CCSS activity 2- source 2

Source: Valarie Strauss's "Common Core's odd approach to teaching Gettysburg Address"
 http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/11/19/common-cores-odd-approach-to-teaching-gettysburg-address/

Again, I choose this article because the title grabbed my attention.
I kind of thought this article might be similar to one of those CCSS youtube videos with the sketches.

As I began reading I instantly felt overwhelmed with the wording of the standards.
I am sure this is something that is intimidating for many people even professionals. It took me several times reading the sentences over and over to comprehend the idea behind the standard.

Once I comprehended what the standard was calling for my next thought was for an activity to demonstrate understanding of "“close reading” of the address “with text-dependent questions”.
The idea is that students will be able to use textual evidence to draw a conclusion about what the text is describing without using the word. To meet this standard I came up with this activity:

Goal: Students will be able to recognize this description as The Gettysburg Address 

ask: "What is being described in this paragraph?"

"A long time ago people whose skin was black were "owned" by people whose skin was white.

the people with white skin did not respect the people with black skin and treated them very badly. Alot of black people were hurt and sad for a very long time.

Then one day a very important man said that the people with white skin can not treat the people with black skin like this anymore, because it was wrong. 

Well the white people in the north of America followed this law even though some did not like it.

White people in the south of America did not like this new law and wanted to get rid of it altogether.

So the people of the north fought the people of the south. 

It was really bad and alot of American familys suffered.

 because were supposed to be the same team. "

....Like it is stated in the article a gave a detailed summary of events depicting The Gettysburg address without giving it away by using specific terms such as civil war or Abraham Lincoln.

Getting back to my response..I noticed this aritcle also touching base on instructional shifts.
Which means this term is being reinforced yet again though this series of CCSS activities.
The differentiated use of these terms and concepts leads me to see the connections of how all these aspects of the CCSS are intertwined with each other.

To finalize, I loved the quote "developing students’ prowess at drawing knowledge from the text itself is the point of reading" because I feel it nicely sums up the meaning behind this standard.

CCSS activity two- source 1

Source: Kathleen Porter-Magee's "Implementing Common Core with Struggling Readers"
http://edexcellence.net/commentary/education-gadfly-daily/common-core-watch/implementing-the-common-core-with-struggling

I choose this source first because the title caught my eye, being a special education major I am more interested in how to get struggling students to meet CCSS.

As i began reading the articel I relazed the auothur is also a blogger.
I felt a sense of hosititlity to CCSS when she refers to it as having "rigor demands".
When she says "my support for the Common Core literacy standards stems from three things" she lists the three key shifts for teaching common core that I incorporated into my blog for CCSS activity one.
This was reinforcing for me because here I am being exposed to those key shifts again and allows me to see those shifts used in a different context.

Kathleen makes an interesting point, which I took as opposing standardized testing, when she says research shows "an individual’s reading level ebbs and flows depending on the content covered, the vocabulary used, the syntax, and on". To summarize in my own words: a student's reading level could be based on their level of interest in the material, lack of interest will result in lack of comprehension.

I liked how Kathleen introduced me to a new term "educational malpractice". I never heard that before, but I feel like it is the same as setting student up for failure.

In response to Kathleen's questions at the end I would like to suggest focusing on the importance of how teachers can leave "breadcrumb trails" for students that may have difficulties. Teachers can do this by setting up questions leading students to an appropriate response, also arranging questions so it promotes students to think critically and incorporate problem solving skills.
When she asks how to "focus on knoweldge building in a ever minute counts school" I would suggest using every oppurtunity for incidential teaching by relating any indicdent or discussion that may relate to the text. Teachers could also tie aspects of text into other lesson plans to show how the text can be associated through various lessons in attempt to spark connections and associations between all subjects.

CCSS activity one

Anchor standards

Three shifts used to teach and meet standards-

-          Regular practice with complex texts and their academic language

-          Reading, writing, and speaking grounded in evidence from texts, both literary and informational

-          Building knowledge through content-rich nonfiction

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.1
Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text

The instructional shift between the anchor standard for grade one and the anchor standard for grade three is related to focus and content area. In grade one the anchor standard (in my own words) is to read and make inferences (predictions) based on what you read. In grade three the anchor standard is to summarize what you read and based on that, tell why things happened the way they did, and identify any changes that occurred throughout the reading. So from grade one to grade three the anchor standards instructional shift is going from making predictions to identifying defining traits in the text.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.3
Analyze how and why individuals, events, or ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.

As grade three anchor standard is focused on analyzing how characters, events and changes effect the plot of a story, grade five anchor standard is focused on identifying the key parts of the text that make these changes in plot occur, for example a specific quote from the text. So in third grade you learn to identify how each aspect of the text affects the plot, than in fifth grade learn to analyze these specific aspects by using textual evidence. Basically, the instructional shift between third grade and fifth is from identifying problems, changes, behaviors, to analyzing specifically how and why they occurred and  piecing these together to fit into the text as a whole

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.5
Analyze the structure of texts, including how specific sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of the text (e.g., a section, chapter, scene, or stanza) relate to each other and the whole.

References

 http://www.corestandards.org/other-resources/key-shifts-in-english-language-arts/ 

***Summary**** 

For this assignment I was somewhat unclear about what to do but after watching the video on youtube this is what I came up with....

My train of thought was to pick three anchor standards, from three different grade levels and describe the instructional shifts in between the grades.

I started at grade one's anchor standard for literacy and described the instructional shifts to grade three's.

I repeated this process for grade three's anchor standard to grade five's.

I also included the three "key shifts" used to teach common core because as they say, common core "can not be isolated". 

In the end I feel like this assignment was worth while because as Dr. Mcvery stated in the youtube video it gave me the opportunity to play around with CCSS a little bit more and gave me the chance to analyze and utilize these standards for an assignment.

writing 4- final narrative

In my last blog, I was at the beginning of writing my narrative piece.
I mentioned I was torn about what specific experience to write about for the memoir genre.
Then I thought.... who says a memoir has to be about one specific experience.
In fact, dictionary.com says a memoir is "an account of one's personal life and experiences"...note experiences, plural.
So came my decision to include both the experiences I was torn to pick from. 

Based on this decision, I laid the "framework" or "landscape" for this narrative piece, my memoir.
The other decision I had to make was how I wanted to tell my story, what perspective should I go with (taking into consideration it is a narrative), third person,? What time frame...then or now?
This decision was a little more difficult to come to, so I did what I always do, my writing process...
This begins with me typing out all my thoughts, ideas, and subjects I want to include. I call this "word vomit".
From there, I organize this "word vomit" by grouping the ideas and subjects together, the idea is that these groupings eventually turn into praragraphs.
I use this for the basis of my thesis. 

When I got to this point I was able to shape a perspective which I feel tells my memoir best.
I am happy with the way it came out, I feel as though my narrative piece in the memoir genre meets the characteristics of the genre by depicting my memorable experiences, and relates how they influenced me.

writing 3- begining narrative

 (To begin this blog I would like to mention I hope my readers keep in mind that even though they see the date posted on 11/26 I started this blog as a draft as I began my narrative piece. Given the weather and the day off of classes I am using today as a EDU 307 "catch up day". Also, I hope all my readers enjoy there Thanksgiving break as I am sure it is much needed for all of us.)

As I begin my narrative piece for the menoir genre I am somewhat torn on what to write about, so if any of my readers would like to leave comments and let me know what they would find more interesting please feel free to do so....

My two choices are both experiences that I feel have changed my life, and they both took place around the same point in time, at the beginning of middle school. A rough time developmentally for children as we transition from little kids into preteens. At this time we must keep in mind changes in hormones, expectations, and so on.

First choice: To write a memoir about my experince going through the process of special education, this began when I transferred districts going into fifth grade. This experience includes being identified, evaluated, observed, having an IEP, PPTs, and recieving services in school. I felt this was a unique topic to write a memoir on because I could reflect on how it influences me as a future special education teacher.

Second choice: To write a memoir about my experience being diagnosed with type one diabetes in seventh grade. I thought it'd be an interesting topic to write a memoir on because it is something that drastically changed my life because of the responsibility and everything I had to learn to keep my self healthy.

Any opinions?

Does collaborative learning support literacy?

Does collaborative learning support literacy?
A simple answer to that question: yes.

How do I know?
After our experiences in class, working in groups for reading and writing workshops,not only did I get a lot of great input from my peers at a college level, but it brought back a lot of memories from grade school working in small groups with peers in these reading and writing workshops.
Now as an adult and a future teacher I feel stronger about how collaborative learning supports literacy. I was never the best student when I was little so reading and writing workshops were intimidating for me, but now as college senior I can see how I have come a very long way in my education. Learning collaboratively supports literacy learners by allowing students to gain more ideas, hear different perspectives, and receive constructive criticism on their work from their peers.
A big way collaborating helps writers is...if you are in a group you get to hear from your audience....instead of just seeing the piece from your own perspective As a writer you want to captivate your audience and satisfy them with your writing so hearing their feedback can help you do that. 
Working collaboratively in reading groups helps to support literacy learning because maybe you are in a reading group with someone who helps you realize you missed a key aspect in the plot. Or maybe you are in a reading group with someone who role play with in order to comprehend the material.
It's like the great saying goes..."Two minds are better than one". Collaborative learning supports literacy. 

Writing 2- Finalizing Info essay

 As we begin a new week, after a very chatoic last week and weekend I am happy to say I am finally getting the opportunity to get back on track for EDU 307. After I got done finalizing my informational essay last week I kinda put a few things aside for this course and am in the procsess of playing catch up as I am sure we all are in one way or another. So with that said I hope everyone is managing ok.

In regards to my informational essay, I am happy with the way it came out. I feel as though I provided adequate information about the genre by defining it, stating why it is important to teach it, classroom activities to teach reading and writing. I meet my two targeted areas for growth, which were reinforcing the importance of the message in a memoir and coming up with meaningful classroom activities to teach.

What I found unique about this assignment was creating two separate documents to show revisions. Usually my "rough drafts" are a bunch of unorganized word vomit that is more in the format of stanzas then paragraphs. As I go through my ideas I group them into an outline and form a solid thesis, then organize my paragraphs according to that.

I think I made a meaningful genre choice, and doing this assignment made me excited to begin writing my own. So stay tuned to see what I will be writing my memoir on for the narrative piece.....