Engaging Students with Complex Text

Posted on October 24, 2012 by Aaron Grossman

Torrey Palmer shared Core Shift Blast number 5 today and you can download it here. The focus this week is on engaging students with complex text.  Practitioners, who have been using “Text Talk Time” in their classroom, may find the “From the Field” section especially interesting. Sarah Ledon, 5th grade teacher at Westergard Elementary, describes how her students responded to this instructional strategy.

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Free is Good

Posted on October 23, 2012 by Aaron Grossman

Recently EdWeek reported on large-scale efforts to create and organize Open Educational Resources aligned to the Common Core (here).  For example, the Utah State Office of Education has created textbooks from OERs for English language arts, math, and science.  In South Dakota, the nonprofit Technology in Innovation in Education (TIE) is using evaluation rubrics from Achieve to “create a repository of open educational materials for teachers” titled MyOER.  And OER Commons is also using Ahieve’s evaluation rubrics to aggregate materials aligned to Common Core.

In short, this is a reminder of the power of adopting the Common Core. With 46 states agreeing to common outcomes and assessments, energy can be harnessed to advantage our students and the communities we serve.

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Text Complexity: 7 Actions to Take Right Now

Posted on October 22, 2012 by Aaron Grossman

Through the following webinar (here), Dr. Freddy Hiebert, researcher and member of the Common Core State Standards advisory committee, outlines seven actions educators can take to engage children with complex text. She draws the listeners’ attention to the consciousness of what we are teaching and what we want students to learn.

At minute 8:30, Hiebert explains why the CCSS emphasizes complex text (standard 10) before sharing the research behind the inclusion of this outcome—minute 12:30. At minute 15:00, Hiebert defines complex text (slide here) and at 19:35 she describes what she likes about the coming SBAC test. After all of this, Hiebert describes what teachers can focus on as they share complex text.

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Bishop Manogue HS Trains on the CTP

Posted on October 20, 2012 by Aaron Grossman

Staff from Bishop Manogue gathered today to review the Close Reading Strategy via video and a Close Reading Exemplar. Below are the resources shared with this audience.

CTP Manogue PowerPoint

Coleman Describing the Close Reading Strategy Notetaker

Grades 9-10 Exemplar Gettysburg Address (from SAP)

Grades 11-12 Exemplar Living Like Weasels (from SAP)

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A Primer on “Close Reading of a Text”

Posted on October 19, 2012 by Aaron Grossman

This week the Aspen Institute published “Implementing the Common Core State Standards: A Primer on ‘Close Reading of Text’” (here). Coauthored by Sheila Brown and Lee Kappes, the primer defines close reading, provides strategies for its implementation, and connects this instructional approach to the standards. Washoe educators Loree Gerboth and Corrin Cathcart are quoted in the article and connect the theoretical frame to real classroom application. (Note: Dr. Timothy Shanahan cautions that close reading is not a reading strategy that kids simply apply. It is an instructional approach.)

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Charlotte Danielson and the CCSS

Posted on October 18, 2012 by Aaron Grossman

In a keynote speech before NY Educators, Charlotte Danielson links the Common Core State Standards to the Danielson Framework for Teaching. She argues that we cannot know what content students will need to know in 25 years. Thus, we have to equip students with the requisite “tools for learning.” You can watch the entire video here with her link to CCSS beginning at minute 2:05.

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CC Shifts in ELA

Posted on October 18, 2012 by Aaron Grossman

Rose Marsh posted the following video describing the six “instructional shifts.”  For Shift 3, text complexity, the narrator notes that educators, when working with students—especially students well behind in reading—will have to be prepared to chunk text and read “a heck of a lot less text” to assist children in accessing grade level material. Note, this does not discount the importance of matching reader to text to get to the necessary volume of reading.

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Guidance for the ELA Common Core

Posted on October 16, 2012 by Aaron Grossman

The International Reading Association recently released a document entitled “Literacy Implementation Guidance for the ELA Common Core State Standards” (here). The document was created to contend with “confusion” and “conflicting messages” governing the implementation of the CCSS. Among the recommendations:

  • Early, systematic, and explicit teaching of the foundational reading skills is required.
  • Engage students in reading high-quality texts closely and critically.
  • Guide students to apply strategies when reading particularly challenging texts.
  • Provide opportunities for students to write in response to reading across the curriculum.
  • Involve content area teachers in teaching the disciplinary literacy Standards.
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Washoe Educators Finish Day 2 of the CTP-ESL Pilot

Posted on October 16, 2012 by Aaron Grossman

K-12 ESL teachers finished Day 2 of the CTP-ESL pilot. Their hard work is allowing Curriculum and Instruction to integrate WIDA into Core Task Project trainings. Further, they are identifying appropriate scaffolds to allow all learners to engage in the Close Reading Strategy and work with the exemplars developed by Student Achievement Partners.

Participating educators included: Dawn Adams, Laurie Campbell, Melissa Chavez, Cristal Cisneros, Jen Clark, Pete Cobin, Agnes Daemen, Dena DeGolyerSarah Frances, Edith Gaw, Kris Gingras, Tina Hart, Julie Lucas, Morgan McKay, Balbine Mengue, Monju Menteer, Kelsey Myles, Karen PerishoSusan Punchard, Chad Reynolds, Lorna Rocha, Korina Santos, Carol Stranford, Maija Talso, Holly Turville Bonnie Vogler, Eric Wacker.

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Common Core ‘Essentials’

Posted on October 14, 2012 by Aaron Grossman

David Burleson, superintendent in Newland, North Carolina, highlights key aspects of the Common Core for his constituents. Burleson notes that parents and students will see teachers emphasizing a) academic vocabulary b) the use of evidence to support responses and c) greater attention to informational text. You can read the entire piece here.

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