Reading for and Writing With Evidence: Critical Moves Excerpt from Transformational Literacy For most teachers, even those who already have a rich culture of evidence in their classrooms, the Common
Core State Standards require some shifts in focus and approach to support students to read for and write with
evidence. The table below summarizes some of the key moves that teachers must make to address this
instructional shift and, most important, the result for students.
The Who, What, and Why of Reading for and Writing with Evidence What Do Teachers Do?
What Do Students
Do?
What’s the Result?
Build a classroom culture of
evidence that supports all
students in becoming
successful readers, writers,
and thinkers.
Actively engage
in learning by
following norms;
using protocols for
reading, talking, and
sharing work; and
collaborating in
search of
understanding.
Students understand the power and
purpose of evidence. They value
evidence as the deciding factor in
conversation and written discourse.
Know the standards deeply
and recalibrate curriculum and
instruction to focus
on reading and writing
grounded in evidence,
especially on topics that are
relevant and engaging for
students.
Have regular
encounters with
reading for evidence
across a wide variety of
texts; connect these
experiences to writing
with evidence on topics
that matter.
Students gain increasing sophistication and
eloquence about topics of importance. By
graduation from high school, they meet the
college and career expectation that students
critique and support explanations and
arguments with evidence.
Design and scaffold writing
tasks—both short and long
term—that require students to
analyze, evaluate, formulate
questions, do research, and
write with evidence.
Apply lessons in
reading with evidence
to their own writing;
students have
many opportunities to
construct explanations
and arguments
supported by
evidence.
Students become adept at reading and
writing recursively, transferring their learning
from reading into evidence‐ based
products aligned with grade‐level
standards.
Craft student friendly learning
targets based on Common
Core standards; use
student‐engaged
assessment practices to
monitor student progress.
Understand the
purpose of daily
lessons and monitor
their own progress
toward meeting
learning targets.
Students take ownership of their learning and
make steady progress toward grade‐ level
standards.
Transformational Literacy: Making the Common Core Shift With Work That Matters. Copyright 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. (Continued ) What Do Teachers Do?
What Do Students
Do?
What’s the Result?
Choose texts that are
complex and engaging, and
provide sufficient evidence for
students to learn deeply
about a topic.
Have multiple
opportunities to grapple
with evidence in
grade‐level and
differentiated texts;
learn directly from the
text rather than from the
teacher parsing the
text.
Students become versatile and confident
readers. They develop a growth
mindset and approach complexity with a
willingness to keep trying until they
understand.
Plan text‐dependent
questions that help
students think deeply
about what they read.
Read with purpose,
and reread to identify
evidence that hones
their thinking.
Students deepen their understanding of
text and are able to cite evidence in
discussion and writing.
Use protocols and lesson
formats that incorporate
reading, thinking, talking, and
writing in evidence‐ based
lessons.
Discuss productively
while citing evidence
in small and large
groups; present
evidence in debates,
presentations,
discussions, and
in writing with
increasing accuracy
and confidence.
Students become flexible and tenacious
life‐long learners, comfortable considering
multiple perspectives and sharing evidence
from text in varied settings.
Plan for high‐quality work
that attends to complexity,
authenticity, and
craftsmanship; teach the
craft of writing with evidence
using strategic
lessons to support specific
aspects of quality; match
students with authentic
audiences who need to know
what students learn.
Practice and polish
writing techniques
associated with the
traits of writing,
including
organization, style,
and conventions;
shape their writing
appropriately for
their purpose and
audience.
Students are motivated because they a r e
engaging in the real work of authors,
making decisions about who they are
addressing, for what purpose, and how to
give evidence to communicate effectively.
They learn that writing has the power to
promote positive change.
Plan for the complexity of the
writing process, including
lessons to support drafting,
critique lessons with models,
rereading and planning, and
providing descriptive
feedback to writers at
multiple points along the
way
Engage in an authentic
process of reading
and writing to learn,
as well as learning to
write; participate in a
collaborative
community of writers
who support and
celebrate each other’s
growth.
By graduation from high school, students
are independent, evidence‐based thinkers
who can articulate how they learn. They
habitually seek resources— people, media,
and experiences—to help them learn more
and to produce meaningful work.
Transformational Literacy: Making the Common Core Shift With Work That Matters. Copyright 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. 2