Reading Like Detectives

The district's English Language Arts Curriculum Committee met several weeks ago to continue their work on designing Text Dependent Questions to be used in lessons that will bridge our current ELA, social studies and science adopted curriculum into the transition to the Common Core standards. To begin the work, members built an understanding of how to create Text Dependent Questions and help guide student thinking and learning through text based questions.  The following excerpt from, Teaching Students to Read Like Detectives written by authors Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey, captures the essence of the focus and work being done by the committee.
"The types of questions that students are asked about a text influence how they read it. If students are asked recall and recitation questions, they learn to read for that type of information. If they are asked synthesis questions, they learn to read for that type of information. Unfortunately, many of the questions that students are asked are about personal connections, which may not even require that they have read the text at all. The architects of the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts are challenging the practice of asking students questions that can be answered without reading the text. They are pressing for questions that instead require students to locate evidence within the text. Those text-dependent questions require students to read carefully and produce evidence in their verbal and written responses. This is not to say that personal connections should be avoided at all costs—after all, readers naturally compare the information they are reading with their experiences. The argument for text dependent questions, however, asserts that discussions and writing prompts should focus on the text itself to build a strong foundation of knowledge. That purposefully built foundational knowledge can then be leveraged by learners to make personal connections that are meaningful and informed."
The following article includes further information on Text Dependent Questions.
http://www.reading.org/Libraries/members-only/Fisher_and_Frey_-_Text_Complexity_-_January_2012.pdf

Our Road to the Common Core

Welcome to the road to the Common Core Standards!  

The CJUSD has spent the 2012-2013 school year focused on raising awareness and sharing an overview to all stakeholders on the Common Core Standards.

An author from the handbook Core Stand wrote, "At this point, you may be experiencing one of two very common, but certainly not mutually exclusive, sets of reactions:
1. Resignation. More common among veteran teachers, this is the “I’ll just shut my door and hope it goes away” response. Movements come and go, you think, and this one will, too. Those experiencing this reaction may exhibit the following behaviors, especially in meetings: skeptical eyebrow raising, arm crossing, and silence. The drinking of exceptional amounts of coffee is not uncommon with this reaction.

2. Fear. Common especially among younger and untenured teachers, this is the “I’ll just do whatever I’m told” response. "These standards are freaking me out", you think, "but I don’t want anyone to know." Symptoms include, but are not limited to, nervous smiling, fidgeting, and unblinking eyes (a.k.a., assuming a “deer in the headlights” look). Stealth texting, especially in staff meetings, often accompanies this reaction. While both of the above responses to a national set of standards are quite common."

 There is a third path available to us we could look the standards in the eye and DRIVE!

This blog has been set up as a place to focus on our district's road to the Common Core.  

You may find new information, pose questions, and locate resources 

that will help you map out what your understanding and implementation to the Common Core.