Discovery Education Common Core Academy:Making Common Sense Out of the ELA Common Core

January 23-24, 2013Karen M. Beerer, Ed.D.Karen_beerer@discovery.com

Welcome Back!

Yesterday’s Questions, Comments, Suggestions

• Introducing Symbaloo: www.symbaloo.com- black, apple: “Core” sites- red, books: Curriculum sites- green, owl: Instruction sites- pink, ticket: Assessment sites- orange, triangle: Articles You’ve Got to

Read!

Resources to Support Your Work

Beginning With The End In Mind: The Assessments

Beginning With The End In Mind: The Assessments

An Assessment Review

Why Smarter Balanced?What does it look like electronically?What does the media component look like?

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter…

Your Task:1. Select an ELA area of interest.2. Complete the assessment tasks (or as many as you can complete in the allocated

time.)3. As you are completing the tasks, keep an “evidence/interpretation” chart of your

findings.- Evidence: What will students need to know and be able to do?- Interpretation: What does this mean for our instruction? curriculum?

assessment?

Findings?

Get together with your 9:00 partner.

Discuss your evidence/interpretation findings.

Report out.

An Assessment Starting Point

Creating Your Own Assessment

1. Use the Assessment Planning Tool to design an assessment task that you can use in your classroom.

2. Use the text complexity exemplar section of the CCSS appendices to select a text to use with your students.

3. The LDC task templates will help you frame the language of your assessment task once you determine the content, standard, skills and text(s). You may also utilize one of their rubrics.

K-3 Primary Teachers? A Quick Caucus…

Appendix B:Text Exemplars

Breakout Sessions

Breakout Session #1: Complex and CloseThis session will focus on text complexity and how to conduct close readings as a strategy for helping students comprehend complex texts as well as cite textual evidence.

Breakout Session #2: What’s Your Evidence?This session will also focus on text complexity, but will examine the essential qualities of effective text-dependent questions and how to teach students to answer them while reading complex texts.

You Knew It Was Coming:Total percentage of American adults who can’t understand the labels on their prescriptions.

46%

Community College students were shown a number line from -2 to 2 and asked to draw a line marking the approximate location of two numbers: -0.7 and 13/8.

21%

Total percentage of U.S. adults who are unable to read an 8th grade level book. 50%

U.S. adults able to pick out two items on a menu, add them, and calculate a tip. 42%

Total percentage of adults that have not been in a book store in the past 5 years. 70%

U.S. adults who could reliably calculate mortgage interest or those who could not calculate weekly salary when told an hourly pay rate.

20%

Total percentage of books started that aren’t read to completion. 57%

Source: Read Faster, Reading Stats, 2012; Richland, Stigler, & Holyoak, 2012); Department of Education's National Assessment of Adult Literacy

A Word About Critical Experiences for Learning: The Power of Video

• Ask fewer, better questions• Allow students freedom to

discuss• Implement a formative

assessment daily in one area• Increase the level of rigor by

strengthening your “citing evidence” instruction

What can you do tomorrow?

One More…What Can You Do Tomorrow?

The Importance of Digital Media and Technology

“5 Things Every Teacher Should Be Doing to Meet the Common Core State Standards” (Davis)

• Lead High-Level, Text-Based Discussions• Focus on Process, Not Just Content• Create Assignment for Real Audiences and Real

Purposes• Teach Argument, Not Persuasion• Increase Text Complexity

One More…What Can You Do Tomorrow?

The Importance of Digital Media and Technology

“5 Things Every Teacher Should Be Doing to Meet the Math Common Core State Standards” (Spencer)

1. Combine content and practice. 2. Don’t rely solely on the textbook.3. Make connections across the standards. 4. Create a classroom environment where students feel free to invent strategies. 5. Engage students in rich mathematical discussions.

One More…What Can You Do Tomorrow?The Importance of Digital Media and Technology

Lead High-Level, Text-Based DiscussionsEngage Students in Rich Mathematical Discussions

Teach Argument, Not PersuasionMake Connections Across the Standards

Increase Text ComplexityDon’t Rely Solely on the Textbook

Essential Questions

Argue to determine the video’s best representation of life.

This is an easy one…Nonfiction textsPair with a text exemplars: A Bat is Born, Secret Garden…Math? The Flipped Classroom!

Which scene in the video is the best representation of math in everyday life?

Creating Your Plan and Toolbox

• Guided Planning:– Think about what you were going to do next week

and change the “how”…Create a new assessment task…Create text dependent questions for a

text…Select new complex texts and plan how

to teach students a close reading

Wrap-Up

I CAN identify the content, format and structure of the ELA CCSS. I CAN describe the essential classroom elements of instruction to ensure all students meet the CCSS. I CAN explain curriculum and assessment strategies to implement CCSS in my classroom, school or district. I CAN determine my next steps to implement CCSS successfully in my classroom, school, district and select useful resources to support me.

Yesses and NoeesThe Yesees said yes to anything That anyone suggested.The Noees said no to everythingUnless it was proven and tested.So the Yesees all died of much too muchAnd the Noees all died of fright,But somehow I think the Thinkforyourselfees All came out all right.

[Shel Silverstein, Everything on It]