Session Description

Participants will examine the parallel organization of the College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards and the grade-specific Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects.

Expected Outcomes

  • Understand that the College and Career Readiness (CCR) Anchor Standards
  • Define general, cross-disciplinary literacy expectations that must be met for students to be prepared to enter college and workforce training programs ready to succeed;
  • Provide the organizational "backbone" of the grade-specific Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for English Language Arts (ELA) & Literacy in the content-areas, except for the Foundational Skills;
  • Are organized into four strands (Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening, and Language) with subheadings under each;
  • Depict interrelationships among and within the strands that create an integrated model of literacy.
  • Understand that the grade-specific CCSS for ELA & Literacy in the content-areas
  • Describe what all students should know and be able to do at the end of each grade or grade band.

Agenda

  • Welcome and Introduction (5 minutes)
  • College and Career Readiness (CCR) Anchor Standards ( 10 minutes)
  • Partner activity – CCR
  • An integrated model of literacy (10 minutes)
  • Partner activity – Integrated Model
  • Grade-specific CCSS for ELA & Literacy in the content areas (10 minutes)
  • Partner activity – Grade-specific Reading CCSS
  • Reflection (10 minutes)
  • Partner activity – How did we do?
  • What's next?
  • Reflection

Time

  • 45 minutes

Audience

  • Designed to be used with groups of K—5 leaders and teachers working with grade-level partners.

Materials

  • Handout copy of PowerPoint slides (suggested 6 slides per page)
  • Handout College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Grades K—12 (provided with this session)
  • Grade-level view of CCSS for ELA & Literacy in the content areas for participants at their own grade level, accessible on ODE website
  • Handout Reflections Module 1, Session 1 ELA & Literacy

Resources/References

  • Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects
  • Oregon Grade-Level Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects
  • Oregon Literacy Plan—K-12, K-12 Teachers: Building Comprehension in the Common Core

Slide 1

Materials: Participants should have

•a “handout” copy of the power point slides,

•a copy of “College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Grades K-12” provided with this session,

•Common Core State Standards for ELA & Literacy in the content areas for their own grade level and subject area (accessible on the ODE website at

Welcome participants and suggest they sit with partners who teach the same subject and grade level.

Introduce the subject for today.

For instance, the facilitator might say,

“Today we are going to take a look at the organization of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects. As you know, Oregon adopted these Standards in 2010, and they will be phased in over the next few years.

One frequent question is, Why call them ‘State’ standards when the whole point is to have common standards across the nation? Aren’t they ‘Federal’ standards?’ Great question, but the answer is No, the federal government has not been involved in the standards’ development, nor has it mandated their adoption. Rather, the Common Core State Standards Initiative was in fact a state-led effort started by governors and chief state school officers across the country. And each state will individually decide to adopt them, or not.

These Standards represent a shared set of clear, high-quality goals and expectations to help our students succeed in college and careers.

Let’s take a look at them. Our focus today will be to try to get a sense of the whole and how it is organized. In subsequent sessions, we will look closely at both the Standards and at Oregon resources that will help us help our students to reach these goals.”

Slide 2

Go over the expected outcomes for this session.

For instance, the facilitator might say,

“Two strengths of the CCSS for ELA & Literacy in the content areas are

1)the fact that the starting point has been college and career ready standards, which address what students are expected to have learned by the time they have graduated from high school, and

2)The parallel organization of the grade-specific standards throughout the document for all the grades and all the content areas.”

For clarity and focus, the Standards are separated into four strands and organized by the same subheadings K-12. The one exception to this is the Reading Foundational Skills, which apply only to K-5 and which we will address in the second half of this session.

However, in spite of their separation into distinct strands, the Standards consistently reflect the integrated nature of literacy, as you’ll see when we take a closer look.”

The bulk of the Common Core State Standards are the grade-specific English language arts and literacy standards themselves, which describe the progress students need to make, grade by grade, in order to be ready for higher education or career training by the time they finish high school."

Slide 3

Clarify for participants that there are only two sets of Common Core State Standards: one for mathematics and one for English language arts and literacy in the content areas. There are no CCSS for science or history content, for instance.

Note that in the elementary grades, the same set of standards apply to English language arts and the content areas, whereas at the secondary level, a separate set of standards specific to the content areas are included.

For instance, the facilitator might say,

“The state-led effort to create standards that will prepare students for college and the workplace was coordinated by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers. It resulted in TWO sets of grade-specific standards:

  1. K-12 Mathematics
  2. K-12 English language arts and literacy in the content areas

The Common Core State Standards comprise only these two areas. There are not, for instance, Common Core science content standards or history content standards. Oregon will continue to have separate content standards in these areas.

The English Language Arts and Literacy standards are divided into an elementary section and a secondary section, with three appendices. You’ll notice that at the 6-12 level, literacy in the content areas is a separate section with separate (but parallel) standards for the content areas. However, at the elementary level, the same set of Core Standards apply to both English language arts and literacy in the content areas, reflecting the fact that most or all of the instruction students in these grades receive comes from one teacher.”

Slide 4:

Explain that the College and Career Readiness (CCR) anchor standards define general, cross-disciplinary literacy expectations that must be met for students to be prepared to enter college and workforce training programs ready to succeed.

Ask participants if they notice a difference between these strands and the Oregon English Language Arts Standards. [Language is not a separate strand in Oregon’s.]

For instance, the facilitator might say,

“These CCR standards anchor the document and define general, cross-disciplinary literacy expectations that must be met for students to be prepared to enter college and workforce training programs ready to succeed.

Within each strand, a single set of CCR anchor standards provides the basis for the Common Core State Standards at every grade level across the curriculum.

For instance, the same ten CCR anchor standards for Reading apply to both literary and informational texts, including texts in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects. The ten CCR anchor standards for Writing cover numerous text types and subject areas. This means that students can develop mutually reinforcing skills and exhibit mastery of standards for reading and writing across a range of texts and classrooms.

Do you notice a difference in the way these CCR anchor standards are organized when compared to the current Oregon English Language Arts Standards?”

Slide 5:

Explain that each strand is divided into sections by subheadings, and that these subheadings remain consistent throughout grades K-12.

Invite participants to comparethese with content they recall from the current Oregon English Language Arts standards. [Both focus on comprehension of the text, include an analysis of author’s craft and text structure, etc.]

For instance, the facilitator might say,

“Within each strand, the Standards are grouped into sections by subheadings. These remain consistent and parallel throughout all the grades levels and bands. Here, for example, are the subheadings in the Reading strand.

Although the domain is divided up somewhat differently than in the current Oregon English Language Arts Standards, the subheadings themselves probably sound like the traditional 'bread & butter' of English Language Arts reading and literature classes. What sounds familiar here? [comprehension of main idea, details; analysis of author’s craft, text structure, etc.]

Anything sound new or unfamiliar? [Participants may equate “level of text complexity” with “grade-level text” or Lexiles; or, they may find this a new idea.]

I think you will find, as we get into these standards more deeply, that the “new” part of the Common Core State Standards has much more to do with the level of rigor than with any unfamiliar notions about literacy. Though anchor standards at the college and career readiness level may seem a distant goal from the elementary perspective, it is important to keep in mind that these spell out the targets all along the way.”

Slide 6

Draw participants’ attention to the Reading CCRs on page 1, column 1, of the Handout “College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Grades K-12.”

Note the organization of the Reading CCRs: Point out the strand (“Reading”), the four subheadings (shaded), and the CCR Anchor Standards themselves (#1-10).

Invite participants to read through the Reading CCR anchor standards and, in small groups or pairs, put into their own words how the CCRs under each subheading are relatedor distinct from those in other sections.

Invite groups/pairs to share their findings.

Responses might include

Key Ideas and Details: Comprehending/analyzing what is actually in the text; taking a pre-critical stance; standing within the story/text; following what the author says; understanding/interpreting what the author is trying to say; looking for the meaning; “living the story”; for fiction, viewing the characters/events as real, etc.

Craft and Structure: Looking at/analyzing HOW the author has created the work; how the pieces or elements relate; standing outside the story/text; taking the author into consideration; looking at the text as a work of art; for fiction, viewing the characters/events as artifice, etc.

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas: Connecting the text to other texts and to the outside world; analyzing/evaluating the text in terms of other texts, other criteria, etc.

Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity: Specifies rigor (complex texts) and skill level (proficiently)

Slide 7:

Explain that the other ELA Standards strands are also divided by subheadings.

Invite participants to identify content that looks familiar, or content that may not be present in the current Oregon English Language Arts Standards. [“collaboration” may be seen as an addition to present standards]

For instance, the speaker might say,

“Here are the other strands, and the subheadings which organize the standards within each. Take a look at Writing. What do you recall in current Oregon ELA Standards that might be similar to 'Text Types and Purposes’? Yes, modes: We already ask students to write narrative and expository pieces, for instance. How about 'Production and Distribution of Writing'? Yes, sounds a lot like the writing process, doesn’t it. Research is there, as is writing in variety of forms for a variety of purposes, and audiences. Again, pretty much the ‘bread & butter’ of a traditional writing class, and certainly consistent with the types of writing tasks asked of students in social studies or science.

How about the Speaking and Listening strand? Anything there sound new? Collaboration? Yes, the current Oregon ELA Content Standards focus more on formal presentations, but if we look at the Essential Skills, we find “demonstrate … teamwork skills” there. So: new to the set of standards, but certainly not new to the classroom.

And the Language strand. These look familiar? The difference here, as we mentioned earlier, is that it is set out as a separate strand, which brings us to the issue of approaching literacy as an integrated process.”

Slide 8:

Read the slide.

Explain that in the following activity, participants will be looking for those connections in the CCRs.

For instance, the facilitator might say,

This is one of the initiatives’ Key Design Considerations.

The teachers, professional organizations, standards experts, and all the others who had input on this project intended to create sets of Standards that together depict an integrated model of literacy rather than disparate sets of skills and content. We know it is difficult to both isolate for focus and at the same time create coherence; let’s see how they did.”

Slide 9:

Explain that the CCR anchor standards are not meant to stand alone and that interrelationships among them are both implied and explicit.

Draw participants’ attention to the Writing, Speaking and Listening, and Language columns of the Handout “College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Grades K-12.”

Invite participants to read through the CCR anchor standards in these three strands and then, in pairs or small groups, find and mark standards that are closely connected to the Reading strand. The facilitator may want to give out highlighters, or participants can jot down numbers, make notes on the handout, etc.

Invite groups to share their findings.

Slide 10:

Invite participants to identify connections to the Language strand in the Writing and Speaking/Listening strands and to find examples of research and media skills within the strands. Invite participants to share their findings.

Explain to participants that “Tools for Action” are posted on the ODE website. One of these “K-12 Teachers: Building Comprehension in the Common Core” includes a chapter on using an integrated model of literacy. The website address is listed on the last slide of this session.

For instance, the facilitator might say,

“The one big difference we identified in the CCSS when compared with the current Oregon ELA Standards was the fact that Language stands as its own strand. Many of us would be concerned if language study were actually separated from its meaningful context of reading, writing, speaking, and listening. We just looked at the connections to Reading. Let’s look at the Language standards closely to see how they are explicitly connected to Writing and Speaking and Listening. What do you find?

Did you notice how media and technology are included explicitly throughout the Standards? [Reading CCR7, Writing CCR8, Speaking and Listening CCR2 and CCR5.] You can also see that Research has been addressed explicitly and implicitly in several strands.

One of the 'Tools for Action' posted on the ODE website is 'K-12 Teachers: Building Comprehension in the Common Core.' It includes a chapter on using an integrated model of literacy, featuring 'classroom snapshots' and practical strategies. We’ll be looking more closely at these documents, but you might be interested in getting in a 'sneak peek' before our next session. The website address is on the last slide."

Slide 11:

Explain the relationship between the grade-specific standards and the CCRs.

For instance, the facilitator might say,

“While the College and Career Readiness (CCR) anchor standards describe the literacy skills all students need when they graduate, the grade-specific Common Core Standards describe the literacy skills -- corresponding to the CCR anchor standards by number -- that all students need when they finish each grade. Keeping the college and career focus at the forefront of kindergarten through grade 12 implementation is critical to ensure rigor from grade to grade and that the end goal is attainable.