Teaching Literacy across Content Areas : Effective Strategies that Reach All K–12 Students in the Era of the Common Core State Standards [1 ed.] 9781443892988, 9781443890281

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Teaching Literacy across Content Areas

Teaching Literacy across Content Areas: Effective Strategies that Reach All K–12 Students in the Era of the Common Core State Standards By

Lasisi Ajayi and Tamara Collins-Parks

Teaching Literacy across Content Areas: Effective Strategies that Reach All K–12 Students in the Era of the Common Core State Standards By Lasisi Ajayi and Tamara Collins-Parks This book first published 2016 Cambridge Scholars Publishing Lady Stephenson Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2PA, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright © 2016 by Lasisi Ajayi, Tamara Collins-Parks All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN (10): 1-4438-9028-6 ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-9028-1

To classroom teachers who have dedicated their lives to preparing their students to acquire the knowledge and skills to participate effectively in the ever-changing world of the 21st century.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface ......................................................................................................... x Acknowledgements ................................................................................ xviii Chapter One ................................................................................................. 1 What are the Common Core State Standards? Guiding Questions The Common Core State Standards A Brief History of Common Core State Standards The Changing Demographics of California The Common Core State Standards, Instruction and Student Learning The Common Core State Standards & English Language Learners (ELLs) Common Core State Standards and Special Education Students, Including GATE The Common Core State Standards and Content Areas Why is It Important for Content Area Teachers to Teach Literacy? Technology and the Common Core A Critique of the Common Core State Standards Conclusion Practice Activities Chapter Two .............................................................................................. 29 Working with Textbooks and Other Materials Guiding questions Understanding Text Structure and Organization Structuring Cohesive Texts Problem-and-Solution Text Structure Compare-and-Contrast Text Structure Cause-and-Effect Text Structure Descriptive Text Structure Chronological Sequence Text Structure Time/Order Chronological Text Structure Spatial/Descriptive Text Structure Order of Importance Text Structure Text and Discourse

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Preparing Students to Read Across Content Areas (Disciplines) Purpose for Using English Language Text Types, Purpose, Language Features & Examples Electronic Text Text Complexity Readers and Tasks Conclusion Practice Activities across a Variety of Text Types and Disciplines Chapter Three ............................................................................................ 82 Language Guiding Questions The Common Core Language Standards Language Progressive Skills Use of Skills New Perspectives on English Language and English Language Instruction How Teachers Should Help Students Develop College- and CareerReady Language Skills Conclusion Practice Activities Chapter Four .............................................................................................. 99 Integrating Vocabulary Development into Lessons in the Disciplines Guiding Questions Vocabulary Instruction is Important Three Types of Vocabulary Used in School Rating Students’ Vocabulary Knowledge Vocabulary Knowledge and English Language Learners A Framework for Vocabulary Instruction in the Disciplines Teaching Strategies for Vocabulary Development in the Disciplines Scaffolding K-W-L Strategy Vocabulary Poster Lesson in History/Social Science Lessons Semantic Mapping Semantic Feature Analysis (SFA) Cognates Vocabulary Self-Collection Conclusion Practice Activities across the Disciplines

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Chapter Five ............................................................................................ 160 Reading Comprehension across the Disciplines Guiding Questions An Overview of the Common Core Reading Standards (CCRSs) The Common Core Shifts Required of Teachers Understanding Vertical Alignment across Grade Levels Understanding Horizontal Alignment within Grade Levels Deconstructing the Reading Standards Teaching Strategies for Reading across the Disciplines Close Reading Strategy Critical Reading Strategy Making Connections Strategy Investigative Reading Strategy Double Entry Journal Strategy Conclusion Practice Activities Chapter Six .............................................................................................. 229 Writing Guiding Questions The Common Core Writing Standards (CCWSs) The Common Core Shift Specific to Writing The Vertical Alignment in the CCSSs for Writing Argumentative Writing Explanatory/Informational Writing Conclusion Practice Activities Chapter Seven.......................................................................................... 274 Assessment Guiding Questions Principles of Effective Assessment in Classrooms Smarter Balanced Assessment Types of Assessment Cognitive Complexity Accommodation for Test-Takers Categories of Assessment in the CCSSs Effective Assessment Strategies in the Classroom Conclusion Practice Activities About the Authors ................................................................................... 305

PREFA ACE

An Overview of the Book k w some vig gnettes from inntern teacherss who are We startt this preface with currently teaching the Common C Coree State Standa dards (CCSSs)) in their respective scchools. We usse pseudonym ms because of the need to protect the confidentiality of the inntern teachers. The vigneettes allow th he intern teachers to define their understanding gs of the CC CSSs in termss of their perceptions,, beliefs, attituudes, observaation, and opiinions. Their accounts provide insiights to the exxperiences off pre-service aand in-servicee teachers who are teacching the CCS SSs: The Comm mon Core Staandards are designed to pprepare stud dents for their secoondary educaation while preparing p theem to becom me 21st century leearners. Theree is a huge focus f on studeents supportin ng their ideas withh textual evideence after closse reading [of of] texts. The problem p is that traiining and [maaterial] resourrces have beenn limited for teachers t to plan thhese experiences. There issn’t enough innformation available about how w students willl be assessed. For example,, not many sam mples of the Smarteer Balanced Assessment A arre available ffor teachers to o see & plan lessons around. —Julia Johnnson (high schoo ol teacher)

I have hadd several workkshops on wha at Common C Core is and how w it will affect insttruction. So far, f my generral understandding of the Common C Core is that it aims to develop d studen nt understandding which goees much more in ddepth in keyy concepts, ra ather than hhaving studen nts have general understanding of many con ncepts. Ultim mately, the goal is to create insttruction whichh promotes crritical thinking ng in students. Hence, we want sstudents to reaach the upperr levels of Blooom’s Taxonomy. The aim will be to have them m reach the an nalytical, creaative, and app plication understanddings of concepts. The Com mmon Core wiill also promo ote more collaborattive work and will be more project-orient p ted. —Jack k Alexander (hiigh school interrn teacher)

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There aree four compoonents of the Common Coore State Sta andards: communiccation, creativvity, critical th hinking, and coollaboration. Each of the 4Cs coontains an im mportant objecctive that help lps target certtain key aspects frrom the studeents. One inteeresting fact that connectss to the Common Core is whatt is called Texxt Complexityy. Text Complexity is when the instructor deccides what thee students willl be reading for that year, whetther the studeents are at thee right level too read it, if it will be too much oor too little off a challenge for f students too read. —Adriana — Garciia (middle schoo ol teacher)

The short vignettes suggest s that teacher t educaators and auth hors have some work to do to betteer prepare theeir students too teach the CC CSSs. So our motivatiion for writinng this book iss to make the various aspects of the CCSSs simpple and accesssible to pre-sservice and inn-service teacchers. We start by disccussing the theeoretical fram mework that guuides the writiing of the book.

C Constructiviism: A Theeoretical Frramework We use the constructive theory to guide our appproach to wrriting this book. We deefine construcctive theory ass a theory of m meaning makiing where “individualss create theirr own new understanding u s on the bassis of an interaction bbetween whatt they already y know and bbelieve and ideas i and knowledge with which they come into contact” t” (Richardso on, 2003, p.1623-16244). A construcctivist theory is important as our goal in writing this book iss to attempt too translate a theory of leaarning into a theory t of teaching. W We are interesteed in construcctive theory beecause it recog gnizes (a) the active roole of learnerss in meaning making or knnowledge con nstruction, (b) the sociaal nature of knnowledge con nstruction, andd (c) that know wledge is created withhin certain soocial, econom mic, political, aand ideologiccal forces (Richardsonn, 2003). Beccause of the crucial role of the socio o-cultural context of students in learning, con nstructivism shifts emphaasis from learning as aan individual process to ho ow learning caan be facilitatted in the classroom uusing the resouurces of otherss and the sociaal context. Vygotskky (1978) arggues that high her mental fuunctions are social in origin and im mbedded in thhe interplay beetween individduals and the society: From thee very first dayss of the child’s development, his activities acquire a meaning of their own inn a system of social behaviorr and, being diirected towards a definite purpose, are frequeently refracted tthrough the priism of the child’s environmentt. The path from m object to chiild and from ch hild to

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Prefaace T complex hhuman structuree is the object paasses through annother person. This product oof a developmeental process deeply d rooted iin the links beetween individuaal and social hisstory (p. 30).

Claassroom App plication of So ocial Constru uctivist Viewss a) Tap intoo Students’ Prrior Knowledg ge: Teachers m must tap into implicit and expliccit knowledgee that students bring into thhe classroom. Resnick (1989) wrrites: “People do not comee as empty veessels to learn ning. In almost anny domain, evven beginnerrs carry with them ideas of how things work and framew works for inteerpreting new w information”” (p. 5). Our book suggests wayys for teacherrs to use theiir students’ everyday experiencees as a frameework for insstruction and for helping learners interpret w what they learnn. b) Emphaasize the Sociial Nature off Learning: K Knowledge is socially constructeed; it is not ann individualisstic, isolated aand decontex xtualized activity (R Resnick, 19899). Teachers must, m therefoore, use dialog gue and teaching sstrategies thatt involve soccially shared intellectual activities a where stuudents are abble to work collaborativeely to create shared understanddings of a givven topic. Thiss book suggessts such activiities that involve orrganizing studdents around joint accompplishment of learning l tasks. c) Use E Explicit Modeeling to Faciilitate Studennt Learning: Explicit modeling involves teaachers using multi-sensoryy modalities such as visual, kinnesthetic, audiitory, and tacttile to illustratte the importaant skills and conceepts that stuudents are ex xpected to leearn. In addition to modeling skills and cooncepts, the strategy allow ws teachers to t make instructionn clear and learnable ass students oobserve and provide commentaaries. d) Enhancce Students’ Intellectual In Deevelopment: T Teachers can enhance e intellectuaal developmennt by provid ding opportunnities for stud dents to challenge,, interrogate, change or add to existting knowled dge and understanddings (Richarrdson, 2003). Learning withhin the constrructivist approach is based on the assumpttion that learrning takes place p as students are activelyy involved in the proccess of kno owledge constructioon, rather thaan passively receiving infformation. Th his book provides ssteps that teacchers can take to promote critical think king and create mottivated and inddependent leaarners.

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Vygotsky (1978) contends that children are able to learn via interaction with more proficient others who support their thinking and take them beyond their own unaided capacity into the zone of proximal development. This is what Krashen calls i+1 or input just beyond the child’s reach but still within the child’s zone of proximal development, i.e. concepts or skills they can reach with support. Brunner (1984) introduces the idea of purposely providing such support through “Scaffolds.” Scaffolds are supports that more proficient others provide to learners to help them accomplish a new task. In essence, learning depends on the interplay between the individual and others (Vygotsky, 1978) and that interplay can be strategically supported via scaffolds (Bruner, 1984). Social constructivists apply the theory to educational settings by arguing that the process of learning has its root in social interactions and that human knowledge is mediated through interaction (via language) with others. The social constructivist views suggest that teachers should tap into students’ knowledge and emphasize the social nature of learning. Combining these with explicit modeling and other strategies to enhance students’ intellectual development provides meaningful learning experiences for students.

Purpose of the Book About 45 states countrywide have recently adopted the CCSSs with the goal of providing a consistent and clear understanding of the knowledge and skills that K–12 students need to acquire to be able to meet the challenges and opportunities of the increasingly globalized, knowledgebased economy and college readiness. The adoption of the CCSSs has resulted in a myriad of questions from pre-service and in-service teachers who are apprehensive about how to implement the new Standards. They are asking questions such as how can they teach the Standards to make sure they are fully addressing them, how can they have the time to teach students to have deeper understandings of the skills and concepts addressed in the CCSSs, what they can do to meet the learning needs of English language learners and students with learning disabilities, whether teachers who are not teaching English are required to add reading instruction to their teaching responsibilities, whether the Standards tell teachers how to teach, and the ways teachers will implement the standards in the classroom. This book is designed to answer some of these questions and others. Each chapter contains instructional practices, examples, vignettes, and illustrations that are designed to connect the CCSSs to classroom practices and thereby provide pre-service and in-service

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teachers meaningful, relevant, and practical teaching strategies to prepare culturally, academically, and linguistically diverse students in California and other states of the nation for careers and college.

Audience of the Book This book is written primarily for teacher candidates, teachers, elementary and high school administrators, and graduate education students. These are people who have dedicated their lives to preparing K– 12 students to maximize their potentials for learning across the disciplines and acquire the knowledge and skills to participate effectively in the college or career in the ever-changing world of the 21st century. We believe that most of the audience of this book believes, as we do, that the goal of literacy instruction in the contemporary social, economic, and global environment should go beyond decoding, and multiple-choice answers and standardized responses. In our view, it means teachers must prepare students to read, comprehend, analyze, and critique complex texts and apply knowledge to solve practical, real-life problems. In this regard, readers of this book will find that the authors have provided a pathway to better understand the CCSSs and use what they learn in the pages of this book to provide more effective instruction for their students across the disciplines.

Organization of the Book Chapter 1 introduces readers to the Common Core State Standards and the history of the CCSSs. Chapter 1 further provides a discussion of the shifting demography of California and the implications for literacy instruction for all students, including English language learners (ELLs), students with disabilities and GATE students. We also explore the implications of the CCSSs for the diverse student population of California and the nation, including ELLs and special education students. We further look at what the CCSSs mean for instruction in the content areas, particularly for the 4Cs: communication, creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration. In addition we explore the role of new technologies for instruction in the CCSSs. Finally, the chapter provides a critique of the CCSSs. In Chapter 2, we explain the challenges of working with different text types. The Chapter provides rich examples of text types, purpose, structures, discourse patterns, text and discourse, and cohesive devices. In addition, the chapter suggests ways teachers can incorporate the principles of the CCSSs

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into their teaching practices. Furthermore, we explain the notions of text complexity and vocabulary in complex texts across the disciplines. We also discuss the factors that teachers need to take into consideration in selecting appropriate reading texts that match students’ reading levels, interests, and reading tasks. In Chapter 3, we review and provide an overview of the English language development Standards as described in the CCSSs and the California English Language Development Standards. We further define, explain, and illustrate important concepts such as goals and principles for developing English language; collaborative, interpretive and productive modes; and foundational skills in English language. The CCSSs recognizes that vocabulary knowledge is a crucial foundation for literacy learning and a predictor of learning outcomes for students across disciplines. The CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.6 requires students to “acquire and use accurately a range of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college and career readiness level; [and] demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge when encountering an unknown term important to comprehension or expression” (CCSS1, 2012). Chapter 4 explains vocabulary types that students need to engage with in the classroom: domain-specific vocabulary, general academic vocabulary, and conversational vocabulary. Furthermore, these vocabulary types are illustrated using texts of different types across the disciplines and different teaching strategies such as multiple meaning words and context clues, Greek and Latin words, figures of speech, academic language, morphemic analysis, scaffolds and cognates. Chapter 5 provides an overview of the CC Reading Standards (CCRSs). The chapter provides examples of how K–12 teachers can integrate the principles of the CCSSs into their classroom teaching practices in English language arts, mathematics, social science, science, and physical education. Furthermore, the CCSSs require students to, “Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience” (CCSS1, 2012). Hence, Chapter 6 focuses on how teachers can integrate writing development across the curriculum to teach students to (a) learn new ideas, concepts and information, (b) communicate information individually and in groups, (c) learn language conventions of specific disciplines, (d) learn discipline-specific formats, and (e) think critically and organize their ideas. Students’ ability to develop fluency in English and formulate and present ideas effectively is crucially important for academic and social participation in the classroom. As a result, we focus in Chapter 7 on how teachers can incorporate listening and speaking skills across the

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curriculum to help their students, “Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 9–10 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively” (ELA Standards, 2012). Chapter 7 focuses on how teachers can prepare students for the Smarter Balanced Summative Assessment (SBA) that California and several other states will use to assess students on the CCSSs. The computerized test consists of four types of items: Selected-Response Items (the traditional multiple—choice questions); Constructed-Response Items (constructed response to address specific prompts with suggested answer choices); Technology-Enhanced Items (where students use the computer to do the assignment tasks); and Performance Tasks (where students demonstrate the ability to integrate knowledge and skills across multiple tasks). Chapter 8 explains the skills that students will need to do well in the assessment and how teachers can use data from assessments to inform their teaching practice.

References Bruner, J. (1984). Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development: The hidden agenda. In B. Rogoff & E. J. Wertsch (Eds.), Children learning in the “zone of proximal development.” New Directions for Children Development. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Common Core State Standards. (2012). English Language Arts Standards (2012). Retrieved September 23, 2013 from http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/SL/9-10/1. Common Core State Standards Initiative. (2012). English Language Arts: Writing Grade 4. Retrieved September 23, 2013 from http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/W/4. Common Core State Standards Initiative. (2012). English Language Arts Standards » Anchor Standards » College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Language. Retrieved September 23, 2013 from http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/CCRA/L. Richardson, V. (2003). Constructivist pedagogy. Teachers College Record, 105(9), 1623–1640. Resnick, L. B. (1989). Introduction. In L. B. Resnick (Ed), Knowing, learning, and instruction: Essays in honor of Robert Glaser (pp. 1–24). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

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Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Tool and symbol in child development. In M. Cole, V. John-Steiner, S. Scribner & E. Souberman (Eds.), Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This book is dedicated to our students who helped test many of the activities in the chapters. Additional thanks go to Dr. Silvia Duque Reyes from the San Diego County Office of Education for valuable input during the planning stage.

CHAPTER ONE WHAT ARE THE COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS?

Elementary school reading lesson Source: Microsoft Online Pictures

Guiding Questions As many states have just adopted the Common Core State Standards (CCSSs), pre-service and in-service teachers are still grappling with the new Standards and what they mean in their daily teaching strategies and classroom practices. In this chapter, we focus on the questions below to provide background for pre-service and in-service teachers to better understand the CCSSs:

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Guiding Questions 1. What are the Common Core State Standards (CCSSs)? 2. What is the history of the CCSSs? 3. What challenges and opportunities do student shifting demographics present for teachers in California and the nation? 4. What are the connections between the CCSSs, students and learning? 5. What are the links between the CCSSs and content areas? 6. What is the role of technology in the CCSSs? 7. What do critics say about the CCSSs?

The Common Core State Standards The Common Core State Standards (CCSSs) are a set of shared goals and expectations of what knowledge and skills K–12 grades should have and be able to use in English language arts, mathematics, history/social studies, science, and technical subjects. The CCSSs replace the former standards that vary from state to state. Advocates of the CCSSs argue that teaching the Standards across the U.S. will help ensure that all students receive a high-quality education consistently, from state to state and from school district to school district. The Standards establish goals and benchmarks to ensure that all students achieve specific literacy and mathematics knowledge and skills by the end of each year. For example, the CCSSs set grade-specific reading and mathematics learning standards which students need to master from K–12 grades. The main purpose of the common core of knowledge (the Standards) is to make sure that all high school graduates are adequately prepared to join the workforce or gain admission into a two- or four-year college. Supporters of CCSSs argue that the Standards will provide all students, including English language learners (ELLs) a high-quality education. In addition, the advocates contend that the Standards provide all stakeholders, including students, teachers, parents, and K–12 school administrators a clear and concise understanding of what knowledge and skills students need to master in the areas of listening, speaking, reading, and writing, language and mathematics in school (Common Core State Standards Initiative, CCSSI, 2010). Many CEOs, politicians, policymakers and educators praise the creation of CCSSs as crucial to improving student achievement, closing the achievement gap in schools, and maintaining the U.S. global leadership in education, innovation, and technology. For example, the Executive Vice President of the Policy Center for American Progress, Carmel Martin (2014, p. 1) states:

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The Center for American Progress believes that this is the biggest educational reform in decades. If done well, it will lead to dramatic improvements in educational opportunities. These opportunities, we believe, are essential to building a strong middle class and creating an economy that works for all, not just those at the top.

. . . this is the biggest educational reform in decades . . . it will lead to dramatic improvements in educational opportunities.

However, critics suggest that setting standards for schools will “erode local control over education, thereby limiting the important connection between communities and their schools” (Gibbs & Howley, 2001, p. 51).

A Brief History of Common Core State Standards How It All Started The roots of CCSSs can be traced to the “Accountability Movement” of the Response Journal 1990s when almost all states in the How do you think the CA CCSSs United States introduced mandatory tests are different from the previous of students’ achievement. The standardsstandards? based tests were designed to test students’ learning of a common core of knowledge that all citizens were expected to acquire (Gibbs & Howley, 2001). The core argument of the accountability movement was that schools should teach students the knowledge and skills to become effective workers in an increasingly globalized economy. In 1996, some state governors and business Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) created Achieve, an independent, non-profit education reform organization based in Washington, DC, with the goal of helping states “raise academic standards and graduation requirements, improve assessments, and strengthening accountability” (Achieve, 2009, p. i).

However, by 2004, it became increasingly clear to the states that most high schools were not graduating college- and career-ready students. In the same year, Achieve conducted nationwide studies of the knowledge and skills that graduating high school students needed to succeed at workplace and college. In a scathing report, Achieve concluded that there was a gap between what most high schools students’ knowledge and skills were, and what they needed to know and be able to do to successfully cope with the

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demands of the workplace or college. The organization argued that: “No state requires its graduates to take the courses that reflect the real-world demands of work and postsecondary education” (Achieve, 2004, p. 3). Achieve recommended, among others, that states should “require all students to take a common college- and work-preparatory curriculum in math and English” and “align academic standards in high school with the knowledge and skills required for college and workplace success” (Achieve, 2004, p. 3). We will provide a critique of the configuration of literacy practices into two sets of practices (e.g. career literacy and schooled literacy) in the last sub-section in this chapter. In 2005, Achieve sponsored the National Educational Summit, which was attended by CEOs, 45 governors, and leaders from K–12 and higher education sectors. The leaders discussed the issues of low high school graduation rates, poor performance in public tests, and students’ lack of readiness for career and college. For example, in 2004, the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) ranked U.S. 15-year-old students 28th out of 40 countries in mathematics18th in reading, and 22nd in science (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2004). At the summit, 13 state governors adopted the following collegeand career-ready policies: In 2007, the American Diploma Project Network organized a summit which was attended by a panel of state and local government officials, K–12 and college leaders, and CEOs for the purpose of developing a common core curriculum for students. In 2009, the literacy and mathematics Standards were written by a panel of experts convened by the National Governors Association and state superintendents. The CCSSI sets the goal of providing College- and Career-Ready Policies “a consistent, clear understanding of x Aligning high school academic content standards in English and what students are expected to learn, mathematics with the demands of so teachers and parents know what college and careers; they need to do to help them” x Establishing graduation (Pearson, 2013, p. 1). The mission requirements that require all students to complete a collegestatement states: “The standards are and career-ready curriculum; designed to be robust and relevant to x Developing statewide high the real world, reflecting the school assessment systems knowledge and skills that our young anchored to college- and careerready expectations; and people need for success in college x Creating comprehensive and careers. With American students accountability and reporting fully prepared for the future, our systems that promote college and communities will be best positioned career readiness for all students to compete successfully in the (Achieve, 2011). global economy” (Pearson, 2003,

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p.1). As at 2013, 45 states and the District of Columbia have adopted the Common Core State Standards.

Goal of Common Core State Standards The CCSSI adopted the definition of college- and career-ready by ACT (2008): “acquisition of the knowledge and “This has been born from a skills a student needs to enroll and succeed realization that, in an everin credit-bearing, first-year courses at a changing world, our students need better knowledge and postsecondary institution, such as a two-year tools to prepare them to or four-year college, trade school, or compete in the global technical school [and] not needing to take economy.” remedial courses in college” (p. 1). The argument is that there is an urgent need to prepare all high school students for common core academic goals and expectations, those that educate them for workplace and college. The proponents of the CCSSs argue that the Standards will provide students with the necessary foundation of academic knowledge and skills which they can build upon by learning additional skills in the rapidly changing job market. For example, CA Department of Education (2013) states: For decades, we’ve been debating how to improve schools in the United States. This has been born from a realization that, in an ever-changing world, our students need better knowledge and tools to prepare them to compete in the global economy.

Furthermore, the advocates argue that the CCSSs emphasize critical thinking, analysis, and practical application of knowledge unlike the previous standards that focus on memorization and formulas. The CCSSI (2010) states that implementation of the Standards will provide consistent academic benchmarks for all students.

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Academic Benchmarks for Students Implementation must ensure that the Standards: x Are aligned with college and work expectations; x Are clear, understandable and consistent; x Include rigorous content and application of knowledge through high-order skills; x Build upon strengths and lessons of current state standards; x Are informed by other top-performing countries, so that all students are prepared to succeed in our global economy and society; and x Are evidence-based (paragraph 4).

x x x x x x x

Characteristics of College- and Career-Ready Students They demonstrate independence. They build strong content knowledge. They respond to the varying demands of audience, task, purpose, and discipline. They comprehend as well as critique. They value evidence. They use technology and digital media strategically and capably. They come to understand other perspectives and cultures. (NGA Center & CCSSO, 2010, p. 7).

The CCSS document identifies the characteristics of students who are college- and career-ready:

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The Changing Demographics of California

Diverse students in the classroom Source: Microsoft Online Pictures Response Journal Look at the children in this photo. What does this photo tell you about the population of pupils in our schools? What are the implications of your observations for you as teachers?

For many reasons such as immigration, international labor migration, transnationalism,1 and globalization,2 the population of California is becoming more pluralistic. The 2010 U.S. Census shows that California is changing rapidly and increasingly becoming a multiracial, multilingual and multicultural society (see Figure 1). From different countries around the world, people continue to migrate to California and the U.S. for a 1

Transnationalism is used to refer to the phenomenon where people settle and become embedded in the local economy, social structure, and politics of a country in which they reside while at the same time they are deeply connected to institutions, transactions and politics of their native countries. 2 Globalization means the movement of people, businesses, products, services, ideas and cultural resources across national borders.

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better life for themselves and their families. People of different nationalities migrate to the U.S. as the land of opportunity. People come for better employment opportunities and political/religious freedoms. It is not a surprise that 27% of the people living in the U.S. are “foreign born persons” (2010 U.S. Census Bureau).

Figure 1: Demographic Profile of California (2010 U.S. Census)

More importantly, the demographics of California are even projected to change more in the future. According to the latest project, the population of California in 2049 will increase to 52.7 million (CA Depart of Finance, 2013). The document projects that by 2060, Hispanics will account for nearly half (48%) of Californians. In addition, the Asian population is projected to grow to over 14%, while the White (currently 39.4%) and Black (now 6.6%) populations will decline to 30% and 4%, respectively.

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Figure 2: Population Projections for California by the Year 2060 Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 Census and California Department of Finance, Population Projections for California, 2010 Baseline Series.

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The populations of students in schools are also changing dramatically. The 2010 U.S. Census data indicates that the numbers of ELLs are fast growing in many states across the nation, including California, Nevada, Texas, Florida, Arizona, and Washington. The data for the 2011/2012 academic year shows that Hispanic/Latino children account for 51% of K– 12 students in California as in Figure 3. The diversity in the school-age population (age 5 to 19) is projected to continue in California. For example, about 50.9% of school-age children are projected to be Hispanic/Latino in 2020 while 28.5% are expected to be White. Furthermore, in 2020, 56.2% of the K–12 student population in California is projected to be of minority ethnic groups such as Hispanic/Latino or Black. In addition, a large percentage of the students are expected to be English language learners and multilingual.

Figure 3: Student Populations in California

More than 43.2% of children (aged five years and over) in the state speak a language other than English at home (2010 U.S. Census). The census data reported that the number of school-age children (ages 5–17) who speak a language other than English at home increased to 11.2 million in 2009. According to the U.S. Census Bureau (2010), students in California speak more than 150 languages, including Spanish (66.0%), Chinese (6.8%), Korean (2.5%), Tagalog (5.1%), Vietnamese (3.3%), Russian (1.0%), Armenian (1.2), Persian (1.2%), and others (12.9%) as in Figure 4.

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Figure 4: Major Languages Other than English Spoken at Home in California (languages with a population of 1% & above)

In particular, more than 3.6 million ELLs who enrolled nationwide in schools in 2008-2009 spoke Spanish (2010 U.S. Census). In California, more than 1.5 million students speak Spanish at home. In most schools across California (and the U.S.), significant numbers of students are classified as English language learners (ELLs), while a lot of those redesignated as English proficient (EP) may still require English language support throughout high school (Bean & Harper, 2011). The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) (2002) legislation defines ELLs (or limited English proficient students) as students who are enrolled in “secondary education, often born outside the United States or speak a language other than English at home, and not having sufficient mastery of English to meet state standards and excel in an English-language classroom” (as cited in Batalova, 2006). Contrary to popular assumptions that ELLs are immigrants, significant numbers of such students are American citizens. For example, in California, there are about 1.5 million ELLs who are U.S. citizens. More importantly, ELLs come to the school with a broad range of linguistic resources in their native languages and a wide range of proficiencies in English (Genesee, Lindholm-Leary, Saunders & Christian, 2006). Clearly, the changing demographic profiles of K–12 students in California and the nation present enormous challenges and opportunities to

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teachers, school administrators, curriculum developers, and policymakers in terms of program planning, teaching, and assessments of students in English and across content areas. Examples include students’ personal, educational, and social-cultural factors (Echevarria, Vogt, & Short, 2008; Duff, 2001). Some of the challenges and opportunities teachers encounter in the classroom may include the following:

• • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Challenges and Opportunities for Teachers Different levels of English proficiency. Different levels of proficiency in the first language. Cultural differences (e.g. American pop culture vs. Chinese pop culture). Subject matter knowledge difference (e.g. American history vs. Hispanic or Vietnamese history). Different expectations of schooling. Diverse socioeconomic statuses (e.g. poverty vs. middle class). Diverse personal and vicarious experiences of life. Diverse parental levels of competence and use of English language. Diverse level of parental formal education. Diverse schooling experiences. Immigration statuses (e.g. legal vs. illegal immigrants). Personalities. Interests and priorities. Different understanding and practices of classroom norms.

The Common Core State Standards, Instruction and Student Learning The CCSSs begin with the Response Journal assumption that the Standards are a. In groups of 4, brainstorm on how internationally benchmarked and that each of these issues can hinder or mastery of them will prepare students facilitate literacy learning of your “to succeed in entry-level, creditstudents. bearing academic college courses and b. How does mismatch between students’ background and instruction in workforce-training programs” affect learners? (CCSSI, 2010). Supporters of the c. Share your answer with the class. CCSSs argue that the Standards are designed to provide all students the same opportunity to learn the knowledge and skills necessary to meet the

What Are the Common Core State Standards?

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high standards demanded in college and at work. The Common Core states: “The Standards are designed to build upon the most advanced current thinking about preparing all students for success in college and their careers” (CCSSI, 2010). Equally important, the Standards require students to move from rote learning to developing critical thinking skills and knowledge application. For example, in mathematics, the Standards demand that high school students develop the skills to learn and apply more rigorous mathematical concepts and procedures, including applying mathematical ways of thinking to solve real-life, practical problems and issues. In addition, the Standards The Standards acknowledge the prepare students to progress from an knowledge gap between many initial stage to a more advanced students’ current level of achievement and the more demanding texts they stage. For example, the Standards need to read in college. Consequently, acknowledge the knowledge gap the Standards “create a staircase of between many students’ current increasing text complexity so that level of achievement and the more students are expected to both develop their skills and apply them to more demanding texts they need to read in complex texts”. college. Consequently, the Standards “create a staircase of increasing text complexity, so that students are expected to both develop their skills and apply them to more and more complex texts” (CCSSI, 2010). Equally importantly, the CCSSs create pathways for teachers to develop instructional strategies that help them meet the learning needs and learning styles of individual students. The CCSSs acknowledge that teachers play a critical role in student learning. As such, while the CCSSs set grade-specific goals for students to be college- or career-ready, they do not dictate how teachers should teach. Teachers are to make decisions about instruction, design lesson plans and choose the most effective strategies to help them meet the learning needs of individual students in the classroom. In this sense, the CCSSs allow teachers to continue to grow by continually defining students’ learning and performance goals and making decisions about what students need to know and be able to do to acquire the knowledge and skills to be collegeand career-ready. The CCSSs affect teachers’ work in many ways as shown in the box.

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x x x x x

Chapter One

How the CCSSs Affect Teachers’ Work Providing goals and benchmarks to ensure students are achieving certain skills and knowledge by the end of each year; Helping colleges and professional development programs better prepare teachers; Proving the opportunity for teachers to be involved in the development of assessments linked to these top-quality standards; Allowing states to develop and provide better assessments that more accurately measure whether or not students have learned what was taught; and Guiding educators toward curricula and teaching strategies that will give students a deep understanding of the subject and the skills they need to apply their knowledge.

The Common Core State Standards & English Language Learners (ELLs) As noted earlier, students in each classroom are diverse in terms of their ethnic, language, cultural and social backgrounds. ELLs are a heterogeneous group with great diversity in ethnicity, proficiency levels in first language and English, socioeconomic status, motivation, life experiences, and prior schooling (Calderón, Slavin & Sánchez, 2011; Nieto, 2010). Recognizing the need to affirm and support ELLs’ backgrounds, the CCSSs require teachers to acknowledge the resources that they bring into the classroom and use such to leverage learning for them by integrating their prior knowledge and culture into instruction. In addition, teachers are required to tailor instruction to the needs of individual ELLs, provide regular practice with complex texts and academic language, scaffold instruction, encourage students to use evidence from different text-types to support arguments, and design assessments for them at different levels of English language proficiency (TESOL International Association, 2013). In practical terms, the CCSS demands that teachers teach content and language by focusing on such language constructs as discourse, complex text, sentence structure, the typical structure of text, explanation, argumentation, purpose, and vocabulary practices (TESOL International Association, 2013).

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Common Core State Standards and Special Education Students, Including GATE The CCSSs apply to students with special needs. For example, the CCSSs citing the IDEA define students with disabilities as a “heterogeneous group with one common characteristic: the presence of disabling conditions that significantly hinder their abilities to benefit from general education” (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, IDEA 34 CFR §300.39, 2004). On the other hand, there are students identified as gifted or talented (GATE for Gifted and Talented Education). In 2011, the National Association for gifted children, in a position paper, defines a gifted student as an individual who demonstrates outstanding aptitude or competence in one or more domains. The organization further defines aptitude as an exceptional ability to learn or reason. IDEA argues that the CCSSs provide an historic opportunity for schools to enhance access to rigorous academic content standards for students with disabilities. IDEA suggests that students with disabilities must be challenged to excel within the general curriculum and be prepared for success in their post-school lives, including college and/or careers. The CCSSs acknowledge that implementation requires that the school district, the school, and teachers provide students with disabilities with a broad range of fundamental supports. In the document Application to Students with Disabilities, the Standards indicate that instruction for students with disabilities must integrate supports and accommodations. Supports and Accommodations for Students with Disabilities Supports and related services designed to meet students’ unique needs and enable their access to the general education curriculum. x An Individualized Education Program1 (IEP) that includes annual goals aligned with and chosen to facilitate their attainment of grade-level academic standards; and x Teachers and specialized instructional support staff who are prepared and qualified to deliver high-quality, evidence-based, individualized instruction and support services (IDEA 34 CFR §300.39, 2004).

x

In addition, the CCSSs promote a culture of high expectations for all students. Hence additional supports must be provided for students with learning disabilities as needed.

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x x x

Chapter One

Kinds of Instructional Supports for Students with Learning Disabilities Instructional support for learning – based on the principles of Universal Design for Learning1 (UDL); Instructional accommodations – changes in materials or procedures – which do not change the Standards but allow students to learn within the framework of the Common Core; and Assistive technology devices and services that enable access to curriculum and the Standards (Thompson, Morse, Sharpe & Hall, 2005).

Like students with disabilities, the CCSSs have important implications for instruction and assessment of gifted and talented students (GATEs). The CCSSs require the general education teachers to recognize and meet student learning differences and integrate rigorous content and knowledge application through higher-order thinking skills. However, the CCSSs are not clear on how to differentiate instruction for GATEs. In fact, the authors of the CCSSs state, “The Standards do not define the nature of advanced work for students who meet the Standards prior to the end of high school” (English Language Arts Standards, p. 6). The National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC, 2008) argues that gifted students will need to be “assessed through performance-based and portfolio techniques that are based on higher-level learning outcomes than the new CCSS may employ” (p. 1). The association calls on teachers of gifted learners to provide advanced content for students and, in addition, translate the Standards in a way that allows for differentiated instruction and assessments, including providing students with “open-ended opportunities to meet the standards through multiple pathways, more complex thinking applications, and real world problem-solving contexts” (p. 1). NAGC (2008) suggests three important teaching strategies for teachers to offer support for gifted and talented students.

What Are the Common Core State Standards?

x

x

x

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Three Teaching Strategies to Support GATE Provide pathways to accelerate the Standards for GATE students – including clustering specific discrete skills and compressing highlevel skills and concepts across grade levels for more efficient mastery by gifted students. Provide examples of differentiated task demands to address specific Standards, including differentiated examples that show greater complexity, innovation, and creativity, using a more advanced curriculum base. Create interdisciplinary product demands to elevate learning for gifted students, such as requiring them to use multiple modes and media to present their work to a specific audience with implications for a plan of actions.

The Common Core State Standards and Content Areas The Common Core State “Just as students must learn to read, Standards (CCSSs) for English write, speak, listen, and use language Language Arts (ELA) and literacy lay effectively in a variety of content the foundational skills for K–12 areas, so too must the Standards specify the literacy skills and students to comprehend content in understandings required for college difficult texts across different textand career readiness in multiple types in history/social studies (HSS), disciplines.” science, and technical subjects. In effect, the Essential Skills for content area literacy are embedded within the CCSSs. The CCSSs state that “just as students must learn to read, write, speak, listen, and use language effectively in a variety of content areas, so too must the Standards specify the literacy skills and understandings required for college and career readiness in multiple disciplines” (English Language Arts Standards, 2010 p. 1). The CCSSs in the ELA and literacy Standards are designed to promote literacy development across content areas. The Standards are divided into two sections, one for ELA and the other for HSS, science, and technical subjects.

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Why is It Important for Content Area Teachers to Teach Literacy? The CCSSs recognize the crucial role of Response Journal ELA teachers in helping K–12 students develop their literacy skills while at the Why is it important for same time calling on content area teachers content area teachers to teach literacy? to play a major role in helping students develop and apply the Essential Skills for reading and writing across school subjects. California’s ELA CCSSs provide specificity about the application of reading and writing standards in terms of “skills and understandings that all students must demonstrate” (California Department of Education, n.d.) across subject areas. At each grade level in high school, the CCSSs identify a range of speaking and listening skills that students must acquire to be able to contribute appropriately to conversations, make contrasts and comparisons, source information from multiple sources, analyze and synthesize ideas with relevant evidence in HSS, science, and technical subjects. In addition, CCSSs require students to master a broad range of vocabularies and their usage, including word choice, syntax, punctuation, and extensive vocabulary to read and write complex texts across content areas. Furthermore, because reading is critical to building knowledge in HSS, science, and technical subjects, the CCSSs identify the standards students must learn in reading to be college- and career-ready, including subjectspecific conventions such as the kind of evidence used in history and science, an understanding of domain-specific words and phrases, an attention to precise details, as well as the capacity to evaluate intricate arguments, synthesize complex information, and follow detailed descriptions of event and concepts (California Department of Education, n.d.). The reading strand includes standards for both literature, including a broad range of cultures, periods, and genres (e.g., stories, folktales, fantasy, realistic fiction, drama, poetry) while informational text is defined broadly to include biographies and autobiographies; writings about history-social sciences, science, and the arts; technical texts; and digital sources. The CCSSs further require high school students to develop writing skills that prepare them to be college and career ready such as the capacity to take into careful consideration the task, purpose, and audience as well as pay deliberate attention choice of words, information, structure and format, and strategic use of technology to collect and present ideas when creating, refining, and collaborating on writing (California Department of Education, n.d.).

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Voices from the Classroom

The following excerpt is from an interview with an experienced 4thgrade teacher in a suburban elementary school in California Question: What did you think of Common Core when you started teaching the Standards? Teacher: It was about two years ago when we first got the announcement “Common Core is coming”. I had just heard about it at school and then I saw an ad by Exxon Mobile. I went to their website and learned about it. I never thought I’d be learning about teaching from Exxon Mobile but they actually had some good information. (Interviewer note: Refer to http://www.exxon mobil.com/Corporate/ ews_ad_letssolvethis_common.aspx.) My initial emotion was frustration. Here we go again. The pendulum is swinging. I said, “Tell me what to do and I’ll do it”. Well, they couldn’t. They didn’t know. Then last year I was asked to go to a training session. They had two math and two language arts representatives from each school site, an early and an upper elementary person. I volunteered for language arts, upper elementary. We had a week where we learned about the theory – what it is, why it is, how it is. Those were OK. I get what it’s about. It is not just throwing standards at me again. The standards are not that different. It’s more about how can I teach that. I know how to do this [start from scratch] because I came in before standards. When I came into the profession, there were no TEs [Teacher editions] at all, no books at all. We did it according to themes. If your science theme was life cycles, you’d have a story with cycles and in math you’d study cycles. It was a big thing when TEs came in. Young teachers, that’s all they’ve ever known [teacher editions]. Some of them are frightened. They don’t know how to teach without a TE. They are so regimented: grammar at this time, math at this time, etc. I am still shocked at how much I want to hold on to other stuff [from before Common Core]. We decided to hold on to the stories we had and enrich them [with Common Core]. I was feeling “Hold on a little!” I don’t want to reinvent the wheel to [just] be told what to do again. Some teachers have backed off and are waiting [to see how it plays out]. Question: What are your feelings toward Common Core now? Teacher: I’ve leveled off. I am accepting and also excited. We do have freedom as long as we can justify what we are doing. During the summer training it was all chaotic [for me]. Now, I’ve realized that kids need it, crave it, want it [Common Core]. They are willing to do it and they’ll step up to it. “Now, I’ve realized that kids need it, crave it, want it [Common Core]. They are willing to do it and they’ll step up to it.”

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Technology and the Common Core The CCSSs recognize the role of educational technology and new media in teaching and learning in contemporary times. The Standards require teachers to teach students how to use technology and new media “strategically and capably . . . to enhance their [learners’] reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language use” http://www.corestandards.org/ ELA-Literacy). For example, the Standards require teachers to teach students how to use technology to search for information online and integrate what they learn online and offline for communication. In addition, the Standards require students to be familiar with the strengths and limitations of media technology and be able to select an appropriate media and the medium that they consider most apt to achieve specific communication goals. For example, the Standards stipulate that high school students should be able to “gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, assess the credibility and accuracy of each source, and integrate the information while avoiding plagiarism” and “make strategic use of digital media and visual displays of data to express information and enhance understanding of presentations” (California Department of Education, n.d., p. 41, 48).

x x x

x

How to Use Technology for Writing, Reading, Speaking and Listening Standard: W.4.6 – With some guidance and support from adults, use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others. Standard: RI.8.7 – Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of using different mediums (e.g. print or digital text, video, multimedia) to present a particular topic or idea. Standard: SL.11-12.2 – Integrate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) in order to make informed decisions and solve problems, evaluating the credibility and accuracy of each source and noting any discrepancies among the data. Standard: SL.11-12.6 – Make strategic use of digital media (e.g., textual, graphical, audio, visual, and interactive elements) in presentations to enhance understanding of findings, reasoning, and evidence and to add interest (English Language Arts Standard http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RI/8).

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A Critique of Common the Core State Standards Critics argue that there is no . . . Children are made smarter by evidence that the Standards will “smaller classes, experienced teachers, prepare every student for college and a greater investment in the and careers, particularly in the face neediest children” rather than harder of stiff budget cuts in schools. tests. Ravitch (2003), a former conservative, former assistant secretary of education, and historian of American education, argues that, “There is no evidence that the Common Core Standards will enhance equity” (Huffington Post, September 2, 2013). Ravitch contends that the budget cuts have resulted in large class sizes; fewer guidance counselors, teacher assistants, and social workers; and lack of resources for physical education, the arts, foreign languages and “other subjects crucial for a real education”. Citing New York, she contends that the CCSSs deepen the stratification of the society as students’ scores show widening gaps between poor and affluent, between white and black, between English-only and ELLs, and between students with disabilities and mainstreamed students. According to her, children are made smarter by “smaller classes, experienced teachers, and a greater investment in the neediest children” rather than harder tests. The CCSSs expect students to use the computer to take their tests even though many schools do not have enough computers. Most inner-city and rural schools do not have adequate computer for students. In most cases, there are a few computer labs to service two thousand or more students. In many schools, teachers have to make an appointment to use a lab months in advance. Hence, many teachers will not be able to prepare their students to use the computer to take tests. In addition, there is no comprehensive plan to train teacher educators to teach teacher candidates how to implement the Standards when they become teachers. While some faculty members are interested in learning to align their syllabuses with the new CCSSs, others are not so enthusiastic about it. Cuban (2012) argues that teaching standards are inherently problematic because of the curriculum structure. Cuban contends that the curriculum is multi-layered, and as such, teachers decide what to teach and how to teach based on a multitude of factors, including their knowledge of the subject, their knowledge of pedagogy, their knowledge of students, their beliefs about how teachers should teach, their attitudes to students, and available resources. As a result, teachers in the same building frequently teach different versions of the same curriculum even though they may claim that they are teaching to the state standards. In essence, what teachers teach

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Chapter One

may reflect the same title, key topics, and same textbook, but can be significantly different in actual subject matter. Cuban (2012) argues that, more often than not, what students learn does not exactly align with what is in the tested curriculum. In addition, the knowledge, ideas, and skills tested through multiple-choice and other short-answer items always “represent an even narrower band of knowledge”. Cuban (2012) concludes that since the curriculum is a multi-layered document, “the taught layer differs greatly from the intended, learned, and tested.” Furthermore, the CCSSs focus on schooled literacy and career literacy at the expense of the everyday literacy (personal) experiences and practices of children. It appears that the Standards policy privileges literacy skill acquisition for a knowledge economy and career rather than incorporating the literacy needs and desires of students into the curriculum. In addition, the CCSSs discuss media/digital literacies mostly in terms of comprehending and communicating ideas. For example, one of the reading standards for grades 6-12 states that students should be able to: “synthesize and apply information presented in diverse ways (e.g. through words, images, graphs, and video) in print and digital sources in order to answer questions, solve problems, or compare modes of presentation”. Similarly, one of the grade 6-12 writing standards states: “use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and interact with others about writing”. Pointing to the limitations of the CCSSs regarding media/digital literacies, Beach (2011) argues that the narrow focus in the Standards “marginalizes uses of a range of other media/digital literacies associated with social-networking sites, blogs, wikis, digital images/videos, smartphone/tablet apps, video games, podcasts, etc., for constructing media content, building social networks, engaging audiences, and critiquing status quo problems” (p. 2). Beach (2011) suggests four ideas to improve media literacy in the CCSSs: x add additional standards for media/digital literacy that address critical analysis of media/digital texts and the production of media/digital texts; x use the CCSSs as the basis for developing curriculum and pedagogy designed to incorporate print and media/digital literacies; x integrate assessments that measure media/digital literacies; and x provide support, training and professional development for teachers to help them integrate media/digital literacies into instruction. Swafford and Kallus (2002) argue that schools need to recognize “multiple literacies that students view as functional in their lives [so that]

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adolescents may enter into school activities more enthusiastically” (p. 18). The argument of Herber (1969), even though it was made decades ago, is still relevant today: “students, not curricula, are the reasons for school’s existence. Therefore, when adjustments have to be made, we assume the curriculum should be adjusted to suit the needs of students rather than the reverse” (p. 18). Hence, the authors of the CCSSs should have capitalized on students’ everyday literacies including their personal uses of literacies such as biliteracy and hybridity in English and their native languages; multi-genre texts such as romance, fantasy, fables, action, folktales, fiction, nonfiction, autobiography, teen fashion, human interest magazines, and science fiction; and out-of-school social interests, including multimodal and multimedia literacies such as surfing the web, e-mailing, texting, blogging, chatting, posting messages/images on social network sites, and reading/writing multimodal texts, and remixing. For example, the authors of the Standards are silent on how ELLs can use their first languages as part of the repertoires of literacy practices that they bring into the classroom. Here, we contend that students’ motivation, prior experiences, and engagement are fundamental to literacy learning (Ajayi, in press; Appleby & Bathmaker, 2006; Hamilton, 2006). Hence, students’ agency is crucial as learners engage in literacy practices from “their own initiative, on their own terms and in their own way for their own purposes as individuals or as groups of people” (Hodge, 2003). Any effective literacy standards must fit the social and cultural contexts of students because linguistic minority groups usually draw on “the reality that the acquisition and use of languages and literacies are inevitably bound up with asymmetrical relations of power between ethnolinguistic groups” (Hodge, 2003). Hence, the Standards need to take into account students’ social, cultural and historical contexts. For example, Appalachian rural white students may need literacy skills and uses that are different from AfricanAmerican children in the inner-city of Chicago or Latino students in Los Angeles. In this example, students may want to learn literacy but still want to live in two worlds, two cultures, and two languages to maintain their own cultural and linguistic identities. Effective standards will draw on students’ “insights into how they learn, Response Journal their theories about literacy and education and the vernacular and the informal a. What are you views regarding the criticisms of the CCSSs in strategies they use to learn new literacies, this section? in order to make the crucial links between b. What are your own critiques people’s literacy practices and their of the CCSSs? education” (Hodge, 2003, p. 6).

Chapter One

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Conclusion In this chapter, we explained the Common Core State Standards as a set of shared goals and expectations, skills and knowledge that students are expected to learn and be able to use after graduating from high school. We traced the origin of the CCSSs to the “Accountability Movement” of the 1990s, when states required students to take standards-based tests to assess whether learners are learning a common core of knowledge and skills to prepare them to become effective workers in an increasingly globalized economy. We also explored the changing population of K–12 students and the challenges and opportunities that the shifting demographics pose to teachers, school administrators, curriculum developers, and policymakers in terms of curricula development, teaching strategies and classroom practices, and assessments of students in English and across content areas. Furthermore, we discussed the requirement of the CCSSs in terms of the need for teachers to recognize students’ diversity in classrooms and differentiate instruction to meet the learning needs of all groups of learners such as ELLs, GATE, and students with disabilities. In addition, we explored the views of critics who argue that the CCSSs cannot meet the learning needs of all students due to many factors, including inadequate funding of schools, lack of important resources, the multi-layered nature of a curriculum, and insufficient attention to everyday (personal) literacies uses such as biliteracy and hybridity in English and their native languages. Below, we provide practice activities to provide opportunities for preservice and in-service teachers to review what they learned in this chapter.

Practice Activities 1) Discuss five activities in this box that you can use to find out the backgrounds (language, ethnicity, educational experiences, etc.) of your students: a. b. c. d. e. 2) Why do you think people migrate to California and the U.S.? 3) If you are an immigrant, can you share the reasons why you migrated to the U.S. with the class?

What Are the Common Core State Standards?

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4) What are the pedagogical implications of the students’ diversity in California and the nation? 5) Discuss the following points in relation to the Californian context of schooling: a. Disparity between majority and minority student academic achievements. b. Higher dropout rate among minority students. c. Mismatch between student background experiences and curricula. d. Mismatch between students’ learning styles and teachers’ instructional styles. e. Mismatch between students’ learning goals and instructional objectives. 6) What are the characteristics of a student with a communication disorder? Name at least five such characteristics. 7) What accommodations will you consider for instruction and assessment? 8) What are the characteristics of a student with a reading disability? 9) What accommodations will you consider for instruction and assessment? 10) What are the characteristics of a student with a mathematics disability? 11) What accommodations will you consider for instruction and assessment? 12) What are the characteristics of a student with a physical disability? 13) What accommodations will you consider for instruction and assessment? 14) What in your own experiences are the criticisms against CCSSs? 15) How do the CCSSs draw on students’ linguistic backgrounds for literacy learning and use in the classroom? 16) In what ways do the Standards build upon students’ out of school social interests in the new media and new literacies?

References Achieve. (2004). The Expectation Gap: A 50-State Review of High School Graduation Requirements. Retrieved August, 27, 2013 from www.achieve.org. —. (2009). Closing the expectations gap: 4th annual 50-states progress report on the alignment of high school policies with the demands of college and careers. Retrieved August, 27, 2013 from: http://www.achieve.org/ClosingtheExpectationsGap2011.

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—. (2011). Closing the expectations gap 2011: 6th annual 50-states progress report on the alignment of high school policies with the demands of college and careers. Retrieved August, 27, 2013 from http://www.achieve.org/ClosingtheExpectationsGap2011. ACT Report (2008). The forgotten middle: Ensuring that all students are on target for college and career readiness before high schools. Retrieved August 27, 2013 from www.act.org/research/policymakers/pdf/ForgottenMiddle.pdf. Ajayi, L. (in press). Critical Multimodal Literacy: How Nigerian Female Students Critique Texts and Reconstruct Unequal Social Structures. Journal of Literacy Research. Appleby, Y. & Bathmaker, A. (2006). The new skills agenda: increased lifelong learning or new sites of inequality. British Educational Journal, 32(5), 703–717. Batalova, J. (2006). Spotlight on limited English proficient students in the United States. Retrieved 8/1/ 2012 from http://www.migrationinformation.org/usfocu/display.cfm?ID=373. Beach, R. & Baker, F. W. (2011). Why core standards must embrace media literacy. Education Week, 36(30), 1–3. Bean, T. & Harper, H. (2011). The context of English language arts learning: The high school years. In Lapp, D. & Fisher, D. (Eds.), Handbook of research on teaching the English Language Arts (3rd edition) (60–68). New York: Routledge. Calderón, M., Slavin, R. & Sánchez, M. (2011). The Future of Children, 21(1), 103–127. Retrieved January 14, 2012 from www.futureofchildren.org. California Department of Education. (n.d). Common core anchor standards for English language arts/content literacy and foundational reading skills. Retrieved August 30, 2013 from https://literacy.lausd.net/sites/literacy.lausd.net/files/Scan%20of%20A nchor%20Stds%20&%20Cover%20doc.pdf. California Department of Finance. (2013). New population projections: California to surpass 50 million in 20149. Retrieved September 2, 2013, from: http://www.dof.ca.gov/research/.demographic/reports/projections/P1/documents/Projections_Press_Release_2010-2060.pdf. California Department of Education. (2013). A New Foundation for Student Success Transcript. Retrieved February 25, 2014 from http://www.cde.ca.gov/re/cc/tl/whatareccss-video-text.asp?print=yes. Common Core State Standards Initiative (2010). Myths vs. facts. Retrieved August 28, 2013 from

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http://www.corestandards.org/resources/myths-vs-facts. Cuban, L. (2012). The multi-layered curriculum: Why change is often confused with reform. National Education Policy Center. Retrieved September 3, 2013 from http://nepc.colorado.edu/blog/multi-layeredcurriculum. Echevarria, J., Short, D. & Powers, K. (2006). School reform and standards-based education: A model for English language learners. The Journal of Educational Research, 99(4), 195–210. English language arts standards. (2010). Retrieved August 29, 2013 from http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy. Genesee, F., Lindholm-Leary, K., Saunders, W. & Christian, D. (2006). Educating English language learners: A synthesis of research evidence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Gibbs, T. J. & Howley, A. (2001). “World-class standards” and local pedagogies: can we do both? Thresholds in Education (Aug/Nov. 2001). Retrieved August 27, 2013 from: www.ericdigests.org/20013/world.htm. Google Images. http://schools.nyc.gov/Offices/mediarelations/NewsandSpeeches/20092010/tfellows063010.htm. Hamilton, M. (2006). Just do it: Literacies, everyday learning and the irrelevance of pedagogy. Studies in the Education of Adults, 38(2), 125–140. Herber, H. L. (1969). Reading instruction in content areas: An overview. In H. L. Herber & P. Sanders (Eds.), Research in reading in the content areas: First year report (pp. 1–12). Syracuse, New York, NY: Reading and Language Arts Center, Syracuse University. Hodge, R. (2003). A review of recent ethnographies of literacy (working paper no 1). Lancaster literacy research centre. Retrieved September, 2 2013 from: www.literacy.Iancs.ac/workingpapers/wpOl.pdf. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. (2004). IDEA 34 CFR §300.39). Martin, C. (2014). Common Core implementation: Best practices. Retrieved March 3, 2014 from http://www.americanprogress.org/wpcontent/uploads/2014/02/CarmelTestimony.pdf. National Association for Gifted Children. (2008). Frequently asked questions about the common core state standards and gifted education. Retrieved August 29, 2013 from http://www.nagc.org/index2.aspx?id=8980#Rationale_for_Involvement. National Association for Gifted Children. (2011). Redefining giftedness for a new century: Shifting the paradigm [Position Paper].

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http://nagc.org/index2.aspx?id=6404. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief of State School Officer. (2010). Common Core State Standards for English language arts and literacy in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects. Washington, DC. Retrieved August 27, 2013 from www.corestandards.org/assets/CCSSI_ELA%20Standards.pdf. Nieto, S. (2010). Language, culture, and teaching: Critical perspectives. New York, NY: Routledge. Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2004). Learning for tomorrow’s world: First results from PISA 2003. Paris: Author. Pearson Education. (2003). Understanding the common core state standards initiative. Retrieved August 27, 2013 from http://commoncore.pearson.com/index.cfm?locator=PS11Ue. Ravitch, D. (2013). The biggest fallacy of the Common Core Standards. Retrieved 09/02/2013 from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dianeravitch/common-core-fallacy_b_3809159.html. Swafford, J. & Kallus, M. (2002). Content literacy: A journey into the past, present, and future. Journal of Content Area Reading, 1, 7–14. U.S. Census (2010). 2010 Census data U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved August 27, 2010 from www.census.gov/2010census/data/ TESOL International Association. (2013, March). Overview of the common core state standards Initiatives for ELLs. Alexandria, VA: Author. Thompson, S., Morse, A., Sharpe, M. & Hall, S. (2005). Accommodation manual: How to select, administer, and evaluate use of accommodations for instruction and assessment of students with disabilities. Developed by the CCSSO State collaborative on assessment and student standards assessing special education students (2nd Ed.). Retrieved 8/29/13 from http://www.ccsso.org/Documents/2005/Accommodations_Manual_Ho w_2005.pdf.

CHAPTER TWO WORKING WITH TEXTBOOKS AND OTHER MATERIALS

Reading lesson in Common Core State Standards Source: Microsoft Online Pictures

Guiding Questions Guiding Questions 1. What are the new conceptions of texts? 2. What is text structure? 3. What are cohesive devices? 4. What are texts and discourses? 5. What are the purposes for using English language?

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New Conceptions of Texts Literacy learning and usage have changed dramatically from reading and writing print-based texts to include different text-types such as literary texts (fiction/nonfiction), textbooks, political and advertising texts, commercial texts, newspapers, biographies, autobiographies, journals, speeches, electronic texts, websites, videos, pictures, images, etc. With the affordances of computer technology, people nowadays combine different modal resources (e.g. language, audio, image, gesture, color, font styles and sizes, and spatiality) and multimedia (Facebook, videos, the Internet, integrated language, image, moving image, sound, and light) for communications. Indeed, for high school students, the definitions, conceptualizations, and practices of literacy have broadened substantially to include reading and writing different text-types across diverse topics. Swafford and Kallus (2002) cited in Moss (2005) redefine literacy in content areas as: Content area literacy is a cognitive and social practice involving the ability and desire to read, comprehend, critique and write about multiple forms of print. [These] multiple forms of print include textbooks, novels, magazines, Internet materials and other sociotechnical sign systems conveying information, emotional content, and ideas to be considered from a critical stance. (p. 47).

This definition shows that the ability to read and comprehend informational texts is crucial to acquisition of knowledge in the different disciplines such as language arts, science, history/social studies, and mathematics. Hence, teachers need to teach their students how to effectively engage with texts across the disciplines.

x x x x

What Students Must Do to Read Effectively Develop the knowledge and skills to understand the languages of different disciplines, including subject-specific vocabularies, language structures, and language conventions; Develop the critical reading skills associated with thinking like a scientist, historian or mathematician; Analyze, interpret, synthesize, and evaluate information for bias, prejudice, accuracy, importance, and appropriateness; and Build/activate relevant prior knowledge to construct a meaningful mental model of the idea or issue being discussed (Hirsch, 2003; Moss, 2005).

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The California Common Core State Standards (2013) recognize two important factors that contribute to students’ literacy development in the content areas, and, therefore, their college or career readiness. First, students need to develop the knowledge and skills to read, understand, and write effectively in a variety of content areas. Specifically, the document identifies the characteristics of effective readers: Students can, without significant scaffolding, comprehend and evaluate complex texts across a range of types and disciplines, and they can construct effective arguments and convey intricate or multifaceted information. Likewise, students are able independently to discern a speaker’s key points, request clarification, and ask relevant questions. They build on others’ ideas, articulate their own ideas, and confirm they have been understood. Without prompting, they demonstrate command of standard English and acquire and use a wide-ranging vocabulary. More broadly, they become self-directed learners, effectively seeking out and using resources to assist them, including teachers, peers, and print and digital reference materials (p. viii).

Second, the document acknowledges that instruction in listening, speaking, reading, writing, and language should be “a shared responsibility within the school” (p. v). For example, the document recognizes the pivotal role of English language arts (ELA) teachers in developing students’ literacy skills, while at the same time calling on content-area teachers to play a crucial role in helping students develop in this regard. The California CCSSs further suggest the interdisciplinary approach to preparing students to read and comprehend complex informational texts independently in the different content areas. The Standards require K–5grade teachers to balance literature reading with the reading of informational texts, including texts in science, mathematics, and history/social studies. The Standards further demand that “a significant amount of reading of informational texts take place in and outside the ELA classroom” (p. v) in 6–12 grades. These requirements are to ensure that students are exposed to a variety of complex texts and textual features associated with subject-specific texts, including text structure, text and discourse, electronic media, and text and complexity.

Understanding Text Structure and Organization Text structure refers to the organizational structure that an author uses to arrange and present ideas in a given text (Dymock, 2005; Ciardiello, 2002). The communication between an author and a reader relies on

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interaction among many factors, including the task, text, strategy, and Discuss how students use their reader characteristics (Meyer, 1999). The characteristics to interact with the reader characteristics, such as prior text structure to understand texts. knowledge, interest, purpose, and reading strategies, interact with the text structure such as organizational patterns, topic, semantic features, and emphasis. Effective readers construct new understandings by “building relationships among the parts of text and between the text and one’s prior knowledge” (Meyer & Ray, 2011, p. 128). That is, students create a mental representation to understand a text. Van den Broek and Kremer (2000) argue, “When reading is successful, the result is a coherent and usable mental representation of the text. This representation resembles a network, with nodes that depict the individual text elements (e.g. events, facts, setting) and connections that depict the meaningful relations between the elements” (p. 2). Hence, understanding the structure of texts is crucial for students if they are to understand complex content textbooks which they are required to read. Consequently, ELA and content-area teachers need to provide explicit instruction to help students recognize the underlying text structure of content textbooks. Such instruction can improve students’ reading comprehension as they will be taught to focus attention on main ideas and their relationships, understand author’s key ideas, aid retrieval of information from memory, anticipate what to read next, and monitor their understanding during reading (Gaddy, Bakken, & Fulk, 2008). Response Journal

Structuring Cohesive Texts Response Journal

Reading researchers have suggested that students increase their potential for Discuss how students’ knowledge of cohesion can help them gaining from texts the more they interact comprehend complex texts. with such materials. For example, for students to understand the main ideas and supporting details in informational texts, they need not just to understand the facts or concepts presented in the text, but the relationships among them. Authors use cohesive devices such as transition words (clues or signal words) as the glue that holds the structural elements of the text together. Cohesive elements show the relationship between different ideas and sentences. Signal words will prepare students to identify and understand the type of relationships or structures that the author uses in a text. In addition, in

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their own writing, students need to use transition words to indicate causal and logical relationships between ideas, sentences, and paragraphs. In this way, ELA and content-area teachers can help their students to understand text structure, prepare them to organize their thinking in a way similar to effective writers and promote students’ reading comprehension as they interact with the text. Texts can be divided into three types (a) electronic texts, (b) fictional, and (c) informational (nonfiction). For example, authors use organizational tools such as icon, pull-down menu, and keyword search to organize ideas in electronic texts. Similarly, authors of fictional texts generally use a narrative structure such as character, setting, plot, and conflict to organize ideas while authors of informational texts organize texts using a predominant structural pattern, including: compare/contrast, cause/effect, sequence, description, problem-solution, chronology (timeline), question/answer, persuasion, cyclical, order of importance, and spatial/descriptive. The CCSSs emphasize teaching informational texts as students are expected to be proficient in reading complex nonfiction texts particularly in college. Figure 1 provides a graphic illustration of some of the ways texts can be structured.

Fiction Story Elements: x Conflict x Characters x Setting x Resolution x Plot x Theme

Text Structure Informational (Nonfictional, Factual) Texts x Description x Compare and contrast x Cause and effect x Sequence x Problem and solution x Persuasion x Question and answer x Chronology (timeline) x Order of importance x Spatial/descriptive

Figure 1: Text Structure of Fiction and Informational Texts

Informational texts use organizational and semantic arrangements to present ideas and concepts in texts. Such textual features help students read and comprehend the content. Figure 2 shows examples of text features.

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Print Features x Table of contents x Glossary x Preface x Pronunciat ion guide x Appendixe s x Index x Web links

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Informational Textual Features Text Illustrations Modes Division x Drawings x Bold print x Chapters x Photos x Italics x Sections x Digital x Bullets images x Introducti x Colors on x Pictures x Font size x Summary x Photogra x Font style phs x Author’s x Titles informati x Artworks x Headings on x Diagrams x Subheadi x Study x Figures ngs tips x Paintings x Labels x Visual x Captions images x Layout x Sketches x Spatiality x Portraits

Graphics x Graphs x Maps x Charts x Tables x Figures x Overlays x Textboxe s x Patterns x Family trees x Typograp hy x Schemati cs

Figure 2: Informational Textual Features

K–12 students are expected to read a variety of text structures, from print/electronic materials to literature and informational texts. To read efficiently, students must be able to identify the structure of a text and understand how the important ideas and structure are interrelated for meaning making. Effective readers develop coherent mental representations of what they read using different text structures to facilitate their understandings. Therefore, ELA and content-area teachers have to provide explicit instruction on how students can use text structure strategy to facilitate reading comprehension as they develop the skills to organize information based on structural relationships in texts.

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The Role of Explicit Instruction Explicit instruction should provide students with the knowledge and skills to: x Follow the organizational pattern of a text to identify and understand specific cues and text structures an author uses; x Choose the most appropriate reading strategy to gain information from a text; x Use text structure strategy to organize their own writing; x Organize their thinking to match the text structure to enhance their writing, reading, and learning (such as synthesizing and summarizing ideas from texts); and x Improve students’ ability to recall information (Gaddy & Fulk, 2008; Meyer & Ray, 2011). Students who struggle to comprehend texts often do not understand the organizational structure of the text they are reading because they may not be aware of the cues the author uses to call readers’ attention to the text structures. Depending on the genre and topic, the author’s purpose, and the audience, authors might use some specific text structures to organize ideas. Teachers can enhance students’ reading comprehension by providing explicit instruction on text structure. Hence, ELA teachers and teachers of content areas should explicitly teach the following general text structures: a) Problem-and-Solution Text Structure: This type of structure sets up a problem or problems, explains the solution, and then discusses the effects of the solution. Problem-and-solution texts are sometimes difficult for students as the author may not use the exact words “problem” and “solution”. However, certain signal words are used, including effort, solve, results, etc.

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Figure 3: Problem-and-Solution Text Structure Graphic Organizer

b. i) Compare-and-Contrast Text Structure: Authors use compare and contrast text structure to organize texts when they compare how ideas, objects or concepts are alike and contrast how they are different. Compareand-contrast text structure does not only help students in their writings as they can use the strategy to organize and express their ideas. When reading, students should look out for signal words such as those listed below:

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Figure 4: Compare-and-Contrast Text Structure Graphic Organizer

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c) Cause-and-Effect Text Structure: In cause-and-effect text structure, an author presents the causal relationship between a specific event or idea and the event or idea that follows. Sometimes, an author explains one or more causes and then explains one or more effects. Students need to pay attention to signal words such as: thus, for this reason, because, due to, etc.

Figure 5: Cause-and-Effect Structure Graphic Organizer

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d) Descriptive Text Structure: This type of text structure provides a detailed description of a topic, idea, or person by listing the characteristics, examples, features, and attributes to give the reader a mental picture (Moss, 2004). In descriptive texts, authors generally introduce the main idea and then provide details, attributes or characteristics in the body of the paragraph. Authors use signal words such as furthermore, first, second, most important, for example, etc. to organize their ideas. The web below provides an example of a descriptive pattern of organizing texts.

Figure 6: Descriptive Text Structure Graphic Organizer

e) Chronological Sequence Text Structure: The author writes about events in the order in which they happened in time. Authors generally use chronological sequence text structure to organize their ideas in informational texts such as history, biography, autobiography, and

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procedures. For example, history texts are often written in chronological order while scientific reports are presented in a precise order of sequence. It is important for ELA and content-area teachers to provide explicit instruction for students in chronological order text structure. The knowledge and skills will help students to comprehend and recreate a sequence of events as well as differentiate important events from less important ones. The following two drawings show how to use chronological sequence text structure:

Time/Order Chronological Text Structure

Figure 7: Time/Order Chronological Text Structure Graphic Organizer

f) Spatial/Descriptive Text Structure: This is when the author organizes information in the order of space (top to bottom, left to right). Using spatial structure allows an author to organize information according to how ideas fit together in a physical space to create a mental picture for the reader. Topics involving geography are best arranged using spatial structure. For example, spatial patterns can be used by a writer to provide information relating to geographical locations in a specific place to a tourist who is not familiar with the area. Researchers have suggested that spatial text structure provides additional retrieval cues that facilitate the recall of information (Verdi, Johnson, Stock, Kulhavy & Whitman-Ahern, 1997). Verdi, et al. (1997) suggest that spatial display of information helps students read complex texts because “when a student then reads a related text passage, the image of the display is retrieved to aid in learning the text information” (p. 305). The next graphic shows an example of spatial text structure.

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Figure 8: Spatial/Descriptive Text Structure Graphic Organizer

g) Order of Importance Text Structure: The author of a text organizes information in a hierarchical order or priority. In other words, an author arranges their ideas by most-to-least or least-to-most important as in the Order of Importance chart below:

Figure 9: Order of Importance Text Structure Graphic Organizer

Text and Discourse We start the discussion of this section with the definitions of the key terms “text” and “discourse”. The notion of text is shifting and evolving.

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Texts traditionally mean print materials, usually made primarily out of words. What is your own However, in the contemporary era, texts understanding of the terms are used broadly to refer to “artifacts of “text” and “discourse”? human subjects’ work at the production of meaning (i.e. representation) and social relations” (Luke, 1996, p. 13). People use texts to interpret their world and to construct social relations and actions in their everyday lives. Hence, “texts position and construct individuals, making available various meanings, ideas, and versions of the world” (Luke, 1996, p. 13). Texts are, therefore, the disparate sources of meaning making, representation, learning and subjectivity. Texts typically integrate multiple modes (e.g. spoken/written language, music, political speeches, writing, visual images, audio, rap lyrics, students’ own experiences, digital texts, gestures, color, and spatiality) and media (e.g. sculpture, cassettes, billboards, newspapers, comic strips, paintings, video, drawings, maps, email, the Internet, social networking sites, DVDs, CD-ROMs, and so on) for meanings and representations. In short, texts in terms of subjectivity “involve how one is being named, positioned, desired, and described and in which languages, texts, and terms of reference” (Luke, 1996, p. 6). In other words, the text becomes the primary discourse tool in which individuals’ identity and subjectivities are socially constructed, contested, and reconstructed. The powerful nature of texts in contemporary times has brought to the forefront the important questions about the kinds of textual and literate competence that students need to acquire in order to succeed in the classroom and to fully participate in the social, economic and democratic activity of the U.S. and the globalized world. The work of Michel Foucault (1971, 1972) has been influential in the discussion of the field of discourse. Discourse is generally used to refer to the forms of representation, conventions, codes, and habits of language that produce specific fields of historical and cultural meaning (Foucault, 1971, 1972). Foucault uses the term “discursive practice” and “discursive formation” to refer to the analysis of specific institutions and the ways they establish what is accepted as “reality” or “truth” in the society. Foucault contests that discursive formations produce a hierarchical arrangement in dominant discourses such as gender, status, class, etc. According to Foucault, these identities are then reinforced by societal law, education and the media. More recent definitions have been more specific. For example, some have defined the term as the totality of codified language used in a given Response Journal

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discipline such as science discourse, mathematics discourse, social science discourse, language arts discourse, etc. Nordquist (n.d.) defines the term as “a unit of language longer than a single sentence [and] more broadly, the use of spoken or written language in a social context” (see website). Other researchers provide broader definitions. For example, Henry and Tator (2002) define discourse as “the way in which language is used socially to convey broad historical meanings. It is language identified by the social conditions of its use, by who is using it and under what conditions. Language can never be ‘neutral’ because it bridges our personal and social worlds” (p. 25). Gee (2012) provides a more ideological definition when he argues that: A Discourse is a socially acceptable association among ways of using language and other symbolic expressions, of thinking, feeling, believing, valuing, and acting, as well as using various tools, technologies or props, that can be used to identify oneself as a member of a socially meaningful group or “social network”, to signal (that one is playing) a socially meaningful “role”, or to signal that one is filling a social niche in a distinctively recognizable fashion (p. 158).

We quote Gee’s (2012) definition to show that his conceptualizations of discourses are situated in ideologies and cultural practices of specific groups as they (discourses) involve values and perspectives about relationships between individuals and social groups. For example, people have ideas of what language use is acceptable or what is not in specific social contexts. While Spanglish3 is not acceptable in the classroom, it may be acceptable as a way of interacting between Latino/a friends. Similarly, while Ebonics4 or rap lyrics may be looked down upon in some contexts (e.g. schools, courtrooms), it may confer status, recognition and acceptance in African-American communities. In addition to cultural models of particular groups, discourses draw from the “fund of knowledge”, that is, the knowledge and skills developed within specific households, families, family social networks, and communities (Moje, Collazo, Carrillo & Marx, 2001). Furthermore, Gee’s definition indicates that discourses are “ways of recognizing and getting recognized” (Gee, 2012, p. 153, emphasis in original) in different social settings, including schools, classrooms, churches, communities, bars, streets, cyberspaces, law firms, and so on. In short, discourses permeate every human interaction. Finally, Gee’s definition shows that discourses are inherently 3

Spanglish refers to the blend of Spanish and English in the speech of people who speak the two languages. 4 Ebonics means African-American vernacular English.

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ideological as they are intimately connected to the distribution of social power and hierarchical structure in any given society. As such, teachers must recognize and support minority students’ home languages as a resource to build their capacity to learn content areas without asking them to lose respect for their home cultures and languages. Extending Gee’s definition of discourses to the school context, learning and knowledge production are situated in specific ways of thinking, knowing, acting, using technologies, reading and writing as a student in a given grade and in a particular subject such as language arts, science, mathematics, or history/social studies. This point shows that content-area learning and content-area literacy should recognize the ways of knowing, talking, doing, and the kinds of knowledge valued by students, the subject-area, and the context (Gee, 2012; Moje et al., 2001). For example, schools expect students to use specific ways of thinking and doing (discourses) and present information in content-areas, taking into account the audience, task, and purpose as in Figure 10.

Language arts x read the text x provide local interpretation of text5 x provide global interpretation6 x understand narrative structure7 x use narrative schema to organize the text x use complex sentences to interpret texts x connect events in the text to other events x explain effects of literacy devices x store information in memory x retrieve and reproduce information

Mathematics x use mathematical explanation x provide conceptual explanation x provide calculational explanation x discuss with peers x summarize and synthesize ideas x identifying misconceptions x ask questions x pair share x translate words into abstract meanings x differentiate between literal and technical use of words x describe process x use technical words to explain their understandings

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Local interpretation of texts refers to interpretation at the sentence level. Global interpretation refers to interpretation at a thematic level. 7 Narrative structures in fictional texts are setting, characters, conflicts, and conflict resolution.

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Discourses in the Disciplines Science x state hypothesis x provide evidence-based explanations x recall & summarize ideas x design and perform experiment x write report x collaborate with peers x apply prior knowledge x develop scientific questions x read hypertext x reading scientific texts x use scientific evidence x understand & use scientific terminologies x observe and record observation

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History/social study x use facts and interpretations to explain historical events x evaluate sources of information x develop individual interpretations of historical event x make and defend their judgments x critically evaluate historical sources such as textbooks x interpret texts based on their credibility x define and/or clarify key words & concepts x distinguish between opinion, facts & reasoned argument

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Figure 10: Summary of Unique Discourse Practices of Each Discipline

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Preparing Students to Read Across Content Areas (Disciplines) Text, discourse and literacy are Response Journal central to knowledge production and learning in content areas. What are some activities you will use to Moje, et al. (2004) contend that prepare your students to read? “being literate in a content area requires an understanding of how knowledges are constructed and organized in the content area, an understanding of what counts as warrant or evidence for a claim, and an understanding of the conventions of communicating that knowledge” (p. 45). Indeed, a crucial aspect of learning in content areas involves learning to discuss, share, read, write, and use technologies to understand and represent knowledge in a specific discipline. Consequently, ELA and content-area teachers should develop students’ literacy capacity to read different text-types in different disciplines. This view suggests a need to focus on informational texts as in most classrooms textbooks form the main source of learning materials (Ogle & Blachwicz, 2002). Textbooks structure most classroom instruction and, therefore, they are important sources of knowledge in content areas. In particular for new teachers, textbooks are a crucial source of knowledge and a basis for instruction and class discussion. More importantly, textbooks in each discipline are written in a particular way; hence, the uniqueness of discipline textbooks places its own demands on the readers (Rainey & Moje, 2012). Because of the important roles of textbooks in students’ learning in content areas, teachers need to develop teaching strategies that help learners to use English language to maximally gain from reading textbooks.

Purpose for Using English Language Most researchers in the contentarea literacy agree that students need to develop English language and literacy skills in the context of academic discipline instruction (Lee, n.d.; Ogle & Blachwicz, 2002). For example, authors use complex academic language in texts that students read and such language is significantly different

Response Journal Do you believe that students need to develop English and literacy skills and literacy skills in the context of academic discipline instruction? If yes, why?

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from everyday use of English (Fillmore & Fillmore n.d.). As such, English language use in complex, content-area texts tends to pose a challenge for reading comprehension, particularly for English language learners. Traditional schools provide simple versions of textbooks for English learners to read to help them learn the content. The problem of the approach is twofold. First, research shows that discipline-specific language and content are intertwined and interconnected in that one cannot learn one without the other. For example, Lee (n.d.) suggests that “the academic achievement of ELLs requires integrating knowledge of academic disciplines with knowledge of English language and literacy development” (p. 2). Second, students, particularly ELLs, have no other avenues to learn the vocabulary, text structure and patterns of academic texts if they are not taught in the classroom. The question then becomes: where and how can students, particularly ELLs, learn to read and use academic language of the disciplines? Fillmore and Fillmore (n.d.) argue that the only way for students to learn the language of literacy is through literacy itself because discipline texts that students read in schools provide experience in working with informational texts of complex structure and patterns. They contend that, “Complex texts provide school-age learners reliable access to this language, and interacting with such texts allow them to discover how academic language works” (p. 2). For in-service and future teachers who are looking forward to implementing the CCSSs, we suggest the following teaching strategies: a) Teach Disciplinary Literacy: While school subjects share certain commonalities, there are differences in the ways each discipline create, disseminate and evaluate knowledge, and those unique practices manifest in the use of language (Rainey & Moje, 2012; Shanahan & Shanahan, 2008). Because content-area literacy practices are cultural constructions, teachers need to provide explicit instruction on the discipline-specific literacy practices of the field so that they can help students to begin to read, write, and think in the ways that match experts in the discipline (Rainey & Moje, 2012). By teaching disciplinary literacy, that is, “the shared ways of reading, writing, thinking, and reasoning within academic fields” (Rainey & Moje, 2012, p. 73), teachers can teach students the necessary knowledge, practices and skills to read and write texts in specific disciplines and thereby prepare them to be college- or career-ready. b) Teach Students Informational Text Structure: ELA and content-area teachers need to teach students the key ways information is organized by authors and how learners use the conventions of text structure to present their own texts. Effective readers understand that texts in a given discipline have predictable patterns. For example, literature textbooks (e.g.

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stories, drama) typically have characters, conflicts, settings, resolution, etc. Similarly, science textbooks generally have observations, form hypotheses, experiment to test hypotheses, provide evidence, draw conclusions, and write reports using scientific terms to explain scientific knowledge. In history textbooks, authors predictably source information from many historical sources (books, films, oral sources), synthesize information from multiple sources, consider authors biases, analyze and interpret the information, and use textual evidence to support specific claims (Rainey & Moje, 2012). These differences in the literacy practices of the disciplines suggest that ELA and content area teachers need to provide explicit instruction about the ways knowledge is produced and communicated in content areas, the kind of literacy practices that are valued and the types of evidence that are acceptable (Rainey & Moje, 2012). c) Teach Students Text Features: It is important that ELA and contentarea teachers build students’ knowledge of textual features to prepare them to read more efficiently and effectively. Informational texts that students read contain pictures, images, graphic elements, and hyperlinks designed to help students use a variety of learning modalities to enhance reading comprehension. Consequently, textbooks across the disciplines integrate photos, charts, drawings, maps, overlays, sketches, diagrams, tables, figures, pictures, cartoons, artworks, and paintings for communication. Similarly, informational texts have other textual features such as bold, italic, font, heading, and subheading that indicate how the author structured ideas and concepts. For example, some textbooks provide key vocabulary in boldface or use overlays to provide important information about vocabularies or ideas. Hence, ELA and content-area teachers should provide instruction on how students can use visual images and other graphic information to facilitate reading in the different disciplines. d) Teach Skills Students Can Apply Across Texts and Disciplines: ELA and content-area teachers need to teach students certain skills and practices that have universal applications across disciplines, including skills for application of knowledge to real-life situations, collaboration, critical thinking, analytic and evaluative thinking, problem-solving, innovations, creativity, communication, presentation, writing argumentative essays (writing arguments to support a claim), informative/exploratory essays (informative/explanatory writing), and narrative essays (writing narratives to provide real or image experiences), and speaking and listening. Students use these skills every day across disciplines, and by teaching them how to use these practices teachers will prepare students to better read and write and construct knowledge in the different content areas.

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e) Provide Access to Diverse Text-Types: ELA and content-area teachers should endeavor to provide their students with instructional support and opportunities to read diverse text-types to help students “gain experience, build fluency, and develop a range as readers” (NCTE, 2004, www.ncte.org/positions/statements/adolescentliteracy). If ELA and contentarea teachers support students through lessons and discussions to engage in extensive reading of a range of texts, such learners can become familiar with “written language structures and text features, develop their vocabularies, and read for meaning more efficiently and effectively” (NCTE, 2004). Such reading experience has the potential to prepare students to read and construct meaning with more complex and challenging texts. Texts are used broadly here to include fiction, nonfiction, electronic and visual media, graphic organizers, films, newspapers, journals, video clips, etc. These texts provide students with opportunities to interact with their peers about texts. f) Teach Student the Vocabulary of the Disciplines: Understanding the vocabulary (e.g. technical terms or jargon) associated with different disciplines is critical to reading comprehension of informational texts. Technical terms are specialized words or expressions used in a specific discipline. Such words have precise meanings in specific disciplines. In addition, technical words are not generally used in everyday conversations. Even when some of them are used in everyday interactions, they usually have different (literal) meanings. As a result, technical words can be difficult for students to understand. ELA and content-area teachers need to teach the meanings of technical words to enhance reading comprehension. For example, teachers can preteach such technical terms by defining, explaining and discussing the words prior to the lesson. Students can also brainstorm on the meaning of the words, including talking about denotative and connotative meanings. If students comprehend technical words and use them in their own writing, then they will learn to think and write Response Journal like experts. For example, the word “tragedy” is used in day-to-day What are your own suggestions for teachers planning to implement the interactions to suggest calamity, Common Core in their classrooms? misfortune and disaster. However, in Shakespearean work, “tragedy” is used to refer to an important character, the protagonist (e.g. usually a king like Julius Caesar or Macbeth) whose tragic flaw (character defect) causes his downfall or disastrous end. Table 4 shows examples of technical terms in high school science, mathematics, English language arts, and history/social studies textbook.

Technical Terms or Jargon in the Disciplines Science Language arts x antioxidant x antonym x atom x audience x bacteria x biography x biodiversity x character x carbohydrate x characterization x biochemical x conflict x carbon x archetype x calorie x irony x catabolism x monologue x cell x literacy criticism x stem cell x lyric x poem x cholesterol x drama x chromosome x fiction x clone, cloning x novel x organism x short story x Darwinian theory of evolution x stanza x DNA x narrator x ecosystem x onomatopoeia x electron x parody x element x rhetorical device x enzyme x rhetorical question x gene x satire x genotype x setting Mathematics x Alpha – Į – A x Beta – ȕ – B x not equal  x inequality • x division ÷ x diameter x denominator x difference x ordinal numbers x positive numbers x prime factorization x prime number x even number x factor of an integer x formula x fraction x common factor x improper faction x integers x least common denominator x ratio x radius x root mean square

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History/social study x exploration x European settlers x the colonies x the revolutionary wars x westward expansion x empires x Egypt x Africa x Roman empire x classical period x civil war x civil rights x equal rights x declaration x sectionalism x abolitionist x secession x slave state x underground railroad x free state x slavery x fugitive x border states x home front

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x evolution x chemical x hemoglobin x homeostasis x hypothesis x immunology x ions Physical Education x balance x coordination x cardiovascular x pace x run x skip x leap x jump x jog x sit ups x jumping jacks x locomotor x endurance x heart rate x fitness x calories x exercise x physical activity

54 comedy tragedy theme sarcasm soliloquy stream of consciousness

Health Science x nerve x muscle x spinal cord x etiology x chronic x syncope x acute x remission x dementia x expectorate x therapeutic x prognosis x congenital x neoplasm x esophagus x Alzheimer’s disease x blood vessel x artery

x x x x x x

x radius x product x quotient x root of a number x simple interest x square root x whole number Music x monophony x polyphony x homophony x asymmetrical meter x bass x beat x chord x classic x treble x choir x composer x band x melody x instrument x meter x tune x pitch x rhythm

Chapter Two x pilgrim x indentured servant x desegregation x invasion x missionary x cash crop x citizenship Technical study x word processor x database x applications x byte x download x firewall x modem x multimedia x listserv x virus, cookies x hypertext x world wide web x back-up x alignment x flash drive x gigabyte x megabyte x webcam

muscles biceps triceps rectus nutrition serving size food pyramid trustworthiness throw catch cholesterol basketball

x x x x x x x x x x x x x anatomy armpit alternative therapy colon drug heart liver blood kidney addition adrenal aerobic x-ray

Figure 11: Samples of Technical Terms across Disciplines

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x tempo jazz harmony reggae heavy metal opera blues solo, duet ensemble hip-hop

Working with Textbooks and Other Materials x x x x x x x x x x x x x upgrade analog digital icon file sharing tool bar chat room blog podcast connection online cyberspace wikis

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g) Teach students How to use Graphic Organizers: Graphic organizers are excellent instructional tools that ELA and content-area teachers can use to enhance reading comprehension and writing and promote students’ engagement in the classroom. A graphic organizer is a visual illustration, a visual representation, or a visual impression of an abstract idea or statement. A graphic organizer provides a vividly realistic description of what it represents. In our classrooms, there are different types of learners as individual students process, organize, think, and solve problems in different ways based on the differences in cognitive and learning styles. While some are auditory, some are kinesthetic, and yet, others are visual learners. Furthermore, many students are English language learners who may need additional support to learn in the content areas. Graphic organizers are crucial in classrooms as they assist learners to develop “ways to actively and strategically interact with the authors of those texts and think about the content” (Ogle & Blachowicz, 2002, p. 268). Indeed, graphic organizers help students to – Advantages of Graphic Organizers They help students to x contextualize learning, x activate/build prior knowledge, x generate ideas through brainstorming, x facilitate learning by helping students integrate what they are learning with what they know, x organize and display ideas and concepts, x promote ability to recall information, x examine relationships between ideas, and x integrate both text and images (Ajayi, 2007; Ogle & Blachowicz, 2002). Different types of graphic organizers include character web, concept maps, semantic map, Venn diagrams, story map, K-W-L chart, plot diagram, problem-solution chart, word definition chart, cluster web, double-entry journal, and flow chart. For example, ELA and content-area teachers can teach student how to use K-W-L chart to extend learning by asking students to list what they know about the topic in the “K column” and what they want to learn in the “W column”. After the instruction, the students will list what they learn in the “L column”. At the end of the lesson, the “L column” will show what students have learned. In this way, the teacher can tap into the students’ background knowledge (what they

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already know about the topic) and build on this by tailoring the instruction to meet what students want to learn. More importantly, the activity is student-centered; it allows learners to take control of their own learning by making them active learners who are capable of formulating what they want to learn, explaining, discussing, debating, and brainstorming on what they want to learn. Such a strategy has the potential to help students develop creative problem-solving skills, positive dispositions to learning, and high level of confidence in their own knowledge and skills. K – What I know (What students know about the topic)

W – What I want to know (what students want to learn about the topic)

L – What I learned (what students actually learn about the topic)

Figure 12: K-W-L Chart

Teachers can also use double entry journal to help students analyze a passage in any discipline. The teacher will ask students to choose and write a quotation in the first column and record their reaction/thoughts in the second column. The teacher will remind students to make connections between the text and themselves (text-to-self), between texts (text-to-text) and between the text and the world (text-to-world). This interactive activity gives students the opportunity to express their thoughts/feelings and become more involved in the text that they are reading. In addition, it can enhance students’ reading comprehension and content-retention.

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Double-Entry Journal Copy short passages from the text Write a response to each passage. you are reading that are interesting You ask questions, make and important to you in this comments, analyze, reflect, column. evaluate, and interpret the passage.

Figure 13: Double-Entry Journal Graphic Organizer

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The thesis-proof graphic organizer can also be effective in helping students to analyze texts and provide evidence of their claims, as in the graphic below.

Thesis

Thesis-Proof Graphic Organizer Proof

Page in the text

Summary of the Paragraphs

Figure 14: Thesis-Proof Graphic Organizer

h) Scaffold Instruction to Give Support to Students: Teachers of ELA and content areas need to provide guided support that allows students to think and make sense of texts. Teachers also need to connect topics to the classroom life of students and help them to relate texts to other sources of meaning making (such as the classroom dialogue, students’ own resources and experiences, the Internet, websites, etc.). The dialogical element, the talk about and around textbooks, or the classroom interaction that takes the textbook as its point of departure, needs to receive sufficient attention from the teacher. In this, teachers can help students to focus on how they will use what they learn from textbooks to do subject-specific think tasks.

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In this way, teachers will provide supports that allow “students to experience success and develop or reinforce their sense of efficacy as readers as well as students who value the practices of the disciplines as these are instantiated in authentic classroom tasks” (Lee & Spratley, 2010, p. 17).

Text Types, Purpose, Language Features & Examples Students read a range of text types in and outside of school. It is, therefore, important for students to understand the different text-types and structures. Broadly, texts can be classified into fictional and nonfictional (informational, factual) text. Literary texts are texts that explore, describe and interpret human experiences. A text can tell stories of real experiences (e.g. biography or autobiography, such as Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass) or imaginative experiences (e.g. Harry Potter). On the other hand, informational texts (nonfictional or factual text) present information to inform, persuade, enlighten, or instruct the reader (e.g. textbooks). Broadly speaking, the purposes for using the English language are to describe, inform, explain, entertain, persuade, interpret, analyze, recount, negotiate, justify, guide, reflect, evaluate, instruct, motivate, and so on. ELA and content-area teachers should teach students how the different text-types serve different purposes, how texts are organized in specific ways, and how each text-type has specific language features. We summarize the main features of common text-types, purpose, language features and examples in Figure 15.

Literary text-Texts (poetry)

x x x x x x

x x x

to tell fictional stories to tell true stories to describe events, places, characters to tell a personal account to entertain, motivate to comment about life to guide, reflect to instruct to express emotion, feelings x

x x

textual cohesion (repetition) figurative language (alliteration, rhyme, imagery, hyperbole) action verbs

Text Types, Purpose, Language Features & Examples Text Types Purposes Language Features (Fiction) Literary Textx to tell fictional stories x use specific participants Types (narrative x to tell true stories x use action words stories) x to describe events, places, x use noun groups characters x use a variety of adjectives x to tell a personal account x use adverbs and adjectival phrases x to entertain x to motivate x use past-tense action x to comment about life x use thinking & saying verbs to indicate feelings and emotions x to guide x to instruct x to express emotion

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ballad, epic, haiku, jingle, limerick, lyric verse, sonnet, song

Adventure, cartoon, fable, fantasy, fairy tales, mystery, novel, historical fiction, short story, myth, science fiction, satire, legend, film script, stage play, picture book, play, television script, radio script, autobiography, biography, allegories, parody, graphic novel,

Examples of text-type

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x

to tell fictional or true stories

Discussion

x

x

to examine issues from multiple perspectives to make evidence-based recommendations

Informational texts (Nonfictional or Factual Texts) Text Types Purposes (Fiction) Description x to describe features or characteristics of a living/non-living thing or phenomenon

Drama

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x

x x x x

x

x x x

x x x x

conversation debate talkback radio letters to the editor

analysis speech observation science log entry

x x x x

variety of adjectives use action verbs use specific nouns use figurative language (similes, metaphors) use feeling verbs words that qualify words expressing value and judgment use additive, comparison, contrast words use persuasive words use thinking verbs to express a personal view use words that express causal connectives to link ideas, arguments use varying degrees of modality

x x x x

Readers’ theater, tragedy, comedy, melodrama, farce, tragic-comedy, satire, burlesque, parody, musical

Examples of text-type

direct speech dialogue verbal and non-verbal language (e.g. gesture) dramatic language

Language Features

x

x x x

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Procedure

x

x

x

Exposition

to instruct on how to do something

to explain, describe, and inform to persuade by arguing one side of an issue

x to explain why & how something occurs

Explanation

x x x

x

x

x x

x x x

x x x x x x

use nouns or noun groups (list of materials, equipment) use command words use action verbs use present tense

technical language complex sentences passive voice simple present tense action verbs use of words such as because, therefore, as a result to establish cause and effect use technical words use qualifying words use connective words to link arguments use evaluating words use modal words (must, certainly) use abstract nouns (government)

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x x

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

x x x x

political speeches newspaper editorial letter to the editor advertisement debate newspaper/magazine article press releases scientific reports textbook television shows personal letters opinion instruction how-to text (recipes, manuals) direction how to conduct a scientific experiment

scientific writings labeled diagrams spoken presentation flowchart

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x

x

Recount

Information Report

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to classify and/or describe

to retell something that has happened

x x x x x

x x x x x x x x x

x

x

technical language simple present tense action verbs use descriptive words use diagrams, charts, photos, illustrations

use words showing chronological order use clear, simple, precise vocabulary use words that express details use technical words past tense connective words use of adjectives nouns and personal pronouns words that provide details action verbs words that indicate where, how, when

Chapter Two

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

x x

diary journal timeline experiment result newspaper report historical recount diary entries interviews conversations autobiography science or history report newspaper report research assignments textbooks documentary reference book guidebook group presentation

game rules how to solve a mathematics problem

x

to summarize and respond written, visual or performance

x x

x x

x x descriptive words words that express value & judgment present tense words that express temporal sequence of events technical words words that express thinking and feeling

Figure 15: Text Types, Purpose, Language Features & Examples

Response/review

Working with Textbooks and Other Materials x x x x x x x x literary analysis personal response book & film review response to a work of art rebuttal commentary short story personal observation

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Electronic Text Rada (1989) defined electronic text as “a body of natural language which gives a coherent message” (p. 164). Others put forward a simple definition of electronic text as a text that is in a form that the computer or hand-held electronic devices can store or display on the computer or handheld electronic screen. Characteristically, electronic text is a computerdisplayable text (e.g. stored and displayed in the form of a digital text), computer-readable (display in a variety of formats), and hypertext (text is not sequential but organized in ways that pieces of information are connected). Electronic texts are generally referred to as hypertext. Rada (1989) argues that hypertexts have characteristics that distinguish them from the conventional print-based texts.

x x x

Characteristics of Hypertexts They are a database which have distinct textual units They are a semantic network which connect the text units They are electronic tools for creating and browsing flexibly through the network

Furthermore, electronic texts, unlike printed texts, allow users to integrate multimodal resources, including live-action video clips, moving images, lightening, computer-generated graphics, visual images, and sound effects for communication and self-representation. In addition, while print-based texts are self-contained and restrictive, electronic texts are hypertextual and decentralized in the sense that they link flexibly to a variety of information in multiple forms. Moreover, electronic texts can be manipulated unlike print-based texts, which are static. Providing explicit instruction about electronic text is important because contemporary K–12 students need to read diverse text-types. In particular, electronic texts create new possibilities for students to learn in the disciplines as shown in the box below.

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Electronic Texts Offer Many Possibilities for Students They offer students: x The ability to create multimedia presentations, x A choice of auditory display, x Varying visual displays, x Ability to manipulate texts (e.g. copy and paste, add to content, change the font, add color), x The ability to hyperlink to other sites with related information, x The potential to create new conventions of reading and writing, x Integrated learning supports, such as pre-reading background, images, photos, videos, articles, definitions, opinions, all serving as enrichment materials on the topic. The affordances of new media technology have brought changes to the literacy practices of students. Students have to learn to navigate different websites or homepages using different search engines. Typically, homepages or websites display an array of information. Hence, users need to apply a variety of multimodal and multimedia literacy skills to access information, including using language, overlays, icons, viewing visual images/graphics, accessing hyperlinks to texts or videos, drop down boxes, scrolling, clicking, right-clicking, moving images, sound effects, navigating pathways between and within screens, movement, typing keywords into search boxes, and avoiding pop-ups and advertisement, etc. Because of these new demands, reading and writing in the traditional texts are substantially different from hypertexts (Rowsell & Walsh, 2011; Walsh, Asha, & Sprainger, 2007). For example, students need to use these different literacy skills to access information from the website in Figure 16.

Figure 16: Sample of an Electronic Page

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Text Complexity The CCSSs emphasize the crucial role of text complexity in teaching and assessing students for college and career readiness. Literature tends to suggest that the reason K–12 students decline in reading achievement is partly due to their inability to read and comprehend complex texts. Adams (2009) puts succinctly the role of text complexity in students’ learning: “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” (p. 182). The CCSSs recognize the pivotal role of texts in developing students’ reading comprehension ability when the CCSSO (2012) argues: At the heart of these criteria are instructions for shifting the focus of literacy instruction to center on careful examination of the text itself. In aligned materials, work in reading and writing (as well as speaking and listening) must center on the text under consideration. The standards focus on students reading closely to draw evidence and knowledge from the text and require students to read texts of adequate range and complexity (http:// www.corestandards.org/assets/Publishers_Criteria_for_3-12.pdf). For teachers to help their students gain access to more challenging texts and enhance reading comprehension ability, the CCSSs provide a three-part model for determining the level of difficulty of a specific text that a particular set of students are reading. The model consists of three equally important parts that teachers must consider, based on their professional judgment, experiences, and knowledge of their students, their students’ grade levels, and the subject. The CCSSs graphically represented the model of text complexity as in Figure 2.

Figure 17: The CCSSs Model of Text Complexity Source: CCSSs for ELA & Literacy, Appedix 4

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The CCSSs define the three aspects of text complexity – qualitative, quantitative, and readers and task – as follows: Aspects of Text Complexity a) Qualitative Dimensions of Text Complexity: The CCSSs define the term as the different aspects of text complexity that are best measured (or only measurable) by an attentive human reader, including levels of meaning and purpose, structure, language conventionality and clarity, and knowledge demands. b) Quantitative Dimensions of Text Complexity: This means the aspects of text complexity such as word length or frequency, sentence length, and text cohension, that are difficult for a human reader to assess in long texts and typically measured by the computer software. c) Reader and Task Considerations: The CCSSs use the terms to refer to factors that are specific to particular readers (including motivation, knowledge, and experiences) and to specific tasks (such as purpose and complexity of the task assigned and the questions posed). The CCSSs identify the following four qualitative factors for teachers as effective tools for a qualitative analysis of text complexity in the classroom. The document implores teachers to use their professional judgment in matching a texts to reader and task. The four factors are: a) Text Structure: Texts of low complexity generally tend to have simple and conventional structures while texts of high complexity often have complex and unconventional structures. For example, simple literature texts may tell a story in chronological order while a complex literature text may tell the same story using multiple complex literacy devices such flashbacks, flash-forward, ambiguity, foreshadowing, metaphor, multiple viewpoints, and so on. Similarly, simple informational texts tend to use the common text structures; however, complex informational texts may use graphics, maps, diagrams, and charts that offer an independent source of information and that are crucially important to understanding the text. b) Language Conventionality and Clarity: Texts that use simple, literal, contemporary, and conventional English language may be easy to read for students than texts that use multisyllabic words, metaphor, ambiguity, unconventional, and technical language that students may not be familiar with. For example, technical terms in chemistry such as absolute zero, allotropy, average atomic mass, conductor, electrochemical cell, quantum mechanics, etc.

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c) Knowledge demand: Texts that are relatable to students’ social/cultural/literacy and content/discipline experiences tend to be easy for students to read while texts that are too abstract and unconnected to students’ experiences tend to be difficult to read. d) Levels of Meaning: Literary texts with multiple levels of meanings are generally more difficult for students while literary texts that have a single level of meaning may be easily accessible for students. Similarly, informational texts with hidden, abstract or obscure purpose may be difficult for students, while those with explicit purposes may be easier for students to read. Text complexity presents unique challenges and opportunities for teachers on how to select a range of appropriate texts that meet the reading level of students. Teachers must be considerate when selecting reading materials so that texts selected for reading must align with the task and purpose of reading and are appropriate to match students’ reading ability or meet the right level of challenge. If the task, purpose and text do not align, such texts may be too difficult, too simple or even unrelated to the lesson. Hence, readers may find the text challenging, boring or irrelevant.

Readers and Tasks The CCSSs note that students’ abilities to read complex texts may develop intermittently. As a result, teachers need to provide their students with ample opportunities to stretch their reading abilities and also experience the satisfaction and joy of reading. Teachers can take the following steps to develop their students’ ability to read complex texts: a) Take Students’ Individual Factors into Consideration: Teachers should consider factors such as motivation, knowledge, and experiences into consideration when choosing a text for them. In this way, a teacher is more likely to choose a text that matches the reading level of students. b) Expose Students to Texts on a Subject Across a Range of Complexity: In diverse classrooms, students are more likely to be motivated to read different text types from different disciplines. Teachers need to provide access to different texts with a broad range of complexity in the different school subjects to meet the unique learning interests of students in their classroom. c) Provide Additional Support for Students to Read Complex Texts. For example, students who are reading above the standards may need texts of higher complexity than those the rest of the class is reading. This means that the teacher must provide texts of higher levels of text complexity so that such students can continue to develop their reading ability at an

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appropriately advanced pace. Conversely, students struggling with the text the class is reading must be given support so that they can read at a gradeappropriate level of complexity. d) Provide Scaffolds to Help Students Read Texts of High Complexity: Teachers need to provide scaffolds to help students read texts of higher levels of complexity across the disciplines. Even students performing above the standards may still Response Journal need extra support in reading texts in some subjects because such What additional steps will you take to help disciplines use technical terms that your students read and comprehend texts? are abstract and uncommon. However, the goal of the teacher should be to decrease the use of scaffolds and increase independent reading.

Conclusion In this chapter, we examined the crucial role of texts in students’ reading comprehension across the disciplines. Specifically, we discussed the issues of text structure, cohesive devices, text types, text structure, discourse and text, text type and language, text complexity, types of vocabulary, and readers and tasks. Furthermore, we suggested steps that ELA and content-area teachers can take to enhance their students’ ability to read complex texts. Below, we provide practice activities to help teachers revise what they have learned in this chapter.

Practice Activities across a Variety of Text Types and Disciplines Activity 1 Instruction: Explain the features of one or more of the following eight passages in terms of (a) discipline (subject), (b) audience and gradelevel being targeted, (c) text type, (d) text structure, (e) cohesive devices, (f) discourses, and (g) technical terms (jargon). Passage #1 Harriet Tubman, born into slavery, her head injured by an overseer when she was fifteen, made her way to freedom alone as a young woman, then became the most famous conductor on the Underground Railroad.

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She made nineteen dangerous trips back and forth, often disguised, escorting more than three hundred slaves to freedom, always carrying a pistol, telling the fugitives, “You’ll be free or die”. She expressed her philosophy: “There was one of two things I had a right to, liberty or death; if I could not have one, I would have the other; for no man should take me alive...” Source: http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/zinnslaem10.html. Passage #2 Today, many of our basic needs are handled by huge, complex systems. These systems are managed centrally by large private corporations or the government. For example, our electricity typically comes from utility companies that operate across many states. Similarly, many of the fruits and vegetables we consume come from large-scale agricultural corporations in California. In contrast, with appropriate technology the person who produces a service or a product also becomes the consumer — the person who uses it. This has several advantages: for one, consumer-producers are more likely to care more about their work. As a result, service and goods are more reliable and of higher quality. Secondly, centralized systems must invest a lot of money to purchase large, complex machinery and to employ thousands of workers. Often these systems are disrupted due to breakdowns in the technology, problems getting needed supplies, or labor strikes. When this happens a great many people are affected. Breakdowns such as a power outage may also occur in communities that use small-scale, appropriate technology. But these local breakdowns are not nearly so difficult and time consuming to track down and repair as those that cover a broad geographic area. Thus, a simpler technology tends to be more reliable, and the effects of breakdowns do not disrupt so many lives. Source: http://lsa.colorado.edu/essence/texts/appropriate.htm. Passage #3 To access and edit your account information, click the ‘My Account Info’ link on the left navigational bar located under the ‘General’ heading. To change your username and password, click the ‘Username & Password’ tab and enter your current password. You can choose to change your password, password hint, username and/or email address. Click the ‘Submit Changes’ button when you are finished.

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Passage #4 3 2 and ? 10 5 b) Lori wants to buy a pair of shoes that costs $22, a pair of glasses that costs $30, and a children’s cookbook that costs $16. She has saved $28 from her allowance. How much more money does Lori need to buy all three items? a) What is the least common denominator of

Passage #5 Launched over 35 years ago, Voyagers 1 and 2 are on an epic journey outward from the Sun to reach the boundary between the solar plasma and the much cooler interstellar medium. The boundary, called the heliopause, is expected to be marked by a large increase in plasma density, from about 0.002 cmí3 in the outer heliosphere, to about 0.1 cmí3 in the interstellar medium. On 9 April 2013, the Voyager 1 plasma wave instrument began detecting locally generated electron plasma oscillations at a frequency of about 2.6 kHz. This oscillation frequency corresponds to an electron density of about 0.08 cmí3, very close to the value expected in the interstellar medium. These and other observations provide strong evidence that Voyager 1 has crossed the heliopause into the nearby interstellar plasma. Source: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/early/2013/09/11/science.1241681. Passage #6 Peter had wanted a Little Brother™ for three Christmases in a row. His favorite TV commercials were the ones that showed just how much fun he would have teaching Little Brother to do all the things that he could already do himself. But every year, Mommy had said that Peter wasn’t ready for a Little Brother™. Until this year. This year when Peter ran into the living room, there sat Little Brother™ among all the wrapped presents, babbling baby talk, smiling his happy smile, and patting one of the packages with his fat little hand. Peter was so excited that he ran up and gave Little Brother™ a big hug around the neck. That was how he found out about the button. Peter’s hand pushed against something cold on Little Brother™'s neck, and suddenly Little Brother™ wasn’t babbling any more, or even sitting up. Suddenly, Little Brother™ was limp on the floor, as lifeless as any ordinary doll. Source: http://www.strangehorizons.com/2000/20001030/little_brother.shtml.

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Activity 2: Text Features Chart The instructor provides students with specific grade-level texts in the disciplines. S/he will ask students to find the different text features in the handout. Students will then read and write the page number where they find the text features and explain why the author uses the text features. Name of student: _____________________________________________ Title of the book: _____________________________________________ Grade & Discipline of the book: _________________________________ Text Feature Page Why Does the Author Use This Text Number Feature? Headings

Bold Print

Italic Print

Font

Text Boxes

Diagrams

Illustrations

Captions

Tables

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Activity 3: Text Complexity The instructor provides texts from content areas. The instructor asks students to read the text and comment on the dimensions of text complexity. The instructor can model how to do the activity.

Category

Qualitative Dimensions of Text Complexity Write Your Comments Here

Text Structure

Language Conventionality & Clarity

Knowledge Demands

Levels of Meaning

Specify a Grade Level

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Activity 4: Comment on how the following factors affect readers Factors

Cognitive Capabilities Reading Skills

Motivation & Engagement with Task and Text Prior Knowledge and Experience with the Topic

Content and/or Theme Complexity of Associated Tasks

Write Your Comments Here (identify at least 3 factors in each section)

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Activity 5: The instructor provides texts from different disciplines and grade levels. Teacher candidates use the texts to fill out this rubric Structure (could be story structure and/or form of the piece) Simple Complex Explicit Implicit Conventional Unconventional Events related in chronological order Events related out of chronological order (chiefly, literary texts) Traits of a common genre or subgenre Traits specific to a particular discipline (informational texts) Simple graphics sophisticated graphics Graphics unnecessary or merely supplemental to understanding the text Graphics essential to understanding the text and may provide information not elsewhere provided Language Demands: Conventionality and Clarity Literal Figurative or ironic Clear Ambiguous or purposefully misleading Contemporary, familiar Archaic or otherwise unfamiliar Conversational General academic- and domain-specific Light vocabulary load: few unfamiliar or academic words Many words unfamiliar and high academic vocabulary present Sentence structure: straightforward Complex and varied sentence structures Though vocabulary can be measured by quantifiable means, it is still a feature for careful consideration when considering: Knowledge Demands: Life Experience (literary texts) Simple theme Complex or sophisticated themes Single theme Multiple themes Common everyday experiences or fantastical situations Experiences different from one’s own Single perspective Multiple perspectives Perspective(s) like one’s own Perspective(s) unlike or in opposition to one’s own

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Knowledge Demands: Cultural/Literary Knowledge (chiefly, literary texts) Everyday knowledge and familiarity with genre conventions required Cultural and literary knowledge useful Low intertextuality (few if any references/allusions to other texts) High intertextuality (many references/allusions to other texts) Knowledge Demands: Content/Discipline Knowledge (chiefly. informational texts) Everyday knowledge and familiarity with genre conventions required Extensive, perhaps specialized, discipline-specific content knowledge required Low intertextuality (few if any references to/citations of other texts) High intertextuality (many references to/citations of other texts) Levels of Meaning (chiefly literary texts) or Purpose (chiefly, informational texts) Single level of meaning Multiple levels of meaning Explicitly stated purpose Implicit purpose, may be hidden or obscure Source: Common Core State Standards for English language arts & literacy in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects, Appendix A 6.

References Adams, M. J. (2009). The challenge of advanced texts: The interdependence of reading and learning. In E. H. Hiebert (Ed.), Reading more, reading better: Are American students reading enough of the right stuff? (pp. 163–189). New York, NY: Guilford. Ajayi, L. (2007). Literacy and SDAIE Instruction: Practice activities for preservice teachers. San Diego, CA: Montezuma Publishing. —. (2009). English as a Second Language Learners’ Exploration of Multimodal Texts in a Junior High School. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 52(7), 585–595. —. (2012). How teachers deploy multimodal textbooks to enhance English language learning. TESOL Journal, 6(1), 16–35. Beck, I., McKeown, M. & Kucan, L. (2002, 2008). Bringing words to life: Robust vocabulary Instruction (2nd Edition). New York, NY: The Guilford Press.

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California Common Core State Standards (2013). Common core for state standards for English language arts & literacy in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects for California public schools: Kindergarten through grade twelve. Sacramento, CA: Department of Education. Retrieved August 17, 2013 from http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy. Ciardiello, V. (2002). Helping adolescents understand cause/effect text structure in social studies. The Social Studies, January/February, 31– 36. Department of Education. (2010). Common core state standards for English language arts & literacy in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects. Retrieved September 14, 2013 from http://www.corestandards.org/assets/Appendix_A.pdf. Dymock, S. (2005). Teaching expository text structure awareness. The reading teacher, 59(2), 177–181. Fillmore, L. & Fillmore, C. (n.d.). What does text complexity mean for English learners and language minority students. Retrieved September 15, 2013 from http://ell.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/pdf/academicpapers/06-LWF%20CJF%20 Text%20Complexity%20FINAL_0.pdf. Foucault, M. (1972). The Archaeology of Knowledge (t. A.M. Sheridan Smith, Trans.). New York: Pantheon Books. —. (1991). “Politics and the Study of Discourse.” The Foucault Effect: Studies in Governmentality. Ed. Graham Burchell, Colin Gordon, and Peter Miller. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Gaddy, S., Bakken J. & Fulk, B. (2008). The effects of teaching textstructure strategies to postsecondary students with learning disabilities to improve their reading comprehension on expository science text passages. Journal of Postsecondary Education & Disability, 20(2), 100–119 Gee, J. P. (2012). Social linguistics and literacies: Ideology in Discourse (4th Edition). London: Taylor & Francis. Henry, F. & Tator, C. (2002). Discourse of domination: Racial bias in the Canadian English-language press. Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto Press. Hirsch, E. (2003). Reading comprehension requires knowledge – of words and the world. American Educator, 27(1), 10–45. Heydari, M. & Mustpha, G. (2009). Text structure awareness: Another look at reading comprehension strategy in L2 classes. The journal of International Management Studies, 4(2), 254–258. Kress, G. & Leeuwen, T. (2006). Reading images: The grammar of visual design (2nd edition). London: Taylor & Francis.

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Lee, O. (n.d.). Integrating content areas with English language development for English-language learners. Retrieved September 15, 2013 from http://www.glencoe.com/glencoe_research/Math/icawp.pdf. Lee, C. & Spratley, A. (2010). Reading in the disciplines: The challenges of adolescent literacy. Final report from Carnegie Corporation of New York’s Council on Advancing Adolescent Literacy. Retrieved September 11, 2013 from http://www.Carnegie.org/fileadmin/Media/Publications/PDF/tta_Lee.p df. Luke, A. (1996). Text and discourse in education: An introduction to critical discourse analysis. Review of Research in Education, 21, 3–48. Mayer, B. (1999). Importance of text structure in everyday reading. In A. Ram & K. Moorman (Eds.), Understanding language understanding (227–252). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Meyer, J. & Ray, M. (2011). Structure strategy interventions: Increasing reading comprehension of expository text. International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education, 4(1), 127–152. Moje, E., Collazo, T., Carrillo, R. & Marx, R. (2001). “Maestro, what is ‘quality’”: Language, literacy, and discourse in projected-based science. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 38(4), 469–498. Moje, E., Ciechanowski, K., Kramer, K., Ellis, L., Carrillo, R. & Collazo, T. (2004). Working toward third space in content area literacy: An examination of everyday funds of knowledge and discourse. Reading Research Quarterly, 39(1), 38–70. Moss, B. (2004). Teaching expository text structures through information trade book retellings. The Reading Teacher, 57(8), 710–718. —. (2005). Making a case and a place for effective content area literacy instruction in the elementary grades. The Reading Teacher, 59(1), 46– 55. NCTE. (2004). A call to action: What we know about adolescent literacy and ways to support teachers in meeting students’ needs. A position/action statement from NCTE’s commission on reading. Retrieved September 10, 2013 from www.ncte.org/positions/statements/adolescentliteracy Nordquist, R. (n.d). Discourse definition. Retrieved September 8, 2013 from http://grammar.about.com/od/d/g/discourseterm.htm. Rada, R. (1989). Writing and reading hypertext: An overview. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 40, 164-171. Rainy, E. & Moje, E. (2012). Building insider knowledge: Teaching students to read, write, and think within ELA and across the disciplines. English Education, 45(1), 71–90.

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Rowsell, J. & Walsh, M. (2011). Rethinking literacy education in new times: Multimodality, multiliteracies, and new literacies. Brock Education, 21(1), 53–62). Shanahan, T. & Shanahan, C. (2008). Teaching disciplinary literacy to adolescents: Rethinking content-area literacy. Harvard Educational Review, 78(1), 40–59. Van den Broek, P. & Kremer, K. (2000). The mind in action: What it means to comprehend during reading. In B. Taylor, M. Graves, & P. van den Broek (Eds.), Reading for meanings: Fostering comprehension in the middle grades (pp. 1–31). Newark, DE: International Reading Association. Verdi, M., Johnson, J., Stock, W., Kulhavy, R. & Whitman-Ahern, P. (1997). Organized spatial displays and texts: Effects of presentation order and display type on learning outcome. The Journal of Experimental Education 65(4), 303–317. Walsh, M., Asha, J. & Sprainger, N. (2007). Reading digital texts. Australian Journal of Language & Literacy, 30(1), 40 – 53.

CHAPTER THREE LANGUAGE

Why Students Need to Learn English Source: Microsoft Online Pictures

Guiding Questions There is little surprise that the California Common Core State Standards (CA CCSSs) emphasize English language development because of the growing population of English language learners (ELLs) in the state and across the U.S. The California Department of Education (2013) requires students who graduate from high school to meet the English Language Arts Standards by developing “the skills in reading, writing, speaking, and listening that are the foundation for any creative and purposeful expression in language” (p. iv). The questions about language learning in general and English language learners (ELLs) in particular that we will address in this chapter are the following:

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Guiding Questions What knowledge and skills are specified for students to acquire in the domains of listening, speaking, reading, writing, and language in the CCSSs? b) What are language progressive skills? c) What are the new perspectives on language and language instruction? d) How should teachers help students develop the language skills to be college- and career-ready?

a)

The Common Core Language Standards The CCSSs set the expectations that high school graduates will be college- and career-ready by being able to read, comprehend, and evaluate complex texts across genres and disciplines; construct effective arguments and “demonstrate command of standard English and acquire and use a wide-ranging vocabulary” (CA CCSSs, 2013, p. viii). In order to build a strong foundation for college and career readiness in language, the CA CCSSs (2013) require “students to gain control over many conventions of standard English grammar, usage, and mechanics as well as learn other ways to use language to convey meaning effectively” (p. 26). In addition, students are expected to develop the language skills to “determine or clarify the meaning of grade-appropriate words encountered through listening, reading, and media use; come to appreciate that words have nonliteral meanings, shadings of meaning, and relationships to other words; and expand their vocabulary in the course of studying content” (CA CCSSs, 2013 p. 26). Equally important, the CA CCSSs state that language skills such as conventions, effective language use, and vocabulary are central and inseparable from listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Because of the crucial role of English language in all aspects of instruction and learning, classroom dialogue and social participation in the broader society, vocabulary instruction will continue to be important in K– 12 grades. The authors of the CCSSs provide expectations of what vocabulary standards during instruction should do.

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The CCSSs’ Expectations of What Vocabulary Standards Should Do x The standards expect that students will grow their vocabulary words through a mix of conversations, direct instruction, and reading. The standards will help students determine word meanings, appreciate the nuances of words, and steadily expand their repertoires of words and phrases. x The standards help prepare students for real life experience at college and in 21st-century careers. The standards recognize that students must be able to use formal English in their writing and speaking but that they must also be able to make informed, skillful choices among the many ways to express themselves through language. x Vocabulary and conversations are treated in their own strand not because skills in these areas should be handled in isolation but because their use extends across reading, writing, speaking, and listening. (See: http://www.corestandards.org/resources/key-points-in-english-language-arts)

Similarly, the developers of the CA CCSSs (2013) require students to master the conventions of English language and use the language effectively: The Language standards include the essential “rules” of standard written and spoken English, but they also approach language as a matter of craft and informed choice among alternatives. The vocabulary standards focus on understanding words and phrases, their relationships, and their nuances and on acquiring new vocabulary, particularly general academic and domain-specific words and phrases (p. x).

To prepare students for college and career readiness, the CA CCSSs define what students should understand and be able to do at the end of each grade level. The standards align with the College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Language below:

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Figure 1: College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Language

Conventions of Standard English x CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.1: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking. x CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.2: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing. Knowledge of Language x CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.3 Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening. Vocabulary Acquisition and Use x CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.4 Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases by using context clues, analyzing meaningful word parts, and consulting general and specialized reference materials, as appropriate. x CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.5 Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings. x CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.6 Acquire and use accurately a range of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college and career readiness level; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge when encountering an unknown term important to comprehension or expression. Source: Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects for California Public Schools: Kindergarten Through Grade Twelve (2013), p. 26 (grades K–5) & p. 64 (grades 6–12).

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Language Progressive Skills Figure 2 shows the matrix of Language Progressive Skills designed to delineate language skills that, while remaining unchanged in definition and concept, are expected to require continued attention in higher graders as teachers demand that students engage in increasingly sophisticated speaking, reading, and writing. What Figure 2 suggests is that the targeted skills will require that teachers continue to teach them in grade levels beyond those grades in which they appear in the Standards. Hence, teachers should consider the targeted skills as an auxiliary standard for all grades highlighted on the chart. For example, L.3.a, Choose words and phrases for effect, is introduced in grade 3 and developed in increasingly complex ways until students in grades 11-12 are able to not just choose words but vary syntax for effect. Other language progressive skills, such as L.3.1f. Ensure subject-verb and pronoun-antecedent agreement, are not mentioned explicitly in the CCSSs for each grade level but should be given continued attention. Hence, teachers should consider the targeted skills from the Language Progressive Skills chart as an auxiliary standard for all grades highlighted on the chart whether or not they are explicitly mentioned elsewhere in the CCSSs for that grade level.

No No No No No No No No

No No No No No No

L.4.1g. Correctly use frequently confused words (e.g., to/too/two; there/their).

L.4.3a. Choose words and phrases to convey ideas precisely.

L.4.3b. Choose punctuation for effect.

L.5.1d. Recognize and correct inappropriate shifts in verb tense.

L.5.2a. Use punctuation to separate items in a series.

L.6.1c. Recognize and correct inappropriate shifts in pronoun number and person.

L.6.1d. Recognize and correct vague pronouns (i.e., ones with unclear or ambiguous antecedents).

L.6.1e. Recognize variations from standard English in their own and others’ writing and speaking, and identify and use strategies to improve expression in conventional language.

L.6.2a. Use punctuation (commas, parentheses, dashes) to set off nonrestrictive/parenthetical elements.

L.6.3a. Vary sentence patterns for meaning, reader/listener interest, and style.

L.6.3b. Maintain consistency in style and tone.

L.7.1c. Place phrases and clauses within a sentence, recognizing and correcting misplaced and dangling modifiers.

L.7.3a. Choose language that expresses ideas precisely and concisely, recognizing and eliminating wordiness and redundancy.

Grade 3

L.3.3a. Produce complete sentences, recognizing and correcting inappropriate fragments and run-ons.

L.3.a. Choose words and phrases for effect.

L.3.1f. Ensure subject-verb and pronoun-antecedent agreement.

Standard

Figure 2: Language Progressive Skills, by Grade

Language

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

Grade 4

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

Grade 5

No

No

Grade 6

No

Grade 7

No

Grade 8

No

No

Grades 9-10

No

No

No

Grade 11-12

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No

No

No No

No No

No No

No No

Yes

Yes

Source: Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects for California Public Schools: Kindergarten through Grade Twelve (2013), p. 70.

No

L.9–10.1a. Use parallel structure.

Chapter Three

L.8.1d. Recognize and correct inappropriate shifts in verb voice and mood.

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Use of Skills Bunch, Kibler, and Pimentel (2012) provide a summary of what high school graduates should be able to do in the domains of listening, speaking, reading, writing, and language. Use of Skills a. In the reading domain, students must read and comprehend diverse text-types (literary and informational texts) of increasing complexity (e.g. grammatical features, vocabulary demands, multiple levels of meaning, and genre conventions) to build knowledge across disciplines from grades K–12. b. In the writing domain, students must use evidence to inform, argue, and analyze by employing logical arguments, defend their own interpretations or judgments, cite specific evidence, and select appropriate language to present knowledge gained from research for diverse audiences and purposes. c. In the speaking and listening domain, students must develop language skills to listen critically, integrate and evaluate information from multiple sources, and use multimodal resources to present information for diverse audiences, tasks, purposes, and disciplines. d. In the language domain, students must use appropriate linguistic resources, including grammatical structures, vocabulary, and mechanics of language to achieve particular academic and communicative functions, purposes, and rhetorical effects.

New Perspectives on English Language and English Language Instruction The Standards for English Language Arts have brought new challenges and opportunities for ELA and content-area teachers, ELLs, and all students in the ways that English is taught and learned in grades K–12. For example, all teachers are expected to create opportunities for ELLs to use their emerging English during classroom dialogues and interactions, and, therefore, provide them with “language-rich learning environments in which meaningful interactions with teachers and peers are fostered” (Hakuta, et al., 2012, p. 453). Hence, the CA CCSSs insist that instruction in the domains of listening, speaking, reading, writing, and language be a shared responsibility within the school. The new shift in the ways English

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language is taught and learned in K–12 classrooms is predicated on the new knowledge resulting from ongoing research suggesting that teachers should teach English to help students participate in instructional activities that simultaneously develop language use and conceptual understanding (Hakuta, et al., 2012). More recent studies have shown that certain academic and communicative practices are crucially important in teaching/learning. New research in language acquisition for ELLs suggests that: Findings of New Research in Language Acquisition for ELLs a. Discourse and social practice play important teaching and learning roles across disciplines (Lee, Quinn & Valdés (2013). b. Making connections between students’ social, cultural and linguistic resources and the tasks of specific content-areas provides ELLs with meaningful engagement with texts and learning activities (Hakuta, Santos & Fang, 2013). c. Explicit instruction that provides students with the knowledge of the language of disciplines bridges the cultural divide between students’ cultural identity and learning to use the language in the content-areas (Lee, Quinn & Valdés, 2013). d. Language learning occurs when ELLs are engaged in meaningful and interactional activities (e.g. discussions, presentations, sharing, investigations, etc.) where the students practice and use the English language for communicative purposes in the classroom (van Lier & Walqui, 2012). e. The teacher provides opportunities for ELLs to learn the language by using scaffolds in meaningful and engaging academic tasks (Bunch, et al. 2012). f. Language learning is always based on students’ agency: prior knowledge, experience, social interests, language and social practices, proclivities, and capacities that students use to participate in a broad range of valued meaning-making practices inside and outside the classroom (Kress, 2013; Walqui & Heritage, 2012). g. Language learning entails social practices, social interactions and cognitive processes as students engage in doing things using social and cultural resources (e.g. websites, the Internet, bilingualism, biliteracy, etc.) to do different things for multiple purposes and taking up different roles and identities (Bunch et al. 2012).

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The new way of looking at language, learning, and students has important implications for ELA, ELLs and content-area teachers and students. Such implications are explored next.

How Teachers Should Help Students Develop Collegeand Career-Ready Language Skills An important issue in Response Journal contemporary classrooms in the U.S. is the fact that students What activities will you do in your classroom come to the class with a great to help you understand your students’ social deal of diversity in terms of and linguistic backgrounds? Consider (a) home background experience in visit, (b) interview, and (c) observations. English and their native language (e.g. proficiency in the native and second language, motivation, age, grade-level, level of maturation, language aptitude, level of exposure to English, level of exposure to native language, home support for language learning, and prior experiences of schooling). This complex situation means that teachers must know their students on a one-on-one basis. Teachers can only know their students if they are willing to invest the time and energy to develop and maintain a relationship with them. “Know” here means that the teacher is very familiar with each student’s strengths, weaknesses, home language, background experiences, social interests, etc. Equally important, the teacher must develop the strategy to incorporate what s/he knows about students into the curricula and instruction. Teachers of all contentImportant scaffolds include areas should also use a variety of activities to provide scaffolds x teaching/learning activities include using to motivate students and students’ home languages, arouse their interests and x cognates, x modal resources (e.g. visuals, pictures, curiosity in classroom work. tables, graphs, language, etc.), Research has shown that x multimedia, wide variety of texts, when teachers use scaffolds, x technology to research topics, focusing such as instructional students’ attention on essential vocabulary modifications and targeted in texts, x explaining specific features of text teaching strategies, students complexity, learn both the English x using authentic texts, and language and the content x engaging students in meaningful faster. vocabulary activities.

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Furthermore, teachers must understand the broad diversity that characterizes the group of students called ELLs. Such understanding begins from accurate knowledge of who an ELL is. The federal government of the United States provides an expansive definition (quoted in the box below) of “limited English proficient” or English language learner as an individual with specific characteristics. Federal Government Definition of English Language Learners (A) who is 3 to 21 years of age; and (B) who is enrolled or preparing to enroll in an elementary or secondary school; and (C) (i) who is not born in the United States or whose native language is a language other than English; (ii) (I) who is a Native American or Alaska Native, or a native resident of the outlying areas; and (II) who comes from an environment where a language other than English has had a significant impact on the individual’s level of English language proficiency; or (iii) who is migratory, whose native language is a language other than English, and who comes from an environment where a language other than English is dominant; and (D) Whose difficulties in speaking, reading, writing, or understanding the English language may be sufficient to deny the individual – (i) the ability to meet the State’s proficient level of achievement on State assessments described in Section 111(b)(3); (ii) the ability to successfully achieve in classrooms where the language of instruction is English; or (iii) the opportunity to participate fully in society. Source: Public Law 107-110, Title IX, Part A, Sec. 9101, (25)

As should be obvious from Figure 3, a large number of ELLs fall into one or more of the definitions. Hence, ELLs come to school with different characteristics that teachers must recognize in order to meet the unique learning needs of an individual student. Alberta Education (2010) provides a detailed description of the characteristics of ELLs as reproduced in Figure 3. Figure 3 (next page): Characteristics of English Language Learners. Source: Alberta Education: K–12 English as a Second Language Proficiency Benchmarks.

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Figure 3 indicates some of the characteristics that ELLs Explain how the characteristics of ELLs in the are likely to show in above chart can help you differentiate your classrooms. An understanding instruction to meet the students’ learning needs. of these characteristics will help the teacher to differentiate his/her instruction in order to address the learning needs of each student. For example, a Level 1 (Beginning) student requires a different set of support than a Level 4 (Bridging) student or Level 5 (Extending) student. While a Level 1 student may need much more support using strategies such as translation, visuals, pre-teaching, manipulative, realia, graphic organizers, modeling, and hints/clues, a Level 4 or 5 student may need fewer supports in the form of discussion, cognates and graphic organizers in the areas of domain-specific vocabulary and general academic vocabulary. In addition, an understanding of these characteristics may help teachers to think of appropriate resources they need to help their students learn English as quickly as possible. For example, grouping ELLs with English-only students may provide opportunities for such students (ELLs) to interact with fluent speakers of English at school. Such interactions may provide enrichment opportunities for the students to improve their skills in listening, speaking, vocabulary, styles, registers, and interactional English. Furthermore, by understanding the characteristics of ELLs, teachers may know the emergent language capacities that students develop as they move from one state to the next, such as moving from L1 to L2, and L2 to L3, and so forth. Therefore, teachers need to know that as the students continue with their English learning progression, they are more likely to continue to develop in the two or more languages. More importantly, ELLs may not develop their proficiencies in two or more languages at the same level. Rather, ELLs tend to develop specialized functions (Valdés, Bunch, Snow & Lee, 2005) for their languages; that is, they make language choices depending on the purposes and contexts. For example, a student may use English language for academic work in the classroom while the same student uses his/her first language at home, in the school playground, and in the community. In most cases, the student’s use of the English language will not be identical to monolingual English-only students. Indeed, for many of the students, they will continue to “learn” and “perfect” English usage far beyond high school. This is an important point that teachers should bear in mind. Hence, rather than a focus on grammaticality, teachers need to focus on the broad range of language repertoires and multimodal and multimedia resources that ELLs draw Response Journal

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upon for communication for different purposes and in different contexts. Therefore, teachers should use the wide range of styles and registers that ELLs have acquired in their first language to scaffold instruction. Furthermore, by understanding the characteristics of ELLs, teachers can better appreciate their first language as a valuable resource for teaching and learning. Indeed, bilingualism is “one of the most essential competencies for incipient bilinguals (and is, in fact, valuable for all students)” (Roberts, 2013, p. 96). Teachers, particularly in elementary schools, may consider the need to help their students become literate in English and their first language. Several studies have suggested that students who are proficient in their first language transfer their skills to learning a second language. We agree with the observation of Slavin and Cheung (2005) that “reading instruction in a familiar language may serve as a bridge to success in English, as phonemic awareness, decoding, sound blending, and generic comprehension strategies clearly transfer among languages that use phonetic orthographies, such as Spanish, French, and English” (p. 274). To fully take advantage of the linguistic background of ELLs, teachers of the ELA will have to rethink how they currently teach language and literacy with a view to promoting bilingualism as a resource for supporting the reading achievement of students in their classrooms.

Conclusion Most teachers share the goal of providing effective literacy and language instruction for ELLs. Hence, the CA CCSSs specify the knowledge and skills that teachers must teach ELLs. In this chapter, we reviewed and commented on the Standards. We also provided explanation of the targeted skills under Language Progressive Skills that teachers must understand and be able to teach in their classrooms. We further discussed important new research findings about ELLs, language, literacy and learning to provide the latest theoretical underpinning that teachers should draw upon to guide their teaching strategies and classroom practices. One of the issues that teachers face in classrooms is how to understand their students. We provided a working definition of English language learners and discussed their characteristics. Furthermore, we made suggestions on what teachers can do to draw from the broad repertoires of linguistic resources that ELLs bring into the classroom for instruction. Finally, we have provided below some practice activities to help pre-service and inservice teachers review what they have learned in this chapter.

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Practice Activities 1. How many of you have traveled outside the U.S. (not to Mexico) – e.g. to Europe or Asia? a. Can you share your experiences with the class? b. What surprised you the most? c. What appealed to you the most? d. What were you disgusted at? 2. In groups of 4, find at least 2 answers to the following prompts and share your answer with the class: a) b)

What does “knowing your students” mean to you? Why is “knowing your students” important to you as pre-service or in-service teachers? 3. Explain your understanding of the statement that teachers need to affirm and support cultural values, beliefs, and social practices that students bring to the classroom such as: a) Language usage at home. b) MISSING c) d) e)

Learning of specific patterns of behavior (when, how to speak). What counts as knowledge (school vs. street knowledge). How to relate to others – elders, family members, friends, church members, etc. 4. In your group, identify 5 strategies you can use to learn about your students’ language and literacy backgrounds. 5. Think of a group of ELLs in your classroom. Look at the CA CCSSs for listening, speaking, and language Standards for the grade you are teaching or will teach in the future. What teaching strategies and classroom practices will you use to create learning opportunities for the students? 6. For bilingual teachers, what knowledge of language development (first and second language) do you think will be most effective for teaching ELLs? 7. For monolingual, English-only teachers, how can you increase your knowledge of language development (first and second language) to help you teach effectively to meet the learning needs of ELLs in your class?

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References Alberta Education. (2010). Characteristics of English language learners. Retrieved February 10, 2014 from: www.learnalberta.ca/.../eslapb/.../Characteristics_of_English_Languag e_. . . Bunch, G., Kibler, A. & Pimentel, S. (2012). Realizing opportunities for English learners in the Common Core English language arts and disciplinary literacy standards. Paper presented at the Understanding Language Conference, Stanford, CA. California Department of Education. (2013). Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects for California Public Schools: Kindergarten through Grade Twelve. Sacramento, CA: Department of Education. Hakuta, K., Santos, M. & Fang, Z. (2013). Challenges and opportunities for language learning in the context of the CCSS and the NGSS. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 56(6), 451–454. Kress, G. (2013). Recognizing learning: A perspective from a social semiotic theory of multimodality. In de Saint-Georges, I. & Webers, J. (Eds.), Multilingualism and multimodality: Current challenges for educational studies (pp. 119–140). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. Lee, O., Quinn, H. & Valdés, G. (2013). Science and language for English language learners in relation to Next Generation Science Standards and with implications for Common Core State Standards for English language arts and mathematics. Educational Researcher, 42(4), 223– 233. Roberts, T. A. (2013). Opportunities and oversights within the Common Core State Standards for English learners’ language and literacy achievement. In S. Neuman & L. Gambrell (Eds.), Quality reading instruction in the age of Common Core State Standards (p. 90–106). Newark, DE: International Reading Association. Slavin, R. E. & Cheung, A. (2005). A synthesis of research on language of reading instruction for English language learners. Review of Educational Research, 75(2), 247–284. Valdés, G., Bunch, G., Snow, C. & Lee, C. (2005). Enhancing the development of students’ language(s). In L. Darling-Hammond, J. Bransford, P. LePage, K. Hammerness & H. Duffy (Eds.), Preparing teachers for a changing world: What teachers should learn and be able to do (pp. 126–168). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

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van Lier, L. & Walqui, A. (2012). Language and the Common Core State Standards. Paper presented at the Understanding Language Conference, Stanford, CA. Walqui, A. & Heritage, M. (2012). Instruction for diverse groups of English language learners. Paper presented at the Understanding Language Conference, Stanford, CA.

CHAPTER FOUR INTEGRATING VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT INTO LESSONS IN THE DISCIPLINES

Source: Microsoft Online Pictures

Why Vocabulary Knowledge is Important in my class . . . words are not just words. They are the nexus – the interface – between communication and thought. When we read, it is through words that we build, refine, and modify our knowledge. What make vocabulary valuable and important is not the words themselves so much as the understandings they afford. The reason we need to know the meanings of words is that they point to the knowledge from which we are to construct, interpret, and reflect on the meaning of the text (Adams, 2011, p. 8).

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A high school English language arts teacher How I Teach Vocabulary Lessons I teach both academic and domain-specific vocabulary. Academic vocabulary is a school-wide campaign that involves teaching four words per week. I teach this with various graphic organizers, vocabulary squares and vocabulary flip books. All of these activities require students to create their own sentences, draw pictures, write their own definitions, and list synonyms and antonyms. The academic vocabulary is chosen based on the frequency they appear on exams like the CAHSEE [California High School Exit Examination], SAT [Scholastic Aptitude Test], and CSTs [California Standards Tests]. The domain specific vocabulary is taught based on the stories that we read in class and the skills students are focusing on. For example, inference, direct and indirect characterization. A middle school English language arts teacher

Guiding Questions Guiding Questions 1. Why is vocabulary important in English language arts classrooms? 2. What are the types of vocabulary used in the school? 3. What framework can teachers use for vocabulary instruction? 4. What is scaffolding? 5. What are the effective strategies for vocabulary instruction?

Vocabulary Instruction is Important Vocabulary development is a crucial foundation for literacy learning and a predictor of learning outcomes for all students, especially English language learners (ELLs). To know the meaning of a word means that an individual must have a full and flexible understanding of the core meaning of the vocabulary and how it changes in diverse contexts (Stahl, 2003). According to Stahl (2003), “To know a word, we not only need to have definitional knowledge, or knowledge of the logical relationship into which a word enters, such as the category or class to which the word belongs (e.g. synonyms, antonyms, etc.) . . . we also need to understand

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how the word’s meaning adapts to different contexts” (p. 19; emphasis in origin). Simply, vocabulary Vocabulary development is a crucial development refers to foundation for literacy learning and a students’ ability to predictor of learning outcomes for all understand the depth and students, especially English language breadth of word knowledge, learners. including word meanings, morphological analysis, and syntactic constructions (Beck, McKeown & Kucan, 2013; Lesaux, Geva, Koda, Siegel & Shanahan, 2008). Empirical studies have suggested that there is a strong correlation between students’ vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension and content-area learning (Adams, 2011; Blachowicz, Fisher, Hirsch, 2003; Ogle & Watts-Taffe, 2006). This is because the capacity to read and comprehend texts depends partly on the ability to understand the words used to express ideas and concepts. Indeed, Response Journal disparity in vocabulary knowledge among students is a predictor of achievement gaps in Why is vocabulary schools. Studies have shown that students important to student living in poverty start school with a very learning? limited reading vocabulary (Blanchowicz & Obrochta, 2005; Grave, August, & MancillaMartinez, 2013). Generally, students with under-developed vocabulary find it more difficult to acquire new words than their peers who have welldeveloped vocabulary. Blanchowicz and Obrochta (2005) argue that, “Students need ‘anchor’ concepts and vocabulary to learn new words, which are then connected to the concepts they already know” (p. 262). In essence, students need to develop rich and flexible vocabulary knowledge to succeed in reading, listening, writing, and speaking (Blachowicz et al. 2006; Shanahan & Shanahan, 2008). Vocabulary knowledge is crucial to reading success for many reasons. Role of Vocabulary in Literacy Learning

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Importance of Vocabulary in Student Learning x Vocabulary knowledge enhances reading comprehension if the reader understands the meaning of key words in the texts; x Vocabulary knowledge improves the use of the productive and receptive domains: listening, speaking, reading and writing; x Vocabulary knowledge enhances academic success, classroom participation and social confidence (Adams, 2011; Shanahan & Shanahan, 2008). The authors of the CCSSs recognize the importance of vocabulary to reading comprehension and learning. They require students to develop the knowledge and skills to “be able to determine or clarify the meaning of grade-appropriate words encountered through listening, reading, and media use; come to appreciate that words have nonliteral meanings, shadings of meaning, and relationships to other words; and expand their vocabulary in the course of studying content” (http://www.corestandards .org/ELA-Literacy/CCRA/L). More importantly, the Standards make references to vocabulary almost 200 times (Grave, August, & MancillaMartinez, 2013). For example, vocabulary is prominently mentioned in reading, writing, listening, speaking, and language strands at all grade levels. Furthermore, vocabulary is referenced in the English language arts section and literacy in history/social studies, science, and technology studies. More specifically, the CCSSs Anchor Standards for vocabulary acquisition and use require students to develop the knowledge to do the following:

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Anchor Standards for Vocabulary Acquisition x CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.4 Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases by using clues, analyzing meaningful word parts, and consulting general and specialized reference materials, as appropriate. x CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.5 Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings. x CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.6 Acquire and use accurately a range of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases sufficient for reading, writing, speaking and listening at the college and career readiness level; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge when encountering an unknown term important to comprehension or expression. (http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/CCRA/L)

Three Types of Vocabulary Used in School Beck, McKeown, and Kucan (2008, 2013) and the CCSSs for ELA Appendix A (p. 33–35) provide a three-tiered model of vocabulary.

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Three-Tiered Model of Vocabulary x Tier One words are the conversational/everyday vocabulary that students generally use for social interaction inside and outside the classroom. Native speakers of English are familiar with such words while English learners may have to pay careful attention to them. Such words rarely require instructional attention in school. x Tier Two words are general academic vocabulary because they are used across different informational texts. The words are used in academic texts such as informational texts, e.g. relative, vary, formulate, specificity, and accumulate; technical texts, e.g. calibrate, itemize, periphery; and literary texts, e.g. misfortune, dignified, faltered, unabashedly. The CCSSs refer to these vocabularies as “academic words”. x Tier Three words are low-frequency words. They are domainspecific words; that is they are specific to a domain or field of study, e.g. lava, carburetor, legislature, circumference, aorta. Students need to understand the words to understand a new concept within a text. Tier Three words are critical for understanding content-area texts and they are mostly found in informational texts. Such words are generally explicitly defined by the author of a text and heavily scaffolded, e.g. by including them in the glossary.

Figure 1 provides a graphic representation of Beck’s et al. (2008) concept of word tiers.

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Figure 1: The Three-Tiered Vocabulary

Conversational Vocabulary Conversational vocabulary refers to Response Journal words that students use in and outside the What other teaching activities classroom in their everyday life for can teachers use to support communication purposes during social students to learn conversational interactions. Examples of conversational vocabulary? words include: friend, rain, water, student, pencil, mom, book, school, house, car, bicycle, pizza, and many more. Typically, English-only (EO) students already know these words by the time they enter kindergarten. Similarly, ELLs at the elementary level generally acquire such words effortlessly through social interaction with their peers, TV, radio, parents, and

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community. Therefore, teachers generally do not spend instructional time teaching these words unless they have newcomers (recent immigrants) in the class or live in a linguistically isolated community where students have little opportunity to learn English outside of class. Under these circumstances, instruction should be differentiated with extra and explicit support for conversational vocabulary. Ironically, conversational vocabulary, since it is less likely to pull from Latin roots, is often more difficult for Spanish speaking students than academic vocabulary, which contains many Spanish-English cognates. What the teacher can do is to teach specific words that students are likely to use in the classroom. In addition, the teacher can put students in small groups with English-only students so that they can learn some new words from their peers.

General Academic Vocabulary and Reading Comprehension In addition to grappling with content and domain-specific words, students have to learn the vocabulary that teachers and students use in a broad range of academic texts and day-to-day academic dialogue across the disciplines. Academic vocabulary is generally school-related words that teachers and students use as the language of instruction and learning. According to Townsend (2009) general academic vocabulary words are “used across content areas, have abstract definitions, and are challenging to master” (p. 242). What is especially important regarding general academic vocabulary is that such words take on different meanings in different contexts. For example, Hiebert and Lubliner (2008) define the term as, “Words whose meanings often change in different content areas” (p. 111–112). General academic words are problematic for students because “academic words . . . are not salient in academic texts, as they are supportive of but not central to the topics of the texts in which they occur” (Coxhead, 2010, p. 214). If students do not have a basic understanding of the vocabulary used in texts or classroom discussions, it will be difficult for such learners to comprehend what they are reading (Marzano & Pickering, 2005). Beck, McKeown and Kucan (2002) suggest that native English speakers’ vocabulary knowledge can fall along a continuum such as indicated graphically below:

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x x x x x x x x

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A Continuum of Vocabulary Knowledge Never seen nor heard the word. Might have seen it but have no knowledge of the word. Have seen the word. Have a general understanding of the word. Have a narrow contextual knowledge of the word. Can define but unable to use the word in appropriate contexts. Can define and use the word in appropriate situations. Have a rich and in-depth knowledge of the word, including word meanings, morphological analysis, and syntactic constructions.

Academic vocabulary words have specific features that teachers must teach students to enhance students’ learning and use of vocabulary. x x x x x x x x x

Features of General Academic Vocabulary Words Academic words are used across disciplines. They can have multiple meanings. Their meanings differ from context to context. They are used in texts and everyday dialogues in classrooms. They include receptive and productive modalities. Academic words have Latin and Greek vocabulary. They have complex morphological words. They consist of nouns, adjectives, and prepositions. They are informational, dense and abstract words (Nagy & Townsend, 2012).

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Frequently Used Academic Vocabulary in Class Dialogues and Academic Texts Teachers need to identify and provide explicit instruction for frequently used academic words that cut across the disciplines. This is because students’ understanding of new words is crucial to reading comprehension, learning, and class participation. Therefore, questions on how to help students acquire the necessary vocabulary knowledge must play an important role in teachers’ decisions about vocabulary instruction, text selection, and learning activities (Coxhead, 2000). Coxhead (2000) provides a list of the most frequently used vocabulary in academic texts across the disciplines that teachers may teach explicitly. Table 1 shows some of the vocabulary. Table 1: Most Frequently Used Words across the Disciplines

Domain-Specific Vocabulary and Content-Area Comprehension School subjects such as science, social studies, mathematics, literature, physical education, etc. use specialized words. Different terms have been used to describe such specialized words, including domain-specific vocabulary, content-area vocabulary, and content vocabulary (Baumann & Graves, 2010). DomainOther terms used to describe specialized words specific vocabulary poses include domain-specific vocabulary, contentsignificant challenges and area vocabulary, and content vocabulary. opportunities for students to

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learn and use new words in the content areas because such terms represent complex concepts that are not commonly used in everyday conversations. Words such as crater, lava, magma, ashfall, basalt, blister, etc. are used by geologists when discussing volcanic activities but are not commonly used in everyday conversations. The challenge is that these words usually have precise meanings in geology as shown by the following examples. Crater means a steep-sided, cup-shaped depression or cavity formed by volcanic activities on the surface of the earth. Magma is used to refer to molten rock deep below the surface of the earth. Lava refers to the stream of liquid rock that erupts from the crater. Similarly, in social studies, some words have precise meanings. For example, capitalism is used to refer to a social, political, and economic system in which the means of production and distribution of capital goods are controlled by individuals or private corporations. To fully understand the term, students must also know about the free market, free enterprise, corporate ownership, capital goods, market economy, laissez faire, and socialism. In the same manner, a term such as the Underground Railroad has a precise meaning: the network of safe houses and secret passageways used by the 19th century African-American slaves to escape from slave states in the southern United States to free states in the U.S. and Canada. In all these examples, vocabulary represents complex concepts in science and social studies and students must have a thorough conceptual understanding of such terms to fully comprehend the text or lessons. In these examples, students have to understand the precise meanings of the words to be able to use them correctly in their productive (writing/speaking) and receptive (listening/reading) activities. Because of the centrality of technical terms in reading comprehension in science, mathematics, literature, social studies, and others, some researchers argue that comprehension in the content-areas is vocabulary-driven. That is, students may not understand a science/social study text/lessons if they do not understand most of the vocabulary used. This is different from vocabulary in fictional texts where students may still comprehend what they read even though they may only have a partial knowledge of some of the difficult words.

Features of Domain-Specific Words Domain-specific vocabulary words have unique features that teachers should teach students in order to help learners identify such vocabulary in

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textbooks and classroom discourse. The box below describes such vocabulary words. Features of Domain-Specific Words x They represent a set of words specific to a particular discipline. x They represent complex ideas, concepts and processes in a given school subject. x They represent abstract ideas and concepts. x They are conceptually more complex than words used in everyday social interactions. x They refer to content knowledge in a given school subject. x Teachers and students use them in academic discourse (spoken and written) to communicate. x They represent higher-order thinking (Blachowicz et al., 2013).

Rating Students’ Vocabulary Knowledge Because students’ vocabulary knowledge can vary widely, content-area teachers need to use appropriate strategies to rate their learners’ understanding of vocabularies in texts they read in class. For example, as a pre-reading activity, the teacher can ask students to read a chapter or a few pages and then ask them to respond to the following vocabulary rating chart by checking (e.g. with a 9 ) the appropriate column: Table 2: Vocabulary Rating Chart New Words

1 2 3 4 5

Never Seen or Heard the Word

Have Seen the Word

Have a General Understanding of the Word

Can Define the Word

Have a Full Understanding of the Word

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Vocabulary Knowledge and English Language Learners “ELLs [English language learners] who experience slow vocabulary development are less able to comprehend text at grade level than their EO [English-only] peers, and they may be at risk of being diagnosed as learning disabled, when in fact their limitation is due to limited English vocabulary and poor communication that results in part from this limitation” (August, Carlo, Dressler & Snow, 2005, p. 50).

The observation above by August Response Journal et al. (2005) points to the crucial role of vocabulary knowledge in reading From your personal experience as an comprehension, learning, and the ELL, university courses and/or school success of ELLs. Indeed, low student teaching, in what ways do vocabulary is a major factor in poor students’ poor vocabulary reading comprehension of ELLs. This knowledge affect their reading is because when ELLs are unfamiliar comprehension and learning in with vocabularies in a text, the general? meanings of the words, and their multiple meanings, they are less likely to be productive with contextual analysis of the material (Carlo, August & Snow, 2010). Research has shown that ELLs need to develop adequate academic vocabulary knowledge to gain access to content-area texts and participate in class discussions (Carlo, August, & Snow, 2005; Carlo, et al., 2004). For example, the average native EO student enters kindergarten knowing between 5,000–7,000 words. Similarly, the average Spanish-speaking ELL may know 5,000–7,000 words in Spanish, but a limited vocabulary in English (August et al., 2005). While the EO student will continue to learn between 3,000 and 4,000 new words per year, the ELLs gain new words at a considerably low rate (Grave et al., 2013). Consequently, Spanishspeaking ELLs face the double challenge of acquiring foundational vocabulary and then closing the gap with the EO students. Researchers agree that vocabulary knowledge is a key factor in predicting students’ reading comprehension; hence, the consequences of the English vocabulary deficit for ELLs may be severe (Snow & Kim, 2005). Indeed, many studies have indicated that large numbers of ELLs score at low levels in ELA test across the U.S. Similarly, Shorts & Fitzsimmons’ (2007) report to the Carnegie Corporation, and the National Center for Education Statistics (2005) of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) indicated that more than 90% of ELLs read below the basic levels required for success in high school. While this is not expected since ELLs who are reading at grade levels are generally

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reclassified as English proficient (EP) and no longer considered ELL, it is still a matter of concern. Furthermore, ELLs have the highest dropout rates and they are more likely to be placed in lower ability groups and lower academic tracks while they are less likely to graduate and attend university (Echevarria, Short & Powers, 2006). Underlining the persistent poor reading performance of ELLs is their low vocabulary knowledge (August, Carlo, Dressler, & Snow, 2005; Calderón, Slavin & Sanchez, 2011). Calderón, August, Slavin, Duran, Madden and Cheung (2010) conclude: “Poor vocabulary is a serious issue for English-language learners” (p. 116). The question, then, is what can teachers do to help students acquire the vocabulary knowledge necessary to participate in the classroom dialogue and read textbooks effectively and efficiently?

A Framework for Vocabulary Instruction in the Disciplines Academic and domainFour Components of Effective Vocabulary specific vocabulary instruction Instruction: is very complex, and as such, (a) Providing rich and varied language teachers need to create experiences, (b) Teaching individual words, optimal conditions for (c) Teaching word-learning strategies, and students’ learning of new (d) Fostering word consciousness words. That is, teachers must understand the basic principles of vocabulary instruction that support vocabulary learning in diverse classrooms. Graves et al. (2013) suggest four components of a framework that supports effective instruction and acquisition of new words for ELLs: (a) providing rich and varied language experiences, (b) teaching individual words, (c) teaching word-learning strategies, and (d) fostering word consciousness. We expand Graves’ et al. (2013) framework to accommodate diverse student populations in most classrooms in California and other states. The framework outlined below should help content-area teachers think carefully in designing and What Teachers Need to Do integrating a. Purposefully select words to emphasize, b. Consider students’ familiarity with the new academic and word, domain-specific c. Consider the complexity or difficulty levels of vocabulary into the new words, their lessons. d. Think of activities to connect new vocabulary to students’ prior experiences.

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(b) Connect New Vocabulary to What Students Know Teachers should start academic and domain-specific vocabulary instruction with the prior knowledge and experiences that students bring into the classroom. By connecting new academic or discipline-specific vocabulary to learners’ existing knowledge teachers can create better opportunities for students to draw on prior experiences to interpret new information in content-area texts and classroom dialogue. This point is crucial as learning does not occur in a vacuum; rather, learning new material takes place within the sociocultural environments of students. There is a consensus among literacy researchers that activating or building students’ prior knowledge is a powerful resource in learning new materials. Hence, teachers must (a) purposefully select words to emphasize, (b) consider students’ familiarity with the new word, (c) consider the complexity or difficulty levels of the new vocabulary, and (d) think of activities to connect new vocabulary to students’ prior experiences. Connecting new words to students’ prior knowledge and experiences provides an anchor with which students can connect new materials to existing knowledge in a more meaningful way. For example, mathematics teachers can use manipulative objects (e.g. paper money, cards, dominoes, Cuisenaire rods, base blocks, interlocking cubes, fraction bars, color tiles, base ten blocks, pattern blocks, symbols, etc.) to help students relate mathematical concepts to real-world situations. The teacher can ask students to use pattern blocks to identify the shape/pattern of hexagon, triangle, etc. Furthermore, ELLs bring a wealth of experience in their first language that teachers can capitalize on to build a solid foundation for vocabulary acquisition. For example, teachers can use cognates to help ELLs learn new words in all disciplines, including science, mathematics, and history/social studies as in Table 3.

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Table 3: English/Spanish Cognates

English angle circle circumference equation decimal diameter factor graph hexagon median

(b)

Science Spanish el ángulo el círculo la circunferencia la ecuación el decimal el diámetro el factor la gráfica el hexágono mediana

Mathematics English Spanish botany botánica solution solución atoms átomos biology cells ecosystem electronics equipment formulas genetic

biología células ecosistema electrónicos equipo formulas genética

History/Social studies English Spanish civilization civilización president presidente governor gobernador state Egypt history immigrants family leader economy

estado Egipto historia inmigrantes familia líder economía

Provide Multiple Exposures to New Words Teachers can help students learn Response Journal new words by creating ample opportunities for learners to practice What other teaching strategies can and use new vocabulary in multiple you use to help your students contexts. For most students, learn new words across the vocabulary knowledge and conceptual disciplines? understanding are built gradually over time (Beck et al., 2013; Grave et al., 2013). As a result, one exposure is inadequate for most students; teachers must provide multiple exposures so that students have ample opportunities to revisit new vocabulary and concepts and to relate new words and ideas to one another. Teachers need to encourage students to practice with new words across lessons and in different contexts. For example, teachers can engage students in multiple activities with new words such as laissez faire, socialism, active volcano, magma, eruption, conduit, etc. by asking the class to brainstorm, look up the dictionary definitions, find their synonyms and antonyms, and write a paragraph about each to show their understandings of the vocabulary and relate the meanings to their own lives. Similarly, teachers can use activities such as vocabulary flash cards, vocabulary posters, and word mats to provide multiple exposures to new vocabulary, as in the examples below. By interacting with new words using multiple activities and by doing something with them in diverse contexts, students are more likely to retain them in their repertoire of vocabulary use.

Integrating Vocabulary Development into Lessons in the Disciplines Figure 2: Vocabulary Flash Cards to Teach Volcanoes

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116 Figure 3: Volcano Word Mat

Source (Figure 3): http://www.mrcoley.com/flashcards/flashcards_volcanoes.htm Source (Figure 3): http://displays.tpet.co.uk/?resource=1212#/ViewResource/id1212 Figure 4: Vocabulary Poster Vocabulary Images

Definition

Use the Word in a Sentence

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Figure 5: Numeracy Vocabulary Poster

Source (Figure 5): http://abcprimaryteachingresources.co.uk/posters-chartsreward-charts-posters-and-charts/17-numeracy-vocabulary-poster-primaryteaching-resource.html.

(c)

Make the Classroom a Word-Rich Environment Content-area teachers can create word-rich classrooms to provide a learning environment where they can promote students’ vocabulary development and word consciousness. Word consciousness means interest and awareness in words and their meanings (Graves, et al., 2013). Students who develop word consciousness are more likely to be aware of the power of words, understand why certain words are used instead of others, and develop an interest in using appropriate words to skillfully communicate their ideas. Hence, helping students develop word consciousness is a crucial role for content-area teachers. For example, in a soil science class, the teacher can post important vocabulary for each day of the week on a word wall: fossil, igneous, plutonic, lava, rock, sedimentary, aphanites, weathering, and so on. The teacher can provide explicit instruction on the

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words by providing explanations, examples, and asking students to construct a paragraph using each of the words. Furthermore, content-area teachers need to model sophisticated vocabulary usage for students. A teacher can label a familiar concept and then ask students to provide a list of synonyms. The teacher, for example, can start with a word the students are familiar with, such as rock, and then provide synonyms such as boulder, stone, pebble, and gravel. Teachers can also use posters to create a word-rich classroom, as in the example below: Figure 6: Vocabulary Poster for Mathematics

Source (Figure 6): http://mrssuttonsthirdgradeadventures.blogspot.com/p/mathvocabulary-posters.html

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Figure 7: Vocabulary Poster for Science

Source (Figure 7): http://firstgradewow.blogspot.com/2013/07/science-notebookset-up.html.

(d)

Differentiate Vocabulary Instruction for Students Teachers have to differentiate instruction because each student comes to the classroom with a unique learning style, culture, learning readiness, and interest. Most classrooms in California and other states contain diverse student populations, including gifted students, learning-disabled students, ELLs, academically average students, and underachievers (Dugan, 2004). For vocabulary instruction to be meaningful and relevant to diverse students, teachers must differentiate instruction to better meet the learning needs of students in terms of what is taught (content), how it is taught (teaching methods), and how students will show their understandings (assessment). For students Response Journal performing below grade level, the teacher needs to make vocabulary Discuss other teaching strategies you concepts more concrete to will use to differentiate instruction to meet the learning needs of diverse stimulate interest and students in your class understanding. Teachers may also provide additional support such as

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modeling pronunciation for them and allowing for extra time to complete the assignment. Gifted students may learn new words quickly but the teacher can assign them vocabulary that represents more complex concepts. In addition, the teacher can ask them to relate the new words to real-life situations. Teachers can also use many teaching strategies (e.g. realia9) to differentiate instruction to meet the learning needs of ELLs. Teaching Strategies to Differentiate Vocabulary Instruction (a) The teacher allows Hispanic ELLs to use English/Spanish cognates and Spanish to label (mathematical or science) concepts with which they are familiar; (b) The teacher encourages social interactions where students have opportunities to use the words with their peers; and (c) The teacher models and scaffolds vocabulary learning using visuals, realia,1 manipulative objects, and collaborative groups.

Figure 8: Visual for Teaching Mathematical Words

Source (Figure 8): http://www.ladybugsteacherfiles.com/2010/12/mathvocabulary-cards.html. 9

Realia are real life materials, objects, and items (e.g., coins, tools, animal toys, etc.) that teachers use in the classroom to enhance students’ understanding.

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Figure 9: Word Definition Visual

Source (Figure 9): www.scimath.org.

(e) Motivate Students’ Interest with Technology Student motivation is a crucial aspect of students’ learning across disciplines and grade levels. Student motivation is used to suggest the degree to which students invest time, attention, and effort in learning (Brophy, 2004). Vocabulary learning, like all learning in school, requires sustained effort, concentration and time. Only motivated students are willing to put in the effort needed for vocabulary learning while those who lack motivation may easily give up rather than persist and put more effort into achieving their goals. We agree with Blachowicz et al. (2013) that, “All teachers need to consciously check to be sure that they entice students with their own curiosity about words and help them explore unusual, new, and interesting uses of language” (p. 14). Therefore, teachers need to (a) help students believe in Websites for Vocabulary Activity their abilities to learn, (b) x http://www.vocabulary.co.il/ provide vocabulary x www.vocabulary.com x www.freerice.com learning activities that x www.wordle.net are fun and enjoyable x www.trackstar.4teachers.org while at the same time challenging, and (c)

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design activities that raise students’ curiosity and require sustained effort. Teachers can use many resources, including technology, magazines, and pop culture to stimulate students’ interest in learning new vocabulary across the disciplines. For example, students can use websites such as http://www.vocabulary.co.il/, www.vocabulary.com, and www.freerice .com to do vocabulary games such as unscramble, wordsearch, vocabulary quiz, crosswords, word find, etc. Other fun and interesting websites for vocabulary learning include www.wordle.net and www.trackstar. 4teachers.org. The use of technology to promote Response Journal vocabulary learning aligns with the interests and cultural capital that List 5 websites you can use to contemporary students bring into the teach vocabulary in your classroom. We define cultural capital classroom as the knowledge, skills, education, literacy practices, and dispositions that students have and give them a higher status in the society (Bourdieu, 1986). Dalton and Grisham (2011) argue, “We believe that digital tools and media are available in most schools that teachers could harness now to improve vocabulary learning, tools that capture the interest of students and that provide scaffolds and contexts in which to learn with, and about, words more profitably” (p. 306). For example, teachers can scaffold vocabulary instruction by teaching students to hyperlink to websites (such as those provided above) to find vocabulary words for which definitions, cognates, translations, visual/graphic representations, video/audio clips, and example sentences are provided (Proctor, Dalton & Grisham, 2007). Most students feel comfortable using new technology because children are brought up nowadays using computers, the Internet, video games, iPads, and cell phones. The U.S. Department of Education (2010) aptly describes the role of technology in youth’s lives: “Many students’ lives today are filled with technology that gives them mobile access to information and resources 24/7, enables them to create multimedia content and share it with the world, and allows them to participate in online social networks where people from all over the world share ideas, collaborate, and learn new things. Outside school, students are free to pursue their passions in their own way and at their own pace. The opportunities are limitless, borderless, and instantaneous” (p. 4).

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Promote Vocabulary Self-Collection Vocabulary self-collection strategy (VSS) is an important strategy that teachers can use to promote word consciousness and vocabulary learning across the disciplines. This is a learner-centered strategy which emphasizes student-generated vocabulary lists. That is, students are actively involved in identifying the words they consider difficult and would like to study further. The Steps in Using VSS include the following: (a) The teacher models the process of collecting difficult words (difficult words with challenging meanings, pronunciation or spelling), (b) The teacher asks students to read and select difficult words from instructional materials, (c) Students look up the meaning or brainstorm about the meaning, (d) Students use the words in conversation and sentence/paragraph writing, (e) Students make personal connections with the words, and (f) The teacher encourages students to use the words during independent writing and speaking. (e)

Teach word learning strategies Teaching students to become independent readers who can discern the meaning of difficult words is an important task for teachers. This means that teachers need to explicitly teach vocabulary learning strategies so that students can develop a strategy for unlocking the meanings of the most difficult words on their own. Teachers can use specific teaching strategies to help students learn new vocabulary.

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Vocabulary Learning Strategies The teacher can teach students to use: (a) The context (linguistic environment of the word) to infer its meaning, (b) The dictionary, thesaurus, encyclopedia, and other reference resources to check word meanings, synonyms, antonyms, and wordusage, (c) Cognates as a bridge to learn English (particularly for languages with numerous correspondences, e.g. Spanish), and (d) Morphemic analysis (structural analysis), including root words, prefixes, suffixes, and Latin and Greek word roots to analyze new vocabulary.

Furthermore, the teacher can take additional steps in teaching wordlearning strategies. Additional Steps for Teaching Word-Learning Strategies (a) Teacher provides substantial explanation on how to use the strategies, (b) Teacher models and scaffolds how to use the strategies, (c) Teacher motivates students to use the strategies in their academic works, (d) Teacher provides timely supports as students learn to use the strategies, and (e) Teacher provides appropriate feedback either individually and/or in small groups. (f)

Promote Rich and Varied Reading Experiences Students need to master a huge number of words in order to read successfully across the disciplines. Hirsch (2003) suggests that a 12thgrade student who will do well in the SAT (the standardized test for most college admissions) has to know about 80,000 words. Stahl (2003) argues that such an enormous amount of vocabulary is learned incrementally over multiple exposures. The implication is that teachers need to help students build a large vocabulary by encouraging learners to read widely from diverse text-types with varying degrees of complexity. In particular, teachers have to find ways to immerse students in reading and writing a

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variety of genres and contexts inside and outside school, including texts and activities in mathematics, science, history and social studies. In addition, the teacher should facilitate (a) reading aloud and listening to grade-appropriate, complex texts; (b) discussion of the content in order to expose students to vocabularies in the texts; (c) independent reading; and (d) print-rich classrooms (Hirsch, 2003). Adams (2009) writes: “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” (p. 183). The challenge for teachers is how to use effective teaching strategies to help students learn new words in the disciplines. An effective step that teachers can take is to provide scaffolds for students.

Teaching Strategies for Vocabulary Development in the Disciplines Scaffolding An Overview of Scaffolding Scaffolds are the supports that the teacher provides for students to guide them to develop more cognitive and meta-cognitive skills essential for understanding a broad range of vocabularies in a given text (Short & Fitzsimmons, 2007). In the process of scaffolding, the teacher provides supports to help a student successfully complete a task s/he cannot do independently. The teacher provides assistance with only the tasks that are beyond the current capability of the student. Scaffolds include the teacher using specific supports such as pre-teaching vocabulary (frontloading vocabulary), graphic organizers, modeling, first language, manipulative, realia, prior knowledge, visual images, questioning, concrete prompts, coaching, hints/clues, suggestions, and discussion to help students unlock the meaning of difficult words (August, et al., 2005; Calderon, et al., 2011). As soon as the student develops the capacity to do the work, the teacher gradually withdraws the support to allow the student to work independently to complete the task at hand. Benson (1997) argues that “scaffolding is actually a bridge used to build upon what students know to arrive at something they do not know” (p. 127). Hence, teachers typically integrate multiple strategies to provide a supportive structure to make vocabulary instruction more comprehensible for students, especially ELLs. Scaffolding strategies are diagrammatically represented in Figure 10.

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Before reading the text, the teacher previews the reading material and carefully selects five to eight important academic and disciplines-specific vocabulary words that the students need to know in order to understand the text and participate in dialogues during the lesson. The teacher will provide supports to assist the students with the task and only withdraws the scaffold when learners have developed the capacity to complete the task independently. Figure 10: Scaffolding Strategies

Pre-Reading Supports – K and W of the KWL a) The teacher posts five to eight vocabulary words on the whiteboard or uses PowerPoint or an overhead projector to show them on the screen. b) The teacher explains the assignment to students and previews the text.

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c) The teacher passes out a graphic organizer (e.g. K-W-L chart10) to students. d) The teacher asks students to discuss what they know about each word while the teacher writes their definitions/explanations in the K-column on the whiteboard. e) The teacher directs students to fill out the K-column of the chart in their own K-W-L charts. d) The teacher leads the class in a discussion of what students want to know about each word including meanings, part of speech, morphology, etymology, usage, pronunciation, etc. The teacher writes students’ answers in the W-column on the board while students complete their column. e) If students do not provide any response, the teacher provides clues, hints, suggestions, including sentences that can help students derive the contextual meanings of such vocabulary words. During Reading Supports – Preparing for the L of the KWL a) The teacher may provide a quick review of the five to eight words to focus students’ attention. b) The teacher models reading aloud to the class and calls a student to read aloud while the remaining students read along silently from their books. c) The teacher stops the reader when s/he reaches any of the selected words; s/he asks students to guess the meaning or use the surrounding words (contextual clues) to figure out the meaning of the word. d) The teacher asks students to write down the meanings in a piece of paper. Post-Reading Support – L of the KWL a) The teacher leads a class discussion of the five to eight domain-specific words. b) The teacher directs students to fill out the L-column. c) The teacher may ask students to work in collaborative groups or lead class discussion to engage students in extended discussion of words in order to deepen their understanding of the academic and domainspecific words and build on their conceptual knowledge.

10 K-W-L chart, where “K” refers to what students know; “W” means what students want to learn, and “L” refers to what students learned after the lesson.

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d) The teacher helps students to connect the words to their prior experiences using questioning, concrete examples, cognates and/or translations (this applies in classes with ELLs). e) The teacher may engage students in additional activities such as vocabulary posters or bingo vocabulary cards. More advanced students can write two paragraphs using the selected words. Figure 11: Vocabulary Poster

Vocabulary Images Definition Word Parts Use the Word in a Sentence

Figure 12: Bingo Vocabulary Card

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Strategy 2 – A Vocabulary Poster Lesson in History/Social Science Lessons An Overview of the Strategy Posters are important visual teaching/learning tools in the classroom. Educational posters generally draw students’ attention to what is being taught. Teachers and students use posters to present information, facts and ideas not only in a visually attractive way but also multimodally; that is, they combine visual images and written texts to communicate. For example, ELA and content-area teachers can use posters to highlight vocabulary words and/or visual organization of students’ work on the wall. The Educational Technology and Mobile Learning website (see http://www.educatorstechnology.com/search/label/educational%20posters) provides excellent samples of posters that teachers can use across the disciplines. In addition, Glogster Edu (see http://www.glogster.com/ ) is a Web 2.0 tool that allows users to create their own virtual posters by integrating embedded written texts, visual images, and videos. Posters are popular with teachers because they can use them to empower students who are struggling with the English language by Educational Tech & Mobile Learning Websites: providing them x http://www.educatorstechnology.com/search/label/ed ucational%20posters opportunities to make x http://www.glogster.com posters, and hence, expand their possibilties for textual analysis, vocabulary learning, and construction of personal responses to complex texts. Selfe (2009) argues that teachers “need to pay attention to, and come to value, the multiple ways in which students compose and communicate meaning, the exciting hybrid, multimodal texts they create – in both nondigital and digital environments – to meet their own neds in a changing world” (Selfe, 2009, p. 642). Key Components of Vocabulary Posters The box below shows the components of a vocabulary poster.

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Components of a Vocabulary Poster x The teacher should design posters to peak students’ motivation, interest, and curiosity to learn more about the topic being taught. x The teacher should use posters as a springboard for discussion of a topic the class is studying. x The teacher asks students to use the posters to share their knowledge of the topic under discussion. x The teacher prompts students to focus on the multimodal posters (e.g. combining visual images and written texts). x The teacher must require students to synthesize information from multiple sources, including class dialogues, textbooks, the Internet, websites, and experiences. x The teacher must use posters to emphasize key vocabulary and important content. Pre-Reading Activity a) The teacher designs posters that are large. b) The teacher prepares visual and written texts that are simple and bold. c) The teacher makes posters that are self-explanatory. d) The teacher selects images, illustrations, graphs, photographs, or charts that support the focus of the lesson. During Instruction The teacher introduces the topic – The Greek Roots of Democracy – to students. The teacher uses scaffold strategies to prepare students to read the history textbook and discuss the concepts and ideas in the chapter. a) The teacher previews the topic to build/activate students’ prior knowledge and experiences about the Greeks and democracy. b) The teacher posts on the board and explains the content objectives and state standards. c) The teacher posts on the board and explains the language objective and standards (see below): English-Language Arts Standards for the Lesson CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.4 Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases by using context clues, analyzing meaningful word parts, and consulting general and specialized reference materials, as appropriate.

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d) The teacher selects some domain-specific and general academic words that students need to know in order to understand the text and participate in class discussion of the text using appropriate terminologies. S/he selects the following domain-specific words: Greek, city-state, democracy, legislature, monarchy, aristocracy, tyrant, and classical age. S/he also chooses general academic words: founded, criticize, maintain, consequently, creative, instead. e) The teacher reads out the vocabulary words and asks students to define and/or explain them. The teacher writes the students responses on the whiteboard. d) The teacher provides a definition and/or explanation of the words the students do not know. e) The teacher directs students to read the text and jot down the meanings of the selected words as they read. During Post-Reading a) The teacher engages the students in a guided discussion after reading the text to expand the initial definitions and provide further explanation of the words. b) The teacher divides the students into small groups to do a vocabulary poster with the words. The teacher leaves the model vocabulary poster on the whiteboard (see example below). c) After finishing with the vocabulary poster, each group will present its work to the class.

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Figure 13: Example of Vocabulary Poster Monarchy

Definition: This is a form of government in which supreme power is vested in a king or queen. Etymology: Greek word monarkhia, meaning “absolute rule” or “rule of one.” Synonyms: Kingdom Source: Microsoft Online Pictures

Strategy 3: Semantic Mapping An Overview of Semantic Mapping Semantic mapping is a visual and cognitive strategy which allows teachers and their students to graphically display words that are related to one another in categories. The strategy allows students to conceptually explore their understandings of a new vocabulary by mapping it with related words or phrases that share similar meaning to the new vocabulary. Johnson, Pittelman and Heimlich (1986) defined semantic mapping as “a categorical structuring of information in graphic form” (p. 779). Semantic mapping affords students opportunities to display and explain the interand intra-relationships among words and among words and phrases. In

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addition, the strategy helps students connect new words with their background knowledge (Johnson, et al., 1986). According to Johnson et al. (1986), semantic mapping not only allows for visual representation of knowledge, it helps students to categorize words and depict key words graphically, allowing students to organize and integrate new learning. Semantic mapping is particularly useful for vocabulary development lessons in the content areas as it allows students to deepen their understanding of new vocabularies including concept knowledge, multiple meanings, and word relationships. According to Johnson et al. (1986), through semantic mapping, “students are given the opportunity to learn the meanings and uses of new words and new meanings for known words” (p. 780). Key Components of Semantic Mapping Instruction: x The teacher and student focus on a few key words to be taught. x Ideas generated by the students should help to expand and explain the new word. x The teacher must model the semantic mapping activity for students. x The teacher provides guided practice so that s/he can offer support for students. x The teacher forms collaborative small groups for students to construct semantic mapping so that they can learn from one another and have opportunities to practice the vocabularies. x The teacher must provide opportunities for students to engage in independent practice to deepen their conceptual knowledge of the words. Procedure for Semantic Mapping Instruction A teacher can use the following instructional sequence to teach semantic mapping: Pre-Reading Activities The teacher selects key words crucial to understanding the topic to be learned prior to the lesson. The words must be foundational to understanding the text the class is about to read and central to participation in class dialogue. Modeling Activity x The teacher writes selected words on the whiteboard, overhead transparency or PowerPoint. x The teacher distributes a copy of semantic mapping to all students.

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x The teacher leads a whole-class discussion focusing on the key word. x The teacher encourages students to brainstorm and suggest related words. x The teacher models how to fill out semantic map by writing a few synonyms on the screen. x The teacher calls students to provide related words to the complete semantic map as in Figure 14. Figure 14: Example of Semantic Map

The Guided Practice (During Reading) x The teacher calls on students to read aloud the assigned text to the class. x The teacher selects key words and writes then on the whiteboard, PowerPoint or overhead transparency as students read aloud. x The teacher passes out another semantic map chart. x The teacher asks students to brainstorm and come up with related words. The students can re-read the text to find related words. x The teacher encourages students to think of synonyms and write them down on a piece of paper. If students come up with words that are not synonyms, the teacher prompts them with definitions and examples that will help them realize why the words are wrong.

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Independent Practice (After Reading) x The teacher divides students into small groups. x The teacher selects some key words from the text that students are reading, assigns each group a new word, and asks the group to construct a semantic map of the word. x The teacher continues to provide supports including displaying the example (constructed by the class) on the whiteboard for all students to see. x The teacher goes around the class to provide the assistance that each group may need. x Each group shares its work in the front of the class while the other groups make comments and ask questions. x The teacher provides specific suggestions on how each group can categorize their words and expand and integrate related words. Applying Semantic Mapping to mathematics and social studies In mathematics and social studies lessons, the teacher prepares students to use semantic maps to unlock the meanings of specific words. For example, in a lesson for pre-service teachers in the course titled Skills in Teaching Reading in Secondary School: x Candidates formed a group according to their disciplines (mathematics or social studies). x The instructor provided each group photocopies of high-school textbooks in the disciplines. x The instructor selected “equation” for mathematics candidates and the phrase “the cold war” for social-science candidates. x The instructor asked the candidates to brainstorm in groups to write the definitions of the words, related words, characteristics and provide an illustration. x The instructor went around the class as each group brainstormed, discussed, and agreed on related words to use for its semantic map. The instructor provided comments to guide their discussions. x Each group came to the front of the class to share their semantic maps with the class.

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Fig. 15: Mathematics Candidates’ Semantic Map

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Fig. 16: Social Science Semantic Map

Strategy 4: Semantic Feature Analysis (SFA) An Overview of SFA Semantic feature analysis (SFA) is an important strategy that teachers can use to increase their students’ vocabulary in specific content areas. By learning to analyze the features of a vocabulary, students can develop a deeper understanding of key words that relate to the content that students will read in the textbook or discuss during class (Ander & Bos, 1986). Fisher and Blachowicz (2007) argue that SFA strategy is a “useful tool that reinforces the idea that specific characteristics distinguish words within a category” (p. 9). To understand academic texts and participate effectively in class dialogue, students need to acquire the conceptual understanding of vocabularies in the topic and content area. SFA helps students build the strategy to unlock vocabulary by developing the knowledge of related content words and concepts. For example, students will identify the features of a key word and examine how its characteristics

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may be shared by other words. According to Ander and Bos (1986) SFA “enables students to learn the relationships between and among the conceptual vocabulary and the major ideas in the text. That is, instead of treating all words as equal in value, emphasis, and conceptual level (as the word list suggests), students interact with words that are functionally and conceptually related and differ in their degree of abstraction” (p. 611). SFA is particularly effective in teaching vocabulary because it allows students to (a) visualize the relationship among vocabulary words and among concepts, (b) build bridges between new words they are learning and words they already know, and (c) reinforce vocabulary and characteristics they are learning. Applying Semantic Feature Analysis to lessons Teachers must prepare students to understand key content words learners will encounter when reading or discussing academic topics. SFA is one of the strategies that teachers can use to prepare students. Teachers can use the strategy by following the steps outlined below. Pre-Reading Activity x The teacher thoroughly reads the texts (prior to a lesson) and determines the content words that students will need to learn to successfully read the materials and participate in follow-up discussions. x The teacher selects a few key words from the text that students will read and analyze. x The teacher writes the key words on a whiteboard, PowerPoint or overhead transparency. x The teachers and students jointly list the features of the word as in the example below. x The whole class discusses each word as the teacher reads it aloud. x The teacher constructs a matrix similar to Figure 17. x The teacher models how to fill out the matrix for students; the teacher can ask students to discuss how the key words relate to the feature in the matrix.

Integrating Vocabulary Development into Lessons in the Disciplines Figure 17: Semantic Feature Analysis

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During Reading Practice x The teacher asks students to read the chapter in their textbook. x The teacher asks students to work in small groups to discuss the features of selected content words. x The teacher leads the class in a discussion of the features of the key words selected by the teacher. x The teacher provides each group a new matrix. x Each group works to fill out the matrix while the teacher provides group assistance. Independent Practice (after Reading) x The teacher asks students to work in small groups while s/he passes out a new matrix. x The teacher continues to lead the whole class in discussion regarding key content words as students work on Figure 18. Figure 18: Student Produced Semantic Feature Analysis (English language arts)

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Strategy 4: Cognates An Overview of Cognate Strategy Cognates are two words in two languages that have similar meanings, as well as similar pronunciations and/or orthographies (August, et al., 2005). English and Spanish share many vocabulary words because Spanish is a Latin-based language and the English language borrowed heavily from Latin and Old French. People jokingly refer to the two languages as “cousins” because they have so many words in common. Both English and Spanish belong to the Indo-European languages. Some archeologists suggest that Indo-European languages are offspring of an ancient unrecorded language, spoken some 5,000 years ago in the geographical area known today as the Black Sea. Researchers speculate that the language split into numerous languages, including Greek, French, Italian, Portuguese, Irish, Welsh, English, German, Dutch, Armenian, Russian, etc. English and Spanish (and all these languages) have a lot of cognates that teachers can tap into to help Spanish-speaking ELLs acquire new vocabulary in English. Bravo, Hiebert and Pearson (2007) argue that Spanish-English cognates are a part of “fund of knowledge” that Spanishspeaking children bring to school and that teachers should capitalize on such resources to “bridge community with classroom ways of knowing” (p. 147). By highlighting cognate as a strategy for teaching Spanishspeaking ELLs, teachers can have opportunities to help students identify conceptually challenging words in content-area texts and use students’ knowledge of cognates as a resource for learning. For example, Spanish ELLs can use their knowledge of Spanish words to identify, name, interpret and use English vocabularies across the disciplines (August, Carlo, Dressler & Snow, 2005). Why Cognates Are Important for ELLs x When students use their knowledge of cognates, they learn vocabulary faster and do better in vocabulary tests (Ramirez, Chen & Geva, 2010). x Explicit instruction of cognates allows teachers to capitalize on bilingual and bicultural students’ existing knowledge and enhance their classroom participation. x Bilingual and illiterate individuals generally have heightened metalinguistic awareness and language knowledge that enhance their skills when using linguistic processes in second language reading comprehension (Ramirez, Chen & Geva, 2010).

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x Using cognate strategy shows bilingual students that the teacher recognizes and accepts their first language and that they can use it as a bridge to learning a new language (e.g. English). Procedure for Cognate Strategy Teachers in diverse classrooms in California and other states in the U.S. should ensure that academic texts that students read and follow-up dialogues that they engage in contain some cognates. Such teachers can take some steps to use their students’ knowledge of cognates as a resource for instruction: Before Reading Activity x The teacher reads the text prior to the lesson to identify conceptually challenging words or key terms that will be introduced to students using the English-Spanish cognate strategy (or cognates in other languages such as French, Italian, German, Russian, etc.) x The teacher decides on an appropriate activity to teach cognates in context. x The teacher designs the activity based on students’ grade levels and their knowledge of the first and second languages. x The teacher makes available resource materials such as EnglishSpanish dictionaries for students who may need them. During Reading Activity x The teacher asks students to brainstorm on the meaning of cognates. x The teacher explains the four categories of cognates: (a) words with exact spelling in the two languages; (b) words with similar (not exact) spelling; (c) words that share the same root; and (d) words with similar sounds, though different spellings. x The teacher may introduce students to the graphic organizer in Figure 19. x The teacher models how to identify cognates and fill out the graphic organizer for students.

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Figure 19: Types of Cognates

Spanish/English words with exact spelling

Spanish/English with similar spelling

Spanish/English words sharing the same root

Spanish/English words with similar sounds

x The teacher reads the text aloud to the class while students identify cognates. x Students copy the words in the worksheets. x The teacher asks students to work in pairs to discuss and figure out the meaning of the key terms. x The teacher engages the students in a whole-class activity with the content and vocabulary. x The teacher clarifies content words that have no cognates.

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Independent Work x The teacher asks students to work independently in small groups to finish reading the text and identify eight to ten key words that are conceptually challenging and determine their cognates in Spanish. x The teacher reminds students to use their knowledge of Spanish cognates to unlock the meanings of the words. After Reading Activity x The teacher asks students to share their cognates and meanings with the class. x The teacher reviews the lesson to determine what students understand and what they struggle with. x The teacher may ask students to copy the new cognates in a vocabulary journal. x The teacher may also ask the students to make a vocabulary poster (using the graphic organizer in Figure 19), a cognate dictionary, or a cognate word wall. My Experience of Learning English with Vocabulary SelfCollection Strategy Learning English in Nigeria in the 70s when I was in high school was very difficult. Most schools did not have well-prepared English language teachers. In addition, English language was only used in the classroom; at home and on the street, people spoke the local language to conduct everyday business. I devised my own strategy to learn English words. I read voraciously. By my 3rd year in high school, I had read nearly all the books in the African Writers Series.1 I wrote down every new word, idioms, and expressions in an exercise book and copied their meanings from the dictionary. I then memorized the words, idioms, and expressions and their meanings. Every opportunity I had, I practiced the words on all my classmates – essentially to show off my English language skills. Throughout my high school I was the best student in my class in English and literature. I went to university to study English Education. It was very much later that I found out that the method I used in high school to learn English vocabulary had a name: Vocabulary Self-Collection.

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Strategy 5: Vocabulary Self-Collection An Overview of Vocabulary Self-Collection Strategy Vocabulary self-collection strategy (VSS) is a student-centered strategy in which learners are encouraged to “find words in their own environment and to determine the meaning as best as they can from context” (Haggard, 1986, p. 635). The goal of the VSS is to motivate students to become word-conscious and develop positive dispositions to collecting words for reading and writing. Ruddell (2005) argues that the VSS enhances students’ learning of new vocabulary words by promoting a “long-term acquisition and development of the vocabulary of academic disciplines” with the goal of incorporating “new content words into students’ working vocabularies” (p. 166). VSS involves students reading a given text and identifying specific words they want to study further. To use the strategy, the teacher instructs students to write down (a) some words, (b) where the words are found, (c) contextual definitions of the words, and (d) why the word is important and should be learned (Haggard, 1986). Haggard (1986) argues that this activity is effective for vocabulary instruction because of “its use of student generated word lists and its emphasis on students’ personal experience and world knowledge” (p. 635). Equally important, students need to learn huge volumes of complex content words from the different fields inside and outside the school. It is practically impossible for teachers to teach all the vocabulary words that students will encounter in their reading. Therefore, it is imperative for students to learn a strategy such as VSS that promotes word consciousness and enhances independent word learning. VSS has the potential to develop students’ interest and curiosity in learning words. According to Haggard (1986), VSS is critical to developing active and positive dispositions to word learning as, “It stimulates interest and enthusiasm, builds upon and expands word knowledge, and establishes independent learning behaviors” (p. 642). The Benefits VSS x Students are more likely to learn new words when they perceive the need to know them; that is, when they are driven by internal motivation. x Words that relate to students’ experiences are easily and quickly mastered by learners. x Self-collection of new words enhances students’ sensitivity and positive dispositions toward vocabulary self-collection.

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x Vocabulary self-collection can lead to enjoyment in word learning. x VSS stimulates vigorous discussion among students when they work in small groups. x VSS enhances students’ enthusiasm and independent word learning. Procedure for Teaching VSS Preparation before Reading x The teacher previews the text prior to a lesson to make sure it is gradelevel appropriate. x The teacher makes available enough dictionaries for students who may want to use them. x Students must have experience in using dictionaries to find meanings and synonyms. x The teacher reviews dictionary basics such as using guide words at the top of the page and how to select the appropriate meaning from multiple definitions. During Reading x The teacher previews the VSS to ensure that students are consciously learning to use it. x The teacher models the VSS processes by reading aloud a short passage to the class and identifies complex content words or phrases. x The teacher writes the word on the whiteboard or overhead projector. x The teacher defines the word for the class. x The teacher leads a whole-class discussion of the word. x The teacher uses a graphic organizer (e.g. Figure 20) to guide students’ discussion.

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Figure 20: Vocabulary Self-Collection Strategy Chart

New Word

Page

Contextual Definition

Why the Word is Important

Personal Experience with the Word

Independent Work (During the Lesson) x The teacher breaks the class into small groups. x The teacher assigns the groups to read some passages and identify five (or more) key vocabulary words. x The teacher passes out a copy of the graphic organizer (e.g. Figure 20) to guide students’ discussions. x The teacher goes round the class to provide assistance and focus students’ discussions when necessary. x The teacher asks each group to come to the front of the class and present its work. x The class members ask questions and make comments as feedback to presenters. After Reading (Individual Practice) x The teacher asks students to find and select additional key words in the text to study. x The teacher directs students to use technology to find meanings of new words. For example, Daily Buzzword (https://www.google.com/#q= daily+buzzword) offers Word of the Day and Build your own Dictionary sites as well as dictionary, thesaurus and rhyming searches.

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Figure 21: Daily Buzzword at Word Central

x Students use the vocabulary self-collection chart (Figure 22) to keep track of their new words. x The teacher asks three students to come to the front of the class to present their work. Figure 22: Vocabulary Self-Collection Chart

New word: Page where I found the word: What I think the word means in the text: Why I think we should learn the word: My personal experience with the word:

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Conclusion Vocabulary knowledge plays a foundational role in reading comprehension across the disciplines. The authors of the CCSSs emphasize the centrality of vocabulary knowledge to reading comprehension and learning across the content areas when they suggest that teachers should use vocabulary instruction to prepare students to develop deep understanding of general academic and domain-specific words. Indeed, there is a consensus among literacy researchers that the more vocabulary words students understand, the greater their chances of comprehending texts and participating in classroom dialogues. In essence, when students master large ranges of vocabulary they are more likely to succeed in reading a broad range of texts and developing the linguistic and literacy facilities to enhance their productive (e.g. writing and speaking) and receptive (e.g. listening and reading) skills. While it is difficult to point to one particular teaching method as the most effective strategy for vocabulary instruction, emerging findings from empirical research have suggested that some specific instructional strategies can help a majority of students make good progress in learning new vocabulary words. In this chapter, we discussed such effective teaching strategies and provided concrete and practical hands-on activities for teachers seeking to develop strong vocabulary instruction to help their students learn across the disciplines. Similarly, the follow-up assignments at the end of the chapter are also designed to extend preservice and inservice teachers’ learning with rich activities that are engaging, easily accessible, fun, and interesting.

Practice Activities across the Disciplines To follow up on the techniques and information introduced in this chapter, we have included six graphic organizers for you to photocopy and use with your students. The KWL chart is good for use at the beginning of a unit. The vocabulary posters are a good culminating activity to reinforce key words and concepts. Semantic maps and feature analysis lend themselves to in-depth study during the unit while cognates and vocabulary self-collections are individualized strategies that can form good habits for continued study. When deciding which to use, consider where you are in the unit, the characteristics and needs of your students, and which one would be most suited to the types of words you will be working with. The strategy then needs to be modeled for the students, with guided practice to give them some immediate feedback on whether they are doing it

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correctly. Once all students are secure, they can continue independently or in groups. For long term retention, the vocabulary should later be reviewed or integrated into future work. K-W-L Chart The teacher selects some domain-specific vocabulary or general academic vocabulary (e.g. democracy, analyze, chromosome, setting, diameter, exploration, and cardiovascular). Name: _____________________________________________ Subject: ____________________________________________ Word: _____________________________________________ Know: what do I already know about the topic?

What: what do I want to learn from this lesson?

Learn: what do I actually learn from this lesson?

Vocabulary Posters The teacher assigns students to create a poster representing a selected vocabulary word. The poster should include the word, picture/graphic representing the word, word definition and one sentence to show students’ understanding of the word and its correct usage. The teacher selects a specific word such as virus, bacteria, disease, pathogen, germ, etc. for the activity.

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Name: _____________________________________________ Subject: ____________________________________________ Word: _____________________________________________ Word Picture/graphic

Word definition

One sentence

Semantic Mapping The teacher selects some vocabulary words (general academic words and domain-specific vocabulary) that students will need to understand in the present lesson. Students can work individually or in small groups to generate the meanings of a word. Students write the new word in the middle and write their meaning in the surrounding boxes Name: _____________________________________________ Subject: ____________________________________________ Word: ______________________________________________

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Semantic Feature Analysis The teacher selects specific vocabulary words that students will work with from the passage the class is about to read. S/he explains how to fill in the grid. For example, the teacher explains that each student will write new words in the left column of the grid and list the features of the words across the top. If a word in the left column is associated with a feature, students will mark X where the column and row intersect and if the word is not associated with a feature, students will mark the symbol – (a minus sign) in the space. Name: _____________________________________________ Subject: ____________________________________________ Word: _____________________________________________

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Features

Features

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Features

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Cognates The teacher directs students to read a passage or chapter. As students read, the teacher asks them to sort English/Spanish cognates into appropriate columns of the chart. Students will sort the cognates based on whether they have exact spelling, similar spelling, the same root and/or similar sounds. Name: _____________________________________________ Subject: ____________________________________________ Word: _____________________________________________

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Spanish/English words with exact spelling

Spanish/English with similar spelling

Spanish/English words sharing the same root

Spanish/English words with similar sounds

Vocabulary Self-collection The teacher asks students to read a text and find four difficult words. S/he asks each student to fill out the box below. Name: _____________________________________________ Subject: ____________________________________________ Word: _____________________________________________

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New word

New word

New word

New word

Dictionary meaning Contextual meaning Use word in a sentence Dictionary meaning Contextual meaning Use word in a sentence Dictionary meaning Contextual meaning Use word in a sentence Dictionary meaning Contextual meaning Use word in a sentence

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References ABC Primary Teaching Resources. (n.d.). Numeracy Vocabulary Poster. Retrieved February 14th, 2014 from http://abcprimaryteachingresources.co.uk/posters-charts-reward-chartsposters-and-charts/17-numeracy-vocabulary-poster-primary-teachingresource.html. Adams, M. J. (2009). The challenge of advanced texts: The interdependence of reading and learning. In E. H. Hiebert (Ed.), Reading more, reading better. New York, NY: Guilford. —. (2011). Advancing our students’ language and literacy: The challenge of complex texts. American Educator, Winter 2010–2011, 3–11. Anders, P. & Bos, C. (1986). Semantic feature analysis: An interactive strategy for vocabulary development and text comprehension. Journal of Reading, 29(7), 610–616. August, D., Carlo, M., Dressler, C. & Snow, C. (2005). The critical role of vocabulary development for English language learners. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 20(1) 50–57. Baumann, J. & Graves, M. (2010). What is academic vocabulary? Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 54(1), 4–12. Beck, I., McKeown, M. & Kucan, L. (2002). Bringing words to life: Robust vocabulary instruction. New York, NY: The Guilford Press Beck, I., McKeown, M. & Kucan, L. (2013). Bringing words to life: Robust vocabulary Instruction (2nd Edition). New York, NY: The Guilford Press. Benson, B. (1997). Scaffolding (Coming to Terms). English Journal, 86(7), 126-127. Blachowicz, C. & Obrochta, C. (2005). Vocabulary visits: Virtual field trips for content vocabulary development. The Reading Teacher, 59(3), 262–268. Blachowicz, C., Fisher, P., Ogle, D. & Watts-Taffe, S. (2006). Vocabulary: Questions from the classroom. Reading Research Quarterly, 41(4), 524–539. Blachowicz, C. & Fisher, P. (2007). Teaching how to think about words. Voices from the Middle, 15(1), 6–12. Blachowicz, C., Fisher, P. (2010). Teaching vocabulary in all classrooms (4th Ed.). New York, NY: Allyn & Bacon. Blachowicz, C., Fisher, P., Ogle, D. & Taffe, S. (2013). Teaching academic vocabulary K–8: Effective practices across the curriculum. New York, NY: Guilford Press.

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Bourdieu, P. (1986). The form of capital. In J. E. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of theory of research for the sociology of education. New York, NY: Greenwood Press. Bravo M. A, Hiebert, E. H. & Pearson, P. D. (2007). Tapping the linguistic resources of Spanish-English Bilingual: The role of cognates in science. In R. K. Wagner, A. E. Muse & K. R. Tannenbaum (Eds.), Vocabulary acquisition: Implications for reading comprehension. New York, NY: The Guilford Press. Brophy, J. (2004). Motivating students to learn (2nd Ed.). Mahwah, New Jersey, NJ: Erlbaum. Calderón, M., Slavin, R. & Sanchez, M. (2011). Effective instruction for English language learners. Retrieved May 21, 2012 from www.futureofchildren.org. Carlo, M., August, D., McLaughlin, B., Snow, C., Dressler, C., Lippman, D., Lively, T. & White, C. (2004). Closing the gap: ddressing the vocabulary needs of English-language learners in bilingual and mainstream classrooms. Reading Research Quarterly, 39(2), 188–215. Carlo, M., August, D. & Snow, C. (2010). Sustained vocabulary-learning strategy instruction for English-language learners. In Hiebert, E. & Kamil, M. (Eds.), Teaching and learning vocabulary: Bringing research to practice (137–153). New York, NY: Routledge. Coxhead, A. (2000). A new academic word list. TESOL Quarterly, 34(2), 213–238. Dalton, B. & Grisham, D. (2011). eVoc strategies: 10 ways to use technology to build vocabulary. The Reading Teacher, 64(5), 306–317. Dugan, C. (2004). Strategies for building academic knowledge vocabulary in mathematics. New York, NY: Shell Education. Echevarria, J., Short, D. & Powers, K. (2006). School reform and standards-based education: A model for English language learners. The Journal of Educational Research, 99(4), 195–210. Haggard, M. R. (1986). The vocabulary self-collection strategy: Using students’ interest and world knowledge to enhance vocabulary growth. Journal of Reading, 29(7), 634 0–642. Hirsch, Jr. E. D. (2003). Reading comprehension requires knowledge – of words and the world: Scientific insights into the fourth-grade slump and nation’s stagnant comprehension scores. American Educator, 27(1), 10–44. Johnson, D., Pittelman, S. & Heimlich, J. (1986). Semantic mapping. The Reading Teacher,39(8), 778–783. Lesaux, N., Geva, E., Koda, K., Siegel, L. & Shanahan, T. (2008). Development of literacy in second-language learners. In August, D. & .

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Shanahan, T. (Eds.), Developing reading and writing in secondlanguage learners (27–59). New York, NY: Routledge. Marzano, R. J., & Pickering, D. J. (2005). Building Academic Vocabulary: Teacher's Manual. Alexandria, VA: ASCD Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Nagy, W. & Townsend, D. (2012). Words as tools: Learning academic vocabulary as language acquisition. Reading Research Quarterly, 47(1), 91–108. National Center for Education Statistics (2005). The Nation’s Report Card: 12th-grade reading and mathematics 2005 – National Assessment of Educational Progress. U.S. Department of Education: Institute of Education Sciences. Proctor, C. P., Dalton, B. & Grisham, D. L. (2007). Scaffolding English language learners and struggling readers in a universal literacy environment with embedded strategy instruction and vocabulary support. Retrieved October 17, 2013 from http://www.udlcenter.org/sites/udlcenter.org/files/ScaffoldingEnglishL anguageLearners_0.pdf. Ramirez, G., Chen-Bumgardner, B., Geva, E., & Kiefer, H. (2010). Morphological awareness in Spanish-English bilingual children: within and cross-language effects on word reading. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 23, 337-358. Ruddell, M. R. (2005). Teaching content reading and writing (4th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Shanahan, T. & Shanahan, C. (2008). Teaching disciplinary literacy to adolescents: Rethinking content-area literacy. Harvard Educational Review, 78(1), 40–59. Short, D. & Fitzsimmons, S. (2007). Double the work: Challenges and solutions to acquiring language and academic literacy for adolescent English language learners – a report to Carnegie Corporation of New York, Washington, DC: Alliance for Excellent Education. Retrieved May 8, 2012 from http://www.all4ed.org/files/DoubleWork.pdf. Snow, C. & Kim, Y. (2007). Large problem spaces: The challenge of vocabulary for English language learners. In R. K. Wagner, A. E. Muse & K. R. Tannenbaum (Eds.), Vocabulary acquisition: Implications for reading comprehension (pp. 123–139). New York, NY: Guilford Press. Stahl, S. (2003). Words are learned incrementally over multiple exposures. American Educator, 27(1), 18–20. Townsend, D. (2009). Building academic vocabulary in after-school settings: Games for growth with middle school English-language learners. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 53(3), 242–251.

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U.S. Department of Education (2010). National education technology plan 2010: Learning powered by technology. Retrieved October 18, 2013 from https://sites.google.com/a/homedaleschools.org/hsd-ed-tech/nationaltechnology-plan.

CHAPTER FIVE READING COMPREHENSION ACROSS THE DISCIPLINES

A reading class in high school Source: Microsoft Online Pictures

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A high school English-language arts teacher: I use the California State University Expository Reading and Writing Course. This program includes pre-reading, reading, and post-reading strategies. Students read the texts more than once for different purposes. Such purposes include reading “within the grain” and “against the grain”. Some of the purposes for students to read are to confirm their predictions, to find significant words or phrases, to find main and subordinate claims, the structure of the text, and the author’s style. Students also find the author’s use of persuasive techniques such as ethos, pathos, and logos. Thus, in order for students to cover all these activities they have to read the text more than once, which in turn builds their comprehension.

Guiding Questions Pre-service and in-service teachers frequently ask questions about how they can use the Common Core State Standards (CCSSs) to provide effective instruction for students. In this chapter, we will address some of the questions and provide examples of how teachers can effectively teach the CCSSs. Four questions guided the writing of this chapter. Guiding Questions a) What knowledge and skills are specified in the Common Core Reading Standards (CCRSs)? b) What are the shifts required of teachers to effectively teach the CCRSs? c) How can teachers use vertical alignment and horizontal curriculum alignment to guide instruction? d) How can the CCRSs be deconstructed for teachers so that they can easily understand them? e) What strategies can teachers use to implement the CCRSs?

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An Overview of the Common Core Reading Standards (CCRSs) The College and Career Response Journal readiness Anchor Standards for reading define the knowledge and After studying the Standards, list some skills that all students should of their strengths, weaknesses and any gaps you perceive. demonstrate and what they should be able to do by the end of each grade. The Anchor Standards represent the knowledge and skills students should acquire by the end of 12th grade in order to succeed in the college and workplace. The Common Core Reading (CCR) Anchor Standards and grade-specific standards work together to define the knowledge and skills students should acquire to be college- and career-ready. While the CCR Anchor Standards provide broad standards of what students in each grade level should know and be able to do by the time they finish 12th grade, the CCSSs offer narrow and specific benchmarks. Figure 1 shows an overview of the College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for reading while Figure 2 indicates an overview of Reading Standards for informational texts in grades 9–10. Figure 1: An Overview of the College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Reading

Anchor Standards for Reading Key Ideas and Details 1. Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text. 2. Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas. 3. Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text. Craft and Structure 4. Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone. 5. Analyze the structure of texts, including how specific sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of the text (e.g. a section, chapter, scene, or stanza) relate to each other and the whole. 6. Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text.

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Integration of Knowledge and Ideas 7. Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and qualitatively, as well as in words. 8. Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, including the validity of the reasoning as well as the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence. 9. Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take. Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity 10. Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently. Source: Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects for California Public Schools: Kindergarten through Grade Twelve (2013), p. 2. Figure 2: An Overview of Reading Standards for Informational Texts Grade 9–10

Clusters Standards for Reading – Grade 9–10 Key Ideas and Details 1. Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. 2. Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text. 3. Analyze how the author unfolds an analysis or series of ideas or events, including the order in which the points are made, how they are introduced and developed, and the connections that are drawn between them. Craft and Structure 4. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g. how the language of a court opinion differs from that of a newspaper). 5. Analyze in detail how an author’s ideas or claims are developed and refined by particular sentences, paragraphs, or larger portions of a text (e.g. a section or chapter). 6. Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how an author uses rhetoric to advance that point of view or purpose.

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Integration of Knowledge and Ideas 7. Analyze various accounts of a subject told in different mediums (e.g. a person’s life story in both print and multimedia), determining which details are emphasized in each account. 8. Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is valid and the evidence is relevant and sufficient; identify false statements and fallacious reasoning. 9. Analyze seminal U.S. documents of historical and literary significance (e.g. Washington’s Farewell Address, the Gettysburg Address, Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms speech, King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”), including how they address related themes and concepts. Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity 10. By the end of grade 9, read and comprehend literacy nonfiction in the grades 9–10 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range. By the end of grade 10, read and comprehend literary nonfiction at the high end of the grades 9–10 text complexity band independently and proficiently.

The Common Core Shifts Required of Teachers Teachers have to make some shifts in order to effectively align with the CCSSs with classroom instruction and teaching materials. The following shifts have been suggested by engageNY (www.engageNY.org), the public-friendly website of the New York State Education Department. There are 12 shifts in all: six in ELA/Literacy and six in mathematics, as in Figures 3 and 4:

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Figure 3: Shifts in ELA/Literacy

Shift 1

Balancing informational and literacy text

Students read a true balance of literary and informational texts, including texts in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects. Distribution of literacy and informational texts should be close to what is represented here: Figure 4: Distribution of Literary & Informational Text Grade Literacy Informational Texts Texts 4 50% 50% 8 45% 55% 12 30% 70% Figure 5: Distribution of Communicative Purposes Grade To To To Convey Persuade Explain Experience 4 30% 35% 35% 8 35% 35% 30% 12 40% 40% 20%

Shift 2

Knowledge in the disciplines

Shift 3

Staircase complexity

Shift 4

Text-based answers

Shift 5

Writing sources

Shift 6

Academic vocabulary

of

from

Students build knowledge of the world (domains/content areas) through texts rather than the teacher or activities. Students read the central ideas and gradeappropriate text around which instruction is centered. Teachers are patient, create more time and space and support in the curriculum for close reading. Students engage in rich and rigorous evidence-based conversations about text. Writing emphasizes use of evidence from sources to inform or make an argument. Students constantly build the transferable vocabulary they need to access grade level complex texts. This can be done effectively by spiraling like content in increasingly complex texts.

Source: www.engageny.org/resource/common-core-shifts

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Figure 6 below provides information about shifts in mathematics. Figure 6: Shifts in Mathematics

Shift 1

Focus

Shift 2

Coherence

Shift 3

Fluency

Shift 4

Deep Understanding

Shift 5

Application

Teachers significantly narrow and deepen the scope of how much time and energy is spent in the math classroom. They do so in order to focus deeply on only the concepts that are prioritized in the standards. Principals and teachers carefully connect the learning with and across grades so that students can build new understanding onto foundations built in previous years. Students are expected to have speed and accuracy with simple calculations; teachers structure class time and/or homework time for students to memorize, through repetition, core functions. Students understand and can operate easily within a math concept before moving on. They learn more than the tricks to get the answer right. They learn the math. Students are expected to use math and choose the appropriate concept for application even when they are not prompted to do so.

Students are practicing and understanding. There is more than a balance between these things in the classroom – both are occurring with intensity. Source: www.engageny.org/resource/common-core-shifts Shift 6

Dual Intensity

Understanding Vertical Alignment across Grade Levels Reading vertically occurs when teachers of different grades align their curricula to make sure that learners are advancing through a learning progression. Vertical alignment of the reading standards allows teachers to understand how the knowledge and skills in each grade level build on each other (McLaughlin & Overturf, 2013a, b). For example, the teachers can see how the standards in the first grade build on what students learn in kindergarten, and how standards in the second grade build on the first grade, and so on. In essence, vertical alignment allows each school district and state to demonstrate the progression of the Reading Standards and skills required of students from year to year.

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Furthermore, reading the Response Journal CCSSs vertically will help teachers understand the big Students can brainstorm in small groups to picture of the knowledge and answer these questions. They can then skills students are required to share their answers with the class. learn at the end of each year. California State Standards (2013) states, “Students advancing through the grades are expected to meet each year’s grade-specific standards and retain or further develop skills and understanding mastered in preceding grades” (p. 3). Finally, vertical alignment can help teachers at each grade level answer some basic questions about their implementation of the CCSSs. Questions for Teachers During Vertical Alignment x What are we already teaching? x What are the gaps in our literacy programs? x What are we doing well (our strengths) and what do we need to build on? x What are our weaknesses and what do we need to revise and improve? Tables 7–8 show how knowledge in Reading Standards for Literature progresses and builds on previous grade levels.

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Figure 7: Vertical Alignment of Standards across Grade Levels

Grade Focus of Instruction K With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text. 1 Ask and answer questions about key details in a text. 2 Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text. 3 Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers. 4 Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text. 5 Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text. 6 Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. 7 Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis or what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. 8 Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. 9–10 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. 11–12 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.

Understanding Horizontal Alignment within Grade Levels Horizontal curriculum alignment means that the teachers of English language arts/reading at the same grade level teach the same reading standards with comparable and consistent performance expectations. Horizontal alignment assures that reading standards at each grade level are the same and consistent throughout the school district and state (Educational Policy Improvement Center. Accessed on 11/22/2013 at http://www.epiconline.org/Issues/common-core/alignment.dot). What this means is that teachers have to intensively review the standards to develop a full understanding of the performance expectations for students at each

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grade level. More importantly, alignment means that teachers collaborate within grade levels. Education Northwest (2011) suggests that teachers should collaborate as they try to implement the CCSSs. What Teachers Should Collaborate to Do During Horizontal Alignment (a) Develop curriculum maps aligned to the CCSSs and CCRS, (b) Create a standard template for syllabi with a college-ready focus, (c) Develop common assignments that meet the demands of the Standards, (d) Unpack the CCSSs to make them meaningful to teachers. (e) Design observation protocols for teacher leaders to observe instruction across school districts, and (e) Promote teacher-leader alignment teams in the development of textbooks and instructional resources.

Furthermore, alignment means that schools ensure that performance expectations at all previous grade levels are met. Hence, teachers and schools have to work together to find answers to many questions as they implement the CCSSs.

x x x x x

Questions Teachers Must Answer Are students in the same grade level learning similar reading knowledge and skills? Do all teachers have similar performance expectations for all students taking the same courses across grade levels? Are all students in the same course and same grade taking similar assessments? What existing (state) reading standards are compatible with the CCRSs and which are not? Which CCRSs should be replaced and which should be broadened?

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Deconstructing the Reading Standards Sometimes, the CCSSs are written in technical language that may not be “user friendly”. The purpose of this section is to show how pre-service and in-service teachers can break down the cumbersome and often complex language and content of the standards into manageable chunks that reflect their essential components. For example, teachers may have to read the Standards and identify vocabulary words, that students need to learn, etc. Questions for Breaking CCRSs into Manageable Chunks (a) Identify vocabulary words students need to learn to be successful with the Standard. (b) Identify what students need to know. (c) Determine what students should be able to do. (d) Determine what teaching strategies and activities to facilitate learning. (e) Identify language functions in the standards. (f) Determine what strategy and activities will be used to assess students (see Figures 6 and 7)

Strand: Informational Text

Cluster: Key Ideas and Details Grade: 5

Standard: RL 5.1

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5.1 Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text. Essential Skills and Knowledge x Focus skill: Quote accurately from a text; x Context: x Explain what the text says explicitly; x Draw inferences from the text. Supporting Standards: x RL.5.4. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative language such as metaphors and similes. x RL.5.6. Describe how a narrator’s or speaker’s point of view influences how events are described.

Figure 8: An Example of a Deconstructed ELA Reading Standard: Informational Text – Grade 5 (Key Idea and Details).

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Language Function x Describing events and people x Quoting from a text x Providing information x Explaining x Making inferences x Providing details x Paraphrasing x Retelling x Restating x Synthesizing x Summarizing x Arguing

Vocabulary to Learn (General Academic Words) English Spanish Cognate x Quote ---x Explain explicar x Text texto x Explicit explícito x Implicit implícito x Inference inferencia

Assessment x Written personal responses x Oral presentations x Post-it notes x Mock debates x Design colorful index cards with vocabulary words x Essays

Deconstruction of the Standard into Manageable Chunks Know Do Understand what the text says explicitly and implicitly. x Provide personal responses to the text. Identify textual evidence supporting what the text says x Cite textual evidence and quotations to support what the explicitly and what is implied. text says. Identify specific sentences or phrases in the text that x Cite multiple instances of what the text says explicitly and support your understanding of the text. implicitly. Analyze what the text says. x Explain orally and/or in writing what the text says explicitly and what is implied. Distinguish between facts and opinion in the text. Distinguish between important facts and unimportant facts. x Draw inferences using accurate quotations from the text. x Use quotation marks to indicate words that are quoted from Pay attention to details of the text. the text.

Teaching Strategies x Explain the task to students x Explicit instruction on how to provide textual evidence and quotes from a text x Explicit instruction on use of quotation marks x Model the assignment x Ask students to use a graphic organizer

x x x x

x

x x

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x

x

x

x

x

x

Ask students to read closely and attend to the structural component (e.g. in fiction: plot, characters, setting, and events) for their meaning Ask students to match quotations from the text to a theme or idea Ask students to cite relevant details from the text Ask students to talk in small groups Connect the text to students’ personal experiences Ask text-dependent questions

x

x

x Identifying main ideas and details Explain connections between main ideas and details Explain connections among main ideas This depends on the text students are reading.

Domain Specific Words

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Reading: Literature Standard 4: RL.9-10.4. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g. how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone). Essential Skills and Knowledge x Determine the meaning of words and phrases. x Determine figurative and connotative meanings. x Understand how word choices impact on meanings and tone. x Understand the cumulative impact of word choices. x Determine formal or informal tone. Supporting Standards (Vertical Progression): x RL.5.4 - Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative language such as metaphors and similes. x RL.6.4 - Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of a specific word choice on meaning and tone. x RL.7.4 - Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of rhymes and other repetitions of sounds (e.g. alliteration) on a specific verse or stanza of a poem or section of a story or drama. x RL.8.4 - Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts. x RL.9-10.4 - Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g. how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone). x RL.11-12.4 - Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful (include Shakespeare as well as other authors).

Figure 9: An Example of a Deconstructed ELA Reading Standard: Literature – Grade 9–10 (Craft and Structure)

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x x

x

x

x x x x

x

x

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Standard: RL. 9–10.4. Grade: 9–10 Deconstruction of the Standard into Manageable Chunks Know Do Understand that words may have multiple meanings x Identify figurative and connotative words and their meanings in the beyond their literal meaning. text. Understand and use multiple strategies to unpack x Analyze the impact of word choices on meaning and tone in the the meaning of figurative language. text. Understand the meaning of words/phrases in texts. x Explain the meaning of specific words and phrases that contribute to the overall meaning in the text. Understand figurative meaning in the text. x Analyze the cumulative impact of word choices in the text. Understand connotative meanings in the text. x Identify and discuss the tone of the text and discuss how the author Understand how word choices impact meaning and uses specific words and phrases to create the tone. tone. Understand how word choices in text contribute to a x Explain what word choices reveal about the author’s attitude in the text. sense of time and place. Understand which words, phrases, figurative words and connotations specifically impact on the meaning and/or tone. Determine whether the text is formal or informal. Understand what word choices reveal about the author’s attitude in the text.

Strand: Reading Literature

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This depends on the text students are reading.

General Academic Vocabulary

Vocabulary to Learn (Domain Specific Vocabulary) English Spanish cognate x Figurative significado meaning figurativo x Connotative significado meaning connotativo x Word choice -----x Cumulative acumulado/a x Tone tono impacto x Impact x Evoke evocar x Informal informal x Formal formal x Simile símil x Imagery imágenes x Metaphor metáfora x Personification personificación x Hyperbole hypébole

Teaching Strategies x Define/explain figurative language x Provide examples of figurative language: imagery, simile, metaphor, oxymoron, personification, hyperbole, & paradox x Explicit instruction on figurative, connotative meanings x Model how to analyze meaning x Provide tips on how to analyze figurative language x Ask students to high-light examples of figurative language & connotative words x Ask students to work in small groups x Give extended time to students who need it

Language Function x Describing x Explaining x Describing x Analyzing x Making inferences x Providing details x Paraphrasing x Drawing evidence x Interpreting information x Synthesizing x Summarizing

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176 Assessment x Identify figurative language and connotative words in a text x Write short paragraphs using figurative language and denotative words x Make oral presentations to the class

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Teaching Strategies for Reading across the Disciplines Strategy 1: Close Reading An Overview of Close Reading Strategies An important goal of reading in the content areas is to help students effectively read and gain a deeper understanding of a text/message in order to be career- and/or college-ready. Across the grades and the disciplines, students are expected to develop deeper understanding of gradeappropriate complex informational texts and literature, and cite textual evidence to support their claims. As noted earlier in this chapter, a significant shift in ELA is the expectation that all students will proficiently and independently read complex texts and synthesize ideas across multiple texts. In short, the expectation is that students will acquire the skills to uncover layers of meaning in any given texts they read. Because the CCSSs require students to develop a high level of comprehension, close reading strategies have been identified as an important component of college and career readiness (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, PARCC, 2011). Indeed, the authors of the CCSSs contend that, “Students who meet the Standards readily undertake the close, attentive reading that is at the heart of understanding and enjoying complex works of literature” (http://www.corestandards.org/ela-literacy). What Is Close Reading? Brummett (2010) defines close reading as “the mindful, disciplined reading of an object (e.g. text) with a view to deeper understanding of its meaning” (p. 3). He consequently suggests that close reading should take into consideration both the historical and textual contexts of a text. The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC, 2011) provides a more comprehensive definition of Close Reading.

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Definition of Close Reading “Close, analytic reading stresses engaging with a text of sufficient complexity directly and examining meaning thoroughly and methodically, encouraging students to read and reread deliberately. Directing student attention on the text itself empowers students to understand the central ideas and key supporting details. It also enables students to reflect on the meanings of individual words and sentences; the order in which sentences unfold; and the development of ideas over the course of the text, which ultimately leads students to arrive at an understanding of the text as a whole.” (PARCC, 2011, p. 7)

Close reading can be an important strategy that teachers across the disciplines can use to teach students to read, comprehend, analyze and appreciate the different aspects of a text. In particular, close reading requires the teacher and students to deeply analyze crucial aspects of texts, including key words and phrases, sentences, paragraphs, and how meaning in a text is influenced by context. Furthermore, close reading allows students to discover multiple levels of meanings as they read a text several times. According to Brown and Kappes (2012), close reading is a reading strategy which allows the teacher to guide students “to deeply analyze and appreciate various aspects of the text, such as key vocabulary and how its meaning is shaped by context; attention to form, tone, imagery and/or rhetorical devices; the significance of word choice and syntax; and the discovery of different levels of meaning as passages are read multiple times” (p. 2). Furthermore, close reading is an effective strategy that allows teachers to teach students about logical arguments, critiquing texts, collecting evidence from texts, and applying critical thinking skills (Brown & Kappes, 2012). Unlike teacher-centered models of instruction, the goal of the teacher in close reading is to gradually release responsibility to students. The teacher starts instruction by using different scaffolds (e.g. modeling, examples, etc.) and guided practice to help students eventually evaluate and critique texts on their own.

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Key Components of Close Reading Cummins (2013) identifies the components of close reading strategy that are effective. Components of Close Reading x Activating/building prior knowledge. x Activating/building academic & discipline-specific vocabulary knowledge. x Setting a purpose for reading. x Self-monitoring while reading. x Determining what is important in the text. x Synthesizing information from the text.

x x x x x

Why Close Reading is Effective across the Disciplines It is a strategy for teaching about logical arguments. It is used for critiquing the reasoning of others. It is used to provide evidence from the text. It helps students to apply critical thinking skills. It is effective for all students because it allows them to grapple with advanced concepts and classroom dialogues (Cummins, 2013).

Classroom implementation of close reading will vary from teacher to teacher. In this section, we try to develop an outline that consists of the essential elements of the strategy. Specific steps that a teacher using close reading may take are the following: 1. Select a short grade-level appropriate text. The teacher selects a brief, grade-appropriate text for students to read. The text must be sufficiently complex in terms of content, language, and craft of the text to demand a second reading. If the text does not meet this criterion, it may become boring or unnecessary for students to read the second time. In addition, the text must be a brief text so that students can have enough time to (a) apply new skills and strategies through multiple readings of the text and (b) discover the multiple layers of meanings in the text. 2. Chunk the Text: To ensure that the text is not overwhelming for students, the teacher should chunk (break up) the reading material into more manageable chunks (smaller portions). The teachers can divide the text into smaller sections such as chunk 1 (paragraphs 1–2), chunk 2

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(paragraphs 3–5), chunk 3 (paragraphs 4–6), etc. The division must align with the natural sections in the text such as the introduction (thesis statement), body section (first supporting paragraph, second supporting paragraph, third supporting paragraph, etc.), and closing section (conclusion). Gradually, the teacher releases the responsibility of chunking the text to students after modeling and ample opportunities to practice grouping paragraphs together. 3. Guided Reading. The teacher provides specific prompts to focus students’ reading. It is not enough to just ask students to read; the teacher must provide specific activities to go along with reading. The teacher can use Text-dependent questions to guide students’ reading. Teachers can ask students to highlight or underline the domain-specific and general academic vocabulary. The teacher asks students to highlight: (a) General academic vocabulary in the text, (b) Domain-specific vocabulary, and (c) Contextual meanings and clues (including the pages where these items are found). The teacher can also ask students to write on the left margin of the text: (a) Cognates of the domain specific words, (b) The main ideas, (c) Supporting details, and (d) Connections among main ideas and supporting details.

Students write on the right margin: (a) How word choices shape the message of the text, (b) Personal response to the text, (c) A quote from the text (d) An explanation of the significance of the quote, and (e) A summary of the text. The teacher will use such activities as these to set a purpose for students’ reading and to promote active engagement with the text. When students read a text and focus on multiple purposes, they are more likely to be more engaged and see the need for a second or a third reading of the text rather than just skim through the material.

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4. Group Activity: The teacher may organize students into small groups to allow them to share what they learn and further develop their understanding of the text. The teacher may ask students to do think-pairshare and respond to the prompts in the above section. Similarly, during this shared reading, the teacher may encourage students to think-aloud. This strategy allows students to monitor their own thinking as they read the text and grapple with the tasks assigned by the teacher. The teacher goes around the groups to provide support in the form of further explanation and elaboration. The teacher’s goal should be to ensure that students stay focused on the text. 5. Writing about the text: The teacher may conclude the activity by asking students to reflect on the knowledge acquired by using close reading in short or long written passages. For example, students can do the following activity: a. Write personal responses: (e.g. the best part of this activity for me is . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .) b. Write personal connections (e.g. the story/activity reminds me of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .) c. Make text-to-text connections (e.g. the story is similar to one I read/saw. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .) Classroom Implementation of Close Reading – A Science Example Learning Objective: At the end of the lessons, students will read a text for comprehension and provide text-based evidence to support their answers to comprehension questions. Reading Task: Reading, note-taking, underling difficult words, participation in discussions, and sharing work with the class. Vocabulary Task: Define some domain-specific vocabulary and general academic vocabulary, and find cognates for such vocabulary.

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1.

Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text. 2. Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development, summarize the key supporting details and ideas 10. Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently.

CCR anchor standards

Steps in Preparing Students to Read x The teacher introduces the topic; s/he can also preview the lesson (e.g. provide the gist of the lesson to set the stage for the rest of the instruction) for about 2 minutes. x Teacher chunks the text into three sections and asks students to briefly skim through the passage. x The teacher models reading aloud while the class listens. x The students pay careful attention to the pronunciation of unfamiliar words such as angiosperms, xylem, phloem and tracheid.

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Model Questions during the Reading First Reading The teacher asks questions to guide students to think about key ideas and details such as summary of the text, questions about the text, main ideas and details, difficult vocabulary, and confusions about the text. Examples are: Questions for 1st reading The teacher can ask the following questions: (a) What are the main ideas of the text? (b) What are the supporting details? (c) What are the connections among main ideas and supporting details? (d) What are the difficult vocabulary words? (e) What are the confusions you have in this text? Second Reading The teacher asks questions about the craft and structure of the text to guide students to think about how the text works, including how the author uses language and the effects of language on the meaning of the text. The teacher can ask questions such as: Questions for 2nd reading (a) How do word choices shape the message of the text? (b) Explain the use of specific sentences in the text (c) How are imageries and/or literary devices used in the story? (d) How are vocabulary words used in the passage? (e) Are there cognates in the text? (f) Are there multiple and different levels of meaning in the text? Third Reading The teacher asks questions relating to integration of knowledge and ideas. The teacher guides students to think about what the text means to them and how it connects to other texts, stories, experiences, events, films, etc. Questions for 3rd reading (a) What does the story mean to you? (b) How does the text relate to other stories you have read? (c) How effective are the literacy devices in the story? (d) What is your personal response to the text? (e) What does the text mean to you? (f) How does the text relate to other texts that you have read or watched such as movies, stories, events or books?

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Preparing Students to Read Figure 10: A Science Text

Sistema de tejido vascular

Chunk 1

angiospermas

elementos vasculars

Chunk 2 vasos

gimnosperms

angiosperms

Reading Material Plant Structure and Function Vascular Tissue System Ground tissue surrounds the vascular tissue system, which functions in transport and support. Recall from Chapter 30 that the term vascular tissue refers to both xylem and phloem. Xylem tissue conducts water and mineral nutrients primarily from roots upward in the plant. Xylem tissue also provides structural support for the plant. Phloem tissue conducts organic compounds and some mineral nutrients throughout the plant. Unlike xylem, phloem is alive at maturity. In angiosperms, xylem has two major components – tracheids and vessel elements. Both are dead cells at maturity. Look at Figure 31-2a. A tracheid (TRAY-kee-id) is a long, thick-wall sclerenchyma cell with tapering ends. Water moves from one tracheid to another through pits, which are tin, porous areas of the cell wall. A vessel element, shown in Figure 31-2b, is a sclerenchyma cell that has either large holes in the top and bottom walls or no end walls at all. Vessel elements are stacked to form long tubes called vessels. Water moves more easily in vessels than in tracheids. The xylem of most seedless vascular plants and most gymnosperms contains only tracheids, which are considered a primitive type of xylem cell. The vessel elements in angiosperms probably evolved from tracheids. Xylem also contains parenchyma cells and sclerenchyma cells.

Teacher models how to use content to find meanings of words: This provides definition and function of the vascular tissue system.

Domain-specific Word - vascular tissue system - tracheid - vessel element - vessels - sieve tube member - sieve tubes - sieve plates

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The conducting parenchyma cell of angiosperm phloem is called a sieve tube member. Look at Figure 31-2c. Sieve tube members are stacked to form long sieve tubes. Compounds move from cell to cell through end walls called sieve plates. Each sieve Chunk 3 tube member lies next to a specialized fibras parenchyma cell, the companion cell, which assists in transport. Phloem also usually contains sclerenchyma cells called fibers. Commercially important hemp, flax, and jute fibers are phloem fibers. duckweeds Vascular tissue systems are also modified for environmental reasons. For example, xylem forms the wood trees, providing the plants with strength while conducting water and mineral nutrients. In aquatic plants, such as duckweeds, xylem is not needed for support or water transplant and may be nearly absent from the mature plant. From MODERN BIOLOGY, Student Edition. Copyright @ 2002 by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Houghton Harcourt Publishing Company.

During Reading The teacher writes text-dependent questions on the overhead projector to guide students’ reading. Guiding Student Reading a) Find the meanings of domain-specific vocabulary (the words are boldfaced) in the text. b) Copy any vocabulary words you don’t understand in the right column of the text. c) Figure out the meaning as used in the passage. d) Write the cognates of the words in the left column.

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Guided Discussion of Chunk 1 As the students read through chunk 1, the teacher asks them more specific questions: a) What is the definition of “vascular tissue system” in the text? b) The teacher can discuss this sentence with the class: “Recall from Chapter 30 that the term vascular tissue refers to both xylem and phloem. Xylem tissue conducts water and mineral nutrients primarily from roots upward in the plant. Xylem tissue also provides structural support for the plant”. c) The teacher asks students to (i) explain the function of vascular tissue system in plants and (ii) the differences and similarities between “xylem” and “phloem” in the text. d) The teacher asks students to summarize their understanding of chunk 1. Guided Discussion of Chunk 2 a) The teacher asks the students to look for the definitions of “angiosperms”, “gymnosperms”, “tracheid” and “vessel element” in the text. b) The teacher asks students to (i) explain the function of vessel in the plant and (ii) water movement in the plant. c) The teacher asks each student to write a sentence to explain this quote: “Vessel elements are stacked to form long tubes called vessels”. d) The teacher asks students to explain what the author means in the sentence: “Water moves from one tracheid to another through pits, which are tin, porous areas of the cell wall”. e) The teacher asks students to write one or two sentences to summarize chunk 2. Guided Discussion of Chunk 3 a) The teacher asks students to describe the function of sieve plates. b) The teacher asks the students to explain what the author means by “Vascular tissue systems are also modified for environmental reasons”. c) The teacher asks each student to summarize chunk 3.

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Assessment To have a better understanding of what the students have learned in the lesson, the teacher may ask them to work on an assignment that requires learners to demonstrate their knowledge of domain-specific vocabulary necessary to describe plants’ cell structure and how plant tissues are organized to perform specific functions. The teacher can assign students to read the next two pages in their textbooks as homework and respond to some questions. Questions for Homework (a) Highlight domain-specific vocabulary in the text, (b) Find the cognates of the words, (c) Find and copy the contextual meanings of the words, (d) Quote two sentences and explain their meanings, and (e) Summarize the two pages in five sentences.

Strategy 2: Critical Reading An Overview of Critical Reading Critical reading strategies prepare students to read between the lines. Proponents of critical reading strategies argue that students should be active participants in the reading process by developing the knowledge and skills to examine, interrogate, and critique messages of texts rather than passively accepting them as neutral, objective truth. Shor and Freire (1987) argue that, “Reading is re-writing what we are reading. Reading is to discover the connections between the text and the context of the text, and also how to connect the text/connect with my context, the context of the reader” (p. 11). Critical reading means that teachers should situate literacy instruction in the lived experiences of students. In this way, literacy teachers can move away from banking education – where students are conceived as passive receivers of knowledge and simply memorize and regurgitate the knowledge transferred or deposited by the teacher (Freire, 1970). Aronowitz and Giroux (1991) argue that the meanings of texts are constructed by both the author and reader: “Texts are never fixed and how they are read is always constructed through a circulation of power that produces meaning out of the determinations that mediate the relations between reader, texts, and contexts” (p 106).

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With critical reading, the role of the teacher is to empower students to critically consider reality by developing critical consciousness to interrogate power, inequalities and social injustices and promote critical reflection, transformation, and action (Freire, 2000). Advocates of critical pedagogy argue that in light of complex multicultural, multiethnic and socioeconomic diversity in classrooms across California and the U.S., teachers have the duty and responsibility to prepare students to become critical thinkers and producers of new knowledge (Freire & Macedo, 1987). Hence, literacy instruction should prepare students to interrogate texts by asking critical questions: Whose interests are served by the text? What is included and what is omitted in the text? Whose social and political views are represented in the text? Whose values and world views are portrayed in the text? What assumptions about your values and beliefs does the text present? In grappling with these questions in critical reading classrooms, students are more likely to develop as transformers of the society and become more conscious of the need to take actions to build a fairer, more just, and more humane society. Walden and Schneider (2013) graphically represent critical reading in Figure 11:

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Figure 11: A Graphic Representation of Critical Reading

Source: Walden, J. & Schneider, J. (2013). From Reading to Writing. http://petermjfitzgerald.wordpress.com/2010/12/15/critical-reading-and-thinking

The authors of the CCSSs recognize the powerful role of critical reading when they articulate a vision of the skills and knowledge that literate students are expected to demonstrate in the 21st century: Students who meet the Standards . . . habitually perform the critical reading necessary to pick carefully through the staggering amount of information available today in print and digitally. They actively seek the wide, deep, and thoughtful engagement with high-quality literary and informational texts that builds knowledge, enlarges experience, and broadens worldviews. They reflexively demonstrate the cogent reasoning and use of evidence that is essential to both private deliberation and responsible citizenship in a democratic republic (http://www.corestandards.org/ela-literacy).

To meet the high standards demanded by the CCSSs, including the requirement that students provide specific textual evidence, integrate and

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evaluate content from multiple sources, and read complex informational and literary texts, teachers need to teach critical reading strategies. The CCSSs deemphasize rote memorization and instead place a great deal of emphasis on teaching students to understand instructional materials so that students can effective apply the knowledge they acquire to real-life, practical situations. Kevin Baird, Chairman of the Common Core Institute, cited in Achieve 3000 (n.d.), argues, “The biggest change coming from the Common Core Standards is not in the content itself, it’s the notion of a learning target, or level of cognitive demand and critical thinking, attached to a content standard. These are overlays that demand changes in instructional practice. And, frankly, this change is revolutionary. It will cause a big change in how you do your job as a teacher” (p. 2). Key Components of Critical Reading 1. Classroom should reformulate academic knowledge: Critical reading classrooms should accommodate students’ lives and life-world (the world as directly experienced in the subjectivity of everyday life by individuals). 2. An understanding that texts are constructions: Texts are based on messages that have been constructed by the author(s) in a particular way. Texts reflect the experiences, perspectives, and attitudes of authors. 3. Knowledge that texts contain belief and value messages: All texts reflect the biases and opinions of authors; whether intentionally or not. Hence, no text can be neutral or value-free. 4. Each student interprets texts differently: Individuals’ understanding and interpretations of texts are shaped by multiple factors, including experiences, perspectives, age, culture, gender, politics, ideology, and economic interests. 5. Texts serve different interests: All texts are produced intentionally for a specific purpose. These interests can be commercial, cultural, ideological or political. 6. Teachers must use relevant texts: Texts for teaching students must use language, topics and themes that are relevant to students’ social and cultural background experiences. Why Teach Critical Reading across the Disciplines 1. To prepare students to be critical thinkers as they read in different content-areas;

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2. To prepare students be critical readers of texts and consumers of information; 3. To empower students to question the official knowledge and prepare them to “produce dissenting knowledge and alternate ways of using knowledge” (Shor & Freire, 1987, p. 10); 4. To develop the knowledge and skills to analyze, question and interpret texts; 5. To sustain students’ engagement and participation in the learning process by creating learning environments where students are enthusiastic, active, creative, and innovative participants rather than classrooms where learners are passive, disinterested and disempowered; and 6. To connect the teaching and learning to the life experiences and perspectives of students. Classroom Implementation of Critical Reading Strategies Pre-teaching Issues: Creating a culture of inquiry and discussion in the classroom is necessary to foster critical reading of texts. Literacy GAINS (2009) suggests that literacy teachers must create conditions that foster inquiry and discussion necessary for critical literacy. Necessary Conditions to Foster Critical Reading a. Building a safe, inclusive classroom environment that promotes inquiry; b. Making available thought-provoking oral, print, electronic, and multimedia texts representing diverse perspectives; c. Developing an understanding of students’ interests, backgrounds and values, and honoring the strengths and literacies they bring to school; d. Providing a wide range of texts for students to read/view/hear, including texts from popular culture and “non-traditional classroom texts”; and e. Acknowledging that some issues and discussions can be sensitive and uncomfortable for some students (Literacy GAINS, 2009, p. 3).

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Classroom Implementation of Critical Reading – A Literature Example Learning Objective: At the end of the lesson, the students will read closely and understand explicit messages of the text, make logical inferences, interpret new words and phrases, and provide textual evidence to support arguments. Reading Task: Read the text, underline domain-specific and general academic vocabulary words, pay attention to text structure and organization, annotate and analyze the text, and respond to the prompts at the end of the lesson. Vocabulary Task: Explain the meaning of certain words and phrases, find Spanish cognates for some vocabulary words. 1. Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text. 4. Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone. 8. Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, including the validity of the reasoning as well as the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence. CCR Anchor Standards Step 1: Review the text x The teacher directs students to skim through the text (Figure 10) and identify important main ideas and supporting details. x Students pay attention to the text structure and organization,11 including the title of the text, sub-titles, layout, discourse conventions, illustrations, graphics, and organization. x The teacher can focus students’ reading with specific questions.

11 Text structure and organization. For detailed notes on this topic, see Chapter 5: Working with Books and Other Materials.

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Questions to Focus Students’ Reading What are the structures and features of the text? What is the genre of the text? What do the images or graphics indicate to me? What does the discourse suggest to me about the text? What kind of language (grammar and vocabulary) is used in the text? f. How does the author emphasize his viewpoints? (Consider if the author uses literary devices such as tone, mood, foreshadowing, irony, simile, metaphor, hyperbole, personification, etc. and how they shape the message of text).

a. b. c. d. e.

Figure 12: A Literature Text

Chapter VII From this time I was most narrowly watched. If I was in a separate room any considerable length of time, I was sure to be suspected of having a book, and was at once called to give an account of myself. All this, however, was too late. The first step had been taken. Mistress, in teaching me the alphabet, had given me the inch, and no precaution could prevent me from taking the ell. The plan which I adopted, and the one by which I was most successful, was that of making friends of all the little white boys whom I met in the street. As many of these as I could, I converted into teachers. With their kindly aid, obtained at different times and in different places, I finally succeeded in learning to read. When I was sent of errands, I always took my book with me, and by going one part of my errand quickly, I found time to get a lesson before my return. I used also to carry bread with me, enough of which was always in the house, and to which I was always welcome; for I was much better off in this regard than many of the poor white children in our neighborhood. This bread I used to bestow upon the hungry little urchins, who, in return, would give me that more valuable bread of knowledge. I am strongly tempted to give the names of two or three of those little boys, as a testimonial of the gratitude and affection I bear them; but prudence forbids;-not that it would injure me, but it might embarrass them; for it is almost an unpardonable offence to teach slaves to read in this Christian country. It is enough to say of the dear little fellows, that they lived on Philpot Street, very near Durgin and Bailey's ship-yard. I used to talk this matter of slavery over with them. I would sometimes say

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to them, I wished I could be as free as they would be when they got to be men. "You will be free as soon as you are twenty-one, but I am a slave for life! Have not I as good a right to be free as you have?" These words used to trouble them; they would express for me the liveliest sympathy, and console me with the hope that something would occur by which I might be free. I was now about twelve years old, and the thought of being a slave for life began to bear heavily upon my heart. Just about this time, I got hold of a book entitled "The Columbian Orator." Every opportunity I got, I used to read this book. Among much of other interesting matter, I found in it a dialogue between a master and his slave. The slave was represented as having run away from his master three times. The dialogue represented the conversation which took place between them, when the slave was retaken the third time. In this dialogue, the whole argument in behalf of slavery was brought forward by the master, all of which was disposed of by the slave. The slave was made to say some very smart as well as impressive things in reply to his master things which had the desired though unexpected effect; for the conversation resulted in the voluntary emancipation of the slave on the part of the master. In the same book, I met with one of Sheridan's mighty speeches on and in behalf of Catholic emancipation. These were choice documents to me. I read them over and over again with unabated interest. They gave tongue to interesting thoughts of my own soul, which had frequently flashed through my mind, and died away for want of utterance. The moral which I gained from the dialogue was the power of truth over the conscience of even a slaveholder. What I got from Sheridan was a bold denunciation of slavery, and a powerful vindication of human rights. The reading of these documents enabled me to utter my thoughts, and to meet the arguments brought forward to sustain slavery; but while they relieved me of one difficulty, they brought on another even more painful than the one of which I was relieved. The more I read, the more I was led to abhor and detest my enslavers. I could regard them in no other light than a band of successful robbers, who had left their homes, and gone to Africa, and stolen us from our homes, and in a strange land reduced us to slavery. I loathed them as being the meanest as well as the most wicked of men. As I read and contemplated the subject, behold! that very discontentment which Master Hugh had predicted would follow my learning to read had already come, to torment and sting my soul to unutterable anguish. As I writhed under it, I would at times feel that learning to read had been a curse rather than a blessing. It had given me a view of my wretched condition, without the remedy. It opened my eyes to the horrible pit, but to no ladder upon

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which to get out. In moments of agony, I envied my fellow-slaves for their stupidity. I have often wished myself a beast. I preferred the condition of the meanest reptile to my own. Any thing, no matter what, to get rid of thinking! It was this everlasting thinking of my condition that tormented me. There was no getting rid of it. It was pressed upon me by every object within sight or hearing, animate or inanimate. The silver trump of freedom had roused my soul to eternal wakefulness. Freedom now appeared, to disappear no more forever. It was heard in every sound, and seen in every thing. It was ever present to torment me with a sense of my wretched condition. I saw nothing without seeing it, I heard nothing without hearing it, and felt nothing without feeling it. It looked from every star, it smiled in every calm, breathed in every wind, and moved in every storm. I often found myself regretting my own existence, and wishing myself dead; and but for the hope of being free, I have no doubt but that I should have killed myself, or done something for which I should have been killed. While in this state of mind, I was eager to hear any one speak of slavery. I was a ready listener. Every little while, I could hear something about the abolitionists. It was some time before I found what the word meant. It was always used in such connections as to make it an interesting word to me. If a slave ran away and succeeded in getting clear, or if a slave killed his master, set fire to a barn, or did any thing very wrong in the mind of a slaveholder, it was spoken of as the fruit of ~abolition.~ Hearing the word in this connection very often, I set about learning what it meant. The dictionary afforded me little or no help. I found it was "the act of abolishing;" but then I did not know what was to be abolished. Here I was perplexed. I did not dare to ask any one about its meaning, for I was satisfied that it was something they wanted me to know very little about. After a patient waiting, I got one of our city papers, containing an account of the number of petitions from the north, praying for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, and of the slave trade between the States. From this time I understood the words ~abolition~ and ~abolitionist,~ and always drew near when that word was spoken, expecting to hear something of importance to myself and fellow-slaves. The light broke in upon me by degrees. I went one day down on the wharf of Mr. Waters; and seeing two Irishmen unloading a scow of stone, I went, unasked, and helped them. When we had finished, one of them came to me and asked me if I were a slave. I told him I was. He asked, "Are ye a slave for life?" I told him that I was. The good Irishman seemed to be deeply affected by the statement. He said to the other that it was a pity so fine a little fellow as myself should be a slave for life. He said it was a shame to hold me. They both advised me to run away to the north; that I should find

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friends there, and that I should be free. I pretended not to be interested in what they said, and treated them as if I did not understand them; for I feared they might be treacherous. White men have been known to encourage slaves to escape, and then, to get the reward, catch them and return them to their masters. I was afraid that these seemingly good men might use me so; but I nevertheless remembered their advice, and from that time I resolved to run away. I looked forward to a time at which it would be safe for me to escape. I was too young to think of doing so immediately; besides, I wished to learn how to write, as I might have occasion to write my own pass. I consoled myself with the hope that I should one day find a good chance. Meanwhile, I would learn to write. From Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass. Copyright @ 1999 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Oxford University Press.

x Students jot down any other ideas they consider relevant in aiding them to engage in critical analysis of the text. x The teacher models this step for the students. Step 2: Annotate and Analyze the Text x The teacher directs each student to engage in a “dialogue” with the text by starting a conversation with himself or herself about the issues and ideas in the reading material. x The teacher focuses students’ reading with critical questions such as: a. How does the author use language to portray the theme of Douglass’ perseverance, ambition, curiosity, and diligence? b. Whose realities does the text portray? c. Is the story fair to my gender, race, ethnicity and socioeconomic background? d. What ‘gaps’ and ‘silences’ are there in the text? e. How does the book The Columbian Orator shape the author’s understanding of history and the system of slavery in the southern U.S.? f. How is language (grammar and vocabulary) used in the text to construct reality? g. Explain what the author means by the following in the above passage: ƒ “valuable bread of knowledge”. ƒ “it is almost an unpardonable offence to teach slaves to read in this Christian country”.

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ƒ “but I am a slave for life! Have not I as good a right to be free as you have?” ƒ “the power of truth over the conscience of even a slaveholder”. ƒ “It opened my eyes to the horrible pit, but to no ladder upon which to get out”. x Students annotate the evidence in the text to support their claims by marking up the margins of the text they are reading, jotting down ideas, writing notes about important ideas, interpreting what they are reading, making connections between the text and their situations, and asking questions – all to focus their reading. x Students connect the text to the wider social and historical context of the slavery period in the Southern U.S. Step 3: Summarize and Analyze the Text x Students reread the text to summarize the major points of the text and the supporting details. x Students note links among important ideas and between major points and supporting details. x Students identify unfamiliar words and try to understand their meanings. x Students try to understand any confusing ideas or difficult sentences or sections of the text. x The teacher allows students to work in pairs or small groups for cross fertilization of ideas. x The teacher guides students to analyze the bias, prejudice, and assumptions of the author. x The teacher guides students’ analysis of the text with critical questions.

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Critical Questions to Guide Students’ Analysis of Texts a. What are the assumptions of the author? b. What evidence does the author provide in the text to convince me as a reader? c. What are the sources of the author’s ideas? d. Are the sources relevant and credible? e. What other interpretations of the text are possible? f. How does the context (social, political and historical) shape the construction of the text? g. What is the background (ideologically, politically, socially, and historically) of the author? h. How might the author’s background influence his/her views, perspectives and assumptions in the text? i. How does the context of the text influence how it is interpreted? j. What does the text mean to me?

Step 4: Transforming the Text x The teacher asks students to summarize the author’s idea and then respond to such ideas. x The teacher instructs students to feel free to agree, disagree, critique, analyze and interpret the text. x The teacher can ask students to write an essay to demonstrate their understanding of the text. The teacher uses some prompts to guide students’ writing: Prompts to Guide Students’ Writing a. Rewrite the text to change the meaning. b. Rewrite the text to reflect your experiences of life. c. What character will you change in the text to positively change its meaning? d. How will use the meaning of the text to positively change yourself? e. How will you use the message of the text to transform your community/nation?

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Strategy 3: Making Connections An Overview of Making Connections Strategy Making Connections Strategy is a reading comprehension method where the teacher activates students’ schema in order that the learners can make personal connections with a text they are reading. We use schema to refer to the background knowledge and experiences that students have in their memories (Harvey & Goudvis, 2000; L’Allier & Elish-Piper, 2007). Schema theory explains how students’ prior knowledge, experiences, emotions, and understandings affect how and what they learn. Research has indicated that effective readers draw on their background knowledge to help them make sense of new learning (e.g. the text they are presently reading). Harvey and Goudvis (2000) and L’Allier & Elish-Piper (2007) suggest that teachers can tap into students’ schema and empower them to make connections to texts they are reading since all learners have knowledge, experiences and opinions they can draw upon. Keene and Zimmerman (1997) and L’Allier & Elish-Piper (2007) argue that individuals better understand texts when they are able to make specific kinds of connections: Text-to-self, text-to-text and text-to-world. We will briefly explain these concepts: Text-to-self connection: This is the highly personal connections that readers make between the text and their own experiences or life. Students develop a better understanding of a text they are reading if they can think of how the text connects to other familiar experiences in their own lives. The teacher can use some questions to guide students to find their personal connections to a text they are reading:

x x x x x

Questions for Personal Connections How does the issue or topic relate to my life? What does the issue or topic remind me of in my life? What experience similar to this have I had? Have I seen anything like this before? Does any aspect of this text remind me of my own life?

Text-to-text connection: This is when students make connections between what they are reading and other texts such as a movie, book, magazine, website, song, picture, etc. Students can use questions to focus their effort at making connections to the text.

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Questions for Making Connections to Texts How is this book similar to another book I have read? Have I read a book this similar to this? How is this text different from others that I have read? What does the issue or topic remind me of in another book I have read? x In what ways does this text relate to a magazine I have read? x x x x

Text-to-World Connection: This is when students make a connection to what goes on in the broader society. Through television, books, the Internet, websites, and so on students learn about the world and issues even when such are beyond their immediate, personal experiences. Because of these vicarious experiences, students connect their reading to the community, national or international news, historical events, current events, etc. Students can use questions to guide their connections:

x x x x x

Questions to Facilitate Connections Did I watch this issue on television before? What does this issue or topic remind me of in the world? How is this similar to real-life events? How does the event in the text relate to real world events? How is the text different from what happens in the world?

Why Use Making Connections Strategies? Tovani (2000) suggests that making connections strategy is important for students because:

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Why Making Connection is Important for Students x It helps readers understand how characters feel and the motivation behind their actions. x It helps readers have a clearer picture in their head as they read thus making the reader more engaged. x It keeps the reader from becoming bored while reading. x It sets a purpose for reading and keeps the reader focused. x Readers can see how other readers connected to the text. x It forces readers to become actively involved. x It helps readers remember what they have read and ask questions about the text.

Classroom Implementation of Making Connection Strategies – A Social Study Example Learning Objective: At the end of the lesson, the students will be able to summarize the main ideas of the text, provide important details, and determine the meaning of technical, connotative, and figurative words. Reading Task: Read the text, jot down the main ideas by the right margin, and highlight/underline important details and specific vocabulary. Vocabulary Task: Find the meanings of technical, connotative and figurative words and Spanish cognates. CCR Anchor Standards 1. Determine the central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize they key supporting details and ideas. 2. Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone.

Guided Practice x The teacher models the activity for students. x The teacher selects a text that students can find personally meaningful to them.

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x The teacher models meaningful text-to-self connections (e.g. through thinking aloud) to show students how they can relate the text to their lives, experiences, and feelings. x The teacher asks each student to create a list of personal connections to the text. x The teacher provides phrases to guide students’ text-to-self connections such as: Teacher-provided Phrases o This text reminds me of . . . o I can relate to this character because . . . in my life. o . . . aspect of the story in this text relates to my own life. x The teacher provides a graphic to guide the students connections Figure 13: Making Connections Graphic

In the Text (Discuss what happens in the text here)

In my Life (Discuss the connections between the text and your life here) This text reminds me of. . . . . . aspect of the story is similar to … event in my life

The text is different from my life because . . .

x Students share their connections with the class while the teacher charts their responses on the whiteboard. x The teacher and students discuss which “connections” better help the class understand the story.

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Small Group Practice (four students per group) x The teacher identifies important domain-specific vocabulary and phrases from the text (Figure 11) for class discussion: abolitionist, the North, southern regions, slavery, territories, Union forces, civil war, Confederate soldiers, and popular sovereignty. x Teacher asks students to write cognates of the vocabulary. Examples of Spanish/English Cognates for Vocabulary English Spanish o abolitionist abolicionista o slavery esclavitud o civil war Guerra civil o Confederate soldiers soldados de la confederación o Union forces fuerzas de la Unión x The teacher asks students to identify their own domain-specific vocabulary. Figure 14: A Social Study Text

Civil War Background In the mid-19th century, while the United States was experiencing an era of tremendous growth, a fundamental economic difference existed between the country's northern and southern regions. While in the North, manufacturing and industry was well established, and agriculture was mostly limited to small-scale farms, the South's economy was based on a system of large-scale farming that depended on the labor of black slaves to grow certain crops, especially cotton and tobacco. Growing abolitionist sentiment in the North after the 1830s and northern opposition to slavery's extension into the new western territories led many southerners to fear that the existence of slavery in America--and thus the backbone of their economy--was in danger. In 1854, the U.S. Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which essentially opened all new territories to slavery by asserting the rule of popular sovereignty over congressional edict. Pro- and anti-slavery forces struggled violently in "Bleeding Kansas," while opposition to the act in the North led to the formation of the Republican Party, a new political entity based on the principle of opposing slavery's extension into the western territories. After the Supreme Court's ruling in the Dred Scott

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case (1857) confirmed the legality of slavery in the territories, the abolitionist John Brown's raid at Harper's Ferry in 1859 convinced more and more southerners that their northern neighbors were bent on the destruction of the "peculiar institution" that sustained them. Lincoln's election in November 1860 was the final straw, and within three months seven southern states--South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas--had seceded from the United States. Outbreak of the Civil War (1861) Even as Lincoln took office in March 1861, Confederate forces threatened the federal-held Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina. On April 12, after Lincoln ordered a fleet to resupply Sumter, Confederate artillery fired the first shots of the Civil War. Sumter's commander, Major Robert Anderson, surrendered after less than two days of bombardment, leaving the fort in the hands of Confederate forces under Pierre G.T. Beauregard. Four more southern states--Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina and Tennessee--joined the Confederacy after Fort Sumter. Border slave states like Missouri, Kentucky and Maryland did not secede, but there was much Confederate sympathy among their citizens. Though on the surface the Civil War may have seemed a lopsided conflict, with the 23 states of the Union enjoying an enormous advantage in population, manufacturing (including arms production) and railroad construction, the Confederates had a strong military tradition, along with some of the best soldiers and commanders in the nation. They also had a cause they believed in: preserving their long-held traditions and institutions, chief among these being slavery. In the First Battle of Bull Run (known in the South as First Manassas) on July 21, 1861, 35,000 Confederate soldiers under the command of Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson forced a greater number of Union forces (or Federals) to retreat towards Washington, D.C., dashing any hopes of a quick Union victory and leading Lincoln to call for 500,000 more recruits. In fact, both sides' initial call for troops had to be widened after it became clear that the war would not be a limited or short conflict. The Civil War in Virginia (1862) George B. McClellan--who replaced the aging General Winfield Scott as supreme commander of the Union Army after the first months of the war--was beloved by his troops, but his reluctance to advance frustrated Lincoln. In the spring of 1862, McClellan finally led his Army of the Potomac up the peninsula between the York and James Rivers, capturing Yorktown on May 4. The combined forces of Robert E. Lee and Jackson

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successfully drove back McClellan's army in the Seven Days' Battles (June 25-July 1), and a cautious McClellan called for yet more reinforcements in order to move against Richmond. Lincoln refused, and instead withdrew the Army of the Potomac to Washington. By mid-1862, McClellan had been replaced as Union general-in-chief by Henry W. Halleck, though he remained in command of the Army of the Potomac. Lee then moved his troops northwards and split his men, sending Jackson to meet Pope's forces near Manassas, while Lee himself moved separately with the second half of the army. On August 29, Union troops led by John Pope struck Jackson's forces in the Second Battle of Bull Run (Second Manassas). The next day, Lee hit the Federal left flank with a massive assault, driving Pope's men back towards Washington. On the heels of his victory at Manassas, Lee began the first Confederate invasion of the North. Despite contradictory orders from Lincoln and Halleck, McClellan was able to reorganize his army and strike at Lee on September 14 in Maryland, driving the Confederates back to a defensive position along Antietam Creek, near Sharpsburg. On September 17, the Army of the Potomac hit Lee's forces (reinforced by Jackson's) in what became the war's bloodiest single day of fighting. Total casualties at Antietam numbered 12,410 of some 69,000 troops on the Union side, and 13,724 of around 52,000 for the Confederates. The Union victory at Antietam would prove decisive, as it halted the Confederate advance in Maryland and forced Lee to retreat into Virginia. Still, McClellan's failure to pursue his advantage earned him the scorn of Lincoln and Halleck, who removed him from command in favor of Ambrose E. Burnside. Burnside's assault on Lee's troops near Fredericksburg on December 13 ended in heavy Union casualties and a Confederate victory; he was promptly replaced by Joseph "Fighting Joe" Hooker, and both armies settled into winter quarters across the Rappahannock River from each other. Source: http://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war.

x Each group reads the text aloud. x The teacher models how to mark up the text to identify specific instances in the text where they make connections. x The groups talk about the text, most specifically about the connections they make with the texts. x The teacher goes over the three types of making connections strategies: text-to-self connections, text-to-text connections and text-to-world connections.

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x For text-to-text connection, the teacher builds students’ background knowledge by reminding them to think of the variety of texts they have experienced that are related to the reading material. x The teacher encourages students to think of issues or events they have seen or read about on television, textbooks, newspapers, movies, magazines, the Internet, websites and social network sites to build their background knowledge for text-to-world connections. Individual Practice The teacher passes out Figure 12 to students to do the making connections activity: Figure 15: Making Connections Graphic

In the Text (Discuss what happens in the text here)

In my Life (Discuss the connections between the text and your life here) a) This text reminds me of. . . b) . . . aspect of the story is similar to … event in my life

c) The text is different from my life because . . . In another text a) b) c) In the world a) b) c)

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Strategy 4: Investigative Reading An overview of Investigative Reading Strategies Investigative Reading is a strategy that allows the teacher to create opportunities for students to use their personal associations and questions about a challenging text to derive meaning from it (Petersen & Burkland, 1986). In investigative reading, the teacher requires students to use their personal associations and questioning as a reading strategy to become alert to what they don’t understand in a text while at the same time develop the skills to learn the knowledge they need in order to comprehend the text. The teacher asks students to use strategies such as activating prior knowledge, questioning, summarizing, and clarifying information to explore and examine a challenging text. For example, the teacher can encourage students to pose a variety of questions about a text to promote an in-depth analysis and examination of a text. By teaching students to pose and explore questions in greater depth, they become more proficient readers (Fisher, Frey & Lapp, 2012). In addition, the teacher can instruct students to identify relevant connections between a text and their prior experiences (based on their gender, socioeconomic status, race, etc.) and background experiences (based on knowledge of the topic/text, instruction, etc.). More importantly, investigative reading requires students to make connections to a text in a way that they are able to compare and contrast their experiences with what is going on in the text. Specifically, in investigative reading, students are required to provide evidence in a text to support, explain, validate and extend what they read into the text. To engage in an effective investigative reading, readers must interact extensively with the text by constantly going back to the text to determine and analyze the author’s viewpoint and relate such to their own background experiences. Students who are able to derive meaning from a text by relating the author’s point to their experiences, understandings, and perspectives become proficient readers (Fisher, Frey & Lapp, 2012). Rapp, van den Broek, McMaster, Kendeou & Espin (2007) observe that, “Proficient readers engage in the complex, dynamic To engage in an effective investigative reading, readers must allocation and reallocation of interact extensively with the text by attention as they read, constantly going back to the text to continuously shifting attention determine and analyze the author’s to focus on incoming text viewpoint and relate such to their information; selectively letting own background experiences. go of extraneous information; and, when necessary to establish

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coherence, activating background knowledge and reactivating information from the prior text” (p. 294). A Frame for Investigative Reading Students need strategies that help them read and synthesize ideas from multiple perspectives. Students combine their personal experiences and questions about a text to explore the meaning of the text. Figure 16 provides a graphic representation of how students integrate knowledge from multiple sources for an investigative reading frame. Figure 16: Combining Personal Experience and Questions about a Text for Meaning

Classroom Implementation of Investigative Reading Learning Objective: At the end of the lesson, the students will determine the explicit message of the text, make logical inferences, and cite specific textual evidence in support of conclusions drawn from the text.

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Reading Task: Read the text, highlight excerpts of explicit messages in the text, note the development of the messages, and underline instances of evidence in the text. Vocabulary Task: Underline general academic vocabulary and domain-specific vocabulary in the text. CCR Anchor Standards R1. Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and make logical inferences from it; and cite specific evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text. R2. Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.

First Reading: Questions about the Context of the Text x The teacher asks students to work in pairs to construct open-ended questions about the text. x The teacher models the process of question formulation for students.

a. b. c. d. e. f. g. h. i. j. k. l.

Model Questions by the Teacher What do I know about this text/topic? What do I know about the author(s) of the text? What other publication information is available in the text? When was the text written? What might have influenced the publication? What is the title (and subtitle) of the text? What do the visual images or graphics say to me about the message(s) of the text? What is the structure of the text? What discourse is used in the text? What are the general academic vocabulary and domain-specific vocabulary used in the text? Are there cognates in the text? If yes, what are some examples? What are your predictions about the text?

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x The teacher provides some examples of cognates and directs students to find ten examples of their own. Teacher-provided Examples of English/Spanish Cognates English Spanish a. Physical activity actividad física b. Cardiorespiratory cardiorrespiratovia c. Cardiovascular cardiovascular d. Metabolic metabólico e. Aerobic exercise ejercicio aerobic x The teacher directs students to share their answers with the class. Figure 17: A Physical Education Text

All children and youth should be physically active daily as part of play, games, sports, transportation, recreation, physical education, or planned exercise, in the context of family, school, and community activities. For inactive children and youth, a progressive increase in activity to eventually achieve the target shown below is recommended. It is appropriate to start with smaller amounts of physical activity and gradually increase duration, frequency and intensity over time. It should also be noted that if children are currently doing no physical activity, doing amounts below the recommended levels will bring more benefits than doing none at all. The scientific evidence available for the age group 5–17 years supports the overall conclusion that physical activity provides fundamental health benefits for children and youth. This conclusion is

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based on findings of observational studies in which higher levels of physical activity were found to be associated with more favorable health parameters as well as experimental studies in which physical activity interventions were associated with improvements in health indicators. The documented health benefits include increased physical fitness (both cardiorespiratory fitness and muscular strength), reduced body fatness, favorable cardiovascular and metabolic disease risk profiles, enhanced bone health and reduced symptoms of depression. Physical activity is positively related to cardiorespiratory and metabolic health in children and youth. To examine the relation between physical activity and cardiovascular and metabolic health, the guideline group reviewed literature from the CDC Literature review (2008) and the evidence reviews from Janssen (2007) and Janssen, Leblanc (2009). A dose-response relationship appears to exist, in that greater doses of physical activity are associated with improved indicators of cardiorespiratory and metabolic health. Taken together, the observational and experimental evidence supports the hypothesis that maintaining high amounts and intensities of physical activity starting in childhood and continuing into adult years will enable people to maintain a favorable risk profile and lower rates of morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular disease and diabetes later in life. Collectively, the research suggests that moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity for at least 60 minutes per day would help children and youth maintain a healthy cardiorespiratory and metabolic risk profile. In general it appears that higher volumes or intensities of physical activity are likely to have greater benefit, but research in this area is still limited. Physical activity is positively related to cardiorespiratory fitness in children and youth, and both preadolescents and adolescents can achieve improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness with exercise training. In addition, physical activity is positively related to muscular strength. In both children and youth, participation in muscle-strengthening activities 2 or 3 times per week significantly improves muscular strength. For this age group, muscle-strengthening activities can be unstructured and part of play, such as playing on playground equipment, climbing trees or pushing and pulling activities. Source: http://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/factsheet_young_people/en/

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Second Reading: Questions about the Story to Analyze the Text x The teacher directs students to read the text (Figure 17) with the goal of analyzing it. x The teacher models how to jot down answers to questions at the margin of the text (e.g., Figure 17). x The teacher models appropriate questioning techniques using question words such as: what, where, why, when, which, who, and how as in Figure 18: Modeled Questions by the Teacher a. What are the main ideas of this text? b. What are the supporting details of the ideas? c. Where (pages and line numbers in the text) can I find evidence for the main ideas and supporting details? d. Why does the author say that daily physical activity is important for all children and youth? Write out the sentence(s) that give you the answer. e. What are some problems that the author attributes to lack of daily physical activities? Copy the sentence(s) that contain the answer. f. Why do you think the author writes this article?

Third Reading: Making Personal Connections x The teacher directs students to make personal connections with the text. x The teacher reminds students to compare and contrast what the author says (in Figure 17) with their own experiences and perspectives. x The teacher models how to make personal connections using a particular format.

a. b. c. d. e.

Teacher Modeled Questions to Make Personal Connections This story reminds me of . . . I am confused because the author says. . . The story made me think of . . . I wonder why the author writes . . . I can relate to the what the author says because . . .

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x The teacher passes out Figure 15 to guide students’ personal connections Figure 18: My Personal Connections with the Text

Phrases, sentences, ideas from the text 1___________________________ ____________________________ 2___________________________ ____________________________ 3___________________________

My personal connections 1____________________________ _____________________________ 2____________________________ _____________________________ 3.___________________________

x The teacher goes around the groups to ensure that students do not emphasize their personal experiences without making adequate connections to the text. x The teacher passes out a worksheet and asks students to use Figure 18 to guide their discussion. x The teacher directs students to share their personal connections in small groups while s/he charts students’ responses on the whiteboard. Extending Learning x The teacher requires students to extend learning by examining the text (Figure 17) at a deeper, more analytical level. x The teacher emphasizes that students need to produce new knowledge and insights by re-reading, analyzing, and restructuring the text. x The teacher requires students to use a graphic organizer (e.g. Venn diagram), photo, or drawing to enhance their work. x The teacher asks students to work on one or some prompts.

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Prompts for Students to Respond to a. Speculate on the view(s) of the author or their stance on physical activity and then compare and contrast their own views with that of the author’s. b. Explain the major points of the text to a group of parents who are concerned about physical activity for health with their children. c. Classify the information in the text into two groups: (a) activities that are good for children and youth, and (b) activities that may be dangerous for them. d. Explain and expatiate on the sentence: “Physical activity is positively related to cardiorespiratory and metabolic health in children and youth”. e. What are your views about the major issues raised in the text? f. What are alternative views you have regarding the author’s ideas?

Strategy 5: Double-Entry Journal An Overview of Double-entry Journal Strategies Reading at college and career readiness level requires students to become active and reflective readers who construct knowledge as they read and take ownership of texts. Effective readers learn and use reading strategies that foster active engagement with texts. Such readers usually read the text closely by identifying important points, quotes, areas of confusion, and difficult vocabulary words. In addition, effective readers make connections between the text they are reading and their own knowledge, experiences and feelings. Double-entry journal is a useful reading comprehension tool that teachers can use to promote engagement with reading materials by asking students to show their reactions, inferences, connections and insights related to the text they read (L’Allier & Elish-Piper, 2007). Double-entry journal allows students to construct meaning as they interact with a text (Calkins, 1986). In particular, doubleentry journal offers students the opportunity to be active, question texts and construct meanings rather than passively receive knowledge from texts they are reading. Equally important, double-entry journal promotes collaborative learning through small group analysis and discussion of responses to a text (Nugent & Nugent, 1989).

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Why Use a Double-Entry Journal?

x x x x x x x x x x

Advantages of Double-Entry Journal It facilitates the close reading of texts. It promotes reflective reading in students. It allows students to be actively engaged in the reading process. It facilitates student-centered learning where students question and construct meanings. It affords students the opportunity to express their thoughts and opinions as they read. It allows students to distinguish between facts (e.g., quotations, paraphrases, and summaries) and applications such as analyses and personal responses. It allows students to take responsibility for their own learning. It helps to activate students’ background knowledge because of its interactive nature. It facilitates collaborative learning among students. It enhances reading-writing connections as students are able to react to the author in writing.

Classroom Implementation of Double-Entry Journal – A Mathematics Text Learning Objective: At the end of the lesson, the students will define and explain some domain-specific vocabulary words. Reading Task: Read the text and underline domain-specific vocabulary. Vocabulary Task: Find the meanings of the domain-specific vocabulary and find the Spanish cognates for such words. 1. Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone. CCR anchor standards

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Explicit Instruction x The teacher selects and introduces a grade-level appropriate for students. x The teacher models the language demands that students should pay attention to in the text, including cognates, and general academic and domain specific vocabulary. x The teacher provides explicit instruction on how to select important quotes, phrases, sentences, or paragraphs from a text and copy these in the column on the left. x The teacher reads aloud the text and models his/her thinking, reactions, and connections to the text, using examples such as “This text reminds me of . . .”, “I infer from the paragraph . . .”, “This section is important because . . .”, “I am confused about this part because . . .”, “I think this paragraph means . . .” (See Figure 13). Figure 19: Double-Entry Journal for a Mathematics Text

Passage from the Text (write quotations, paraphrases, & summaries here)

Personal Response (write your analyses, questions, & related experiences here)

Guided Practice in Small Groups a. The teacher provides guided practice where s/he allows students to work in small groups. b. The teacher provides a brief explanation of the activity and his/her expectations. c. The teacher provides a text for students to code (e.g., highlight or underline and take notes of specific vocabulary words, quotes, phrases, and sentences). d. In the margin of the text (or use small sticky notes), students write the following general academic vocabulary (e.g., define, write, identify, and find) and domain specific vocabulary and symbols (e.g.,

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variables, average, quadratic function, equation, solve, R(x) and R(2) in Figure 14. e. Students find the cognates of the domain specific vocabulary: Students’ Generated English/Spanish Cognates English Spanish o Variable las variables o Average -o Quadratic function function cuadrática o Equation ecuación o Solve resolver Figure 20: A Mathematics Text

Source: Larson, Boswell, Kanold, & Stiff (2004), p. 262.

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f. The teacher walks around the room to monitor students’ engagement with the text. g. The teacher encourages each group to use collaborative learning strategies (e.g., the teacher emphasizes interdependence, interaction, and individual/group accountability). h. The teacher offers corrections and feedback as students work in their small groups. i. The teacher directs the groups to look for commonality in the responses. j. The teacher holds each group accountable in demonstrating their understanding of the assignment. k. Each group shares its cognates and codes with the class to facilitate a whole-class discussion of the responses. Individual Practice x Each student synthesizes information from the group’s responses to compose his or her own in a second journal entry. x The teacher reminds the students to reflect on the activity that they have just carried out.

Conclusion There is a paradigm shift in reading instruction in contemporary U.S. classrooms. All teachers are now expected to teach students to read and comprehend texts across the disciplines. Gone are those days when only literacy teachers provided instruction on reading. The change is due largely to the fact that there is a consensus among literacy researchers and experienced teachers that effective readers use an array of strategies to unpack complex and challenging texts (Pressley, 2000). Such experts further agree that teachers must provide explicit instruction on how students can use effective strategies to analyze, interpret, and comprehend texts. Teachers need to provide explicit instruction to help students gain the knowledge of reading strategies and be able to draw on specific strategies for reading fictional and content area materials. In addition, when teachers provide explicit reading instruction, students are more likely to become independent readers (Pressley, 2000). In this chapter, we introduced readers to some effective teaching strategies that pre-service and in-service teachers can use to engage students in reading across the disciplines. We provided an overview of each strategy and showed a stepby-step implementation of such strategies. We also provided a rich array

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of graphics and questions that teachers can use during the implementation of the strategies. Finally, we offer practice activities to help pre-service and in-service teachers review what they learn in this chapter and to provide opportunities for further practice.

Practice Activities For further practice of the strategies, techniques and ideas introduced in this chapter, we have provided the following practice activities. Practice activity 1 is designed to help you reflect on your understanding of the reading strategies in this chapter and how you can implement them in your own classroom. Practice activity 2 provides an exercise on how you can use text-dependent questions to support close reading. Practice activity 3 helps you to reflect on how to teach students to interrogate the texts that they read. Activity 4 provides additional practice on how teachers can promote active engagement with texts across the disciplines. Practice activity 5 allows you to extend your learning in this chapter by working on an additional exercise. If you plan to use these strategies with your students, remember to model them and draw on your knowledge of the learners’ characteristics to make necessary adjustments so that the activities will meet the learning needs of your students. Furthermore, you will need to continually practice these activities with students so that they will eventually make them their own.

Practice Activity 1: Reflection Questions Activity Reflection Questions 1. Which vocabulary activities were familiar to you and which were new? Go back through the chapter and list them. 2. What reading activities do your students do? Are there any reading strategies they found particularly effective? How could you bring these strategies into your classroom? 3. What additional questions do you have about reading that are not answered here? What would you like to learn more about? Make a list of key terms and conduct an internet search to find more answers. 4. Making it your own: copy or reproduce any of the graphic organizers mentioned in the chapter or the activities -- add color, pictures, directions or other features to enhance the worksheet.

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Practice Activity 2: Text-dependent questions to guide students’ reading Direction: Read the following passage and use the questions in the right column to analyze the text Civil Rights Movement Background Because large segments of the populace—particularly AfricanAmericans, women, and men without property—have not always been accorded full citizenship rights in the American Republic, civil rights movements, or "freedom struggles," have been a frequent feature of the nation's history. In particular, movements to obtain civil rights for black Americans have had special historical significance. Such movements have not only secured citizenship rights for blacks but have also redefined prevailing conceptions of the nature of civil rights and the role of government in protecting these rights. The most important achievements of African-American civil rights movements have been the post-Civil War constitutional amendments that abolished slavery and established the citizenship status of blacks and the judicial decisions and legislation based on these amendments, notably the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka decision of 1954, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Moreover, these legal changes greatly affected the opportunities available to women, nonblack minorities, disabled individuals, and other victims of discrimination.

Questions for first reading: Explain the following phrases (or concepts): o full citizenship rights o civil rights movements o constitutional amendments o Brown v. Board of Education o National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) o Voting Rights Act of 1965 o Constitutional amendments Find cognates for the following vocabulary: o Discrimination o Segregationist o Unconstitutional o Legislation o Civil rights o Citizenship Questions for second reading o What is the Civil Rights Movement? o What are the phases of the Civil Rights Movement? o What is the NAACP? Questions for third reading o Write two sentences to summarize these two paragraphs o What is the significance (if any) of the following sentence in the text: “Moreover, these legal changes greatly affected the opportunities available to women, nonblack minorities, disabled individuals, and other victims of discrimination.”

Reading Comprehension across the Disciplines The modern period of civil rights reform can be divided into several phases, each beginning with isolated, small-scale protests and ultimately resulting in the emergence of new, more militant movements, leaders, and organizations. The Brown decision demonstrated that the litigation strategy of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) could undermine the legal foundations of southern segregationist practices, but the strategy worked only when blacks, acting individually or in small groups, assumed the risks associated with crossing racial barriers. Thus, even after the Supreme Court declared that public school segregation was unconstitutional, black activism was necessary to compel the federal government to implement the decision and extend its principles to all areas of public life rather than simply in schools. During the 1950s and 1960s, therefore, NAACP-sponsored legal suits and legislative lobbying were supplemented by an increasingly massive and militant social movement seeking a broad range of social changes. Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, The initial phase of the black protest activity in the post-Brown period began on December 1, 1955. Rosa Parks of Montgomery, Alabama, refused to give up her seat to a white bus rider, thereby defying a southern custom that required blacks to give seats toward the front of buses to whites. When she was jailed, a black community boycott of the city's buses began. The boycott lasted more than a year, demonstrating the unity and

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Question for 1st reading o What does this text say about Rosa Parks? o What did Rosa Park contribute to the Civil Rights Movement? o What was significance of Martin Luther King, Jr. in the Civil Rights Movement? o What do you understand by Mahatma Gandhi’s doctrine of nonviolent resistance in this text? o What role did the student-led group play in the Civil Rights Movement in the text?

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determination of black residents and inspiring blacks elsewhere. Martin Luther King, Jr., who emerged as the boycott movement's most effective leader, possessed unique conciliatory and oratorical skills. He understood the larger significance of the boycott and quickly realized that the nonviolent tactics used by the Indian nationalist Mahatma Gandhi could be used by southern blacks. "I had come to see early that the Christian doctrine of love operating through the Gandhian method of nonviolence was one of the most potent weapons available to the Negro in his struggle for freedom," he explained. Although Parks and King were members of the NAACP, the Montgomery movement led to the creation in 1957 of a new regional organization, the clergy-led Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) with King as its president. King remained the major spokesperson for black aspirations, but, as in Montgomery, little-known individuals initiated most subsequent black movements. On February 1, 1960, four freshmen at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College began a wave of student sit-ins designed to end segregation at southern lunch counters. These protests spread rapidly throughout the South and led to the founding, in April 1960, of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). This student-led group, even more aggressive in its use of nonviolent direct action tactics than King's SCLC, stressed the development of autonomous local movements in contrast to SCLCs strategy of using local campaigns to achieve national civil rights reforms.

Questions for 2nd reading (write your own questions here) o o o o o o Questions for 3rd reading (write your own questions here) o o o o o o

Reading Comprehension across the Disciplines Questions for 1st reading Birmingham and the March on (write your own questions here) Washington The SCLC protest strategy achieved its o first major success in 1963 when the o group launched a major campaign in o Birmingham, Alabama. Highly o publicized confrontations between o nonviolent protesters, including o schoolchildren, on the one hand, and police with clubs, fire hoses, and Questions for 2nd reading police dogs, on the other, gained (write your own questions here) northern sympathy. The Birmingham o clashes and other simultaneous civil o rights efforts prompted President John o F. Kennedy to push for passage of new o civil rights legislation. By the summer o of 1963, the Birmingham protests had o become only one of many local protest Questions for 3rd reading insurgencies that culminated in the (write your own questions here) August 28 March on Washington, o which attracted at least 200,000 o participants. King's address on that o occasion captured the idealistic spirit o of the expanding protests. "I have a o o dream," he said, "that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed—we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal." Although some whites reacted negatively to the spreading protests of 1963, King's linkage of black militancy and idealism helped bring about passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This legislation outlawed segregation in public facilities and racial discrimination in employment and education. In addition to blacks, women and other victims of discrimination benefited from the act. Source: http://www.history.com/topics/civil-rights-movement

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Practice Activity 3: Teachers’ Reflection on a Critical Reading Lesson Direction: In groups of four, reflect on the questions in the box below. Teachers’ Reflection on a Critical Reading Lesson 1. How can I develop in my students the knowledge and skills to interrogate authors/texts? 2. How can I help my students to challenge inequality and injustice? 3. How can I prepare my students to use literacy knowledge to transform society? 4. How can I effectively situate literacy instruction in the lived experiences of students? 5. How do I create a classroom that is supportive of critical thinking and critical reading? 6. What kinds of scaffolds do I need to provide to help my students develop as critical readers? 7. How do I teach students to apply the reading knowledge and skills to solve real-life problems? 8. How do I select a rich variety of text-types that are suitable for teaching critical reading? 9. How can I engage my students to take a critical stance toward the texts they read or write? 10. How do I create a conducive classroom for students to develop their own voices, perspectives, and worldviews? 11. What opportunities for accountable talk can I integrate into my lessons to help my students develop as critical readers?

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Practice Activity 4: Journal Entry Assignment Name: ______________________________ Subject: _____________________________ Grade: ______________________________ Find and write in the first column two examples of each of the following types of figurative language and explain their meanings in the text you are reading. Figurative language

Simile

Hyperbole

Imagery

Metaphor

Personification

Copy the sentence and page where you find the language in this column

Explain what the language means in the text

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Practice Activity 5: Making Connections Name: ________________________________ Date: ________________________________ Assignment: pages ______ to ______ Text-to-self connection: Relate the text you are reading to real-life experiences you or others have had. ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ Text-to-text connection: Relate the text you are reading to other texts such as other book, movies, websites, music, television and other media: ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ Text-to-world connections Connect the text to current or past real world events, topics, issues and experiences. ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________

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References Aronowitz, S. and H. Giroux. 1991. Postmodern education: Politics, culture and social criticism. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. Achieve3000. (n.d.). 10 steps for migrating your curriculum to the Common Core. Retrieved February 19, 2014, from http://www.arteducators.org/research/10_Steps_for_Migrating_Your_ Curriculum_to_the_Common_Core.pdf. Brown, S. & Kappes, L. (2012). Implementing the common core state standards: A primer on close reading of text. Retrieved November 20, 2013 from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED541433.pdf. Brummett, B. (2010). Techniques of close reading. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. Calkins, L. M. (1986). The art of teaching writing. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. California Department of Education. (2013). Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects for California Public Schools: Kindergarten through Grade Twelve. Sacramento, CA: Department of Education. Cummins, S. (2013). Close reading of informational text: Assessmentdriven instruction in grades 3–8. New York, NY: Guilford Press. Douglass, F. (1999). Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Education Northwest. (2011). Implementing the Common Core State Standards: What are districts doing now? Retrieved February 19, 2014 from http://educationnorthwest.org/webfm_send/1162. Fisher, D., Frey, N. & Lapp, D. (2012). Teaching students to read like detectives: Comprehending, analyzing, and discussing text. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press. Freire, P. and Macedo, D. (1987). Literacy: Reading the word and the world. Westport, CT: Bergin & Garvey. Freire, P. (2000). Pedagogy of the oppressed (30th Ed.). New York, NY: Continuum. Harvey, S. & Goudvis, A. (2000). Strategies that work: Teaching comprehension to enhance understanding. Portland, ME: Stenhouse. Holt, Rinehart & Winston. (2002). Modern Biology. Austin, TX: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. L’Allier, S. & Elish-Piper, L. (2007). “Walking the walk” with teacher education candidates: Strategies for promoting active engagement with

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assigned readings. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 50(5), 338– 353. Larson, R., Boswell, L., Kanold, T. & Stiff, L. (2004). Algebra 2. Evanston, IL: McDougal Littell. Literacy GAINS. (2009). Connecting practice and research: Critical literacy guide. Retrieved November 24, 2013 from www.edugains.ca/resourcesLIT/.../Crtical_Literacy_Guide.pdf. McLaughlin, M. & Overturf, B. (2013a). The common core: Teaching students in grade 6 – 12 to meet the reading standards. Newark, DE: International Reading Association. McLaughlin, M. & Overturf, B. (2013b). The common core: Teaching K – 5 students to meet the reading standards. Newark, DE: International Reading Association. Nugent, S. M. & Nugent, H. E. (1989). Theory into practice: Learning through writing: The double-entry journal in literature classes. English Quarterly, 21(4) 259–263. Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers. (2011). PARCC model content frameworks: English language arts/literacy grades 3–11. Retrieved from www.parcconline.org/sites/parcc/files/PARCCMCFELALiteracyAugu st2012_FINAL.pdf. Pressley, M. (2000). What should comprehension instruction be the instruction of? In M.L. Kamil, P.B. Mosenthal, P.D. Pearson, & R. Barr (Eds.), Handbook of reading research (Vol. 3, pp. 545–561). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Rapp, D. N.; van den Broek, P., McMaster, K. L., Kendeou, P & Espin, C. A. (2007). Higher-order comprehension processes in struggling readers: A perspective for research and intervention. Scientific Studies of Reading, 11(4), 289–312. Shor, I. & Freire, P. (1987). A pedagogy for liberation: Dialogues on transforming education. Massachusetts: Bergin & Garvey Publishing Inc. Tovani, C. (2000). I read it, but I don’t get it: Comprehension strategies for adolescent readers. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.

CHAPTER SIX WRITING

A writing class Source: Microsoft Online Pictures

A junior high school English-language arts teacher How I teach Essay Writing in My Class I use SDAIE/ELD [Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English/English Language Development] and ExpoLit strategies in my writing lessons, including graphic organizers, visuals, scaffolding, and cooperative learning. I use Step Up to Writing strategies such as the IVF [I = identify what you read, V = describe/explain and F = finish your thought) strategy, relating text to text, text to self, and text to the world, and graphic organizers to make content meaningful to students. I also use a variety of resources that have been provided by the school. Such resources include the ELMO [document camera], LCD [Liquid crystal display for notebook and smaller computers], Quizdom [an audience response voting system] and PowerPoints. Through ELMO, I am able to model for my students how to write effective essays, provide visual aids, and I can model how to complete the assignment.

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Guiding Questions This chapter addresses some of the questions that pre-service and inservice teachers frequently asked about how they can use the CCWSs to offer effective instruction for their students. Hence, our discussion in this chapter is guided by five questions. Guiding Questions a) What knowledge and skills are specified in the Common Core Writing Standards (CCRSs) for teachers to teach and for students to learn? b) What instructional shift would we have to make to properly address Common Core Writing Standards? c) What is the vertical alignment in the CCSSs for writing? d) What are the CCWSs’ Three Text Types? e) What are some of the strategies for teaching the three text types?

The Common Core Writing Standards (CCWSs) The goal of the CCWSs is to prepare students for college or career readiness by the end of the 12th grade. Unlike many of the traditional state writing standards, the CCWSs require students to focus on critical thinking and analytic writings across the disciplines and be able to develop coherent writings when they argue, explain or narrate their ideas. Rather than focusing on creative writing, the CCWSs require students to develop specific knowledge and skills.

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Knowledge and Skills that Students Must Develop CCWSs require students to: x compose texts based on logical arguments, sound reasoning, and relevant evidence; x write in-depth research similar to what they will likely do in their careers or at college; x write the Standards’ three text types: argumentative texts, explanatory/informational texts, and narrative texts across the discipline; x write texts to argue, explain, persuade, inform, and narrate real or imagined experiences; x use writing to respond critically and analytically to literary and informational texts; x integrate ideas and facts from diverse sources, including textbooks, newspapers, video clips, television, personal experience and perspective; x align the form and content of writing to suit a specific writing task and purpose; and x communicate ideas, experiences, and facts clearly and sufficiently to external audiences. To achieve the goal of preparing students to write at grade-levels, the CCWSs provide grade-specific writing standards that students must acquire and be able to use as they advance through K to 12th grade. For example, the CCWSs for students in grades 6 through 12 state that, “Each year in their writing, students should demonstrate increasing sophistication in all aspects of language use, from vocabulary and syntax to the development and organization of ideas, and they should address increasingly demanding content and sources. Students advancing through the grades are expected to meet each year’s grade-specific standards and retain or further develop skills and understandings mastered in preceding grades” (http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/W/introduction-for6-12, emphasis in the original). Figure 1 provides an overview of the college and career readiness anchor standards for writing.

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Figure 2: Anchor Standards for Writing

College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Writing Text Types and Purposes W1: Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence W2: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content. W3: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective techniques, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences. Production and Distribution of Writing W4: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. W5: Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach. W6: Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others. Research to Build and Present Knowledge W7: Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects based on focused questions, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation. W8: Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital resources, assess the credibility and accuracy of each source, and integrate the information while avoiding plagiarism. W9: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. Range of Writing W10: Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences. Source: Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects for California Public Schools: Kindergarten through Grade Twelve (2013), p. 14.

The Common Core Shift Specific to Writing Effective implementation of the CCSSs requires that teachers, school administrators, and students make fundamental shifts from the previous state standards. It means that there is a need for a new way of looking at

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how teachers teach, the ways students learn and are tested, the ways school principals administer schools, and the ways instructional materials are used. The CCSSs require teachers to think across grades levels in order to understand: x the knowledge that students must know and be able to use in their current grade, x how students’ acquisition of literacy skills has progressed through previous grades, and x what learners still need to learn.

Shift 5: Writing from Sources Shift 5: Writing From Sources, means that the teacher, through writing instruction, emphasizes the use of evidence from multiple sources to inform or make an argument. In essence, at the end of 12th grade, students develop college- and career-ready skills through written arguments that respond to the ideas, events, and arguments presented in a variety of texts that they listen to and read.

The Vertical Alignment in the CCSS for Writing Battelle for Kids (2011) contains a guide for teachers to understand the vertical alignment in the CCWSs. As in all the anchor standards throughout the CCSSs, the vertical alignment of the writing standards allows teachers to understand how writing skills in each grade level build on each other. In Figure 2, the initial grade level is first identified and then other grade levels that can benefit from the standard are listed and added. Figure 2 demonstrates how the CCWS Anchor Standard 2 aligns vertically. Figure 2: Vertical Alignment of CCWS Anchor Standard 2

Grade Standard: CCW Anchor Standard 2: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content. Grade K: Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose informative/explanatory texts in which they name what they are writing about and supply some information about the topic.

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Grade 1, [2] W.1.2: Write informative/explanatory texts in which they name [introduce] a topic, supply some facts about the topic, and provide some sense of closure [a concluding statement or section]. Grades 3, [4], 5 W.3.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly. x W.3.2a Introduce a topic [clearly and provide a general observation and focus], and group related information together; [in paragraphs and sections, include formatting (e.g., headings)]; include illustrations when useful to aiding comprehension, [and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension]. x W.3.2b Develop the topic with facts, definitions, and [concrete] details, [quotations, or other information and examples related to the topic]. x W.3.2c Use linking words [to link ideas] and phrases (e.g., also, another, and, more, but) to connect ideas within [and across] categories of information [using words and phrases (e.g., another, for example, also, because)] and clauses (e.g., in contrast, especially). x W.3.2d Provide a concluding statement or section [related to the information or explanation presented]. Grades 6, [7], 8 W.6.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content. x W.6.2a Introduce a topic [clearly, previewing what is to follow]; organize ideas, concepts, and information, using strategies such as definition, classification, comparison/contrast, and cause/effect; include formatting (e.g., headings), graphics (e.g., charts, tables), and multimedia when useful in aiding comprehension. x W.6.2b Develop the topic with relevant facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples. x W.6.2c Use appropriate [and varied] transitions to [create cohesion] and clarify the relationships among ideas and concepts. x W.6.2d Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to inform about or explain the topic. x W.6.2e Establish and maintain a formal style. x W.6.2f Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from [and supports] the information or explanation presented.

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Grade 9–10 [11–12] W.9-10.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content. x W.9-10.2a Introduce a topic; organize complex ideas, concepts, and information to make important connections and distinctions [and that each new element builds on that which precedes it to form a united whole]; include formatting (e.g., headings), graphics (e.g., figures, tables), and multimedia when useful in aiding comprehension. x W.9-10.2b Develop the topic [thoroughly] with well-chosen, relevant, and sufficient facts, [by selecting the most significant and relevant facts], extended definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples appropriate to the audience’s knowledge of the topic. x W.9-10.2c Use appropriate and varied transitions to link the major sections of the text, create cohesion, and clarify the relationships among complex ideas and concepts. x W.9-10.2d Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary [and techniques such as metaphor, simile, and analogy] to manage the complexity of the topic. x W.9-10.2e Establish and maintain a formal style and objective tone while attending to the norms and conventions of the discipline in which they are writing. x W.9-10.2f Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the information or explanation presented (e.g., articulating implications or the significance of the topic). Source: Battelle for Kids. (2011). Vertical progression guide for the Common Core. http://www.ohioleadership.org/up_doc_cms/2012_AF_CC_ELA_Example.pdf

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Argumentative Writing Figure 3: Writing an Argument

Source: Microsoft Online Pictures

The CCWSs place particular emphasis on “writing logical arguments as a particularly important form of college- and career-ready writing,” (appendix A, p. 24). The fact of social and cultural diversity and the information-rich context of the 21st century suggest that students are frequently faced with situations that demand they consider and weigh two or more perspectives on one issue or topic. Such situations require students to think critically, analyze deeply, make specific claims, assess the validity of claims, and anticipate counterclaims (Hillocks, 2010). Postman (1997) argues that argumentative writing compels writers to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of different perspectives. Williams and McEnerney (2011) define argument not as “disagreeable wrangling” but as “a serious and focused conversation among people who are intensely interested in getting to the bottom of things cooperatively”: Those values are also an integral part of your education in college. For four years, you are asked to read, do research, gather data, analyze it, think about it, and then communicate it to readers in a form . . . which enables them to assess it and use it. You are asked to do this not because we expect

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you all to become professional scholars, but because in just about any profession you pursue, you will do research, think about what you find, make decisions about complex matters, and then explain those decisions— usually in writing—to others who have a stake in your decisions being sound ones. In an Age of Information, what most professionals do is research, think, and make arguments. (And part of the value of doing your own thinking and writing is that it makes you much better at evaluating the thinking and writing of others.) (p. 1).

The authors of the CCWSs recognize the crucial role of argumentative writing in grades K–12, and consequently, students are required to compose argumentative essays by analyzing a text they read, making claims about the text, and providing textual evidence to support their claims. Hence, teachers across the disciplines use argumentative writing to foster critical thinking skills and analytical responses to the texts that students read. To achieve this goal, according to the CCSSs, students must be able to make a reasoned and logical argument: x to change the reader’s point of view, x to bring about some action on the reader’s part, or x to ask the reader to accept the writer’s explanation or evaluation of a concept, issue or problem. In practical terms, students must learn to use logic and textual evidence to demonstrate the validity of their claims. For example, in Englishlanguage arts lessons, when students interpret literary texts and make specific claims, they must defend their interpretation by citing textual evidence from the text they are reading. Similarly, in science lessons, students are expected to draw upon textual evidence and their understanding of scientific concepts to argue in support of claims or findings. Furthermore, in history/social studies, students are required to analyze evidence from multiple sources and defend their claims by using the relevant evidence from the text they are reading. Toulmin’s (2003) model of argumentative writing suggests that a student must write a text that contains the following six elements.

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Elements of Argumentative Writings identify a clear claim (or thesis), evaluate the claim (or thesis), provide multiple textual evidence to challenge or support the claim, provide a warrant (e.g., explanation of specific reasons, details, examples), x offer a rebuttal – that is, counterarguments, and x provide qualification – limits to claim and warrant. x x x x

The elements of argument are graphically represented in Figure 4 Figure 4: A graphic Representation of the Elements of Argument

How teachers address argumentative writing depends on the grade level. At kindergarten level, teachers ask pupils to provide opinions. However, teachers ask students to shift from opinion to argumentation at 6th grade. The CCSSs state: “Although young children are not able to produce fully developed logical arguments, they develop a variety of methods to extend and elaborate their work by providing examples, offering reasons for their assertions, and explaining cause and effect. These kinds of expository structures are steps on the road to argument.” (Appendix A, p. 23). The discussion here suggests that teachers need to provide students ample opportunities to practice how to write different

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argumentative essay types, supported by textual evidence for different tasks, purposes and audiences (Next-Generation Learners, 2012).

Types of Argumentative Writings There are two basic types of argumentative writings discussed in the CCWSs: Argument and persuasion. Topics for argument may include the following examples: x Should high school students be allowed to receive contraceptives from the school nurse? x Should students be allowed to openly discuss racial issues in the classroom? x Global warming is a problem that state and federal governments need to urgently address. x The death penalty should be abolished in the country. x The government should ban human cloning because it is against my religious beliefs. Examples of persuasive essays may include the following topics: x x x x x

Students should be allowed to play violent video games. The government should allow prayers in schools. All K-12 students should be required to learn two languages. All K-12 students should wear school uniforms. Rural life is better than life in cities.

Each type of essay has it unique characteristics that teachers must help students to understand and use in their essays. The box below shows the features of each type of essay. Features of Argumentative and Persuasive Essays x Argument: where the author convinces the audience by using: o Logos (logical appeals), o Reason (appeal to merit and reasonableness of the claims), and o Proofs (textual/factual evidence). x Persuasion: where the writer appeals to the emotion of an audience by employing: o Ethos (author’s credibility, character or authority) o Pathos (appeal to readers’ self-interest, self-identity or emotions)

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Explanatory/Informational Writings Explanatory/informational writings seek to convey information accurately about a process, concept, procedure, and subject. The purpose of this type of writing is “to increase readers’ knowledge of a subject, to help readers better understand a procedure or process, or to provide readers with an enhanced comprehension of a concept” (CCSSs, Appendix A, p. 23). Generally, explanatory/informational writings address question types, such as how, why, when, and what. To compose explanatory/informational texts, students draw upon multiple sources of information, including their own knowledge, experiences, printed texts, and electronic media. Effective writers are expected to acquire the knowledge to “use a variety of techniques to convey information, such as naming, defining, describing, or differentiating different types or parts; comparing or contrasting ideas or concepts; and citing an anecdote or a scenario to illustrate a point” (CCSSs Appendix A, p. 23). According to the CCSSs, explanatory/informational texts include a wide range of genres such as literary analyses, historical reports, summaries, précis writing, instructions, manuals, memos, reports, applications, and résumés.

Purpose of Explanatory/Informational Writings Purpose of Explanatory/Informational Writings x To describe: The writer provides a description of a character, event, person, situation, or place using copious amounts of detail. Readers can visualize what they feel, see, hear, smell, and/or taste. x To entertain: The writer provides light-hearted information. The goal of the author is to entertain readers by telling a story or describing a real or imaginary story, including characters and events. x To explain: The writer provides relevant information about a topic, object, cause, issue, etc. The writer uses logical order and sequence. In addition, s/he provides facts and figures. Generally, the goal is to provide clarification for readers. x To inform/instruct: The writer seeks to provide new knowledge and enlighten the reader about a topic, procedure, or process. The author increases readers’ understanding of the issue.

Writing Figure 5: Examples of Explanatory/Informational Texts Purpose

To describe

To entertain

To explain

To inform/instruct

Types of Explanatory/Informational Texts x personal narratives x character sketches x imaginative stories x reports x definitions x scientific reports x examples x biographies x informal writing x short stories x poems x plays x comics x dramas x songs x radio scripts x texts for advertising campaigns x reports x letters x captions x letters x informational brochures x how-to manuals x catalogues x menus x cookbooks x picture books x maps x flow charts x graphics x diagrams x captions x directions x experiments x labels x recipes x games x maps x articles x instructions x encyclopedias x reference texts

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Narrative Writing “Narrative writing conveys experience, real or imaginary and uses time as its deep structure” (CCSSs Appendix A, p. 23). The goals of narrative writing include instructing, informing, persuading, or entertaining. In English-language arts lessons, students compose a variety of narrative writings, including realistic stories, fictional stories, autobiographies, short stories, plays, folk tales, historical fictions, fantasies, memoirs, anecdotes, and fables. The CCSSs states that, “Over time, they learn to provide visual details of scenes, objects, or people; to depict specific actions (for example, movements, gestures, postures, and expressions); to use dialogue and interior monologue that provide insight into the narrator’s and characters’ personalities and motives; and to manipulate pace to highlight the significance of events and create tension and suspense” (Appendix A, p. 23–24). Across the disciplines, students are required to engage in narrative writing. For example, students narrate the step-by-step procedure they use for carrying out an experiment in science lessons. Also, in history/social studies, students write narrative accounts of historical figures and past events. According to the CCSSs, with copious practice, students develop the knowledge to expand their repertoire and control of diverse narrative strategies (see classroom application for descriptions of the narrative strategies).

Goals of Narrative Writing Narrative writings generally have many goals. Some of these goals are itemized in the box below.

x x x x x

Goals of Narrative Essays To explain ideas, procedures, and concepts, To entertain with stories, To report events, To present information and ideas, To illustrate abstract concepts and ideas.

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Elements of Story Writing x Theme: the central idea or ideas explored in a narrative text. x Narrator: who is telling the story, such as a “first person narrator” (e.g., “I”) and a “third person narrator” (e.g., an omniscient narrator who knows and narrates all aspects of the story). x Plot: how the major events of a story are organized so that they all relate to one another in a particular pattern or in a specific sequence. x Structure: how the sequence of events unfolds in a narrative story. x Conflict: the tension or struggle between the opposing forces in a narrative story. There are seven types of conflict: person versus self, person versus person, person versus God, person versus society, person versus nature, person versus supernatural, and person versus technology. x Dialogue: the conversation among the characters in a narrative story. x Conflict resolution: the solving of the conflict in the story. x Setting: the time and place where the story takes place. x Character: an individual person depicted in a narrative story. x Protagonist: the main character of a narrative story. x Antagonist: the major character who opposes the protagonist. x Audience: readers of the narrative story. x Diction: the choice and usage of words, also called the “style” of the author.

Elements of Effective Story Narration English o theme o narrator o conflict o character o protagonist

English/Spanish Cognates Spanish tema narrador conflicto carácter protagonista

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English/Spanish Cognates for the Domain Specific Vocabulary Types of Narrative Narrative stories have many types as shown in the box below. Types of Narrative Stories adventure stories, autobiographies, ballads, biographies, book/film reviews, fables, fairy stories, folktales, historical narratives, horror stories, lab reports, legends, letters to the editor, myth, mysteries, personal experiences, poems, realist fiction, romances, science fictions, short stories.

A Classroom Application The following section contains examples of classroom applications of argumentative, informational, and narrative writing. Each example is organized around a particular Common Core anchor standard. The examples range from making claims in the 9th and 10th grade to introducing and developing a topic in the 2nd grade. Each example includes scaffolds such as modeling, English/Spanish cognates and graphic organizers. The examples provide insight as to how the CCWSs can be implemented in the classroom.

Classroom Implementation of Argumentative Writing Arguing Voter ID Law Learning Objective: Students will write a short argumentative essay where they identify clear claims (theses), evaluate the claims, include textual evidence, and provide a warrant (explanation). Writing Task: Write an argumentative text to respond to Figure 6 and 7. Vocabulary Task: Explain the meanings of domain specific vocabulary in the text.

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W.9–10.1 Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence. x W.9-10.1a Introduce precise claim(s), distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and create an organization that establishes clear relationships among claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence. x W.9-10.1b Develop claim(s) and counterclaims fairly, supplying evidence for each while pointing out the strengths and limitations of both in a manner that anticipates the audience’s knowledge level and concerns. x W.9-10.1c Use words, phrases, and clauses to link the major sections of the text, create cohesion, and clarify the relationships between claim(s) and reasons, between reasons and evidence, and between claim(s) and counterclaims. x W.9-10.1d Establish and maintain a formal style and objective tone while attending to the norms and conventions of the discipline in which they are writing. x W.9-10.1e Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented.

CCW anchor standards Modeling a. The teacher introduces students to the following general academic vocabulary: assumption, claim, counterclaim, fallacy, rebuttal, refute, evidence, warrant, and domain specific vocabulary: National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Jim Crow, liberal, constitutional rights, and the Left. b. The teacher provides meanings of some of the vocabulary words: Vocabulary Meaning o Warrant explanation o Claim the thesis of a text o Rebuttal a contrary argument c. The teacher asks student to identify cognates for the vocabulary words.

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d. The teacher provides examples for students: English Spanish o evidence evidencia o Refute refutar o Fallacy falacia e. The teacher directs students to review the cartoon (Figure 6) and read the text (Figure 7). Note that the text has chosen deals with a specific issue, an issue that is open to argument. The teacher can show the cartoon (Figure 6) on the overhead projector so that all students can see it. Figure 6: Voter ID Law or No Voter ID Law

Source: Microsoft Online Pictures Figure 7: A Sample Social Studies Text Why Democrats Really Oppose Voter ID Law The Left’s arguments against voter ID are fundamentally dishonest, and at their core, intensely racist. At the core of it, the risible implicit argument the NAACP and every single liberal is presenting here – and they are largely getting away with it – is that it is unreasonable to expect an African American, simply by virtue of the color of his or her skin, to be able to procure, hold and present photo ID. Essentially, according to the Left, from the Democrats to their allies in the media, Black people, as opposed to Asian Americans and Whites lack the mental capacity to take a valid photo ID to the polls. Make no mistake – this is the liberal argument at its core, and they know it, which is why they simply skip past how they came to this conclusion and simply assert that Voter ID is Jim Crow come again.

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Which is why I make it a point to ask any liberal squealing about Voter ID to kindly explain why they believe a Black man – like me – as opposed to a White or Asian man, is somehow intrinsically less capable of taking a valid photo ID to the polls on election day. Furthermore, as everyone has pointed out, if requiring photo ID to prove your identity before being issued a ballot and directed to a voting booth is racist, then it is racist every time a bank requires a photo ID before you can cash a check, every time a store asks for ID before you can buy a six-pack of beer, every time an employer asks for ID before you can join their workforce, every time a police officer asks for your driver’s license after a stop on the road, every time you’re asked for ID before you check in to a hotel, and every time the security guards require an ID as a condition of entry into Eric Holder’s Department of Justice. This usually prompts the disingenuous counter-argument that voting is somehow “different” because it is uniquely a constitutional right.# Which, of course, doesn’t make it okay that banks, airlines, landlords, the highway patrol, liquor stores, hotels, and all manner of employers, including the Federal Government, are being racist everyday when they ask for ID. In fact, given that all of the above, banks, airlines, hotels, supermarkets, government offices, etc. can be classified as public accommodations, and given the liberal belief that part and parcel of being Black is a significantly reduced ability to possess valid photo ID, then of course, any photo ID requirement by these institutions is a violation of the Civil Rights Acts, if not the Constitution. # You need a valid photo ID to legally own a firearm – a black letter Constitutional right – a situation the Left hypocritically has absolutely no wish to see changed. The third most common argument deployed by the Left against Voter ID is that voter fraud is supposedly a non-existent crime, and as evidence, they point to the fact that very few people have been convicted of voter fraud in recent years. This, of course, is disingenuous, because it doesn’t take into account the unique nature of voter fraud, and it speaks to the stupidity of the Republican enactors of Voter ID legislation that they often let this nonsense go without tearing it apart. Source: http://www.redstate.com/martin_a_knight/2013/08/17/why-democratsoppose-voter-id/

f. The teacher uses a chart (Figure 8) to model how the students should analyze Figure 7:

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Figure 8: A Model of Argument Writing

Claim

Evidence

Warrant (explanation)

Counterclaim

g. The teacher and students jointly complete the following activity: o Identify the claim in Figure 6. o Use your background knowledge to critically evaluate the claim. o The teacher provides supports (e.g., examples) for students who do not have the required background knowledge. o Provide warrant (explanation) for the claim. o Offer counterargument. h. The teacher leads the discussion about whether or not there should be a voter ID law. S/he may ask the following questions: o What is the claim of the article? o What is the specific evidence that supports the argument of the writer? o Explain how the evidence supports the claim. o Based on your own experiences of life, what do you think of the claims? o Do you think the claim is valid? If yes, explain. If no, why? o What do you think of the warrants based on your experience? o What are the counterarguments against the claims?

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o Explain your counterarguments. i. The teacher charts students’ responses in the appropriate column in Figure 7.

Planning an Argumentative Essay a. The teacher asks students to work in small groups to write a response to Figures 6 & 7. b. The teacher suggests a title for their writing: Why Republicans Really Support the ID Law c. The teacher allows students to work in small groups (three or four students) to brainstorm about the claim, evidence, warrant and counterargument. Then they can advance to write about the topic. d. The teacher reminds students to divide their essay into: o Introduction – to state and explain the claim and counterclaim. o Body paragraphs – use one paragraph to explain each of your claims. Provide evidence and warrant for each claim. o Set up the counterarguments. o Use one paragraph to rebut each counterargument. Present evidence and warrants for each rebuttal. o Write a conclusion – to restate your claim and summarize supporting evidence and rebuttals. e. The teacher passes out Figure 8 for students to organize their ideas.

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Figure 9: Argument Writing Planning Graphic Organizer

Writing an Argument a. The teacher directs each student to use the data in the planning graphic organizer (Figure 8) to write a full essay. b. Students write the introductory paragraph (stating the claim), starting with a topic sentence.

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c. Students write a draft of the argument paragraphs, focusing on providing convincing evidence to support claims and rebuttals. The students painstakingly evaluate claims, analyze supporting evidence, and organize ideas in a logical order to present an effective argument. d. Students use Figure 10 to organize their writing: Figure 10: Organization of Arguments

e. Students revise, edit, and proofread their writing. For example, students may exchange their essays in small groups for peer editing. Each student will look for the following:

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o The paragraph has a strong topic sentence that states clearly the issue. o Claims are clearly articulated. o Each paragraph provides a claim, evidence, warrant, and counterargument. o Claims are supported by solid and convincing evidence and warrants. o The author uses adequate and appropriate examples, illustrations, facts, and evidence. o Use of relevant anecdotes or stories. o The author uses appropriate cues (signal words) such as: ƒ To explain (e.g., in addition, additionally, furthermore, also, equally important, etc.). ƒ To emphasize (e.g., as stated before, as I have said, indeed, in fact, in other words, etc.). ƒ To rebut (e.g., however, nevertheless, conversely, even though, etc.). ƒ Change direction (e.g., in contrast, on the other hand, in opposition to, by comparison, etc.).

Writing a Persuasive Essay The teacher and students can follow the same steps above to write persuasive essays. However, the teacher must remind students of the differences between argumentative and persuasive writings. As noted earlier, while authors of argumentative writing use evidence and logical argument to persuade an audience to accept a particular claim, writers of persuasive essays employ emotion and moral appeal to convince an audience to adopt a specific viewpoint. Such strategies are appropriate for advertisements, propaganda, and editorials but not for historical or scientific arguments. Student should select strategies that are appropriate to the discipline and type of writing in which they are engaged.

Classroom Implementation of Explanatory/Informational Writing A Basic Framework for Explanatory/Informational Writing Learning Objective: Students will use (a) relevant facts, concrete details, and examples and (b) an appropriate organizational structure to write an explanatory/informational piece of writing.

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Writing Task: Use relevant and adequate facts, quotations, and concrete examples to write explanatory/informational essay. (This task can be adapted to target content that is currently being covered in science, social studies or literature.) Vocabulary Task: Use appropriate domain specific vocabulary words. CCR anchor standards W2 CCR Anchor Standard: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content. x W2.a: Introduce a topic; organize ideas, concepts, and information, using strategies such as definition, classification, comparison/contrast, and cause/effect; include formatting (e.g., headings), graphics (e.g., charts, tables), and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension. x W2.b: Develop the topic with relevant facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples. x W2.c: Use appropriate transitions to clarify the relationships among ideas and concepts. x W2.d: Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to inform about or explain the topic. Direct Explanation a. The teacher previews the topic by explaining explanatory/informational writing. b. The teacher explains explanatory/informational writing, including what it is used for, such as: x Explaining a direction, procedure, process, or facts. x Describing facts, views, opinions, or perceptions about an object or topic. x Reporting details and facts about an object, person or information. x Defining ideas or concepts to provide specific information. x Informing others of ideas, concepts and information. c. The teacher reviews explanatory/informational structures12: 12 If this is the first exposure, students should learn these structures one at a time. If it is review, then they can all be covered together.

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x x x x x x

Structures of Explanatory/Informational Essays Cause/effect structure Compare/contrast structure Description structure (e.g., sensory detail or spatial relationships) Problem/solution structure Question/answer structure Sequence/chronological order structure (see chapter 5 for detailed descriptions and examples of these structures)

d. The teacher provides one or two examples of explanatory/informational writings from the following: x academic writings/research reports x technical writings/business writings x compositions x autobiography/biographies x informational reports x news report Note: The teacher can provide a poster walk where students walk around the room and look at samples. The teacher can also create a folder with examples that the students can look at. The samples must be simple to be accessible to 2nd grade students as some of them may not be reading yet. Modeling x The teacher models the explanatory/informational writing process using a graphic organizer (Figure 11).

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Figure 11: An Outline of Descriptive Writing

d. The teacher models how students can write an introductory paragraph that: x captures the essence of the writing (e.g., introduces the reader to the main idea of the essay); x is clear about the topic; and x contains a transition to the next paragraph at the end. e. The teacher demonstrates how each paragraph:

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x is developed with important, relevant and adequate facts, quotations, and concrete examples that are meaningful to the audience; x contains a topic sentence; x focuses on one important point. f. The teacher shows how the writing is organized to make connections between important ideas and concepts within and between the paragraphs. g. The teacher models how to use general academic language and domain specific vocabulary to reflect the topic, ideas and concepts that s/he is writing about. For example, if the teacher is writing on a topic such as “My experience in the U.S.”, s/he may use domain specific vocabulary words, including culture, culture shock, mixed culture, assimilation, adjustment, American accent, and cultural difference to describe the experience. h. The teacher demonstrates how to use appropriate cohesive devices (transitional/linking words and phrases) to create coherence among the ideas and concepts in the writing:

Contrast instead in contrast nevertheless although even though though despite all that still yet on the contrary

Reinforcement

furthermore also in addition moreover besides as well as above all

Giving examples

for example for instance that is as an example specifically to illustrate thus

Figure 12: Examples of Cohesive Devices

in conclusion therefore to conclude to summarize finally after all in closing on the whole to summarize at last

Conclusion

Writing

even though however nevertheless regardless granted that certainly it appears of course naturally

Concession

Result/ Consequence as a result so therefore consequently accordingly because of that hence in that case as a consequence

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i. The teacher writes a concluding paragraph in which s/he: x re-states the topic; and x summarizes the important details of the paragraphs.

Guided Writing Practice a. The teacher divides students into small groups and provides expert guidance to bridge the gap between the modeling (which the teacher has provided) and the learners’ independent writing. b. The teacher encourages shared, interactive writing where students work collaboratively and engage in rich discussions. Figure 13: Collaborative, Interactive Group Writing

The teacher and students collaboratively compose and write an essay: x the teacher reads aloud a literature book to the class x the teacher divides students into small groups to work collaboratively to write a summary of the story x a student volunteers to serve as a scribe in each group x group members suggest ideas x the teacher encourages students to discuss the ideas x the scribe writes on whiteboard ideas that the group agrees upon x the teacher serves as the facilitator of the discussion by providing guiding, modeling, and confirming the students’ ideas x the teacher reminds each group of writing conventions such as spelling, capitalization, paragraphing, punctuation, and grammar

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c. The teacher provides explicit instruction regarding specific writing strategies that students can use as they work in small groups to complete a writing task, such as: x define and explain the strategy, x model the strategy for students, x facilitate student-student collaboration, x encourage rich discussions in small groups, and x provide guided or independent practice. d. The teacher reminds the students of the text structures and language features of the explanatory/informative writing (e.g., see Figure 13). Figure 14: Text Structures and Language Features of Explanatory/Informative Essays13

Text Structure

Language Features (signal words)

Cause and effect

As a result, because, etc.

Compare and contrast

By contrast, similarly, etc.

Problem and solution

The problem, dilemma, etc.

Descriptive

Such as, in addition, etc.

f. The teacher provides opportunities for students to share their writing in small-group and whole-class settings.

Independent Writing Practice a. The teacher provides additional opportunities for students in small groups to reinforce their writing skills and synthesize knowledge of essay writing using the strategies that s/he has provided. They should have multiple opportunities to practice this type of writing over the course of the unit and the year. b. The teacher provides focused support for individual students who may need help. c. The teacher provides immediate feedback (either to individuals or small groups) as s/he circulates among the students. d. Individual students revise, edit, and proofread their own writing. 14

See Chapter 5 – Working with Textbooks and Other Materials – for detailed descriptions of text structures and language features of explanatory/informational texts.

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e. The teacher directs students to exchange their essays in small groups for peer editing. Each student will look for the following: o The paragraph has a strong topic sentence that states clearly the subtopic. o The author fully develops each paragraph using relevant details, facts, figures, examples, and quotations. o The author provides a concluding paragraph that re-states the topic and summarizes the important points of the essay. o The author follows writing conventions by using appropriate cohesive devices. Figure 15: Students writing independently

Independent writing activity Source: Microsoft Online Pictures

Classroom Implementation of Narrative Writing Personal Narrative Essays Learning Objective: Students will write a narrative essay to describe an important personal experience. Writing Task: Develop the practices of independent writers, use the writing process strategy, use multiple sources of information (e.g., personal experiences, conversations, etc.).

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Vocabulary Task: CCR anchor standards W.9-10.3: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and wellstructured event sequences. x W.9-10.3a Engage and orient the reader by setting out a problem, situation, or observation, establishing one or multiple point(s) of view, and introducing a narrator and/or characters; create a smooth progression of experiences or events. x W.9-10.3b Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, description, reflection, and multiple plot lines, to develop experiences, events, and/or characters. x W.9-10.3c Use a variety of techniques to sequence events so that they build on one another to create a coherent whole. x W.9-10.3d Use precise words and phrases, telling details, and sensory language to convey a vivid picture of the experiences, events, setting, and/or characters. x W.9-10.3e Provide a conclusion that follows from and reflects on what is experienced, observed, or resolved over the course of the narrative. Direct Instruction The teacher introduces students to the writing process approach. The writing process approach is a broad range of writing strategies such as prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing that accomplished authors use in the process of writing (Emig, 1971; McKensie & Tomkins, 1984). Rather than viewing writing as a linear process (and emphasizing a final product), the teacher encourages students to approach writing as a process-oriented activity. That is, writing is a recursive process and good writers pay attention to how ideas are developed and reworked at the different stages of writing. Figure 16 shows a graphic representation of the writing process approach.

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Figure 16: Writing Process Approach

Source: White, R., & Arndt, V. (1991, p. 11).

Prewriting stage x The teacher encourages students to work in small groups to generate ideas to write a personal narrative. If they don’t have any ideas, they can start by making up one that is loosely based on their life. The teacher encourages students to work in small groups to generate ideas to write an imagined or real-life story. x The teacher asks students to use Figure 14 to organize their ideas. x The teacher directs students to identify the audience of the writing. x Students brainstorm key terms associated with the writing task.

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Figure 16: Graphic Organizer for Generating Pre-Writing Ideas

Drafting Stage The drafting stage in the writing process approach affords students the opportunity to compose and refine their writings through multiple drafts. The teacher’s role, essentially, is to: x model how to write essay drafts using an overhead projector or PowerPoint. x demonstrate how to write: o an introductory paragraph, o a thesis statement for each paragraph, o a topic sentence, o paragraph development using relevant details, vivid descriptions, events, dominant ideas, changes or conflicts, and detailed observations of people, places and events, o organize the writing to achieve a particular pattern such as problem/solution, chronological, or narrative structure, and o draft a conclusion. Revision Stage x The teacher models how to review, organize, and modify writing to make it clear to the reader.

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x The teacher can ask students to use one or a combination of the following strategies to revise their writings: o read aloud, o teacher conferencing, o peer editing, o conferences, o panel critique, o peer review, o teacher-created checklist, and o self-evaluation. x The teacher provides a checklist to guide students’ revisions, such as re-reading and checking for: o Content and meaning (e.g. Have I adequately conveyed the connection between my experience and its meanings to readers? Have I identified a specific audience?) o Clarity (e.g., Is the message effectively conveyed to the reader? Can the reader identify the dominant message of the text? Is the opening sentence clear enough? Do I orient my readers by providing a sense of place and time in my story? Do I use dialogue to develop events, feelings, and experiences in my essay? Do I provide detailed descriptions of events, people, and places in my story? Does the writing meet readers’ needs?) o Coherence (e.g., Are the sentences and paragraphs well linked to show how the events unfold in an easy-to-understand progressions?) o Paragraphing (e.g., Do I provide important and sufficient details to describe actions, thoughts, feelings and experiences? Are some details redundant or extraneous? Do I discuss enough main sequenced events? Does the concluding paragraph provide some sense of closure?) o Language conventions (e.g. Do I use the correct spellings, punctuation, capitalization, diction, grammar, and cohesive devices?) o Word choices (Do I use descriptive or informative words? Do the words aptly convey my message? Do I use necessary domainspecific vocabulary words? Do I use concrete words and phrases to describe my experiences, people, places, actions, and thoughts?).

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Editing State The teacher models how to proofread and correct grammatical and mechanical errors. S/he also demonstrates how to edit in order to improve style and clarity. The teacher provides a checklist to focus students’ revision and improve their use of: o o o o o o

mechanics, grammar, spelling, punctuation, clarity, and/or style.

Publishing Publishing is the final stage where students create a final copy of their essays and share them with the intended audience. The teacher selects and models one of the following strategies to share writing assignments with an appropriate audience (e.g. the class, their parents or guardians, the school, the community, neighboring elementary schools, pen pals, etc.): o o o o o o

read aloud, readers’ theater, booklets, newspapers, posting on classroom walls, posting on social websites.

Independent Practice Developing students into independent writers is the purpose of writing instruction. Therefore, after modeling the five stages of the writing process, the teacher needs to create the opportunity for purposeful practice, so that students can reinforce the skills that they have learned and practice their writing skills. The teacher can allow students to work individually or in small groups.

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Figure 17: Independent Practice During a Writing Assignment

Source: Microsoft Online Pictures

The teacher may also provide a variety of topics that are appealing to students. The teacher guides students’ writing using a graphic organizer such as Figure 15. Figure 18: Graphic Organizers for Personal Narratives Characters

Protagonist (self) Supporting character 1 Supporting character 2 Antagonist(s) – if applicable

Description

Personal Traits

Identify Point(s) of view

What they say (Key Dialogues)

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Description

Sensory Details

Establish time of year or day

Possible metaphors . . .

Description (Brainstorm adjectives and adverbs to use).

Incidents leading up to it.

Resolution (How it turned out and what happened afterwards.)

Reflection (How it made you feel. What you learned.)

Location 1 (Location 2) (Location 3)

Key Event (the focus of the personal narrative).

As students write independently, the teacher can do the following to assist them: x make sure each student has a clear understanding of the writing assignment, x provide independent writing conferencing where s/he discusses with each student about their writing assignment, x ensure group sharing and evaluation, x provide a framework for how students will manage the writing task, including identifying multiple points of view and working with other students with a clear purpose, x offer immediate feedback, and x provide a checklist of what students need to do at every stage of the writing process.

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Conclusion As we have discussed throughout this chapter, developing the knowledge and skills to write effectively is crucial for students to be career and college ready. This is why the Common Core Writing Standards for Literacy require K-12 students to engage in disciplinary-specific writing tasks. In this chapter, we discussed how English-language arts and content area teachers can use varying instructional strategies to teach different types of essays such as argumentative, explanatory/informational and narrative. For each type of essay, teachers should focus on a number of skills that K-12 students must learn and be able to use effectively in order to be college and career ready. Below, we provide specific practice activities to give readers of this book the opportunity to extend their learning.

Practice Activities The following activities are designed to provide practice about what we have learned in this chapter. As you complete the activities, refer to the relevant pages to refresh your memory. If there is time, instructors can encourage pre-service teachers to do the activities in small groups during lectures so that students can work collaboratively. Similarly, in-service teachers can work on the practice activities in small groups during the period of professional study. If you use the activities for K-12 students, provide support for them until they can independently do the activities. 1. Defining and Explaining Key Terms Name:________________________ Date:_________________________ Instruction: Define and/or explain the key terms for argumentation. Claim: ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ Counterclaim:________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ Rebuttal:____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________

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____________________________________________________________ Support:_____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ Refute:______________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ Qualification:________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ Evidence:____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ 2. Argumentative Essay Instruction: Write a five-paragraph essay on the following topic using the graphic organizer to arrange your ideas. Topic: Should students who bully others be expelled from the school? Claim

Evidence

Warrant (explanation)

Counterclaim

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3. Explanatory/Informational Essay Instruction: Use the graphic below to write an autobiography or biography. Make sure that you provide accurate facts and figures and organize your ideas in logical order and sequence.

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4. Argumentative Essay: Instruction: Review the topic, “Should the challenges faced by gays be considered human rights issues?” Write arguments for and against the notion of equal rights for gays. Generate at least four main ideas for each side of the argument in the graphic below.

Source: Microsoft Online Pictures

Should the challenges faced by gays be considered human rights issues? Gay challenges are human rights issues 1.

Gay challenges are not human rights issues 1

2

2

3

3

4

4

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5. Persuasive Essay Instruction: Use the graphic organizer below to organize your ideas. Add more sentences to the “reasons” column and provide some examples in the “examples” column. Topic: All children should have a pet. Reasons a. Having a pet will teach children responsibility . . .

Examples

b. The pet will help children become aware of the joy of having pets . . .

c. The pet will become part of the family . . .

d.

e.

6. Explanatory/Informational Essay Instructions: Choose one of the topics below and write an essay of 5 to 6 paragraphs. a. What can schools do to prevent bullying? b. How do you think having a single parent affects the education of a child? c. What are the effects of social media on teenagers? d. What is climate change? What causes climate change? What evidence is there that humans are responsbile for climate change and how realiable is that evidence? e. What is obesity? What can students do to prevent obesity?

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f. What are the causes of teen pregnancies? What can teenagers do to stop them? g. What can students do to survive earthquake? h. Why do some people become homeless? What can the society do about the problem? i. California is experiencing a terrible drought. What can you do to save water? j. If you were the President of the United States, what would you do to make university education affordable to all students?

References Battelle for Kids. (2011). Vertical progression guide for the Common Core. Retrieved on 12/11/13 from http://www.ohioleadership.org/up_doc_cms/2012_AF_CC_ELA_Exa mple.pdf. Emig, J. (1971). The Composing Processes of Twelfth Graders. Urbana, Ill: National Council of Teachers of English. Hillocks, (Jr.), G. (2010). Teaching argument for critical thinking and writing: An introduction. English Journal, 99(6), 24–32. —. (2011). Teaching argument writing, grades 6–12. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. McKensie, L. & Tomkins, G. (1984). Evaluating students’ writing: A process approach. Journal of Teaching Writing, 3(2), 201–212. Next-Generation Learners. (2012). Addressing three modes of writing: Kentucky core academic standards in the 21st century: Tips for understanding standards, instruction & assessment. Retrieved December 11, 2013 from: http://kdeliteracylink.wikispaces.com/file/view/Three+Modes+of+Writ ing+in+KCAS.pdf/380885860/Three%20Modes%20of%20Writing%2 0in%20KCAS.pdf. Postman, N. (1997). The end of education. New York, NY: Knopf. Toulmin, S. E. (2003). The uses of argument (first published in 1958). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. White, R., & Arndt, V. (1991). Process Writing. London, UK: Longman.

CHAPTER SEVEN ASSESSMENT

Source: Microsoft Online Pictures

Guiding Questions The consortia that developed the assessment for the Common Core State Standards (CCSSs) – Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) and Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Career (PARCC) – argue that effective assessments are an important component of the Common Core State Standards (CCSSs). SBAC suggests that assessments will offer parents, teachers, school administrators, districts, and government officials important insights on students’ understanding of what they are learning as teachers have benchmarked learners’ progress throughout the year in English-language arts, mathematics, history/social studies, and science. Our discussion in this chapter is guided by six questions.

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Guiding Questions 1. What are the principles of effective assessment? 2. Who developed assessments for the CCSSs? 3. What are the types of assessment offered by Smarter Balanced Assessment? 4. Does Smarter Balanced Assessment make accommodations to increase equitable access during assessment? 5. What are the broad categories of assessment in Smarter Balanced Assessment? 6. What are some strategies for effective assessment?

Principles of Effective Assessment in Classrooms Both informal and formal assessments are important components of classroom instruction across disciplines. Hence, teachers need to know how to develop and use assessments in order to provide maximal opportunities to enhance instruction and improve learning for students. Cooper (1997) provides eight basic guides for effective literacy assessment. In revising Cooper’s work, we have added one principle. Indeed, the guidelines below apply across disciplines. 1. Assessment should be an ongoing process One of the reasons why students don’t do well in public examinations is that they see tests as something ‘foreign’ to the learning process. A lot of students simply panic when teachers tell them they have to take a test. Rather than an activity separate from instruction, assessments should be part of the daily lessons. In this way, assessments can become natural to students and expected by them. 2. Effective assessment is an integral part of instruction The most effective forms of assessment are the tests that teachers administer during lessons. Such assessments (formative) are particularly useful as they provide data that teachers can use to inform instruction as lessons are in progress. When assessments are used as an integral part of everyday lessons, teachers are able to monitor students’ ongoing progress and provide immediate and meaningful feedback. In addition, teachers can use the data to modify or adapt their teaching strategies and classroom practices. Equally important, when assessment is part of everyday instruction, teachers are better able to build a cumulative record of student achievements.

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3. Assessment must be authentic and in meaningful context Effective assessments test students’ strategies and related skills by asking them to reflect on or do real-life activities. According to Vygotsky’s (1978) social constructivist theory, learning in schools should occur in a meaningful context and should not be separated from learning and knowledge that children develop in the “real world.” The same is true with assessments. 4. Assessment should be multidimensional Effective assessments use multiple modes (e.g., visual, oral, written, text, graphic, etc.) and multimedia (e.g., computer, digital video, audio, sound, animation, etc.) to assess students’ knowledge, skills and abilities across different tasks and across multiple genres. In this way, teachers can tap into students’ broad learning strategies and learning preferences for assessments. 5. Assessment must test all the domains of knowledge Effective assessments are designed to test students on the different dimensions of knowledge and cognitive processes as detailed in Bloom’s Taxonomy and the revised edition. Students come to the classroom with different strengths and weaknesses. By assessing all the domains of knowledge and cognitive processes, teachers are better able to test students on their wide range of knowledge, skills, and abilities. 6. Assessment is developmental and culturally appropriate Effective assessments are grade- and age-level, culturally, and developmentally appropriate. Hence, teachers must design assessments that value and affirm the culture and social values and practices of students. For example, students in most classrooms have different cultures, languages, learning styles, and different achievement levels. Teachers must take all these factors into consideration when writing assessments for students. 7. Effective assessment identifies students’ strengths Assessment must identify and build students’ strengths. When assessments draw upon students’ strengths, teachers are in a better position to help them move forward in their learning. Students learn better when teachers provide opportunities for them to show or do what they already know how to do and offer them support to gain new learning strategies and techniques.

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8. Assessment should be a collaborative, reflective process Effective assessment demands that teacher and students, and students and students, think and work collaboratively. Sometimes, one student is better in one aspect of the learning material while another is better in a different aspect of the material. By working collaboratively, students can share their knowledge and learn from each other. After all, Vygotsky (1978) argues that learning is social and interactive. The same is also true of effective assessments. 9. Assessment must draw from what we know about how students learn Creating effective assessments depends partly on teachers’ knowledge of the content that they are assessing, and a clear understanding of what the students know and are able to do, students’ learning strategies and their achievement targets. Therefore, teachers will use effective assessments to collect data about their students to inform teaching and learning. For example, most teachers have learned about some cognitive models such as Bloom’s Taxonomy or Dimensions of Learning that students use for learning, but they may not have employed the knowledge to design assessments that create opportunities for students to maximally demonstrate what they know and are capable of doing. When teachers base assessments on how students learn, such tests will be composed of diverse assessment strategies, including projects, portfolios, creative works, assignments, oral presentations, and so on. Development of assessments either by an individual teacher or organization is influenced by the principles discussed above. In particular, effective assessments address important questions such as what should students be able to do? How will teachers, school administrators and parents know if students are learning? Response Journal How can teachers use what they learn from assessment to inform instruction? Discuss how you can use three principles discussed here to Hence, the development of assessments inform design of assessments in for the CCSSs by the SBAC and PARCC your class must have benefitted from the principles outlined above.

Smarter Balanced Assessment Two multistate consortia were awarded funding by the U.S. Department of Education for the purpose of developing an assessment system based on the CCSSs. The consortia are the Smarter Balanced

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Assessment Consortium (SBAC) and Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Career (PARCC). According to the Common Core State Standards Initiative (CCSSI), the development of the assessments is guided by four principles. Principles Guiding Development of CCSSs Assessment x Allow for comparison across students, schools, districts, states and nations; x Create economies of scale; x Provide information and support more effective teaching and learning; and x Prepare students for college and careers. (See http://www.corestandards.org/resources/frequently-asked-questions).

The consortia of the Smarter Balanced assessment develops content specifications in English language arts/literacy and mathematics to ensure that the assessments cover the range of knowledge and skills in the CCSSs. Prominent researchers and teacher educators, including Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond, Smarter Balanced Senior Research Advisor and professor of education at the Stanford University School of Education, led the development of the content specifications in collaboration with experts in English language arts/literacy and mathematics. Furthermore, the Smarter Balanced Technical Advisory Committee, Consortium work groups, and the lead authors of the CCSSs contributed to the development of the blueprint for assessment. The Smarter Balanced preliminary test blueprints state, “All valid and valued assessments are content driven. Successful completion of the assessment development process requires deep understanding of the knowledge, skills, and abilities that are measured on an assessment, and how these are derived from the content standards upon which the assessment is based” (http://www.smarterbalanced.org/wordpress/wpcontent/uploads/2011/12/Smarter-Balanced-Preliminary-TestBlueprints.pdf). The blueprints explicate essential information.

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x Content (standards, claims) that is to be included for each assessed content area and grade, across various levels of the system (student, classroom, school, district, state); x Emphasis and Balance of content, generally indicated as the number of items or percentage of points per standard and indicator; x Item Types, sending a clear message to item developers about how to measure each standard and indicator, and to teachers and students about learning expectations; and x Depth of Knowledge (DOK), indicating the complexity of item types for each standard or indicator. (Source: http://www.smarterbalanced.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/ Smarter-Balanced-Preliminary-Test-Blueprints.pdf).

The test blueprint provides a guide for test developers and classroom teachers on how to use the assessments. The document specifies how to design tests to ensure coverage of the full breadth and depth of content and how assessment should maintain fidelity to the intent of the content standards on which the assessment is based. In developing the assessments for the CCSSs, the developers must focus on the following: Breadth and Depth of Content x Greater emphasis on depth of student understanding, resulting in a significant increase in overall depth of knowledge; x Use of an array of item types (i.e., selected response, constructed response, performance tasks, and computer enhanced), with a greater emphasis on student demonstration and transfer of knowledge and skills; x Use of common stimuli with different entry points (scaffolding) for students at different achievement levels; and x Non-traditional content (e.g., listening, research, contextualizing ELA in content areas like science and social studies, attention to mathematical processes). http://www.smarterbalanced.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/SmarterBalanced-Preliminary-Test-Blueprints.pdf.

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Types of Assessment x x x x

Four Types of Assessment in the CCSSs Selected Response Items (SR), Constructed Response and Extended Response Items (CR), Technology-Enhanced Items (TE), and Performance Tasks (PT).

Smarter Balanced Assessment offers four types of assessment.

Selected Response Items Selected Response (SR) Items provide up to four possible answer options (e.g., one correct answer and three wrong choices). From the options, students are asked to choose the one answer that they consider to be the most appropriate. The development of SR items is expected to reflect important knowledge and skills stipulated in the CCSSs across the Depths of Knowledge, such as recall/literal comprehension, interpretation/application, and analysis/evaluation. SR items should be designed to ask students to demonstrate their use of complex thinking skills, including identifying cause and effect; formulating comparisons or contrasts; identifying patterns or conflicting points of view; categorizing, summarizing, or interpreting information. SR items are expected to measure one or more content standard(s). The design of each SR item will pay attention to certain considerations. Considerations for SR Items Each SR item: 1. will be written to focus primarily on one assessment target; 2. is appropriate for students in terms of grade-level difficulty, cognitive complexity, and reading level; 3. includes concepts detailed in the CCSSs of lower grades; 4. is written to clearly elicit the desired evidence of a student’s knowledge, skills, and abilities (SKAs). http://www.smarterbalanced.org/wordpress/wpcontent/uploads/2012/05/TaskItemS pecifications/ItemSpecifications/GeneralItemSpecifications.pdf.

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Constructed Response and Extended Response Items In Constructed Response (CR) and Extended Response (ER) items, students are required to generate a response rather than selecting one answer. Assessments will consist of both short and constructed extended response items. For short CR items, test-takers may be asked to write a word, phrase, sentence or number while in extended CR items, they will be required to write more elaborate answers and provide explanations. According to Darling-Hammond & Pecheone (2010), CR items should “… allow students to demonstrate their use of complex thinking skills such as formulating comparisons or contrasts; proposing cause and effects; identifying patterns or conflicting points of view; categorizing, summarizing, or interpreting information; and developing generalizations, explanations, justifications, or evidence-based conclusions” (p. 21). CR items are expected to measure one or more content standard(s). In addition, CR items are expected to be scored by computer, using Artificial Intelligence (AI) models. Also, human backup scoring will be used for validation. Development of CR items should take into account some important considerations. Important Considerations for developing CR Items Each CR item/task 1. should be written to test a primary content domain as identified in the assessment targets of the specified grade; 2. should be appropriate for students in terms of grade-level difficulty, cognitive complexity, and reading level; 3. is expected to include concepts detailed in the CCSS of lower grades; 4. at grades 6-8 for mathematics should be written so they can be answered without using a calculator. However, some targets may require the use of an online calculator tool in order to efficiently problem solve. In these cases, the calculator tool will appear in the specification table under “allowable manipulative materials.” 5. should be written to clearly elicit the desired evidence of a student’s SKAs.

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Technology-Enhanced Items Technology for Assessment Each TE item 1. elicits a response from the student (e.g., selecting one or more points on a graphic, dragging and dropping a graphic from one location to another, manipulating a graph)…, and/or 2. uses technology to assess content, cognitive complexity, and Depth of Knowledge not assessable otherwise; 3. offers the goal of providing better measurement of student knowledge and skills through technology. http://www.smarterbalanced.org/wordpress/wpcontent/uploads/2012/05/TaskItemS pecifications/ItemSpecifications/GeneralItemSpecifications.pdf.

Technology-Enhanced (TE) items use technology for assessment With the advent of online assessment, the SBAC seeks to integrate advanced technological capacities into assessment so as to elicit multimedia stimuli, interactive reference materials, and more interactive responses from students. Quellmalz, Silberglitt and Timms (2011) argue that “systematically developed and verified simulation-based science assessments used for formative and summative purposes can achieve high technical quality, be broadly implemented, and have strong instructional utility” (p. 10). Quellmalz and Moody (2004) argue that effective use of technology in assessment will expand the nature of the content that can be presented as well as the knowledge, skills, and processes that can be tested. For example, TE items can take advantage of drag-and-drop, hot spot, drawing, graphing, and gridded-response items14. Below are screenshots of Hot Spot and drag-and-drop items as examples of what the TE items mean. TE items measure one or more of the content standard(s) in ways that would not otherwise be possible.

14 Gridded response items require the test-taker to record a numerical answer into a field rather than select an answer from multiple choices.

Assessment Example of Hot Spot

Source: Pearson (2013): http://region8wnc.ncdpi.wikispaces.net/file/view/Assessment+Hot+Spot+Items+Quick+Reference+Card.pdf

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Source: http://www.nwea.org/cc_sample/dd1.html

Performance Tasks In the Race to the Top application, the SBAC defines Performance Tasks (TEs) as follows: [Performance tasks]…will provide a measure of the student’s ability to integrate knowledge and skills across multiple [content] standards — a key component of college- and career-readiness. Performance [tasks] will be used to better measure capacities such as depth of understanding, research skills, and complex analysis, which cannot be adequately assessed with [selected response] or constructed response items (p. 42).

The essential characteristics of PT items are listed below:

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Essential Characteristics of PT Items 1. Integrates knowledge and skills across multiple content standards or English language arts strands/mathematics domains; 2. Measures capacities such as depth of understanding, research skills, and/or complex analysis with relevant evidence; 3. Requires student-initiated planning, management of information and ideas, and/or interaction with other materials; 4. Requires production of more extended responses (e.g., oral presentations, exhibitions, product development), in addition to more extended written responses that might be revised and edited; 5. Reflects a real-world task and/or scenario-based problem; 6. Lends itself to multiple approaches; 7. Represents content that is relevant and meaningful to students; 8. Allows for demonstration of important knowledge, skills, and abilities including those that address 21st century skills such as critically analyzing and synthesizing media texts; 9. Focuses on big ideas over facts; 10. Allows for multiple points of view and interpretations; 11. Reflects one or more of the Standards for Mathematical Practice, Reading and Writing (or Speaking and Listening) processes; and 12. Works within the school environment. Source: http://www.smarterbalanced.org/wordpress/wpcontent/uploads/2012/05/TaskItemS pecifications/ItemSpecifications/GeneralItemSpecifications.pdf.

Cognitive Complexity Assessments in the CCSSs are expected to test the breadth and depth of knowledge, skills and abilities of students as specified in the Standards. For example, each test item or task in the CCSSs assessment is expected to test the highest level of cognitive complexity as described by the assessment targets. For the purposes of constructing assessment programs that reflect cognitive complexity required by the CCSSs, the SBAC adopts a Cognitive Rigor Matrix based on Bloom’s (revised) Taxonomy of Educational Objectives and Webb’s Depth-of-Knowledge Levels. Table 1 shows the original Bloom’s Taxonomy and the revised edition. Table 1 shows that the original descriptors in Bloom’s Taxonomy emphasize the knowledge (nouns) used for stating educational objectives while the revised version focuses on cognitive processes (verb) for articulating the objectives as in Table 1 below.

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Table 1: A Comparison of Bloom’s Original Taxonomy and the Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy Cognitive Process Dimensions Bloom’s Taxonomy (1956)

The Revised Bloom Process Dimensions (2005) Knowledge Remember Define, duplicate, label, list, memorize, Retrieve knowledge from long-term name, order, recognize, relate, recall, memory, recognize, recall, locate, reproduce, state identify Comprehension Understand Classify, describe, discuss, explain, Construct meaning, clarify, paraphrase, express, identify, indicate, locate, represent, translate, illustrate, give recognize, report, restate, review, examples, classify, categorize, select, translate summarize, generalize, infer a logical conclusion (such as from examples given), predict, compare/contrast, match like ideas, explain, construct models (e.g., cause-effect) Application Apply Apply, choose, demonstrate, dramatize, Carry out or use a procedure in a given employ, illustrate, interpret, practice, situation; carry out (apply to a familiar schedule, sketch, solve, use, write task), or use (apply) in an unfamiliar task Analysis Analyze Analyze, appraise, calculate, Break into constituent parts, determine categorize, compare, criticize, how parts relate, differentiate between discriminate, distinguish, examine, relevant-irrelevant, distinguish, focus, experiment, explain select, organize, outline, find coherence, deconstruct (e.g., for bias or point of view) Synthesis Evaluate Rearrange, assemble, collect, compose, Make judgments based on criteria, create, design, develop, formulate, check, detect inconsistencies or manage, plan, propose, set up, write fallacies, judge, critique Evaluation Create Appraise, argue, assess, choose, Put elements together to form a coherent compare, defend, estimate, explain, whole, reorganize elements into new judge, predict, rate, core, select, patterns/structures, generate, support, value, evaluate. hypothesize, design, plan, construct, produce for a specific purpose Source: Hess, Carlock, Jones, & Walkup, 2009

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An important component of cognitive complexity is the depth of knowledge (DOK). Webb’s (1997, 1999) research opens a new window on assessment of student learning. The publications suggest a need to consider the cognitive demand or depth to which test-takers are expected to show their understanding of the knowledge and skills on which they are being assessed. Webb describes the four levels of DOK that may be assessed as in Table 2. Table 2: Webb’s Four Levels of Depth of Knowledge DOK Level 1 – Recall Recall information such as a definition, fact, term or principle; apply a formula or perform a simple algorithm; identify, define, calculate, repeat, memorize, match, recite, name, report, illustrate, list, label, draw, state, measure, arrange. DOK Level 2 – Application of Skills & Concepts Classify, organize, estimate, make observations, collect and display, compare data, interpret information, interpret simple graphs. DOK Level 3 – Strategic Thinking Requires students to use reasoning, planning, developing, and thinking. Level 3 requires decision making and justification; performing abstract, complex and non-routine activities; drawing conclusions; citing evidence to support arguments, developing logical arguments; using concepts to solve problems, explaining concepts. DOK Level 4 – Extended Thinking Requires complex reasoning, planning, developing and thinking over an extended period of time, an investigation or application to real work situations, making multiple connections across disciplines, multiple sources, genres and modes; designing and conducting experiments, combining and synthesizing ideas into new concepts and critiquing experimental designs. Source: Webb (2002)

Hess et al (2009) synthesize information from Tables 1 and 2 to develop the Cognitive Rigor Matrix for mathematics in Table 3). Table 3 shows how students are expected to be assessed in order to allow them to demonstrate their deeper conceptual understanding and application of content knowledge, skills, and abilities to new situations in mathematics.

Understand

Depth of Thinking (Webb) + Type of Thinking (Revised Bloom) Remember

x

x

x x x x x

Recall Conversations Terms, facts Evaluate an expressions Locate points on a grid or a number on a number line Solve a one-step problem Represent math relationships in words, pictures, or symbols

DOK Level I Recall and Reproduction

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x

x

x Specify, explain relationships Make basic inferences or logical predictions from data/observations Use models/diagrams to explain concepts Make and explain estimates

DOK Level 2 Basic Skills & Concepts

Table 3: Cognitive Rigor Matrix for Mathematics

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x

x

x

x Use concepts to solve non-routine problems Use supporting evidence to justify conjectures, generalize, or connect ideas Explain reasoning when more than one response is possible Explain phenomena in terms of concepts

DOK Level 3 Strategic Thinking & Reasoning

x

x

Relate mathematical concepts to other content areas, other domains Develop generalizations of the results obtained and the strategies used and apply them to new problem solutions

DOK Level 4 Extended Thinking

Analyze

Apply

Retrieve information from a table or graph to answer a question Identify a pattern/trend

x

x

x

x

x

x

Follow simple procedures Calculate, measure, apply a rule (e.g., rounding) Apply algorithm or formula Solve linear equations Make conversations

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

Categorize data, figures Organize, order data Select appropriate graph and organize & display data Interpret data from a simple graph Extend a pattern

Select a procedure and perform it Solve a routine problem, applying multiple concepts or decision points Retrieve information to solve a problem Translate between representations

Assessment

x

x

x

x

x

x

x Design investigation for a specific purpose, or research questions Use reasoning, planning, and supporting evidence Translate between problem & symbolic notation when not a direct translation Compare information within or across data sets or texts Analyze and draw conclusions from data, citing evidence Generalize a pattern Interpret data from complex graph x

x

Analyze multiple sources of evidence or data sets

Initiate, design, and conduct a project that specifies a problem, identifies a solution path, solves the problem, and reports results

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x

Brainstorm ideas, concepts, problems, or perspectives related to a topic or concept

Source: Hess, Carlock, Jones, & Walkup, 2009.

Create

Evaluate

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x Generate conjectures or hypotheses based on observations or prior knowledge and experience

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x

x

x

x

x Cite evidence and develop a logical argument Compare/contrast solution methods Verify reasonableness Develop an alternative solution Synthesize information within one data set x

x

x

Synthesize information across multiple sources or data sets Design a model to inform and solve a practical or abstract situation

Apply understanding in a novel way, provide argument or justification for the new application

Recall, locate basic facts, definitions, details, events

Select appropriate words for use when intended meaning is clearly evident

Use language structure (pre/suffix) or word relationships (synonym/antonym ) to determine meaning

x

x

x

Understand

Apply

DOK Level I Recall and Reproduction

Depth of Thinking (Webb) + Type of Thinking (Revised Bloom) Remember

-

-

x x

x

Use context to identify word meanings Obtain and interpret information using text

Specify, explain relationships Summarize Identify central ideas

DOK Level 2 Basic Skills & Concepts

Table 4. Cognitive Rigor Matrix for English language arts

Assessment

x

x Explain, generalize, or connect ideas using supporting evidence (quote, text evidence, example) Use concepts to solve non-routine problems

DOK Level 3 Strategic Thinking & Reasoning

x

x

Devise an approach among many alternatives to research a novel problem

Explain how concepts or ideas specifically relate to other content domains or concepts

DOK Level 4 Extended Thinking

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x

Brainstorm ideas, concepts, problems, or perspectives related to a topic or concept

Identify the kind of information contained in a graphic, table, visual, etc.

x

Source: Hess, Carlock, Jones, & Walkup, 2009

Create

Evaluate

Analyze

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x Generate conjectures or hypotheses based on observations or prior knowledge and experience

Compare literary elements, facts, terms, events x Analyze format, organization, & text structures

x

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x

x

x

Develop a complex model for a given situation Develop an alternative solution

Cite evidence and develop a logical argument for conjectures based on one text or problem

Analyze or interpret author’s craft (e.g., literary devices, viewpoint, or potential bias) to critique a text

x

x

x

x

x

x

Synthesize information across multiple sources or texts Articulate a new voice, alternate theme, new knowledge or perspective

Evaluate relevancy, accuracy, & completeness of information across texts/sources

Analyze multiple sources or texts Analyze complex/ abstract themes

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Hess et al (2009) further develop the Cognitive Rigor Matrix for English language arts, as shown in Table 4, based on the synthesis of information from Tables 1 and 2. Table 4 indicates how English-language arts teachers can examine the depth of understanding that is required in learning activities, as expected by the CCSSs. In addition, Table 4 allows English-language arts teachers to identify, categorize, and test specific learning activities that are specified in the CCSSs and instruction (Hess, et al. 2009). Furthermore, Table 4 shows the Cognitive Rigor Matrix for English language arts.

Accommodation for Test-Takers The authors of the CCSSs Response Journal provide accommodations for test-takers who may need As you look over the list of the them. SBAC (2013) defines accommodations, which of them can you use accommodations as “changes in your classroom-based tests? Which of your students will need them? How will the in procedures or materials that students benefit from the accommodations? increase equitable access during the Smarter Balanced assessments” (p. 13). SBAC (2013) argues that “assessment accommodations generate valid assessment results for students who need them; they allow these students to show what they know and can do” (p. 13). Consequently, each state is expected to identify digitally-embedded and non-embedded accommodations for students, provided such individuals have documentation supporting a need for the accommodations. In addition, schools and districts are expected to let parents and guardians know about the accommodations and the conditions under which test-takers can use them to take part in assessments. CBAC (2013) identifies two types of accommodations: embedded accommodations and non-embedded accommodations. Table 5 shows examples of embedded accommodations, their descriptions and recommended users, while Table 6 demonstrates examples of nonembedded accommodations. The embedded accommodations are also called universal tools.

Universal Tools The SBAC (2013) defines the universal tools as the “features of the assessment that are either provided as digitally-delivered components of

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the test administration system or separate from it” (p. 6). The universal tools are made available to all students based on individual student selection and preference. The universal tools are embedded in the computer test administration system. Table 5 below provides a description of universal tools. Table 5: Universal Tool Available to All Students Universal Tool Breaks

Calculator

Digital notepad

English Dictionary English glossary Expandable passages Global notes (for ELA performance) Highlighter

Mark for review

Math tool

Description A break of not more than 20 minutes is allowed. So, the number of question items in each section can be flexibly defined. The tool is an embedded on-screen digital calculator for calculator-allowed items when test-takers click on the calculator button. Digital notepad is used for making notes about an item. The digital notepad is itemspecific. This is an embedded English dictionary that students can access. Embedded English glossary is available on the screen via a pop-up window. Students can then click on specific items. A passage or stimulus can be expanded so that it becomes larger on the screen.

This is a tool which allows students to use a notepad to complete a full write up. This is a digital tool that allows students to mark desired texts, item questions, item answers, or parts of these with a color. The tool allows students to flag or call attention to items for future review during the assessment. These are digital tools such as an embedded ruler and embedded protractor that students can use for measurements related to math items.

Users All students All students

All students All students All students All students All students All students All students All students

Assessment

Spell check

Strikethrough Writing tools

Zoom

This is a writing tool for checking the spelling of words in student-generated responses. Strikethrough is a tool that allows testtakers to cross out answer options. These are writing tools (i.e., bold, italic, bullets, undo/redo) that students can use during student generated responses. This is a tool that allows students to make texts or other graphics in a window or frame appear larger on the screen by clicking the Zoom In button.

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All students All students All students All students

Source: Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (2013)

In addition to the embedded Universal Tools, some non-embedded Universal Tools may need to be provided locally by schools and/or school districts to students who need them. Table 6 shows such tools and their descriptions. Table 5: Non-Embedded Universal Tools Universal Tool Breaks

English dictionary Scratch paper

Thesaurus (for ELAperformance)

Description These are breaks that examiners can give students at predetermined intervals, or after completion of sections of the assessment for students taking a paperbased test. Individual students can also be allowed to take breaks when needed to reduce cognitive fatigue. An English dictionary can be provided during an ELA written performance task. Pieces of paper for students to make notes, write computations, or record responses. A thesaurus containing synonyms of terms that students can refer to while interacting with texts during the assessment.

Source: Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (2013)

Users All students

All students All students All students

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Table 6 indicates imbedded accommodations for designated students who may need them. Generally, test-takers who use the following accommodations have some disabilities. Table 6 shows the type of accommodations and their descriptions. These types of accommodations are offered as digitally-delivered components of the test administration system. Table 6: Type of Imbedded Accommodations, Descriptions & Users Accommodation American Sign Language (ASL) (for ELA Listening items and math items)

Braille

Closed captioning (for ELA listening items)

Text-to-speech (for ELA reading passages)

Description Test content is translated into an ASL video for students to view on the screen as needed A raised-dot code that students read with the fingertips. For the tests, graphic material (e.g., maps, charts, graphs, diagrams, illustrations) is presented in a raised format (paper or thermoform). Printed text that appears on the computer screen as audio materials are presented Text is read aloud to the student via embedded text-tospeech technology.

Potential Users x Students who are deaf or hard of hearing. x Such students may need more time to complete their tests. x Students with visual impairments

x Students who are deaf or hard of hearing

x Students who have disabilities in participating in a general assessment.

Source: Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (2013).

Smarter Balanced Assessment offers additional non-imbedded accommodations. The accommodations in Table 7 are non-imbedded in the assessment computers; hence, they may have to be provided locally by the state, district, or school.

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Table 7: Non-Imbedded Accommodations Accommodation Abacus Alternate response options

Calculator Multiplication Table (grade 4 and above)

Print on demand

Read aloud

Scribe

Description A tool used in place of scratch paper. e.g., adapted keyboards, large keyboards, StickyKeys, MouseKeys, FilterKeys, adapted mouse, touch screen, head wand, and switches. e.g., braille calculator or a talking calculator e.g., a paper-based single digit (1-9) multiplication table Paper copies of either passages/stimuli and/or items printed for students Text is read aloud to the student by a trained and qualified human reader Students dictate their responses to a human who records verbatim what they dictate.

Recommended Users x Students with visual impairments x Students with physical disabilities

x Students with visual impairments x Students with calculation disability (i.e., dyscalculia). x Students with disabilities.

x Students who have disabilities in participating in a general assessment. x Students who have motor or processing difficulties; x Students who have had a recent injury (such as a broken hand or arm).

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Speech-to-text

Voice recognition technology that allows students to use their voices as input devices to the computer, to dictate responses or give commands.

x Students who have motor or processing disabilities (such as dyslexia); x Students who have had a recent injury (such as a broken hand or arm).

Source: Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (2013).

Categories of Assessment in the CCSSs The goal of the authors of the CCSSs is to prepare all students to graduate from high school ready for college and a career. The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (2012) states that it “is committed to ensuring that assessment and instruction embody the CCSS and that all students, regardless of disability, language, or subgroup status, have the opportunity to learn this valued content and to show what they know and can do” (p. 4). Based on this principle, SBAC promises to develop balanced assessments that “will provide student data throughout the academic year [and] that will inform instruction, guide interventions, help target professional development, and ensure an accurate measure of each student’s progress toward career- and college-readiness” (p. 4). The SBAC identifies three types of assessment: formative, interim, and summative.

Formative Assessments

• •

Formative Assessment Provides resources for teachers on how to collect and use information about student success in acquisition of the CCSS; Will be used by teachers throughout the year to better understand a student’s learning needs, check for misconceptions, and/or to provide evidence of progress toward learning goals.

The SBAC (2012) provides detailed definitions and characteristics of formative, interim, and summative assessments.

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Interim Assessments Interim assessments provide important data that schools, school administrators, parents, teachers and students can use before the summative assessment. In this way, teachers can use data from interim assessments to guide their instruction rather than waiting until end of the semester or year for summative assessment. Interim Assessment Results are reported on the same scale as the summative assessment to provide information about how students are progressing; • Serve as the source for interpretive guides that use publicly released items and tasks; • Grounded in cognitive development theory about how learning progresses across grades and how college- and career-readiness emerge over time; • Optional comprehensive and content-cluster measures that include computer adaptive assessments and performance tasks, administered at locally determined intervals throughout the school year; • Involve a large teacher role in developing and scoring constructed response items and performance tasks; • Afford teachers and administrators the flexibility to: o select item sets that provide deep, focused measurement of specific content clusters embedded in the CCSS; o administer these assessments at strategic points in the instructional year; o use results to better understand students’ strengths and limitations in relation to the standards; and o support state-level accountability systems using end-of-course assessments. •

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Summative Assessments •

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Mandatory comprehensive accountability measures that include computer adaptive assessments and performance tasks, administered in the last 12 weeks of the school year in grades 3–8 and 11 for English language arts (ELA)/literacy and mathematics; Designed to provide valid, reliable, and fair measures of students’ progress toward the attainment of the knowledge and skills required to be college- and career-ready; Capitalize on the strengths of computer adaptive testing (e.g. efficient and precise measurement across the full range of achievement and quick turnaround of results); and, Produce composite content area scores, based on the computer adaptive items and performance tasks.

http://www.smarterbalanced.org/wordpress/wpcontent/uploads/2012/05/TaskItemS pecifications/ItemSpecifications/GeneralItemSpecifications.pdf.

Effective Assessment Strategies in the Classroom Effective assessments are crucially important to teachers across the disciplines. Large-scale assessments such as Smarter Balanced Assessment help schools, districts, and state/federal governments to ask an important question: whether or not schools are meeting the goals of education. In addition, the data from such assessments help the authorities to make important decisions regarding students’ placement, curricula, instructional needs, and in some cases, funding. Even with the millions of dollars that the state and federal governments spend annually on assessments, largerscale assessments are fraught with challenges (Guskey, 2003). For example, such assessments are mainly used to rank-order schools solely for the purposes of accountability. More importantly, the assessments are summative in nature; hence, they do not provide concrete and detailed instructional practices which teachers can use to target specific improvements in their teaching practices. Consequently, the most important forms of assessments are the tests, oral presentations, and assignments that teachers give in their classrooms on a daily basis. These assessments are directly connected to instructional Response Journal practices in the sense that they provide Why is assessment important crucial data that teachers can use to you as a teacher? immediately to make improvements in

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the way they teach. Therefore, there is a need to focus on how teachers can incorporate effective (formative) assessments as an integral part of instruction and how to use students’ work as a vital source of data about what they (teachers) have taught well, what they need to improve on, what students have learned, and what they (students) are struggling with. We suggest that teachers should use authentic assessments that help them to determine whether the assessment items that they are using adequately address the knowledge, skills, and abilities which they are designed to measure. For example, skills and abilities for making oral presentation, conducting research, etc. are significant for college and career readiness and such skills can only be assessed by teachers (and cannot be done using large-scale assessments). The Hong Kong Education and Assessments Authority (2009), cited in Darling-Hammond et al. (2010), notes the importance of school-based assessments: “The primary rationale for schoolǦbased assessments (SBA) is to enhance the validity of the assessment, by including the assessment of outcomes that cannot be readily assessed within the context of a oneǦoff public examination, which may not always provide the most reliable indication of the actual abilities of candidates…. SBA typically involves students in activities such as making oral presentations, developing a portfolio of work, undertaking fieldwork, carrying out an investigation, doing practical laboratory work or completing a design project, help[ing] students to acquire important skills, knowledge and work habits that cannot readily be assessed or promoted through paperǦandǦpencil testing. Not only are they outcomes that are essential to learning within the disciplines, they are also outcomes that are valued by tertiary institutions and by employers (para 2). As should be obvious from the quote that teacher-constructed tests provide powerful assessments that teachers can use to support ongoing improvements in instruction/learning and they are educative for teachers, students, parents, school administrators, and policymakers (DarlingHammond et al. 2010). Below are several examples of such authentic assessments.

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Conclusion Assessment is a crucial component of instruction. As a result, assessments will continue to be an important issue in discussions surrounding teaching and student learning. Equally important, there will always be discussions about principles of effective assessments, particularly on how the design of assessments can be made more relevant to teachers’ practices and how they can be used to make improvements in students’ learning. In this chapter, we discussed important principles that should guide construction and the use of assessments across disciplines. Furthermore, we explained the framework for Smarter Balanced Assessment. In addition, we discussed the four types of assessment that SBA offers students across the disciplines. We also explicated the cognitive complexity that SBA will assess as well as the different types of accommodations provided for general and individual students. Furthermore, we suggested authentic assessment strategies that all teachers can use in their classrooms to determine what is working and what is not. Below, we provide some practice activities that teachers can use as a guide to review what they have read in this chapter.

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Practice Activities 1. Do you think that assessment is an important component of instruction? If yes, why? 2. Assessments are important for teachers, students and parents. Do you agree or disagree with this view? Support your position with ample evidence or examples. 3. Discuss the three types of assessment explained in this chapter. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each type? 4. Choose two to three of the examples of authentic assessments and explain how you can use them in your own classroom. 5. Read the principles for designing assessments at the beginning of this chapter. Describe how you will use two of the principles to guide teacher-constructed assessments in your classroom. 6. Many have argued that large-scale assessments are not generally effective in helping teachers to improve teaching or in differentiating instruction to meet the learning needs of different students in the class. What is your reaction to this view? 7. What assessment strategies will you use to evaluate your students’ knowledge, skills, and abilities for summative purposes? 8. How will you use technology as a tool to enhance assessments in your class? 9. What supports do you need in creating, administering, and scoring assessments in your class? 10. What professional development and training will meet your needs in designing and implementing effective assessments for your students? 11. What infrastructure (human, structural and technological) do you need to develop effective assessments for your students?

References Cooper, J. (1997). Literacy: Helping children construct meaning (3rd Ed.). New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin. Darling-Hammond, L. & Pecheone, R. (2010). Developing an Internationally Comparable Balanced Assessment System That Supports High-quality Learning. Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service. Retrieved on March 4th, 2014 from: http://www.k12center.org/publications.html.

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Guskey, T. (2003). How classroom assessments can improve learning. Educational Leadership, 60(5), 7–11. Hess, K., Crlock, D., Jones, B. & Walkup, J. (2009). What exactly do “fewer, clearer, and higher standards” really look like in the classroom? Using a cognitive rigor matrix to analyze curriculum, plan lessons, and implement assessments. Retrieved March 5, 2014 from www.sde.idaho.gov/.../Cognitive%20Rigor%20Matrix%20Article_... Quellmalz, E. S. & Moody, M. (2004). Models for Multi-level State Science Assessment Systems. Report commissioned by the National Research Council Committee on Test Design for K-12 Science Achievement. Quellmalz, E., Silberglitt, M. & Timms, M. (2011). How can simulations be components of balanced state science assessment systems? SimScientists. Retrieved March 4, 2014 from: www.simscientists.org/downloads/SimScientistsPolicyBrief.pdf. Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium. (2012). Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium: General item specifications. Retrieved March 4, 2014 from http://www.smarterbalanced.org/wordpress/wpcontent/uploads/2012/0 5/TaskItemSpecifications/ItemSpecifications/GeneralItemSpecification s.pdf. Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium. (2013). Usability, accessibility, and accommodations guidelines. Retrieved March 5, 2014 from www.smarterbalanced.org/.../SmarterBalanced_Guideslines_091113.p df. Vigotsky, L. (1978). Mind and Society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Webb, N. (2002). Depth-of-knowledge levels for four content areas. Retrieved March 5, 2014 from www.allentownsd.org/.../depth%20of%20know... —. (1999). Research Monograph No. 18: “Alignment of science and mathematics standards and assessments in four states.” Washington, D.C.: CCSSO. —. (1997). Research Monograph No 6: “Criteria for alignment of expectations and assessments on mathematics and science education. Washington, D.C.: CCSSO.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Dr. Lasisi Ajayi is the Coordinator of the Graduate Reading/Language Arts program in the Department of Teacher Education and Foundations, California State University, San Bernardino. Dr. Ajayi teaches literacy methods courses in the multiple subject credential program and literacy courses in the M.A. Reading/Language Arts program. He has written extensively in the areas of English language arts instruction, multimodal/new media literacies, literacy teacher preparation, and innovative approaches in literacy instruction. His research has been published in prestigious professional and academic journals such as Journal of Literacy Research, Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, Teacher Education Quarterly, Journal of Literacy & Technology, Asia Pacific Journal of Education, The Teacher Educator, TESOL Quarterly, The Urban Review, and Journal of Research on Technology in Education.

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Dr. Tamara Collins-Parks teaches literacy, language acquisition, and multicultural education in the Department of Dual Language and English Learner Education at San Diego State University (SDSU). She has taught ELD and now coordinates the master’s program in Critical Literacy and Social Justice. Dr. Collins-Parks has spent the last seven years supporting candidates with the Teacher Performance Assessment. Her previous publications include a chapter in the anthology Literacy Ideology, Teachers’ Beliefs, Language Policy and Parent Voice.

This book is written primarily for pre-service and in-service teachers of Literacy/English Language Arts, school administrators, literacy graduate education students, and literacy education researchers to address the myriad of questions regarding the implementation of the Common Core State Standards. Classroom teachers and pre-service teachers are asking questions such as: How can they teach the Common Core State Standards to make sure they are fully addressing them? How can they have the time to teach students to have deeper understandings of the skills and concepts addressed in the Standards? What can they do to meet the learning needs of diverse students such as English language learners and students with learning disabilities? Are teachers of content areas required to add reading instruction to their teaching responsibilities? Do the Standards tell teachers what to teach? Does the document tell teachers how to implement the Standards in the classroom? And so on. This book is designed to answer these questions and many others. Each chapter contains instructional

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practices, examples, vignettes, and illustrations that are designed to connect the Common Core State Standards to classroom practices, thereby providing pre-service and in-service teachers meaningful, relevant, and practical teaching strategies to prepare culturally, academically, and linguistically diverse students in California and other states of the nation for career and college. In this regard, readers of this book will find that the authors have provided a pathway to better understand the Common Core State Standards and use what they learn in the pages of this book to provide more effective instruction for their students across the disciplines to read, analyze, and critique complex texts and apply knowledge to solve practical, real-life problems.