Writing Across the Curriculum Mrs. Shirley Delgado M.A.Literacy Coach James J. Ferris High School

PARCC Song

Why PARCC ?

Students need to be better prepared; higher standards and better assessments will help

• A high school diploma isn’t enough

81% of today’s jobs require college or career training

• K–12 system is not getting enough students ready for college

1/3 of college freshmen need remedial courses

PARCC: A Better Way of Measuring

21 states

16 million students in tested grades

Aligned to the Common Core State Standards

2013–14 field testing

2014–15 implementation

The PARCC Advantages

How They Work

Next generation: Computer-based, interactive, engaging

Computer-delivered supports: Will help English learners and students with disabilities show what they know and can do

Timely Info: Results returned quickly, so they can better inform instruction and improve student learning

In ELA/Literacy, you will know:       

PARCC

How well students can integrate

information across texts/multi media

to write a persuasive argument

Whether students can

read and comprehend

texts of sufficient

complexityThe degree to which

students can use context to determine

the meaning of academic vocabulary

What Are the Shifts at the Heart of PARCC Design (and the Standards)?

1. Complexity: Regular practice with complex text and its academic language.

2. Evidence: Reading and writing grounded in evidence from text, literary and informational.

3. Knowledge: Building knowledge through content rich nonfiction.

Nine Specific Advances in the PARCC ELA/Literacy Assessment Demanded by the

Three Core Shifts. . .

1. PARCC builds a staircase of text complexity to ensure students are on track each year for college and career reading.

2. PARCC rewards careful, close reading rather than racing through passages.

3. PARCC systematically focuses on the words that matter most—not obscure vocabulary, but the academic language that pervades complex texts.

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4. PARCC focuses on students rigorously citing evidence from texts throughout the assessment (including selected-response items).

5. PARCC includes questions with more than one right answer to allow students to generate a range of rich insights that are substantiated by evidence from text(s).

6. PARCC requires writing to sources rather than writing to de-contextualized expository prompts.

7. PARCC also includes rigorous expectations for narrative writing, including accuracy and precision in writing in later grades.

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8. PARCC assesses not just ELA but a full range of reading and writing across the disciplines of science and social studies.

9. PARCC simulates research on the assessment, including the comparison and synthesis of ideas across a range of informational sources.

Writing Prompt Example

GRADE 8 WRITING

PROMPT No. X

Your school is planning to issue laptop computers to ninth graders next year. Do

you think this is a good idea? Write to explain why or

why not.

LAL 7th Grade Sample

Different Types of Writing Forms Used in

PARCC In grades 3-5, students may be asked to produce:

Adventure stories Autobiography Biography Book reviews Brochures Character Sketches Descriptions Diaries Encyclopedia or Wiki entries Endings Essays Explanations Fables Fantasy stories Fiction

How-to-do-it articles Humorous stories Legends LettersMagazine articles Myths News articles PamphletsPersuasive letters Reports Reviews Scenes (from a play) Short storiesScience articles Science fiction stories Sequels Speeches

In addition to those forms listed for grades 3-5, students in grades 6-8 may be asked to

produce:

Anecdotes

Apologies

Complaints

Editorials

Interviews

In addition to those forms listed for grades 3-8, students in grades 9-11 may

be asked to produce:

Satires - the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.

Spoofs - a humorous imitation of something, typically a film or a particular genre of film, in which its characteristic features are exaggerated for comic effect.

Testimonials- a formal statement testifying to someone's character and qualifications.

Writing Across the Curriculum

Each department will develop one writing prompt for each month of the school year. (Total = 10)

Some departments have already created prompts last year at the writing workshops and will receive copies.

Departments who have not created their prompts will create them and get it approved by the Literacy Coach or an administrator.

The prompts will be the same for everyone in the department and must be used and followed by all teachers in that department.

How will they be evaluated?

Teachers must keep 1 student portfolio containing all current writing prompts at hand for evaluation purposes.

Each marking period, teachers will select one of the monthly prompts to place in the student folders in the filing cabinets located in JA216 or in the first floor library.

Portfolio Timeline

Portfolio Piece 1- MP1- November 28th, 2014

Portfolio Piece 2- MP2- December 19th ,2014

Portfolio Piece 3- MP3- march 27th, 2014

Portfolio Piece 4- MP4- May 22nd, 2014