Common Core
Bringing Inquiry to Life:
Reading, Research and Writing
Reading Targets
CCSS goal: students leave the
lesson having read, analyzed and
understood what they have READ.
Pre CCSS goal: Students
leave the lesson knowing the
details of the narrative and
the way a particular “element”
is playing out.
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Key Design Considerations of the
CCLS
Research and media skills blended into the
Standards as a whole
• To be ready for college, workforce training, and life in a
technological society, students need the ability to gather,
comprehend, evaluate, synthesize, and report on
information and ideas, to conduct original research
in order to answer questions or solve problems, and
to analyze and create a high volume and extensive range
of print and nonprint texts in media forms old and new…”
--From page 4 of the CCSS in ELA/Literacy/
http://www.corestandards.org/assets/CCSSI_ELA%20Standards.pdf
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Writing Standards: Writing has a progression
CCR Anchor Std 7
Conduct short
as well as more
sustained
research
projects based
on focused
questions,
demonstrating
understanding
of the subject
under
investigation.
Grade 6
Grade 7
Grade 8
Conduct short
research projects
to answer
a question,
drawing on several
sources and
refocusing the
inquiry when
appropriate.
Conduct short
research projects
to answer
a question,
drawing on several
sources and
generating
additional related,
focused questions
for further
research and
investigation.
Conduct short
research projects
to answer a
question
(including a selfgenerated
question), drawing
on several sources
and generating
additional related,
focused questions
that allow for
multiple avenues
of exploration.
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Writing Standards: Writing has a progression
CCR Anchor Std 7
Conduct short as
well as more
sustained research
projects based on
focused questions,
demonstrating
understanding of the
subject under
investigation.
Grades 9-10
Grades 11-12
Conduct short as well as more sustained
research projects to answer a question
(including a self-generated question) or solve a
problem; Narrow or broaden the inquiry when
appropriate; Synthesize multiple sources on
the subject, demonstrating understanding of
the subject under investigation.
• a. Explore topics dealing with different
cultures and world viewpoints.
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Teaching Writing
Common Core requires that
students get smart about the
products good writers create.
Prior to the Common Core we
often focused on the habits
good writers have.
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Writing from Sources
Subshifts
Subshift A
Examine models, note criteria, unpack prompt/ task
Subshift B
Work with sources
Subshift C
Grapple with complex text and content; leverage academic
vocabulary
Subshift D
Emphasize questioning, Inquiry, and explaining
understanding rather than defense
Subshift E
Follow inquiry process:
questions, sources, information, scope and plan product
Subshift F
Use technology and other minds
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Productive Inquiry: Communicating
Expertise & Understanding
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How to initiate the inquiry process in
a K-12 Classroom
1. Explore a topic ( via a text, e.g., “Approach for
Thinking About Thinking.”)
2. Choose an area of investigation
3. Framing inquiry
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Inquiry: initiate!
• Read Temple Grandin’s “Approach for
Thinking About Thinking”
• With a partner, come up with 1-3 possible
topics to explore from/through this text.

Note: although this text is not an objective
reporting of information, it does allow for inquiry
via the information, details and/or the rhetorical
style it employs.
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Topics
“…As a person with autism, I have the typical profile of an area of great
skill and an area of difficulty. Algebra was impossible because there was
nothing to visualize, but I excelled at art. Thinking in pictures has been a
great asset in my business of designing livestock facilities for cattle. I can
visualize projects in my mind before they are built. I observed that cattle
often refused to walk over shadows, and they were spooked by sparkling
reflections or shiny metal on wet floors. These things were obvious to me,
but many previous designers had failed to see them…
Different kinds of minds should work together. When they do, they
complement each other’s skills. For example, I leave it to the pattern
thinkers to design a nuclear power plant, but I think a photo-realistic visual
thinker would have spotted a fatal flaw in the safety systems of the
Japanese Fukushima nuclear reactors. The emergency generators for the
cooling pumps were in low areas. When the tsunami hit, the generators
were submerged and the reactors melted down. A visual thinker would
have been able to imagine water cascading into the basement.”
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Initial Inquiry Question
• How does having Autism make you think
differently?
Sources about Autism
Information re: the brain
Information about autism and
intelligence
Information about causes of autism
Information about safety designs of
nuclear reactors.
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Refined Inquiry Question
• What are the advantages that visual thinkers
have over other kinds of thinkers?





New information
New sources
Scope of project
Begin the writing process OR
Broaden or narrow inquiry (e.g. specific
individuals, visual thinkers and design, ‘humane’
animal processing facilities, contribution of
design flaws to otherwise avoidable man-made
disasters.)
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The sky’s the limit
Research need not be limited to ELA and/or Social
Studies/Science. Within the parameters of the
demands of the shifts and the standards, and guided
by student interest, research topics could touch upon
the Arts, Physical Education, Economics,
Technical/Vocational subjects, Technology, popular
culture…
WHY BEYONCE IS SOOOO
AWESOME
Beyoncé
What is the impact of Beyonce on
21st century feminism?
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The roles of the librarian and media
specialist




Provide access to sources, both print and non-print
Guide inquiry through effective searching for sources
in content areas and evaluation of sources
Facilitate discussions with peers
Build lifelong skills for college, careers and civic
participation
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Examples of CCLS aligned research
in curriculum
On EngageNY:
• Odell Education units: Research to Deepen
Understanding for grades 6-12
• Research simulation tasks in 6-8 Modules
• Research tasks in 3-5 Modules
• Research Modules in 9-12
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