COMMON CORE

STANDARDS

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COMMON CORE FAQ

• Why change to this new set of standards? Simplified & more clear for students, parents &

teachers Move towards National Standards & accountability Deeper thinking skills prepare students for college &

workforce

• How are the CCSS different from the Illinois State Standards?• Fewer standards, but more in depth.

• When will this change take place?• Fully implemented by 2014• More content-specific standards are coming

COMMON CORE FAQ

• How will this be assessed? Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College

& Careers (PARCC); 25 states will be using PARCC• Online means instant feedback• 4 times per year

• What does this mean for me?• A lot of us already do this• Less content to cover• Preparing now for the transition• Greater focus on reading comprehension• Department collaboration for common vocabulary• Curriculum-related writing• Areas that aren’t tested will still be held accountable

EFFECTIVE VOCABULARY INSTRUCTION:

1. Doesn’t rely on definitions.

2. Requires students to represent their knowledge of words linguistically and non-linguistically.

3. Involves multiple exposures to words.

4. Involves teaching word parts. (prefixes, suffixes & roots).

5. Requires different types of instruction.

6. Has students discussing the terms they are learning.

7. Has students playing with words.

8. Focuses on terms that have a high probability of enhancing academic success.

AS A DEPARTMENT, WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY DOING THAT WORKS

WELL?

OR

WHAT COULD YOU DO DIFFERENTLY TO IMPROVE

VOCABULARY INSTRUCTION?

WRITING

• Combination of long-term & short-term writing assignments

• Writing on demand; timed

• Use interesting writing topics

• Student choice

• Authentic purposes

• Opinion/persuasive writing

• TEXTUAL SUPPORT/EVIDENCE

• Writing makes good homework

5 MINUTES. RECORD YOUR OBSERVATIONS

AS A DEPARTMENT, WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY DOING THAT WORKS

WELL?

OR

WHAT COULD YOU DO DIFFERENTLY TO IMPROVE WRITING INSTRUCTION?

READING

• Literacy Strategies

• Textbook Feature Analysis (beginning of the year)

• Organization & Signal Words (transitions)

• Article of the Week for your content area

• 20 Questions Strategies

• “What Were You Thinking” (written evidence of thinking/interactions with the text)

• Post-It Notes

• Somebody-Wanted-But-So

SAMPLE ARTICLE OF THE WEEK:

“Texas Man Gets First Full Face Transplant in US”

HELPFUL WEBSITES

• www.corestandards.org

• www.commoncore.org (CCSS-aligned lesson plans)

• www.jc-schools.net/tutorials/vocab/strategies.html (vocab games for LA, math, science & Social Studies)

• www.parcconline.org (assessment)

• www.fcrr.org (Florida Center for Reading Research)

• www.kellygallagher.org (Article of the Week)

• www.wesclinpd.wikispaces.com