The Common Core and the Middle Level: A Match To Be Made Nancy Doda, Ph.D., www.teacher-to-teacher.com Jill Spencer, Senior Partner Learning Capacity Unlimited
Dec 28, 2015
The Common Core and the Middle
Level: A Match To Be Made
Nancy Doda, Ph.D.,www.teacher-to-teacher.comJill Spencer, Senior Partner
Learning Capacity Unlimited
Middle School & the Common Core
Warm the RoomTurn and Chat with a
neighbor What is changing in your school
as a result of the common core?
Developmentally Appropriate
Challenging
Empowering
EquitableAMLE, This We Believe: Keys to Educating Young Adolescents
The Middle Level Call
Turning Points 2000
• Give Authentic and Meaningful Work
• Use Ongoing and Multiple Forms of Assessment
• Emphasize Critical Thinking• Sustain Focus on Essential
Questions and Big Ideas
Jackson & Davis, 2000. (Turning points 2000)
“American students must be fully prepared to compete successfully in a global economy. The recently released Rising Above the Gathering Storm, Revisited: Rapidly Approaching Category 5 continues to warn that the United States is quickly losing its competitive edge in the world.” (McNulty & Gloeckler, 2011)
The Common Core Mantra
• Raise the Bar
• Literacy Across All Disciplines
• Active & Challenging Learning
Common Core: Students need ability to….
• gather, comprehend, evaluate, synthesize, and report on information and ideas,
• conduct original research to answer questions or solve problems,
• analyze and create a high volume and extensive range of print and non-print texts in media forms old and new.
Common Core ELA p. 4
21st Century SkillsThink, Innovate and Work Creatively
Reason Effectively
Solve Problems and Make Sound Judgments
Collaborate with Others
Communicate Clearly
Be Self-Directed
Creativity
In 2010, CEOs from 33 industries and over 50 countries named creativity as the most important… skill for the coming years.
Phillips, L. (2013). We Aren’t Preparing Young People for Careers at Disney or Apple.
Misleading Myths
• Rigor Means Unwieldy
• Common Core Means Uniformity
• CCSS Address all We Need to Teach
• Love of Learning Isn’t Important.
Empowered Learning Involves
Risk
Middle Schools Must Develop Trusting and
Collaborative Learning Cultures
We cannot expect children to accept ready-made values and truths all the way through school, and then suddenly make choices in adulthood. Likewise, we cannot expect them to be manipulated with reward and punishment in school, and to have the courage of a Martin Luther King.... Constance Kamii (1991)
“Learning is a consequence of experience. …people become responsible and independent not from having someone tell them that they should be responsible or independent, but from having experienced authentic responsibility and independence.” (Angelo V. Boy and Gerald Pine, 1971)
WATERSHED CORE VALUES
Everyone will strive to be:CARING
COOPERATIVE
CURIOUS
CONFIDENT
MOTIVATED
RESPONSIBLE
John Dewey
It is hardly too much to say that in traditional education so much stress is laid upon the presentation to the child of ready-made materials, and the child to bear responsibility for reciting upon this ready-made material, that there is only accidental occasion …for developing motive and reflective attention. (School & Society, 1956)
“Teachers, teachers, teachers,
when will they learn. I have the
attention span of a raisin…” Research data, (Doda & Knowles,
2006)
TEACHER SHARED
Control Continuum
Example: Text Study
Teacher Assigns Reading andAsks Questions
TeacherAssigns Reading, but StudentsAsk Questions
Student-Led DiscussionGroups
TEACHER SHARED
Control Continuum
Example: Worksheets to Think-sheets
Teacher Determines Questions For Worksheet
StudentsChoose From Teacher’s List of AcceptableQuestions
Students Use Open-Ended Think Sheets
REFLECTION
• What’s makes this a best practice common core approach?
• How does this compare with what you typically see?
• How are you currently supporting your staff in their journey towards student empowerment?
What Kind Of Learning Experiences Support These
Skills?
• Problems to Solve
• Products to Create
• Issues to Investigate
• Processes to Use to Invent
• Arguments to Defend
Common Core Stance
• Nonfiction in All Subjects
• Speaking & Listening
• Vocabulary taught well
• Reading and Writing Skills
The Middle School Stance
Middle schoolers love:
•Books that speak to them.•Books that grapple with life issues.
•Books they can share with others.
•Books that are culture and gender-friendly.
Shared Message
If students believe that intelligence is something you can get and not something you already have, they learn more.
(Dweck, 2011)
What Do Skilled Readers Do?
• BEFORE: Anticipate ~ Get ready to enter text
• DURING: Participate ~ Get into the text
• AFTER: Reflect ~ Review, Use, Evaluate
Let’s Start
• Read the Statement.
• What do you think? Agree or Disagree
• Stand by the Agree or Disagree Side
• Explain your Thinking (to someone near you).
Two Sides: Agree/Disagree
• Common core is in the best interest of middle school learners.
• There is almost nothing disagreeable about the CCSS initiative.
Pairs will take turns talking about the text as they read.
Read and Say Something
Read half the text. Stop and take turns sharing one passage that struck you as critical. Share why.
Replace Worksheets With Think Sheets
TEXT: __________________________
What it says
I think…. So what?
Range of Writing
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.
Argument
Write arguments to support claims in an
analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid
reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
Digital Generation
Use technology for all phases of writing process:
• Quality and quantity of writing improvesTransfers to non-technology situations
• 78 % of students believe writing would improve if teachers used digital tools
• 82 % of students believe writing would improve with more class time
Blogging• Common Core
• Evidence• Valid reasoning• Clarity & coherence• Audience• Production of writing with technology
• Research• Analysis, reflection
• Middle Level
• Student at center of learning
• Interest• Choice• Relevance• Authentic• Technology-based• Appropriate
Focus on Big Themes
• What makes us who we are?
• Choices and Consequences
• How have humans overcome huge obstacles?
Teaching with the Common Core in
Mind
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