English Language Arts Foundational Services

Statewide System of SupportFoundational Services

Illinois State Board of Education In Collaboration with

Regional Offices of Education/Intermediate Service Centers and the Illinois Center for School Improvement

English Language ArtsFoundational Services

Peoria Regional Office of EducationCindy Dollman

Assistant Regional Superintendent

Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS/RtI)

Statewide System of Support

Focus

Foundational

Focus Areas:- Continuous

Improvement Process (Rising Star)

- Common Core ELA- Common Core Math- Teacher Evaluation- Balanced Assessment

The CCSS Shifts Build Toward College and Career Readiness for All

Students

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

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Engage with Complex

Text

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

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

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

Extract and Employ

Evidence

3. Knowledge: Building knowledge through content rich nonfiction.

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

Build Knowledge

Nine Specific Advances in the PARCC ELA/Literacy

Assessment Demanded by the Three Core Shifts. . .

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Shift 1: Regular practice with complex text and its academic language

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

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

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

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The Shift Kits

NEEDS ASSESSMENTS

TEXT COMPLEXITY

Text Complexity Model

Text complexity is defined by:

Qua

litat

ive2. Qualitative measures – levels of meaning,

structure, language conventionality and clarity, and knowledge demands often best measured by an attentive human reader.

Quantitative

1. Quantitative measures – readability and other scores of text complexity often best measured by computer software.

Reader and Task

3. Reader and Task considerations – background knowledge of reader, motivation, interests, and complexity generated by tasks assigned often best made by educators employing their professional judgment.

Quantitative Measures Resources

• Grade Band Ranges Chart• Internet databases for

quantitative measures (Lexile and ATOS book level)

Text Complexity Grade Bands

Suggested Lexile Range

Suggested ATOS Book Level Range**

K-1 100L – 500L* 1.0 – 2.5

2-3 450L – 790L 2.0 – 4.0

4-5 770L – 980L 3.0 – 5.7

6-8 955L – 1155L 4.0 – 8.0

9-10 1080L – 1305L 4.6 – 10.0

11-CCR 1215L – 1355L 4.8 – 12.0

Quantitative Measures Ranges for Text Complexity Grade Bands

* The K-1 suggested Lexile range was not identified by the Common Core State Standards and was added by Kansas.

** Taken from Accelerated Reader and the Common Core State Standards, available at the following URL: http://doc.renlearn.com/KMNet/R004572117GKC46B.pdf

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Lexile ranges realigned to Common Core

Old Lexile RangesRealigned Lexile Ranges

Quantitative Measures Resources

Lexile Analyzer:www.lexile.com/findabook/

AR BookFinder:www.arbookfind.com

Qualitative Measures Resources

• Rubric for Literary Text• Rubric for Informational Text

Levels of meaning/purposeText structureLanguage conventionality and clarityKnowledge Demands: Life ExperiencesKnowledge Demands: Cultural/Literary KnowledgeKnowledge Demands: Content/Discipline Knowledge

Qualitative factors of text complexity

The Qualitative Measures Rubrics

for Literary and Informational Text: http://www.ksde.org/Default.aspx?tabid=4778#TextRes

The rubric for literary text and the rubric for informational text allow educators to evaluate the important elements of text that are often missed by computer software that tends to focus on more easily measured factors.

Qualitative Measures Resources

Because the factors for literary texts are different from information texts, these two rubrics contain different content. However, the formatting of each document is exactly the same.

And because these factors represent continua rather than discrete stages or levels, numeric values are not associated with these rubrics. Instead, four points along each continuum are identified: high, middle high, middle low, and low.

Qualitative Measures Resources

Reader and Task Considerations Resources

• Questions for Professional Reflection

Questions for Professional Reflection on Reader and Task

Considerations:

The questions provided in this resource are meant to spur teacher thought and reflection upon the text, students, and any tasks associated with the text.

Reader and Task Considerations Resources

The questions included here are largely open-ended questions without single, correct answers, but help educators to think through the implications of using a particular text in the classroom.

Reader and Task Considerations Resources

Grade-appropriate materials for exposure to structures, content, vocabulary

Instructional-level materials that allow them to progress

Easy materials that allow them to practice. If familiar/interesting, material can be more

challenging. If unfamiliar/uninteresting, material may need to be

less challenging.

– More at K-12 Teachers: Building Comprehension in the Common Core

Students need to engage with:

CLOSE READING

Process

• Students and teachers understand multiple reads will occur– Independently– By proficient readers including teacher

• Vocabulary instruction with a focus on Tier 2 words• Questions will follow Common Core Standards

structure

To Implement Close Reading

• Use Shorter texts• Read multiple times• Read slowly and deliberately• Annotate the text• Identify patterns: repetition, contradictions,

similarities. commonalities• Identify unfamiliar vocabulary words (Tier II Words)• Write about the text using evidence to support

student responses

Close Reading: Annotate

• Number the paragraphs• Chunk the text• Underline and circle• Left margin: What is the author saying?• Right Margin: Dig Deeper into Text

Annotate the Text Symbol Stands for: Means:

∞ Connections you have to the text.

You have seen, read, or thought about that before.

? Question I don’t understand. I need more information.

! Main Idea This is the important point the author is trying to get across.

+ (E) Agree I agree with the author on this point. (Support with (E)vidence)

- (E) Disagree I disagree with the author. I think differently. (Support with (E)vidence)

NEW New information

This is brand new to my thinking.

Highlight Word analysis Structure/figurative language

Sample Process for Informational Text•Key Ideas and Details

•State what the text says explicitly and support it with evidence. •Identify the central idea and theme(s).•Analyze relationships, concepts, or events.

•Craft and Structure•Interpret words and phrases.•Analyze features and structures of text.•Discuss purposes and points of view.

•Integration of Knowledge and Ideas•Evaluate the different medias.•Integrate information from several sources to address related themes and concepts.

Story Map

K-5 Graphic Organizer Setting Characters Problem or Goal Sequence of Events Outcome Theme

SOAPS

Speaker Occasion Audience Purpose Subject

Connections

Text to Self Text to Itself Text to Text Text to World

Identifying Theme

1. Was the outcome of the story good or bad? Explain why.

2. What lesson does the main character learn?3. What lesson did you learn from the story?

Author’s Purpose

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There is a purpose for each text.

Author’s purpose: • Entertain• Explain• Inform• Persuade

Author’s Purpose

Inferences

Concluding Activities for Close Reading

Number one sentence Number one word Note to author

ACADEMIC VOCABULARY

ELA Common Core Vocabulary StandardsReading StrandReading Anchor Standard #4Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and

figurative meanings, analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone.

Language StrandLanguage Anchor Standard #4Determine 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.

Language Anchor Standard #6Acquire 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.

Research Behind Vocabulary Instruction

• Effective vocabulary instruction has to start early, in preschool, and continue throughout the school years (Nagy, 2005).

• Teaching vocabulary helps develop phonological awareness (Nagy, 2005) and reading comprehension (Beck, Perfetti, & McKeown, 1982).

• Vocabulary instruction needs to be long-term and comprehensive (Nagy, 2005) for ELs (Carlo, August, & Snow, 2005;

Calderón et al., 2005).

More Research….• Command of a large vocabulary frequently sets high-

achieving students apart from less successful ones (Montgomery, 2000).

• The average 6-year-old has a vocabulary of approximately 8000 words, and learns 3000-5000 more per year (Senechal & Cornell, 1993).

• Vocabulary in kindergarten and first grade is a significant predictor of reading comprehension in the middle and secondary grades (Cunningham, 2005; Cunningham & Stanovich, 1997) or reading difficulties (Chall & Dale,

1995; Denton et al. 2011).

Academic Vocabulary

Isabel L. Beck, Margaret McKeown and Linda Kucan (2002, 2008) have outlined a useful model for conceptualizing categories of words readers encounter in texts and for understanding the instructional and learning challenges that words in each category present. They describe three levels, or tiers, of words in terms of the words’ commonality (more or less frequently occurring) and applicability (broader to narrower).

Common Core State Standards, Appendix A, page 33

Academic Vocabulary

… is not unique to a particular discipline and as a result are not the clear responsibility of a particular content area teacher. What is more, many Tier Two words are far less well defined by contextual clues in the texts in which they appear and are far less likely to be defined explicitly within a text than are Tier Three words. Yet Tier Two words are frequently encountered in complex written texts and are particularly powerful because of their wide applicability to many sorts of reading. Teachers thus need to be alert to the presence of Tier Two words and determine which ones need careful attention.

Common Core State Standards (English Language Arts, Appendix A)

Context Clue Steps

1. Identify the unknown word.

2. Look for the words that give hints about its meaning in the sentence.

3. If you need more cues, read the sentences before and after the one with the word in it.

4. Infer the word’s meaning based on what you found.

Then model it….“As Tom stepped out of the tent, the

moist grass soaked his shoes and he wondered if it had rained.”

Say aloud….“The grass is moist. It soaks Tom’s

shoes. Tom thinks it rained. Rain makes things wet. Moist must mean…..” “Now try ‘wet’ in place of moist to see if it makes sense.”

For Students For Teachers

Adapted from Vocabulary Instruction Module developed for Reading Excellence Act. Graves (2002)

The SLAP Strategy

✔Say the word

✔Look for clues

✔Ask yourself what the word might mean;– think of a word that expresses that meaning

✔Put the word in the passage in place of the– unfamiliar word. Does it make sense?

Trying out the SLAP strategy

He tried to open the box with no luck. He

couldn’t find the key, so he decided to use a

smidget.

✔ Say the word.

✔ Look for clues.

✔ Ask your self what the meaning might be.

✔ Put word in the passage; does it make sense?

3 Tiers of Words

Tier 3 – Highly specialized, subject-specific; low occurrences in texts; lacking generalization◦ E.g., lava, aorta, legislature, circumference

Tier 2 –Abstract, general academic (across content areas); encountered in written language; high utility across instructional areas◦ E.g., vary, relative, innovation, accumulate, surface, layer

Tier 1 – Basic, concrete, encountered in conversation/ oral vocabulary; words most student will know at a particular grade level◦ E.g., clock, baby,

Common Core State Standards, Appendix A, page 33

Why are “academic words” important?

• They are critical to understanding academic texts.• They appear in all sorts of texts.• They require deliberate effort to learn, unlike Tier 1 words.• They are far more likely to appear in written texts than in speech.• They often represent subtle or precise ways to say otherwise

relatively simple things.• They are seldom heavily scaffolded by authors or teachers, unlike

Tier 3 words. Common Core State Standards, Appendix A, page 33

Choosing words

• Jose avoided playing the ukulele.• Which word would you choose to pre-teach?

Which word?

AvoidedWhy?• Verbs are where the action is

– Teach avoid, avoided, avoids,….– Likely to see it again in grade-level text– Likely to see it on assessments– We are going to start calling these useful words “Tier

2 words”

• Why not ukulele?– Rarely seen in print– Rarely used in stories or conversation or content-area

information

How do I determine that a word is TIER 2?Word Is this a

generally useful word?

Does the word relate to other words and ideas that students know or have been learning?

Is the word useful in helping students understand text?

If you answer yes to all three questions, it is a tier 2 word. If not, it is probably a tier 3 word.

I

In this presentation, we will look at a variety of strategies to teach academic vocabulary……

Isabel Beck, Margaret Mckeown & Linda Kucan

Robert Marzano & Debra Pickering

Step by Step Vocabulary Instruction For Tier 2 words

1. Read the story/text

2. Contextualize the word

3. Have the children say the word

4. Provide student friendly definition

5. Give an example in another context

Steps continued….

6. Engage children in interacting with words.

a. Respond with actions

b. Answering questions/giving reasons

c. Identifying examples and nonexamples

7. Have students repeat the word again.

8. Review and use the new words.

(Adapted from Bringing Words to Life by Isabel Beck, Margaret McKeown, Linda Kucan, 2000)

Marzano’s Building Academic Vocabulary

EIGHT RESEARCH-BASED CHARACTERISTICSOF EFFECTIVE VOCABULARY INSTRUCTION

1. Effective vocabulary instruction does not rely on definitions.

2. Students must represent their knowledge of words in linguistic and nonlinguistic ways.

3. Effective vocabulary instruction involves the gradual shaping of word meanings through multiple exposures.

4. Teaching word parts enhances students’ understanding of terms.

5. Different types of words require different types of instruction.

6. Students should discuss the terms they are learning.

7. Students should play with words.

8. Instruction should focus on terms that have a high probability of enhancing academic success.

(Adapted from Building Academic Vocabulary by Robert Marzano and Debra Pickering, 2005)

A Six-Step Process for Teaching New Terms

Step 1: Provide a description, explanation, or example of the new term.

Step 2: Ask students to restate the description, explanation, or example in their own words

Step 3: Ask students to construct a picture, symbol, or graphic representing the term or phrase

Adapted from Building Academic Vocabulary by Robert Marzano and Debra Pickering, 2005

A Six-Step Process for Teaching New Terms

Step 4: Engage students periodically in activities that help them add to their knowledge of the terms in their notebooks

Step 5: Periodically ask students to discuss the terms with one another

Step 6: Involve students periodically in games that allow them to play with terms

Adapted from Building Academic Vocabulary by Robert Marzano and Debra Pickering, 2005

Students use a Graphic Organizer to Record The Information

Adapted from Building Academic Vocabulary by Robert Marzano and Debra Pickering, 2005

How Many Words?

• In school settings, students can be explicitly taught a deep understanding of about 300 words each year.

• Divided by the range of content students need to know (e.g., math, science, history, literature), of these 300–350 words, roughly 60 words can be taught within one subject area each year.

• It is reasonable to teach thoroughly about eight to ten words per week. (Chall, 1996)

Implications for Instruction

• Teach fewer words• Focus on important Tier 2 (high utility,

cross-domain words) to know & remember

• Simply provide Tier 3 (domain-specific, technical) words with definition

Vocabulary CasseroleIngredients Needed:

20 words no one has ever heard before in his life1 dictionary with very confusing definitions1 matching test to be distributed by Friday1 teacher who wants students to be quiet on Mondays copying

words

Put 20 words on chalkboard. Have students copy then look up in dictionary. Make students write all the definitions. For a little spice, require that students write words in sentences. Leave alone all week. Top with a boring test on Friday.

Perishable. This casserole will be forgotten by Saturday afternoon.

Serves: No one.

Adapted from When Kids Can’t Read, What Teachers Can Do by Kylene Beers

Vocabulary TreatIngredients Needed:

5-10 great words that you really could use 1 thesaurusMarkers and chart paper1 game like Jeopardy or BINGO1 teacher who thinks learning is supposed to be fun

Mix 5 to 10 words into the classroom. Have students test each word for flavor. Toss with a thesaurus to find other words that mean the same. Write definitions on chart paper and let us draw pictures of words to remind us what they mean. Stir all week by a teacher who thinks learning is supposed to be fun. Top with a cool game on Fridays like jeopardy or BINGO to see who remembers the most.

Serves: ManyAdapted from When Kids Can’t Read, What Teachers Can Do by Kylene Beers

Effective Vocabulary Instruction

• Provide Independent Reading Time

• Employ Read-Alouds

• Keep Vocabulary in Circulation

• Keep Vocabulary Interactive

• Use Research-Based Method to Teach Vocabulary

• Pre-select words that Must Be Explicitly Taught

(Mix of Tier 2 & Tier 3)

Vocabulary Strategies

Next Steps… Planning

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Training Considerations

• Grade level groupings• Appropriate tasks• Timing of Trainings• Educator experience in the new standards (Content and

Practice)

Planning for Training

• Take some time to plan the structure of the training for your area.– How will participants be grouped? (Grade bands? Courses?)– How will time frames be organized?

Generating Questions

• How will I facilitate conversations around the scope and sequences?

• How will I facilitate conversations around the Unit Maps?

• How will I facilitate conversations around Assessment and Lesson resources?

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Thank You

Peoria Regional Office of Education

Cindy Dollman, Assistant Reg. Supt. cdollman@peoriaroe48.net

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