Week 2

Questions to Reflect on for Week 2 (Chapter 4 and 5)

Both chapters describe the three categories of the Common Core reading standards: key ideas and details, craft and structure, and integration of knowledge and ideas. Which of these standards feels like new work for your school (or district)? What do you already aim to do in our curriculum?

Integration of knowledge and ideas. 

Close reading involves engaging with and examining facts and details about the text. The 

purpose is to notice features and language used. The next step in close reading is to think 

thoroughly and methodically about what the details mean. Reading has turned 

into a race with a “stopwatch” mentality. What this tells students is that to read fast is to 

be a good reader. We need to slow them down and provide the students with a focus or purpose for reading. Students need to move away from reading to accumulate information, to reading to discern ideas and concepts and analyze texts critically for their reasoning and perspective. 

Most importantly, what evidence do we have for how well our students can enact these standards independently, as independence is the expectation of the standards (see reading standard 10)?
Reading standard 10 states that by the end of fifth grade students should read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, at the high end of the grades 4-5 text complexity band independently and proficiently.  The evidence a teacher can use to see if her students are meeting expectations vary. Nashua School District implemented iReady, which will give a teacher data if their student is meeting grade level expectations. However, through observations, discussion and reflections, a teacher will need to see if the student is able to synthesis, evaluate and compare texts. 

The section Current Challenges to Implementing the Reading Standards for informational Texts (beginning on page 88) describes pressing challenges for schools to tackle to fully implement the expectations of these standards.What rings true to you from the experiences in our classrooms?
Students are not reading enough nonfiction texts along with not having a choice in what to read. Teachers/schools need to get more high interest nonfiction books along with magazines, and digital sources (blogs, discovery education, PBS) for the students to read.

How can we begin to overcome these challenges (refer to the section beginning on page 91 for suggestions)?

Different reading strategies need to be shared and used in the classroom that reinforce the standards. 

G.I.S.T. http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/gist-summarizing-strategy-content-290.html is a summarizing strategy that is a helpful graphic organizer to 

promote close reading. GIST asks students to identify the 5W’s and H (Who, What, When Where, Why and How) and then compose a 20 word “gist of what they’ve read.

For literary text, using a strategy called “Someone Wanted But So,” is a handy word phrase to direct student thinking.http://upcaliteracy.cmswiki.wikispaces.net/file/view/ELA_Summary_ORS_Module_003.pdf

This wiki site gives some great info and also ideas on how to implement. 

Along with teachers implementing different strategies, is the resources to do it with.  DonorsChoose.org allows you to earn points and receive classroom library sets. Scholastic points give teachers the ability to get multiple sets of books for low cost and use of points when students buy books. A subscription to "Time For Kids" will give a teacher numerous possibilities in standards 2-9. Summarizing and comparing texts. 

Using programs on line such as Discovery Education or PBS gives students another possibility to find information on a topic and be able to find main ideas, summarize, discuss word choice, compare ideas and much, much more.

Extra bonus: Try to create a tagxedo and embed in your blog

Additionally: please bring the title of your book study selection, and spend some time searching the Common Core site that you assigned for discussion next week.

• Also- if you have a printable copy of the Common Core bring that.