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Seven Essential Literacy Strategies for
Preparing Students for the
Common Core State Standards
and PARCC
Dr. Allan A. De Fina, Dean
Deborah Cannon Partridge Wolfe
College of Education
New Jersey City University
Vast and primeval, unfathomable, unconquerable, bastion of cottonmouth, rattlesnake and leech, mother of vegetation, father of mosquito, soul of silt, the Okefenokee is the swamp archetypal, the swamp of legend, of racial memory, of Hollywood. It gives birth to two rivers, the Saint Mary’s and the Suwanee, fanning out over 430,000 leaf-choked acres, every last one as sodden as a sponge. Four hundred and thirty thousand acres of stinging, biting and boring insects, of maiden cane and gum and cypress, of palmetto, slash pine and peat, of muck, mud, slime, and ooze. Things fester here, things cook down, decompose, deliquesce. The swamp is home to two hundred and twenty-five species of birds, forty-three of mammals, fifty-eight of reptiles, thirty-two of amphibians and thirty-four of fish—all variously equipped with beaks, talons, claws, teeth, stingers and fangs—not to mention the seething galaxies of gnats and deerflies and no-see-ums, the ticks, mites, hookworms and paramecia that exist only to compound the misery of life. There are alligators here, bears, puma, bobcats and bowfin, there are cooters and snappers, opossum, coon, and gar. They feed on one another, in the sludge and muck and on the floating mats of peat they bury eggs, they scratch and stink and sniff at themselves, caterwauling and screeching through every minute of every day and night till the place reverberates like some hellish zoo.
T. C. Boyle
Vast and primeval, unfathomable, unconquerable, bastion of cottonmouth, rattlesnake and leech, mother of vegetation, father of mosquito, soul of silt, the Okefenokee is the swamp archetypal, the swamp of legend, of racial memory, of Hollywood. It gives birth to two rivers, the Saint Mary’s and the Suwanee, fanning out over 430,000 leaf-choked acres, every last one as sodden as a sponge. Four hundred and thirty thousand acres of stinging, biting and boring insects, of maiden cane and gum and cypress, of palmetto, slash pine and peat, of muck, mud, slime, and ooze. Things fester here, things cook down, decompose, deliquesce. The swamp is home to two hundred and twenty-five species of birds, forty-three of mammals, fifty-eight of reptiles, thirty-two of amphibians and thirty-four of fish—all variously equipped with beaks, talons, claws, teeth, stingers and fangs—not to mention the seething galaxies of gnats and deerflies and no-see-ums, the ticks, mites, hookworms and paramecia that exist only to compound the misery of life. There are alligators here, bears, puma, bobcats and bowfin, there are cooters and snappers, opossum, coon, and gar. They feed on one another, in the sludge and muck and on the floating mats of peat they bury eggs, they scratch and stink and sniff at themselves, caterwauling and screeching through every minute of every day and night till the place reverberates like some hellish zoo.
T. C. Boyle
1. Is the passage fiction or non-fiction?
2. What is the author describing?
3. What does the author mean when he says that “the Okefenokee is the swamp archetypal, the swamp of legend, of racial memory, of Hollywood”?
4. Using descriptions from the author, discuss the life of the swamp.
Why We Need Common Core: "I choose C."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dY2mRM4i6tY
Sample PARCC Items
Grade 7 Summative Assessment:
Prose Constructed Response from Research Simulation Task (Analytical Essay):
“Amelia Earhart’s Life and Disappearance”
Read the “Biography of Amelia Earhart”
Read “Earhart’s Final Resting Place Believed Found”
Strategies for the Standards
Strategy 1:
Teachers must ensure that students have the requisite background knowledge as established by the CCSS. They must help students make connections from newly-learned information to prior knowledge.
Prior Knowledge
• Readers must have a foundation of knowledge on which to build.
• Lack of a foundation ensures that students will be unable to learn new information.
• If students do not have the needed foundation, teachers must provide it to them.
Schema
• Readers build upon foundational knowledge to make connections.
• Those connections create a “schematic” of ideas by which students build new knowledge.
• Schema is the organization of background knowledge through the connection of related ideas.
Strategy 2:
Teachers must provide a variety of reading experiences and strategies across all content areas and in different genres.
Reading TO:
• Taking picture walks (for younger readers) or feature walks (for older readers) prior to reading aloud.
• Being read to from various texts, followed by critical thinking questions (e.g., Why do you think that happened? Why do you think the author used that particular word? What are the important ideas in the text?)
• Being read texts with rhyme and repetition (younger readers especially).
• Being read texts that have highly predictable content or that have ideas that can be identified through analysis of text features.
• Being read texts of various genres so that fluency and prosody can be modeled.
Reading TO:
• Being “spot-read” to from informational texts, highlighting critical concepts.
• Being read to from chunks of informational text, pointing out text features (e.g., subheadings, bold and italicized text, detail and critical thinking questions, located before and after the text)
• Being read to while using learning strategies and graphic organizers chosen specifically for the type of text.
Reading WITH:
• Readers only read aloud previously rehearsed texts (NO round-robin reading).
• Readers read texts that are highly familiar (independent level texts) to practice fluency and prosody.
• Readers read texts that are only slightly challenging (instructional level texts) to learn to apply strategies appropriate to the text (i.e., matching texts to readers to strategies).
• Readers read silently (for post-reading discussion with others) and orally in “safe” environments to experienced readers, typically in small groups.
• Readers read with a teacher in a guided reading environment; teacher notes areas where specific strategies can be applied.
• Readers read with other readers and create summaries and questions and critically discuss the text.
• Readers read and respond to texts, orally and in written form.
Reading BY:
• Readers re-read texts so they learn new concepts and strategies.
• Readers read silently for pleasure and purpose from independent level texts.
• Readers read silently for pleasure and purpose from independent level texts to rehearse a text for fluency and prosody.
• Readers read unfamiliar and slightly challenging texts by themselves because they are exploring their interests and applying newly-learned strategies.
Strategy 3:
Teachers must teach effective note-taking strategies.
Classic Roman Outline
I. This is the classic note-taking model that never gets used.
A. The note-taker creates a hierarchy of ideas.
1) Each of these ideas includes a subset of other ideas.
a. These are all supported with additional details.
II. This model rarely works.
A. The model requires the note-taker to know the hierarchy.
1) It cannot be constructed while reading or listening.
a. The note-taker must manage a lot of information.
The Sinking of the Titanic
April 12, 1912:
Titanic sets sail from
England.
April 14, 1912: Titanic
strikes iceberg shortly
before midnight and
begins to sink.
April 15, 1912: The
world begins to learn
that the Titanic has
sunk.
Strategy 4:
Teachers must ensure that students make use of text features and structures.
Text features include the formatting of text and the use of supporting “visuals”
and information.
Text structures include listing, enumerating, cause-and-effect, chronological
order, sequence, hypothesis and conclusion, etc.
Teaching Vocabulary Meaningfully
Literacy is a shifting phenomenon.
The Human Heart
The human heart is a muscular organ. It pumps blood throughout the blood vessels
of the body. The average human heart beats 72 beats a minute. It will beat about
three billion times in an average lifetime. The heart is made up of cardiac muscle.
Cardiac arrest may occur when the heart muscle weakens.
The Human Heart
The human heart is a muscular organ. It pumps blood throughout the blood vessels
of the body. The average human heart beats 72 beats a minute. It will beat about
three billion times in an average lifetime. The heart is made up of cardiac muscle.
Cardiac arrest may occur when the heart muscle weakens.
Word Knowledge
• Extensive general vocabularies are critical.
• In the content areas, vocabulary development is essential to understanding the jargon of the subject.
• Vocabulary learned in context is more likely to be remembered, understood, and applied correctly.
• Dictionary and glossary work have little educational value.
• Engaging in discussion and utilizing new vocabulary should be done daily.
Tips for teaching vocabulary in context:
• Include vocabulary discussions as part of your morning circle time, prereading and postreading discussions, and as a prewriting activity.
For example:
“Yesterday, I learned a new word….”
Was anyone able to figure out the meaning of …from the context?
Tips for teaching vocabulary in context:
• Encourage the use of personal dictionaries in notebooks or on “sticky notes” (which can tab pages).
Strategy 6:
Teachers must engage students in a variety of writing experiences where students must cite evidence and use sophisticated vocabulary.
Citing evidence while note-taking.
“
Scientists can see that the ice in the Arctic is melting because of global warming.
“Arctic Vortex” means that the cold in the Arctic was maintained by a swirl of cold air.
According to John Carr, a researcher, “ocean levels across the globe will rise each year.” (Line 12)
Paraphrase Note vocabulary for later use Cite evidence
Strategy 7:
Teachers must work collaboratively across content areas to create “interwoven” assignments that meet the CCSS.
