Feel free to access today’s visuals at www.amybenjamin.com

1. Today: 1. Introduction to the Common Core State Standards: http://www.corestandards.org2. English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects Feel free to access today’s visuals at www.amybenjamin.com

2. Background State-led effort coordinated by the National Governor's Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) Commitment obtained from 48 states, 2 territories and the District of Columbia to develop CCSS for ELA and math

3. The Standards English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, Technical Subjects Mathematics

4. Common Core State Standards: English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, Tech Subj. Yes: No: Focus is on making all students college/career ready No specific list of vocabulary words, readings, writing assignments Designed to make it easier for students to be mobile from district to district Not to be considered “national standards” as not all states have adopted them Assessments will replace existing state assessments, as of 2014-15 No month-by-month calendar Teachers from national organizations were instrumental in developing the Common Core No expectation that ELA teachers teach social studies and science content The needs of/expectations for students with special needs are addressed in the Common Core Expectation that social studies, science, tech subj. teachers teach the literacy skills necessary for learning those subjects No reading of The Grapes of Wrath in second grade

5. Timeline for the Common Core State Standards Adoption Summer 2010 Transition School Years 2010-2013 Implementation School Year 2013-2014 Assessment Change: School Year 2014-2015

6. ELA/Literacy: Shift Happens Shift #1: ELA: More literary and informational non-fiction Shift #2: Social Studies, Science, Technical subjects expected to teach the reading and writing skills as part of that subject Shift #3: Everyone: Focus on the skills for reading increasingly complex text Shift #4: Everyone: Focus on questions that can only be answered by analyzing the text Shift #5: Everyone: Inclusion of how to develop an argument in writing Shift #6: Everyone: More awareness of and direct instruction in academic vocab

7. When you (or someone you know) graduated from high school, were you “College and Career Ready”?

8. Quote 1 From the CCSS document: …Range and Content of Student Speaking and Listening: “To build a foundation for college and career readiness, students must have ample opportunities to take part in a variety of rich, structured conversations—as part of * a whole class *in small groups * and with a partner. …students contribute accurate, relevant information; respond to and develop what others have said; make comparisons and contrasts; analyze and synthesize a multitude of ideas in various domains.” How can I get my students to respond to and develop what others have said?

9. From the CCSS document: …Range and Content of Student Writing: “To build a foundation for college and career readiness, students need to learn to use writing as a way of: * offering and supporting opinions, * demonstrating understanding of the subjects they are studying, * conveying real and imagined experiences and events They learn to appreciate that a key purpose of writing is to communicate clearly to an external, sometimes unfamiliar audience, and they begin to adapt the form and content of their writing to accomplish a particular task and purpose. They develop a capacity to build knowledge in a subject through research projects and to respond analytically to literary and informational sources. To meet these goals, students must devote significant time and effort to writing, producing numerous pieces over short and extended time frames throughout he year.” Quote 2 Talk to your neighbor about the research project(s) that your students do.

10. From the CCSS document: …Range and Content of Student Reading: “To build a foundation for college and career readiness, students must grapple with works of exceptional craft and thought whose range extends across genres, cultures, and centuries. Such works offer profound insights into the human condition and serve as models for students’ own thinking and writing. Along with high-quality contemporary works, these texts should be chosen from among seminal U.S. documents, the classics of American literature, and the timeless dramas of Shakespeare. Through wide and deep reading of literature and literary nonfiction of steadily increasing sophistication, students gain a reservoir of literary and cultural knowledge, references, and images; the ability to evaluate intricate arguments; and the capacity to surmount the challenges posed by complex texts. Quote 3 perlgpa

11. From the CCSS document: …Range and Content of Student(content area) Reading: “Reading is critical to building knowledge in history/social studies as well as in science and technical subjects. College and career-ready reading in these fields requires an appreciation of the norms and conventions of each discipline, such as the kinds of evidence used in history and science; an understanding of domain-specific words and phrases; an attention to precise details; and the capacity to evaluate intricate arguments, synthesize complex information, and follow detailed descriptions of events and concepts. In history/social studies, for example, students need to be able to analyze, evaluate, and differentiate primary and secondary sources. When reading scientific and technical texts, students need to be able to gain knowledge from challenging texts that often make extensive use of elaborate diagrams and data to convey information and illustrate concepts. Quote 4 Addie is a student in your class. What is she expected to read this week? What are its challenges for Addie?

12. Quantitative/Measurable: Sentence length Word length What determines text complexity? Qualitative: Not Measurable: Subtle qualities of text Underlying themes Symbolism Obscurity (rareness) of vocabulary Pre-20C writing style Figurative language Intentional ambiguity; intentionally misleading information Allusions: Literary, Biblical, etc. Long paragraphs Small print; lack of visuals in text Mixing of time frames Having multiple narrators Background Knowledge of Reader

13. The ACT Reading Test is benchmarked to predict “college readiness” What is the significance of text complexity? Question type (main idea, details, inference, etc.) is NOT the chief differentiator between students who score above or below the benchmark Question level (higher order, lower order thinking— eg. literal vs. inferential) is NOT the chief differentiator between students who score above or below the benchmark The chief differentiator in reaching the benchmark is the student’s tolerance for complex text: “If I can read complex text, you can ask me anything about it.”

14. Read text aloud; students read along Use shorter pieces of complex text Emphasize the importance of rereading Ask text-based questions Require evidence from the text (citation) to explain answers Build students’ reading capacity by fostering independent pleasure reading What are effective scaffolds for having students read complex text? Avoid or Minimize: *Simplified, watered down versions of text *Eliminating the need to read by providing visuals or over-explaining

15. Why so much emphasis on reading??? “There may one day be modes and methods of information delivery that are as efficient and powerful as text, but for now there is no contest. To grow, our students must read lots, and more specifically they must read lots of “complex” texts--texts that offer them new language, new knowledge, and new modes of thought.” (Common Core, Appendix A, p. 182)

16. “It’s not their mother’s textbook.” High school textbooks have declined in complexity in all subject areas over several decades: Vocabulary level: Today’s student: 8th grade level textbook was his mother’s 5th grade textbook 12th grade literature anthology was his mother’s 7th grade anthology Sentence length (average): Today’s K-8 student: 14 words per sentence Student’s mother: 20 words per sentence BUT…College and career texts have remained the same or become more complex Newspapers: vocabulary level has remained stable Scientific journals: Complexity has increased

17. Gombrich, E. H. The Story of Art, 16th Edition. London: Phaidon, 1995. (1995) From Chapter 27: “Experimental Art: The First Half of the Twentieth Century” In one of his letters to a young painter, Cézanne had advised him to look at nature in terms of spheres, cones and cylinders. He presumably meant that he should always keep these basic solid shapes in mind when organizing his pictures. But Picasso and his friends decided to take this advice literally. I suppose that they reasoned somewhat like this: ‘We have long given up claiming that we represent things as they appear to our eyes. That was a will-o’-the-wisp which it is useless to pursue. We do not want to fix on the canvas the imaginary impression of a fleeting moment. Let us follow Cézanne’s example, and build up the picture of our motifs as solidly and enduringly as we can. Task: Explain in your own words why the advice of Paul Cezanne had such a profound effect upon art in the first half of the twentieth century. Grade level? 6-8 9-10 11-12 √

18. Katz, John. Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet out of Idaho. New York: Broadway Books, 2001. (2001) Jesse and Eric lived in a cave--an airless two-bedroom apartment in a dank stucco-and-brick complex on the outskirts of Caldwell. Two doors down, chickens paraded around the street. The apartment itself was dominated by two computers that sat across from the front door like twin shrines. Everything else-the piles of dirty laundry, the opened Doritos bags, the empty cans of generic soda pop, two ratty old chairs, and a moldering beanbag chair-was dispensable, an afterthought, props. Jesse’s computer was a Pentium 11 300, Asus P2B (Intel BX chipset) motherboard; a Matrix Milleniurn II AGP; 160 MB SDRAM with a 15.5 GB total hard-drive space; a 4X CD-recorder; 24X CD-ROM; a 17-inch Micron monitor. Plus a scanner and printer. A well-thumbed paperback-Katherine Dunn’s novel Geek Love-served as his mousepad. Eric’s computer: an AMD K-6 233 with a generic motherboard; an S3 video card, a 15-inch monitor; a 2.5 GB hard drive with 36 MB SDRAM. Jesse wangled the parts for both from work. Question: Why does the author mention the opened Doritos bags? Grade level? 6-8 9-10 11-12 √

19. A few animals may have suffered minor abrasions during this presentation, but they’ll be fine.