FREE Online Resource on Standards Based Texts and Images For English and History From University of Virginia

As teachers in 46 states continue to develop expertise in the implementation of the new common core standards, they will require access to a wide range of informational and non-informational texts to draw from.  With public school funding still weak at best, teachers will probably turn to the internet to support their efforts.  Often times, such searches demand quite a bit of time from their already busy schedules.  So, what is a teacher to do?

Here are some free  resources which both English and history teachers will surely appreciate.  Reading materials found here come from both fiction and non-fiction including, but not limited to,   poetry, drama, and  letters.  History teachers will also appreciate material from  newspapers, manuscripts and illustrations from 1500 to the present.  It is quite an impressive collection--one that will intrigue students to do that focused reading which will lead to many discoveries on their part.  Such reading leads to making them more independent learners, and such skills transfer to succeeding in both college and the business world. 

Remember also that our website and this blog contain many more additional support materials to make a teacher's job a bit easier:)

Denise

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How About Some Fun Informational Text to Use with Struggling Readers in Common Core ELA Lessons:)

As summer fast approaches, teachers will begin the planning for interdisciplinary common core lessons.  It is truly an exciting time to be in education with the US finally creating national standards.  With full support and buy-in from administration, classroom educators, and parents, the ever escalating D/F grades for long term English language learners as well as other struggling students should finally turn around.  The goal is to fully prepare all students for life beyond high school whatever that is---university or global workforce.

So literacy will be the goal in every class across all subject areas.  Students will be reading, writing, and building academic vocabulary all day long in every class/subject in school.   To begin the process of determining meaning from complex informational text for their students, teachers may wish to model the process using material that will be motivating for students to read but not overwhelming in length.

To meet that goal, why not try ...predictions from 1900 on life 100 years from then...?  The text was written John Watkins back in 1900 for Ladies Home Journal.  Writing from the perspective of people from the the beginning of the 20th century, he made predictions about what life in 100 years would be like.  Not only would students have multiple opportunities to explore PREDICTIONS and ACCURACY, but enjoy the process.  The individual predictions could be cut up and assigned to teams to not only pull meaning from but also to identify the accuracy of the prediction.  Students would need to research whether or not that prediction came to be in the 21st century.  Once identified, they would need to justify the accuracy (or not) of the writer's beliefs using concrete details to address the success or failure of his predictions. 

Moving from this fun introduction, students might have an assignment on making their own predictions for the evolution of tech products today to what they might be in 100 years from now.  How successful would students be with this?  They will have fully explored the process with the teacher, the whole class, their partners, and on their own.  They are set up to be successful:)

Denise

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Solid Strategies to Support Students in Tackling Informational Text:)

One of the many goals of common core based lessons is to support, guide, scaffold students in developing the necessary reading and writing skills that will be demanded of them to succeed in college and/or the business world.  This process will start out in Kindergarten and continue through the 12th grade.  As students move up in grade levels, assigned tasks will cover more challenging tasks which will in turn pose more in-depth academic reading challenges.  Teachers will therefore need a wide variety of approaches to ensure that every student has multiple opportunities to reach that level of proficiency in those skills, and such mastery translates into quality life choices:) 

STRATEGIES TO TEACH STUDENTS HOW TO ANALYZE INFORMATIONAL TEXT--offers a list of reading strategies that are very effective in building reading analysis skills.  Only the first two items are hyperlinks.   The others offer short 1 or 2 sentence descriptions.  For more information on any one of them, just copy and paste the term in Google's search bar.

TEACHING INFORMATIONAL TEXT TO ELLS  Colorin Colorado offers a wide variety of approaches to teach ELLs how to survive common core based reading of informational texts lessons.  Many of their suggestions also work with English speaking students as well.

PLAN TO TEACH INFORMATIONAL TEXT TO MIDDLE SCHOOL VIA PREZI
Using PREZI, a detailed overview of how to teach a lesson on bullying is presented.  Again, students work with informational text to address the topic.  This layout offers a good general overview of how a common core tech based lesson might appear in a classroom.

Please feel free to share your successes with common core.  I will share teacher contributions with all via this blog:)

Denise

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Common Core and Informational Text Using Multiple Sources

Common core brings informational texts of all types into the classroom for students to read and analyze on a more independent level.  Teachers will now devote class time to setting up tasks in which students must approach such texts much in the way a university student would--independently or within small teams.  After all, in the real world, reading tasks are approached that way.

With common core, this will be evident at multiple grade levels and continue right through the 12th grade.  Though literature will still be taught of course, the shift through all subject areas is to informational/non-fiction reading materials.  Every content teacher will be a reading teacher.  This skill will no longer be delegated to the English department.  Now, every content teacher will need to allot time to teach the skill of reading a textbook, solving a complex math problem, designing a lab report, etc.  Writing demands of every department will be dealt with in each content area course so students will be engaging in developing reading and writing skills in every course. 

Of course, the instructor will always be in the classroom should a problem arise but more in the position of a "coach" guiding students through the process rather than as a summarizer of key topics which might be "too difficult" for students to understand on their own. 

Sources for informational text are many.  Below is a guide for using newspapers in the classroom.  Though newspapers in "paper" form are becoming increasingly scarce, the digital versions are growing.  USING NEWSPAPERS AS INFORMATIONAL TEXT

This next link provides an extensive list of informational text for secondary.  Everything on it is free.
 SUPPORTS FOR ARGUMENT ESSAYS--VIDEO, NEWS ARTICLES, ETC.  There are no hyperlinks here so copy the link and paste it in the search bar.

Hope you find these sites useful:)

Denise

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Common Core: Contextualization Using Informational Text

The reading of informational text will become an integral part of all content area subjects when common core standards are rolled out.  Students will need to learn how to interact with it by making sense of the context.  This act of contextualization must be taught, but it is a skill that will carry over throughout all their classes regardless of the content.  It is a skill that will carry them through college or turn them into successful members of the work force. 

So what does it look like in a classroom?  Here is a 9th grade history class analyzing the lives of Gandhi and Ho Chi Minh and how their philosophies changed the world.  Notice how the teach lays the groundwork with activating prior knowledge.  She takes the complex and finds ways to relate it their lives by asking them what they might feel or do if the school imposed a mandatory school day that went from 8-5 with 5 hours of homework every night.  Students then started to share their resentment at such a scenario and then how they would react to it. 

With that foundation of resistance now laid, the teacher moves into the lesson.  She has the students read a recap of her lecture (she set them up to experience success with the reading first) with a partner.  This is a Think-Pair-Share.  Students read and discuss their insights with the person next to them.  Teacher calls on non-volunteers (accountability).

To provide further support, she had a great graphic organizer shaped like a donut with the outer section being the BIG C (what was going on in the time period each man lived in) and the center circle being the LITTLE C (specifics about the historical figures themselves).  With this setup, students are now ready to read the actual historical document and answer questions with a partner.

The final checkup is an exit slip out the door.

Here is the lesson clip:  CONTEXTUALIZATION IN HISTORY CLASS

When lessons are delivered in such a way, no one is left behind:)

Denise
 ELL TEACHER PROS


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Common Core: Evidence and Argument-Multiple Ways of Interacting With Informational Text

Here is an excellent English lesson on how to guide and support high school students in interacting with informational text.  INTERACTING WITH INFORMATIONAL TEXT

The piece of informational text in the video is Dr. King's "Letter from a Birmingham Jail."  Students were to read the letter before they came to class.  Once in class, students were to read and analyze the text in cooperative groups, explore a central idea, and then present their findings to the class in a power point slide.  Fellow classmates share their opinions with specifics and no negatives.  Students take notes as they listen to fellow students share their views.  All of those instructional techniques make content accessible to ELLs as well as build their knowledge of the English language.

Next, they do a SOCRATIC SEMINAR also known as FISH BOWL.  ELLs especially benefit from this since often times they are allowed to listen first in the outer circle.  This provides them with time to take notes (as the others are doing) and digest the powerful arguments/discussions going on in the inner circle.  (Sometimes, teachers will have ELLs enter the inner circle in the second discussion group because they will have picked up enough language to be active participants in the second round.)  Notes students are taking while the other students share thoughts will be used in the writing activity coming at the end of the lesson.

After all the reading, small group discussion, presentations, Socratic Seminar, note-taking, and extensive small group/partner discussion, students are fully equipped to present their own opinions backed up by facts in their blogs.  Students may discuss their writing ideas with their partners. This takes some of the stress that many ELLs face when confronted with a writing assignment of any length.   Blogging is online publishing and a new way to excite students about writing.  This is the 21st century "essay."

Denise

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COMMON CORE AND INFORMATIONAL TEXT---GREAT STARTING GUIDE:)

With the common core, students from all grade levels will be working with informational text far more than in the past.  Now, in high school for example, 70% of all reading assignments must be based on non-fiction or informational text.  Fiction readings will make up the remaining 30%.  Why the shift?  If American students are to eventually become members of the global workforce, they must have sharp literacy skills.  Currently, this is not the case for many minority students.

In California, ELLs seem to be hardest hit here.  Their English skills often times do not evolve beyond intermediate level.  Such low literacy skills lead to their dropping out of high school and taking minimum wage jobs.  Those who do go on to college often times go to two year colleges where the majority tend to drop out after only a year.  This trend must be reversed.  Common core standards may do just that:)

Where can teachers start with informational text?  As an initial exposure to it regardless of grade level, why not start with newspapers?  They are everywhere with some still being free online.  Activities can be devised around advertising (analyzing ad contents), editorials (what position is the writer taking and prove it), headlines--do they truly prepare a reader for the story that follows, etc.  Teachers can assign topics to groups (provide students with choices) to research and then report out to the class.  Students here within their groups would be carefully weighing the nuanced meaning of every word so that they can truly capture the full meaning of the text.

This article offers many activities to help teachers weave newspaper reading easily into the classroom.  Have students keep reading logs on their findings.  This is especially helpful for ELLs as it helps them grow in English on all levels.  They are all free:)

THE NEWSPAPER-ULTIMATE SOURCE OF INFORMATIONAL TEXT

Denise

ELL TEACHER PROS

Common Core and Informational Text--See Some Amazing Lower Elementary School Children Embrace It:)

If the US is to improve high school graduation rates, the country must rethink the entire learning process from kindergarten up.   Common core plans to address this through the introduction of  informational text to the earliest grades because fictional text does not fully provide students with that real world knowledge or those essential skills needed for students beyond high school so that they might succeed in the real world be it university or the global job market.

How can schools in effect revamp the learning process in their classrooms with limited budgets?  Choices need to be made.  For example, moving the content of school libraries away from fictional text.  Of course, this doesn't mean eliminating it from the library, but instead, effecting a realistic balance between the two forms of reading materials.  Are K-3 students too young to fully appreciate non-fictional reading?  Not at all--see how enthusiastic 1st graders are about astronomy, archeology, ancient Egyptians, etc. in the PBS video clip below:

TEACHING INFORMATIONAL TEXT

So, will this new approach to making American students better readers on world issues be successful?  It is too soon to know.  A reform of this nature will take several years to see if it was effective or not.  As an eternal optimist (as are the vast majority of teachers), I believe it will inspire kids to reach for the stars, and teachers will have provided them with the tools to get there through the use of informational text throughout all 12 years of K-12 schooling:)

PBS also also quite a few free educational videos on all subject areas which are available for download. 

Denise

ELL TEACHER PROS

New York Times AND Common Core--What an Awesome Pair!

One of the most respected newspapers of the US, the NEW YORK TIMES, continues to offer more assistance to teachers as the common core standards are being rolled out to all schools to implement in the fall of 2012.

The book that is covered here is The Great Gatsby.  If it is a novel you cover in your class and you are doing common core, you will need to incorporate informational text to make the book relevant to students.  No problem.  By simply going to the SEARCH section, you need only type in GREAT GATSBY and all the materials that the TIMES has on historical/informational text will appear.  Take a look at the results of just one search TEACHING THE GREAT GATSBY WITH THE NEW YORK TIMES.  You will find lesson plans, articles, editorials, student activities, and much more.  Why re-invent the wheel? 

If you are worried about how your ELLs will survive academically in analyzing informational text, take a look at the support tools that the TIMES devised as a place to start in thinking creatively about ways to deliver quality instruction to ELLs in language and content.  For ELLs especially, these simple tools (such as graphic organizers, word walls, etc.) will enable them to become more engaged in learning since they will understand the basics.

If this paper fits your needs, follow them on facebook, RSS, and twitter.  If you simply want the lessons, just subscribe for the lesson plans only (on the right side about half way down the page).

Denise

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More on Common Core in HISTORY/SOCIAL STUDIES and INFORMATIONAL TEXT IN OTHER SUBJECT AREAS

WEBINAR on COMMON CORE STANDARDS FOR HISTORY/SOCIAL STUDIES AND SCIENCES 
This is an audio presentation with the following:

* the rationale behind the common core standards in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects.
* the need for teachers to know about them
* guidance for teachers in using them
* specific ways the standards can be used to build literacy in history/social studies, and technical subjects.

SIGN UP FOR STANFORD'S NEWSLETTER ON MEETING NEEDS OF ELLS WITH COMMON CO
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TEACHING CHANNEL - DIFFERENTIATION FOR COMMON CORE
With Common Core, teachers will need to pull teaching practices from SDAIE  (specially designed academic instruction in English) to reach more students.  The techniques used here benefit ALL students.  A highly effective approach in delivering instruction is through differentiation.  Here teachers keep to a major theme, but allow students different ways to demonstrate understanding of that theme.  In the class, notice how both EOs and ELLs are all on task but at levels they can handle.  

STANDARDS LEAD TO CRITICAL THINKING AND ANALYSIS ON THE PART OF STUDENTS
Here is another overview on how the full implementation of Common Core will benefit all students by challenging them to think, analyze, persuade, dissect, etc. challenging informational text.  Common Core will better prepare our students to go on to work or university and succeed.  Seniors will finally graduate at or above grade level in their language and math abilities.  It will take a few years to reach this point, but it is possible.

Denise


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COMMON CORE VIDEOS for ELA and MATH FOR ELEMENTARY

As promised, here are the COMMON CORE ELA/MATH STANDARDS for elementary schools.  The video starts off with kindergarten where higher thinking skills are woven into every lesson.  Students must support, explain, defend any answer they come up with.   Seeing students explaining the processes they went through to arrive at an answer is inspirational to view.

As you study the standards, notice the progression of skills through 5th.  What is started in kindergarten is  strengthened, broadened, added to, etc, through high school.   At this young age, students are not only responding in complete sentences, but responding in complete sentences using academic language!  In other clips of other grades, you see students interacting with informational text (50% of reading must be this in elementary school).  Teachers set them up to be successful with regular checks for understanding, allow them time to fully understand the concepts, incorporate lots of partner work, and release them slowly to independent work.

My major concern with the new standards was how ELLs will be supported and in one of the classes on the video, the teacher conducted a support lesson for her students within her class.  This approach will work if  teachers, who are not that experienced with teaching ELLs, are given the support or teaching tools to successfully deliver highly effective instruction to these students along with other students with special needs or struggle in learning in general within their mainstream classes.

It is a great time to be an educator.  Though it is a period of change, it is one where we will be preparing our students, regardless of age, to be successful in life at whatever they choose to do.  I will share middle school later this week:)

IMPLEMENTATION OF COMMON CORE ELA AND MATH IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

Denise

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See COMMON CORE ELA STANDARDS Delivered in REAL CLASSROOMS--High School

The TEACHING CHANNEL has a wealth of information on how to deliver the common core standards at all grade levels.  For this post, I pulled out the high school video (I will write about elementary and middle school later on this week) because this is the population who is most at risk of dropping out of high school.  This is the group that schools are struggling with to better support them in their academic pursuits.  If they are to have a good future in the business world, they need better skills than what school programs are currently delivering.

For a look at the dramatic transformations taking place in this new learning arena, study the clips of actual model classroom instruction in high schools in New York City.  The teachers selected have been working with the new standards for a year and are impressed with the results they are seeing in their students--all of their students including ELLs.  Notice the shift from straight literature to 70% informational text and 30% literature.  With this shift, teachers are better preparing students to do the work that will be expected of them in the work force or college.  Students will be able to interact with unfamiliar text and be in a position to derive meaning from it thanks to teachers spending time guiding them in unpacking knowledge from such materials. 

Other content teachers will also be addressing informational text reading in their classes as well thereby making every teacher a language teacher.   With every content teacher reinforcing key academic vocabulary (ex. predict, analyze, etc.), students will be better prepared to tackle more demanding (as in grade level and beyond) assignments.  Such challenges will offer English language learners and those from economically disadvantaged backgrounds more life choices than are currently available to them. 

This is a major turning point in US education.  It is an exciting time to be an educator! 

COMMON CORE ELA STANDARDS SECONDARY 

Denise

ELL TEACHER PROS