I’ve been searching around for some good information and resources around the teaching of reading across multiple texts and teaching synthesis skills (using evidence from multiple texts in writing). In some ways, this is different than a basic research project. But I have not found much that I find useful (if you have links or ideas, please leave me a comment). This diagram is one way for me to visualize what it is I am thinking about, and I will be using it in an upcoming workshop around reading and the Common Core.

Does this diagram make sense to you? (feedback appreciated)

Peace (in the text and beyond),
Kevin

I’m gathering some resources for a day of Professional Development I am leading with my colleagues in a few weeks, with a focus on reading in connection to the Common Core. We will be doing some work along the lines of the concepts of “close reading,” and “synthesis,” and “text complexity” — all of which are at the heart of the expectations of our readers in all content areas.

This Prezi is my first attempt at pulling together some coherent ideas around close reading, with some activities to be added at the end so that we do close reading ourselves. Let me know if I should add any ideas or resources, please.

Peace (in the sharing),
Kevin

This video from The Teaching Channel, and the series of smaller segments, about how to teach reading so that kids are in the role of critical historian is powerful, and contains much of what the Common Core is talking about: connecting reading and literacy skills to the content areas, close reading strategies, and recognition of bias of documents.

Peace (in the lens of history),
Kevin

I’m not writing today about my usual topics about technology, digital media and writing. No, today, I am thinking about the technology requirements that the PARCC consortium (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Career)  has just put forth for school districts as part of its upcoming assessment connected to the implementation of the Common Core. This is the nitty-gritty of the technology, not the creative side of things. You see, the assessment will be mostly administered online (I say, mostly, because there has been a clause I’ve seen that allows districts to opt out of the digital component, although I am not sure how long that opt-out will remain).

The PARCC group, as well as its Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium competitor, has been working to document the minimum technology necessary to administer the assessment. This follows a required self-assessment of school districts on their own technology capabilities. The other day, PARCC released its latest report. I should note that PARCC says (in bold letters) that these criteria are for guidance only, and that as it evaluates pilot assessments, it may adjust its requirements. Here are some of the things it says school districts need to do to be ready for the 2014-15 assessment phase:

• Computers must have access to the Internet and run at 100 kb per second per computer or higher;
• Strict security requirements must be in place, including: unrestricted Internet access, video and photo cameras, screen capture, email, instant messaging, blue tooth access, application switching and printing;
• Devices (including tablets) must have at least a 9.5 inch screen. It is recommended that all tablets have portable keyboards;
• Headphones and microphones for every computer, for the English Language Arts component and for speech/hearing impaired students;
• If you are using Microsoft OS, you will need a browser other than Explorer (due to HTML5 components);
• E-readers, smartphones and other smaller mobile devices will not be supported by the PARCC assessment.

You can read the document yourself at the PARCC site. EdWeek has a nice overview, too.

The questions I have encountered in my own school and in other school districts has revolved around having enough computers for students taking the PARCC in a given school, and the legimate concern that those computers, labs and carts will be locked down for long time stretches for testing, and not for student use for creating and exploring with technology. I think that is a legitimate concern, don’t you?

Peace (in the tech requirements),
Kevin

This is a decent overview webinar video from Teaching Channel that gives an overview of the Common Core, including some strategies for reading the document and making sense of the Common Core and the upcoming assessments.

Peace (in the core),
Kevin

One of the points of discussions with my fellow teachers on my sixth grade team, in relation to the Common Core, is how to keep developing ways for reading and writing to become the center of learning in the science and social studies classes. We’ve been making good progress for the past two years, but the more resources I can share, the better. That said, check out this wonderful collection of videos from The Teaching Channel around “reading like a historian.” We’re brought right into the classroom, and the issues of teaching content-area reading are really front and center along a few threads: an overview, the evaluation of sources, putting history in context, and corroboration of information. I am definitely sharing this with collection with my colleagues.

Peace (in the reading),
Kevin

Last night, we had our sixth grade curriculum night, and it was a fantastic turnout by parents. We didn’t have a ton of time with each class of parents, as they were moving through their child’s schedule, but along with talking about the books we will be reading and the kinds of writing we will be doing and the technology we will be using, I also focused my presentation on the shifts that are underway in our state’s curriculum (i.e., Common Core).

I want parents to understand how things are changing with the Common Core and what that means for their children in my classroom.

As a parent, I don’t think our state or anyone involved in my children’s school district has done nearly enough to give me information about what the influence of the Common Core is having on the learning environments for my children, which leads me to believe that probably very little is changing and little is taking place. Which worries me on a few levels: first, given some past history, some of the teachers my children have had could use a little shake-up (sorry, I hate to talk bad about colleagues in other school districts but we have had our frustrations with mediocre teachers). Second, the state assessment is about to completely change in the next year or two, and I wonder if my boys’ teachers in even understand that. Given the nearly zero amount of information flowing from the classrooms to our home, I’d say .. I don’t think so. And finally, given the push for higher level thinking expected out of my children in school, I want to know how I, as a parent, can help my kids and their teachers with these changes.

With that in mind, I try to bring forth as much information about our own ELA shifts as possible. I highlighted:

• the move towards more informational/non-fiction text
• our use of more complex texts that force students out of their comfort zones
• teaching of  advanced research skills when using the Internet,
• the need for more and more writing in the classroom
• the highlighted domains of argumentative/persuasive and expository writing.

In discussions afterwards, a number of parents expressed an appreciation for the information overview, and we talked as a group about what this means for their children, and how, quite honestly, we are still figuring out the right balances of these new standards. I had an interesting discussion with a dad, who remembers even to this day the high school class he took in which he read “the classics,” and he worries about the loss of prominence of fiction reading and short story writing. I assured him we would be still be working on those areas, just not as much as in the past.

Still, I tried to keep it positive, without coming across as if I drank the Common Core Kool-aid. I noted that many of the shifts are important and critical skills for people to know in the informational age, and we would do our best to bring these 11 and 12 year old students along. But I was also frank in noting that developmentally, some sixth graders are ready for those complex, critical thinking skills, and some are going to struggle mightily. My role, I told parents, is to help my students make progress long multiple lines, and I asked them to make sure they stay involved, too.

Peace (in the core),
Kevin