Common Core and 21st Century Learning

A recent post focused on connecting the trait of Ideas with the Common Core. This time around, we’ll look at Organization: ordering ideas to make them both clear and interesting. We’ll define the trait, link it to the CCSS for writing, and suggest favorite books to use as mentor texts in teaching important elements of Organization—including leads, endings, and transitions.

argument writing must present a strong claim and support that claim with “sufficient evidence” and relevant “valid reasoning.”

First, select a high interest topic.

TED Talks: Get Kids Thinking

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.6 Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others.

Creating Text-Dependent Questions for Close Reading Step One: Identify the core understandings and key ideas of the text Step Two: Start small to build confidence Step Three: Target vocabulary and text structure Step Four: Tackle tough sections head‐on Step Five: Create coherent sequences of text-dependent questions Step Six: Identify the standards that are being addressed Question Stems for Close Reading of Informational Texts (Adapted from Race to the Top/Strategies for Close Reading) What clues show you … Point to the evidence … How does the author describe X in paragraph X? What are the exact words? What reasons does the book give for X? Where are they? Share a sentence that (tells you what the text is about, or describes X, or gives a different point of view) What is the purpose of paragraph X? What are the clues that tell you this? What does the author think about X? Why do you think so — what is your evidence? What do you predict will happen next? What are the clues that make you think so?

Examples of Text-Dependent Questions Could people live on Earth if there were no Sun? Why or why not? Use evidence from the text to support your answer. Explain why conditions on a distant planet like Neptune are so different than those on Earth. In the end, our task is unwavering: create questions that provide opportunities to teach strategies to our kids so they feel successful when they search for evidence and key words to answer text-dependent questions. Don't allow our students to answer a question without evidence and proof. Hold our students to high expectations, and constantly use those magic words, "Tell me more.""

Key Shift #1 Focus strongly where the standards focus

Focus on going deep for mastery and transferring those skills.

Key Shift #2 Coherence: Think across grades, and link to major topics within grades

Educators Evaluating Quality Instructional Products (EQuIP) is a collaborative of ADP Network states that are focused on increasing the supply of quality instructional materials that are aligned to the Common Core State Standards and available for instruction in elementary, middle, and high school classrooms. 

Higher Order Questions: A Path to Deeper Learning Grades 6-8, ELA, Literature Common Core Standards: ELA.RL.6.1 ELA.RL.6.5 ELA.SL.6.1c

Create higher order questions in order to analyze and discuss a text

Questions to Consider How does Ms. Francisco help her students develop higher order questions? What do students learn from both writing and discussing questions? How do students test the validity of their questions? Why is this step important?