Welcome
 Educator, I have taught K-6th Grade, currently teach 2nd Grade
 Language Arts Performance Task Writer & Mathematics Item/Task Reviewer
for the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium
 CTA/Stanford Instructional Leadership Corps (ILC) Professional Learning
Trainer
 NEA Teacher Ambassador for Smarter Balanced
 NEA Online Facilitator for the NEA GPS Network
 SBAC Digital Library Reviewer
Presentation Materials on my blog:
Commoncorecafe.blogspot.com
Learning Targets
 Depth of Knowledge
 Become familiar with the CCSS criteria for text
complexity.
 Explore some strategies and resources for making the
grade-appropriate texts accessible to all students.
 Example of a close reading & structuring an academic
vocabulary lesson
 Example of a performance task
4 Domains
for Effective Curriculum
Design
Students
Content
Knowledge
Instruction &
Pedagogy
Claims &
Assessment
Knowing your students
and attending to all
strengths and needs
Strong content
knowledge
Use of effective
instructional strategies
and Depths of
Knowledge (DOKs)
Incorporating the 4 SBAC
Claims and multiple
assessments
According to the ELA CCSS,
Students will be able to
1. They demonstrate independence.
2. They build strong content knowledge.
3. They respond to the varying demands of audience, task,
purpose, and discipline.
4. They comprehend as well as critique.
5. They value evidence.
6.They use technology and digital media strategically and
capably.
7. They come to understand other perspectives and cultures.
Critical Conversations About
“The 5 Big Shifts”. . .
READING
1. Informational text must be studied in addition to literature.
2. Foundational reading skills are more specifically defined K-5.
3. Text complexity and range of text types is more specifically defined to ensure
consistency and rigor.
4. Close reading is required for acquiring knowledge from text and deepening
comprehension.
5. Technology is viewed as more than a tool; it changes reading and reading
instruction.
Four Claims
Students can read closely
and analytically to
comprehend a range of
increasingly complex literacy
and informational texts
Students can produce
effective and wellgrounded writing for a
range of purposes and
audiences
Students can employ
effective speaking and
listening skills for a range of
purposes and audiences
Students can engage in
research/inquiry to
investigate topics, and to
analyze, integrate, and
present information
What is DoK?
Webb’s Depth of
Knowledge: Scales of
cognitive demand
Bloom’s Revised
Taxonomy: Levels of
intellectual ability
Examples of DOK 3 & 4 Activities
Level 3
 Support ideas with details and examples
 Use voice appropriate to the purpose and audience
Level 4
 Analyze multiple sources of evidence
 Synthesize information across multiple sources or texts
Why Depth of Knowledge (DOK)?
Mechanism to ensure that the intent of the standard and
the level of student demonstration required by that
standard matches the assessment items
To ensure that teachers are teaching to a level that
will promote student achievement
Why is text complexity important?
 The key predictor for career and college readiness is
not just success with individual reading skills but with
the level of complexity of the text.
 The CCSS “staircase”of text complexity begins at
kindergarten.
Why emphasize central, high-quality
complex texts for all students?
 Complex text holds the vocabulary-, language-,
knowledge-, and thinking-building potential of deep
comprehension.
 If students have not developed the skills,
concentration, and perseverance to read challenging
texts with understanding, they will read less in
general.
Qualitative factors of text complexity
 Levels of meaning/purpose
 Text structure
 Language conventionality and clarity
 Knowledge Demands: Life Experiences
 Knowledge Demands: Cultural/Literary Knowledge
 Knowledge Demands: Content/Discipline Knowledge
Qualitative Measures Lexile ranges
realigned to Common Core
“MetaMetrics has realigned its Lexile ranges to match the Standards text
complexity grade bands and has adjusted upward its trajectory of reading
comprehension development through the grades to indicate that all students
should be reading at the college and career readiness level by no later than the
end of high school.”
What Is Close Reading?
Close reading is thoughtful, critical
analysis of a text that focuses on
significant details or patterns in order to
develop a deep, precise understanding of
the text’s form, craft, meanings, etc.
Close
Reading
Shades of
Meaning
explores
subtle
differences
in meaning
between
similar
words
or phases
5 Strategies (but there are more!)
Key Words
students
highlight
what they
think are the
key words
and then
defend their
choices.
Pulled Quotes
requiring
students to
“pull
quotes”
helps them
determine
significance
= comprehension
of challenging texts
Wrecking
A Text
take the text
apart
question the
choices the
author makes
in the text
Text-dependent
questions
high level
questions that
can only be
answered
through
reading the
text
SHADES OF MEANING
Explore small, subtle differences in meaning
between similar words or phrases
1. Read a list of words carefully
2. Put them in order according to their
meaning
3. Ask yourself -Which word has the
strongest meaning? Which word has the
weakest meaning?
4. Write the weakest word first
KEY WORDS
• Allows readers to locate the center of a piece of writing
• Students can highlight key words.
• Read a passage:
1. Identify one or more words you consider to be central to the
meaning of the passage.
2. Be prepared to explain your choices.
3. Why do you think the author chose this word instead of another?
4. How does this word capture the centrality of the text?
PULLED QUOTES
 Magazines often pull and box
important quotations from
articles to attract reader
attention.
 Requiring students to pull quotes
helps them determine
significance.
WRECKING A TEXT
 Highlighting the choices the author
makes in the text.
 Then Mr. Fox chose three of the plumpest
hens and with a clever flick of his jaws he
killed them instantly. (Roald Dahl)
 How could you rewrite this sentence?
How does your word choice change the
meaning? Why do you think Dahl made
the word choices he did?
Text-Dependent Questions
are questions that can only
be answered correctly by
close reading of the text
and demand careful
attention to the text.
require an understanding
that extends beyond
recalling facts.
allow students to gather
evidence and build
knowledge.
often require students to
infer.
provide access to
increasing levels of
complex text.
Close Reading Tips
1. Use a short passage.
2. Read with a pencil.
3. Note what is confusing.
4. Pay attention to patterns.
5. Give students a chance to struggle a bit.
Sample
passage
George Washington Reading Passage
 Main idea explicitly stated
in first two lines.
 Vocabulary is simple
 Basic information is
included in the text, not
allowing much room for
building content knowledge
Less
complex
 Vocabulary
 “rich”
 Content Knowledge
 Example of questioning:
 Explain how George Washington
helped America evolve into the
nation it is today. Support your
answer with two examples from
the passage.
More
complex
Text Dependent Questions
 America was very different during George Washington’s
lifetime. What evidence from the passage supports this
conclusion?
 What did Washington’s presidential leadership show the people
of America?
 America was very different during George Washington’s
lifetime. What evidence from the passage supports this
conclusion?
Use Multiple Text Sources
Biography.com
Video mini clips on historical
figures
http://www.biography.com/people/georgewashington-9524786
“The most powerful way of
learning academic English is
through good instruction.”
Source: (Scarcella, 2004, p. 53)
Three Tiers of Words
Tier 3: Domainspecific words
Academic
Vocabulary
Tier 2: General
academic words
Tier 1: Words of
everyday speech
Students Create Double Column lists of Academic Vocabulary
(No Excuse & Expert words)
Vocabulary Quadrant: Constructing Meaning
Contextual Clues
Write the word as seen
in the passage
Write the definition
Synonym
Antonym
• Draw a picture
• Use a neumonic
device
• Think of a short
jingle
Give an example of how
to use the word.
Mapping
out facts
and ideas
Organizing
Paragraph
Structure
Writing Assessment
Informative Essay
Informative Essay
(Continued)
Vocabulary Exercise
What does the word punctilious mean?
Read the text provided.
Find the word.
Create a vocabulary quadrant.
Use Short Videos to Teach Vocabulary
Research Vocabulary
Sentence: Filming sessions lasted seven hours and the work
was exacting, as some parts needed to be positioned with a
punctilious sixteenth of an inch.
Definition: 1. paying scrupulous attention to
2. attentive to detail, on point
(adjective)
1630s, probably from Italian puntiglioso, from puntiglio "fine
point," from Latin punctum "prick”
Students need to engage with
 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.
Timing Matters
 Greater scaffolding is provided
at the beginning of tasks.
 Scaffolding supports an
increasing level of complexity.
 Include a plan for removing the
scaffolding.
Resources
CA ELA/ELD Framework
http://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/rl/cf/elaeldfrmwrksbeadopted.asp
CTA IPD Website
www.cta.org/ipd
Literacy Design Collaborative
http://www.ldc.org
Understanding Language
http://ell.stanford.edu
Common Core Resources
 Better Lesson: http://www.betterlesson.com
Use Better Lesson to browse thousands of rich
Math and ELA lessons from high-performing
Master Teachers.
 Commoncorecafe.blogspot.com: My website
has tons of Common Core resources for the
classroom.
Common Core Resources
Largest Professional Learning Community in the Nation:
What is this?
The NEA Great Public Schools Network is a place where people come
together to share ideas and resources to improve student success. It
is free and open to all! Check it out at gpsnetwork.org.
Click on the following link to join my online community:
http://cc3ela.groups.gpsnetwork.org