chartered under the authority of 20
U.S.C. 1233a.
 Their goal was to review & synthesize the
data on the quality of learning & teaching
in the nation's schools, colleges, and
universities, both public and private.

The National Commission on
Excellence published a report:
 A Nation at Risk, which found that the
American school system was falling behind
compared to education institutions around the
world.
 The notion of equal education for all
regardless of race or class or economic
status had not been met.
NCLB…THE SAGA OF
“EDUCATION REFORM”
1994
Improving
America’s
Schools Act
(IASA)
1994-2000
The Rise of
Assessments,
Data &
Accountability
2001
2010
No Child Left
Behind Act
(NCLB)
NCLB
Reform/ESEA
Flexibility
DISCUSSION
 In 2013, we graduated our first cohort of American students
who went K-12 under NCLB…
What are some deficits in your students’ critical thinking
abilities?
How do you think No Child Left Behind af fected your students’
level of critical thinking?
TRANSITION
TRANSITION
DISCUSSION
How does allowing students
to do the heavy “intellectual
lifting” look?
What are some common
instructional practices for
establishing this type of
learning environment?
INTELLECTUAL STANDARDS
INTELLECTUAL STANDARDS
METACOGNITION
TRANSITION
CLOSE READING
Paraphrasing the Text Sentence by Sentence
Explicating the Thesis of a Paragraph
Analyzing the logic of what we’re reading
Assessing the logic of what we’re reading
Speaking in the Voice of an Author
CLOSE READING
CLOSE READING
PARAPHRASING
EXCERPT FROM INVISIBLE MAN BY RALPH ELLISON
“I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those who
haunted Edgar Allan Poe; nor am l one of your Hollywood-movie
ectoplasms. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and
liquids – and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am
invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me. Like
the bodiless heads you see sometimes in circus sideshows, it is as
though I have been surrounded by mirrors of hard, distorting glass.
When they approach me they see only my surroundings,
themselves, or figments of their imagination – indeed, everything
and anything except me.”
CLOSE READING
EXPLICATING
S
State the main point of the paragraph in 1-2 sentences.
E
Elaborate on what you have paraphrased.
E Exemplify meaning by tying it to concrete situations in the
real world.
I
Illustrate with metaphors, analogies, pictures, or diagrams
of the basic thesis to connect it to other meanings you
already understand.
CLOSE READING
ANALYZING THE LOGIC OF WHAT WE ARE
READING
1. What is the key question the author is trying to answer?
2. What is the author’s fundamental purpose?
3. What is the author’s point of view with respect to the issue?
4. What assumptions is the author making in his/her reasoning?
5. What are the implications of the author’s reasoning?
6. What information does the author use in reasoning through this
issue?
7. What are the most fundamental inferences or conclusions in the
text?
8. What are the author’s most basic concepts?
ASSESSING THE LOGIC OF WHAT WE’RE
READING
CLOSE READING
SPEAKING IN THE VOICE OF THE AUTHOR
AUTHENTIC INTELLECTUAL PERFORMANCE TASK
EXAMPLES OF MARGINALIZED GROUPS IN SOCIET Y
Below are examples of groups that have been unseen and unheard in
different ways throughout histor y or, in the words of Ralph Ellison,
“constantly bumped against by those of poor vision.”
1 . Women
2. Native Americans
3. People with Disabilities
4. Workers/Laborers
5. Immigrants
6. Religious Minorities
TRANSITION
DISCUSSION
What are some concerns
with facilitating a classroom
around Socratic
Questioning?
How can these concerns be
addressed (organization of
the process)?
SOCRATIC SEMINAR











What puzzles me is…
I’d like to talk with people about …
I’m confused about…
Don’t you think this is similar to …
Do you agree that the big ideas seem to be …
I have questions about…
Another point of view is…
I think it means…
Do you think…
What does it mean when the author says…
Do you agree that…
CREATE YOUR OWN…
• Close Reading Activity (be explicit about
the type of thinking/expectations for
each level and how to incorporate time
for students to “Think about their
Thinking”)
• Socratic Seminar framework
• Authentic Intellectual Performance Task
TRANSITION
Next Steps to Moving Pedagogical Practice (Post
Self-Assessment)
REFERENCES
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pdf
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