WORKING TOGETHER ACROSS THE CURRICULUM CCSS ELA and Literacy In
Content Areas
Slide 2
Goals for Today Understand the connection between the Standards
for ELA and Literacy in Social Studies, Science and Technical
Subjects Learn how assessments linked to the Standards can guide
teacher understanding of the CCSS in their content area Discover
how we can use pre- and post -assessments in Social Studies inform
instruction in Common Core literacy skills and show student
growth
Slide 3
What do we know? On a piece of paper, write a number from 1 to
4 that represents how familiar you are with CCSS for Literacy in
History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects: 1= very
unfamiliar 4= quite familiar This information will be
confidential
Slide 4
Common Core State Standards - ELA
Slide 5
ELA in Content Areas -Elementary The Standards insist that
instruction in reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language
be a shared responsibility within the school. The K5 standards
include expectations for reading, writing, speaking, listening, and
language applicable to a range of subjects, including but not
limited to ELA The level of intentionality of this shared
responsibility is heightened with the CCSS.
Slide 6
How does this look in the classroom?
https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/analyzing-
text-as-a-group
Slide 7
ELA CCSS in Content Areas K-5 Literacy Standards
(History/Social Studies/Science and Technical Subjects are
integrated) 6-12 English/Language Arts Literacy Standards 6-12
History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects Literacy
Standards Appendix A: Research that Supports the Standards Appendix
B: Text Exemplars Appendix C: Samples of Student Writing by Grade
and Type
Slide 8
ELA in the Content Areas For middle and high school students,
the shift to the CCSS does not mean dramatically more nonfiction
reading in their Language Arts classroom The CCSS say because ELA
classrooms must focus on literature (stories, drama, poetry) as
well as literary nonfiction, a great deal of informational reading
in grades 6-12 must take place in other classes. (Pathways to the
Common Core page 28)
Slide 9
ELA in Content Area - Elementary If you would like to focus
more specifically on the CCSS for K-5, you may direct the following
activities to those Standards and look for specific language that
relates to content areas. You may look at the Standards for 6-12
and think about how these requirements for students might influence
instruction in elementary schools
Slide 10
College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Reading in
History, Science, and Technical Areas 1. The Anchor Standards for
Reading are the same for all subject areas, but there is more
specificity with individual standards with subject areas. Go to
page 60. 2. Read the Note on Range of Content for Student Reading
for subjects other than English. Highlight key words that reflect
the increasing demands of Common Core. 3. Discuss How do you
compare the Note on page 35 with the note on page 60?
Slide 11
Take a look Locate the Standards for History/Social Studies,
Science, and Technical Subjects that begin on page 59. There are
two strands for these subjects: Reading and Writing. Locate them
and mark with Post-it notes: Reading for Social Studies (p. 61) and
Reading for Science & Technical Subjects (p. 62) Writing for
Social Studies, Science & Technical Subjects (p. 63)
Slide 12
Reading Standards for Literacy in Social Studies/History,
Science, and Technical Subjects Reading Standards for
History/Social Studies begin on page 61. Reading Standards for
Science and Technical Subjects begin on page 62.
Slide 13
Reading Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies Grades
6-8Grades 9-10 Grades 11-12 2. Determine the central ideas or
information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate
summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions. 2.
Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or
secondary source; provide an accurate summary of how key events or
ideas develop over the course of the text. 2. Determine the central
ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an
accurate summary that makes clear the relationships among the key
details and ideas.
Slide 14
Integrated K-5 Standards Determine which Reading Standards
specifically target Social Studies or Science Determine which
Reading Standards specifically target Social Studies or Science
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.3 Describe the relationship between a series
of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in
technical procedures in a text, using language that pertains to
time, sequence, and cause/effect CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.3
Slide 15
How does this look in the classroom?
https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/analyzing-
text-as-a-group
Slide 16
Writing Standards for Social Studies/History, Science and
Technical Subjects Writing Standards for History/Social Studies,
Science, and Other Technical Areas begin on page 63. Read the Note
on Range and Content of Student Writing on page 63. Highlight
phrases that show the increasing demand of Common Core Standards.
Discuss and share back
Slide 17
Writing Standards for Social Studies/History, Science and
Technical Subjects Look at the Standards for Writing in Social
Studies for 6-8 grade on pages 64 and 65 Talk with your table
groups about the progression you see Compare what you observe with
the ELA Standards for Writing in Grades 6,7 and 8 on pages
42-44.
Slide 18
Whose Responsibility? All teachers are responsible for teaching
these Standards to their students! The ELA teacher will not be the
only one addressing these skills Teachers should collaborate so
students hear a common language In your table groups, discuss ways
to foster collaboration
Slide 19
What are our next steps? Once teachers understand the CCSS for
their subject area, we need to determine exactly where students are
in relationship to those Standards: If we dont know this, we wont
know which way to proceed!
Slide 20
Where are student skills? There are no content specific CCSS
for Social Studies; CCSS skills are addressed through the course
content We need to find out how our students perform using CCSS for
Literacy in Social Studies We will need to use documents, primary
and secondary sources, maps, videos, from our Social Studies grade
level curriculum in order to do this the content becomes the
context for the assessment
Slide 21
Creating Pre and Post Assessments Aligned to CCSS ELA in Social
Studies Teachers create a rubric based on the CCSS This extends
teacher understanding of the Standards It allows teachers to see
connections to between their curriculum and the Standards Teachers
choose a prompt and documents related to their courses Teachers
choose a similar prompt for a post assessment and a different set
of documents The pre-assessment will provide data so teachers know
where students are beginning and to inform instruction The
post-test will show student growth, or areas for continued
focus.
Slide 22
Sample Rubric Sample Draft Scoring Rubric Grades 6-8 The Grade
Band is 6-8, so anchor papers became critical The rubric will not
provide a holistic score, but a score in each category on the
rubric. This provides data for both Instructional and Growth
purposes) This rubric is for teachers and students Students will be
instructed in the academic language on the rubric Students will see
where they begin the year Teachers and students will develop
strategies to move students to Standard or above
Slide 23
Sample Rubric
Slide 24
Sample Assessment and Student Response This was based on a
middle school
Slide 25
Scoring the Assessments Teachers met to collaboratively score
assessments Teachers collaboratively score papers together to norm
scores for each rubric category at a grade level This established a
consistent expectation for all students
Slide 26
Dr. Douglas Reeves Founder of the Center for Performance
Assessment http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDiVl6Msn8c
Slide 27
+ Guidelines for Analyzing Student Work When reflecting on your
own thinking Ask yourself, Why do I see this student work in this
way? What does this tell me about what is important to me? Look for
patterns in your own thinking. Tune in to the questions that the
student work and your colleagues comments raise for you. Compare
what you see and what you think about the student work with what
you do in the classroom. When listening to colleagues thinking
Listen without judging. Tune in to differences in perspective. Use
controversy as an opportunity to explore and understand each others
perspectives. Focus on understanding where different
interpretations come from. Make your own thinking clear to others.
Be patient and persistent. Source: National School Reform Faculty
at http://www.nsrfharmony.org/ Handout #2
Slide 28
Collaborative Scoring Using the student sample and the rubric,
score the student work in each category When finished, we will
share our scores and thinking with the larger group. Determine as a
group an appropriate score for each category.
Slide 29
Process: Scoring Continue group scoring until a bank of anchor
papers are established and teachers are all looking through the
same lens At this point, teachers may begin scoring independently,
bringing clarifying questions back to the group or another teacher
as needed
Slide 30
Analyzing the Data After teachers have scored 15-20 papers,
have them stop. Look at the handout in your packet, Analyzing
Student Work With a small group, fill out your paper. Share back
with the large group our findings to date.
Slide 31
One teachers data
Slide 32
Instructional Strategies Your packet includes a set of
instructional strategies that you can share with teachers. Drawing
Evidence from the Text to Support Claims Writing an Argument to
Support Claims using Evidence from a Text Resource List to Support
Evidence in Writing and Effective Feedback
Slide 33
The Post- Assessment This assessment will look very similar to
the pre- assessment The prompt will ask for similar question but
use different documents Teachers can see student growth in the area
of Creating a claim Logically supporting it with evidence
Understanding the significance of what they read in light of the
claim they support.