Writing in CTE

Supporting student understanding through CCSS

Short Response Questions

2

Business as Usual?

• Information is exploding• In 1870 the information a person would

encounter in a lifetime is the same amount of information now found in one issue of the New York Times.

• The digital Universe has grown 1000% in

the last 2 years

• There are now 450,000 words in the

English Language. That’s 7times more than William Shakespeare had to choose from.

• The majority of jobs our students will have do not currently exist.

• The technology they will use hasn’t been invented yet

• They will be solving problems that haven’t even emerged yet.

CTE!

• How do we prepare students for a world that we can’t even imagine?

ELA College and Career Ready: “a portrait of students who meet the standards”

• 1. Demonstrate Independence• 2. Build strong content knowledge• 3. Respond to varying demands of audience,

task, purpose, and discipline• 4. Comprehend as well as critique• 5. Value evidence• 6. Use technology and digital media

strategically and capably• 7. They come to respect other perspectives

and cultures

CCSS for Science and Technical Subjects

• What are they?

• Will they be assessed?

• How do we prepare our students for college and careers?

Instructional Shifts handout

ELA/Literacy Shifts– Shift 1: Increase Reading of

Informational Text– Shift 2: Text Complexity– Shift 3: Academic

Vocabulary– Shift 4: Text-Based Answers– Shift 5: Increase Writing

from Sources– Shift 6: Literacy Instruction

in all Content Areas

Math Shifts– Shift 1: Focus– Shift 2: Coherence– Shift 3: Procedural Fluency– Shift 4: Deep Conceptual

Understanding– Shift 5: Applications

(Modeling)– Shift 6: Balanced Emphasis

8

CTE and Oregon Instructional Shifts

ELA/Literacy Shifts– Shift 1: Increase Reading of

Informational Text– Shift 2: Text Complexity– Shift 3: Academic

Vocabulary– Shift 4: Text-Based Answers– Shift 5: Increase Writing

from Sources– Shift 6: Literacy Instruction

in all Content Areas

Math Shifts– Shift 1: Focus– Shift 2: Coherence– Shift 3: Procedural Fluency– Shift 4: Deep Conceptual

Understanding– Shift 5: Applications

(Modeling)– Shift 6: Balanced Emphasis

9

1. What are the CCSS for Technical Subjects? 2 handouts

• Will they be assessed with the CCSS?

• 70% content/technical reading– Listening– Speaking– writing

Modes of Representation: Jerome Bruner

©DMTI 2010(Bruner, 1966)

Modes of Representation Language

©DMTI 2010(Bruner, 1966)

Writing in CTE

• What are some of the ways that you use writing in your classes now?

Common Core Anchor Standard for English Language Arts

1. Comprehension and Collaboration Students are able to:

• prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively;

• integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, qualitatively, and orally; and

• evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric.

Common Core Anchor Standard for English Language Arts

2. Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas Students are able to:

• present information, findings, and supporting evidence that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and make sure the organization, development, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience;

• make strategic use of digital media and visual displays of data to express information and enhance understanding of presentations; and

• adapt speech to a variety of contexts and communicative tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate.

Text Dependent questions

• What qualifies as “text”? (for these purposes) – Articles– Books– Guest speaker (speech)– Video – Lesson– any piece of written or spoken discourse ?What does not? -- prior knowledge or experiences outside of class

An issue of equality: Time in class/text

• More instructional time spent outside the text means less time inside the text.

• Departing from the text in classroom discussion privileges only those who already have experience with the topic.

• It is easier to talk about our experiences than to analyze the text—especially for students reluctant to engage with reading/ writing.

• The CCSS are College and Career Readiness Standards.17

Text-Dependent Questions are not…

Low-level, literal, or recall questions

Focused on comprehension strategies

Just questions…

18

Text-Dependent Questions...

• Can only be answered with evidence from the text.

• Can be literal (checking for understanding) but must also involve analysis, synthesis, evaluation.

• Focus on word, sentence, and paragraph, as well as larger ideas, themes, or events.

• Focus on difficult portions of text in order to enhance reading proficiency.

• Can also include prompts for writing and discussion questions.

19

Non-Examples and Examples

20

•In “Casey at the Bat,” Casey strikes out. Describe a time when you failed at something.

•In “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” Dr. King discusses nonviolent protest. Discuss, in writing, a time when you wanted to fight against something that you felt was unfair.

•In “The Gettysburg Address” Lincoln says the nation is dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Why is equality an important value to promote?

What makes Casey’s experiences at bat humorous?

What can you infer from King’s letter about the letter that he received?

“The Gettysburg Address” mentions the year 1776. According to Lincoln’s speech, why is this year significant to the events described in the speech?

Not Text-Dependent Text-Dependent

Text dependent or not?

Has your family made any changesto reduce water consumption?

Text dependent or not?

What are the differences between soft and hard paths to water management?

“A Way Forward? The Soft Path for Water” by

Peter Gleick, an essay in Last Call atthe Oasis: The Global Water Crisis andWhere We Go From Here (edited byKarl Weber, 2012, PublicAffairs):

Text dependent or not?

According to this speech, why did the North fight the civil war?

Have you ever been to a funeral or gravesite?

Lincoln says that the nation is dedicated to the proposition that “all men are created equal.” Why is equality an important value to promote?

Creating Text-Dependent Questions

24

Step One: Identify the core understandings and key ideas of the text.

Step Two: Start small to build confidence.

Step Three: Target vocabulary and text structure.

Step Four: Tackle tough sections head-on.

Step Five: Create coherent sequences of text-dependent questions.

Step Six: Identify the standards that are being addressed.

Step Seven: Create the culminating assessment.

• Core Understanding/ Key Ideas: – Civil War was a battle to preserve the Union and

principles of equality that it represents.

• Synopsis: – During the Gettysburg address, Lincoln reiterated

the principles of human equality and the founding principles of the US. He did this while honoring those who gave their lives in the Battle of Gettysburg to preserve a “government of the people, by the people, for the people”.

27

Vocabulary:

Which words should be taught?– Essential to understanding text

– Likely to appear in future reading

Which words should get more time and attention?

– More abstract words (as opposed to concrete words)persist vs. checkpoint

noticed vs. accident

– Words which are part of semantic word familysecure, securely, security, secured

Tier Two words

28

Structure and Text-Dependent Questions• Text-dependent questions can be crafted to

point students’ attention to features of text that enhance understanding (such as how section headers and captions lead to greater clarity or provide hints regarding what is most important in informational text, or how illustrations add to a narrative).

29

Structure and Text Dependent Questions

Examples:• “Look at the illustrations on page 31. Why did they include details

like the power outlets in the walls?”

• “Dillard is careful to place opposing descriptions of the natural and man-made side-by-side.

• How does this fit with or challenge what we have already read?

• Why might she have chosen this point in the text for these descriptions?”

30

Reading Strategies and Text-Dependent Questions• Text-dependent questions generally call on

students to employ reading strategies.

• Strategies are no longer taught in isolation.

• The text and readers’ need to comprehend it should determine what strategies are activated - not the other way around.

31

Now your turn:

• In your group, select and read one of the 2 articles

• With your group create 3 text dependent questions from the article.

• Be prepared to share (and defend) your questions.

33

Final Thoughts• There is no one right way to have students work with text- dependent

questions.

• Providing for the differing needs of students means providing and scaffolding supports differentially - not asking easier questions or substituting simpler text.

• Listening and speaking should be built into any sequence of activities along with reading and writing.

• “Re-read it, think it, talk it, write it”

• The CCSS require ALL students to read and engage with grade appropriate complex text regularly. This requires new ways of working in our classrooms.

34

Reading

• https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/common-core-collaborative-discussions

Questions or Comments?

• Karin Moscon• Karin.moscon@state.or.us• 503-947-5706

36