Sunday, March 30, 2014

Learning About the English Language Arts Common Core Standards

This is part three in a three part series describing the Common Core Standards. In part one I discussed that the word “common” means we have a common goal and will use common language. However, we will not be lock-step with other schools across the country and the curriculums we use to accomplish our goals under the Common Core Standards will be individualized to our students and their needs.

In part two of this series, I discussed the math standards and in this third part, I will describe the English Language Arts (ELA) Standards, which are structured differently than the math standards. Jennifer Fox, Jackson County Intermediate School District Curriculum Consultant, said that the shift to the Common Core standards “represent the shifting of necessary skills over time through societal demands.” These standards focus on reading, writing, speaking and listening, and language strands.

Students are learning to read and understand more non-fiction through lessons that focus on locating evidence in the text to help them ground their thinking about a piece of literature. For example, rather than simply reading a book, taking a test over the book, then moving on to the next book, teachers tie literature together by relating one book to another. Because text complexity is an important aspect of reading which will help students to develop a deeper comprehension, Mrs. Dagenais, Columbia Middle School ELA teacher, is having her students to complete cycles of reading and then writing their reflections, then repeating the cycle. The cycles help students gain a deeper comprehension. She also said that she emphasizes “supporting the reflections with evidence from the text.” She teams with the science and social studies teachers to have her students complete at least one writing piece.

The literacy standards require students to integrate technology and digital resources with writing. Our first graders in Mrs. Hawkins class at Columbia Elementary School are using the Story Bird website to produce blogs and satisfy the standard which says, “Use technology, including internet, to produce and publish writing, and to interact and collaborate with others.” She commented by saying that she “can use this site to post private notes to my students about their writing and that family members may also comment on their child’s writing.” She added that her “students can go home, sign on to the blog, read and comment on other students work.” Mrs. Hawkins feels that by blogging, “it is a great way to collaborate and the kids are so excited to hear what someone other than their teacher has to say about their writing!” By using technology students will learn the strengths and weaknesses of different technological tools and know which one will work the best as they complete tasks in the future.

Mrs. Hawkins students are also working on the standard which says, “Write routinely over extended and shorter time frames for a range of tasks, purposes and audiences.” Mrs. Hawkins says that her “students will most likely communicate with their audiences primarily through the internet or text. They are much more comfortable with a tablet and stylus than a pencil and paper.” In this way they are being prepared for both college and career. She commented that “allowing them multiple options for writing provides more opportunities to find a form of writing that really connect to.” 

When moving from grade to grade students are expected to accomplish the standards, review and reuse the ELA skills and techniques they reached in earlier grades, then progress onto the future standards. Mrs. Schmidt, an ELA teacher at Columbia Middle School said that, “The beautiful thing about teaching ELA is that many, many standards are incorporated into one unit by writing an argument piece.” For example, she relates that her “students will learn how to locate and interpret credible research, formulate an argument and support both sides of the issue, demonstrate proper citation, write in MLA format and present in class. This extended unit incorporates many standards from speaking and listening, reading informational text, and writing standards from Common Core standards.”

If you have questions regarding Columbia School District, please call me at 5175926641 or email me at pam.campbell@myeagles.org.

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