Discussion: Standards and Literacy Across the Content Area

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Humanities

Description

Part 1

Discussion: Standards and Literacy Across the Content Areas:

This discussion focuses on the short text Understanding Common Core State Standards by John Kendall, which you read at the beginning of this module. Although fairly brief, this text outlines important information about uniform, national and state adopted standards that will inevitably inform your teaching.

You will now reflect on this reading, and your reactions to it. Develop a main response in which you address the following:

  • Identify your content area (ELA) and the grade level you are working with. (10th)
  • When you read this text (or your specific New York State or professional organization standards), what did you flag, highlight, or annotate?
  • How did your thoughts and perceptions regarding literacy in your content area change as you read through information on standards, if at all?


Part 2

Reply to the main responses of at least four (4) other students within two (2) days.


***Student responses are in document posted below.***




HElpful Info from Module:


Module One: The Common Core Standards and Literacy Across the Curriculum

Weeks 1-2
Learning Objectives

After successfully completing this module, you will be able to:

  • Identify and summarize important elements of the common core state standards that relate to your content area and grade level.
  • Relate best practices between content areas.
  • Explain how specific standards can be used to create lesson plans.
Reading

Everyone:

  • Understanding Common Core State Standards (Kendall): The complete book
    Although New York State is transitioning to content specific state standards, these standards are grounded in the Common Core as are the standards of your professional organization. The Kendall text provides a good overview of how standards work across the curriculum.
  • Best Practice (Zelman, Daiels, and Hyde): Chapter 1, pgs. 1-26, pgs. 128, 156, 186, 218, 242

Subject Specific:

  • ELA and LOTE: pgs. 88-112

Unformatted Attachment Preview

Sandra W. CCSS and ELA I am currently a TA working in special education and am almost finished with my special education degree along with a dual certification in English. I work in many inclusion English classes and intensive reading classes within a secondary school on Long Island. I also work in inclusion Social Studies classes. Literacy standards are evident in both of these academic areas. I am in the unique position of viewing the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) movement before it came into play, while it was rolled out and as it is currently. It was interesting reading the assigned book because it was written in 2011; very close after the CCSS were put into place. I always wondered who actually was involved in developing the standards, which was explained nicely by Kendall (2011). I was surprised at how much involvement outside companies and industries had in developing the standards but can see why they wanted a hand at directing learning standards towards college and career readiness. Kendall describes how the standards came into being and how important they are because before CCSS, teachers taught what they wanted to teach. There were problems going from one grade to another or from one school to another because of the lack of cohesion of learning targets (Kendall, 2011). I definitely agree with this goal of the standards because standards are necessary to promote a unified vision of what needs to be addressed during instruction with the goal of increasing student achievement. Ironically, in the section of the book entitled “Benefits and Concerns” one of the benefits of the CCSS listed is “A Manageable Number of Standards” (Kendall, 2011, p.29). I have to disagree with this statement because for the ELA strand alone there are almost 40 standards broken up into reading, writing, speaking-listening and language. In fact, there are 16 pages of all the standard for grades 9-12 in the ELA standards. It is too voluminous and detailed for my taste. It is actually confusing to read all of them and some of them repeat themselves over and over. I believe this is why they are revising them again to combine information texts and literature standards together. I believe the CCSS are too detailed and need to leave teachers with a little more breathing room as to how to meet the core standards. Bottom line, though, is that a common set of standards for the country as a whole is important to promote the best educational outcomes for students today. Kendall, John S. Understanding Common Core State Standards. ASCD Publications, 2011. Sara P. Standards and Literacy Across the Content Areas The grade level I am working with is kindergarten. The content area of literacy in kindergarten lays the foundation for phonics and early literacy development. The standards are aligned to prepare scholars in a progression to succeed in their literacy development. When reading the standards there were many things I flagged as being important. I paid specific attention to the sub topics. Specifically key ideas and details, craft and structure, integrations of knowledge and ideas, and the lastly range of reading and level of text complexity. These sub topics apply to each different set of the reading standards. Literacy Standards are broken down into reading literature standards, reading informational text standards, foundational skills, writing, speaking and listening standards, and language standards. I specifically drew my attention to the foundational skills. These foundational skills are key to master in order to progress in ones literacy development. The print concepts are key when learning how to read. An example of this is the following: CCSS.ELALITERACY.RF.K.1.A: Follow words from left to right, top to bottom, and page by page. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.K.1.C: Understand that words are separated by spaces in print. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.K.1.D: Recognize and name all upper- and lowercase letters of the alphabet. These standards are a necessity to master in order to grow in literacy development. The phonological awareness piece is also important. It is important that scholars master these standards. It truly lays the foundation for their literacy development. The reading addresses the standards as being. “One size fits all.” In kindergarten I agree with that to an extent. The foundational skills are key to master. As an educator, I use the standards as a checklist to see what my scholars know and do not know. This allows me to form small groups and really dive in to unknown content and standards. Acknowledging that every scholar learns differently is also key. It is important to use standards as a baseline. Modifications can then be made in order to meet scholar’s needs. I often use standards as individual reading goals for scholars. I stongly believein using the standards as a baseline, and from there spiral up or down the curriculum to meet thier learning needs. My thoughts and perceptions didn’t necessarily change, I did find myself making comparisons to grade levels I have previously taught. One particular grade level I compared was kindergarten to second grade. I thought about the gap and the progression that needs to take place in order for second grade scholars need to grow in their literacy development, and to be on grade level. It was very interesting to me and really made me see how important the standards are. I also allowed me to see how important it is that the literacy curriculum and interventions are aligned with the common core standards. Following the standards closely will allow one to see how the standards link together and follow a progression. It allows one to see where they scholars are now and where they will end up in the future. Kendall, John S. Understanding Common Core State Standards. ASCD Publications, 2011. English Language Arts Standards » Reading: Foundational Skills » Kindergarten. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RF/K/ Andrea K. CCLS The program I am in is for my special education certification 7-12 so I do not have a content area. I am a 1:1 paraprofessional who goes with their student to every class. My student has double period of math and ELA, one period of social studies and science and Drama as his elective. My strong subject is math. One part stuck out to me which was the “One size Fits all.” When I read about the standards and when I see them implemented, I always think about the students I work with who are on reading levels two or three levels below their age. Will they be able to handle the increased rigor along with a scripted approach to teaching and learning. Common Core standards are set in place to prepare our students for college which in turn prepares them for their career. “ Student’s must be able to recognize their future in the standards they master, especially when those standards are challenging” (Kendall, 2011). How can my students do this when they are struggling to read the passage given that was picked because of the standard needed for their grade level? Teachers, of course, modify the lessons and implement accommodations for our students but this allows comes with the teachers feeling worried because they are behind the schedule. The Common Core isn’t necessarily the culprit for the students not being able to keep up with the standards but rather the way the standards are being interpreted in the state-approved curriculum. Don’t get me wrong, all students should be challenged, it’s important for them to get their brain going but sometimes it’s just too challenging and our students are struggling. I do understand that CCLS gives the teachers a guideline for teaching and I do understand it allows for the students to have goals, I just think sometimes, and for some students, these goals are out of reach, well at least for now. These standards are grade level but not all students are on their grade level. So, now what? Also, are these standards definitely preparing our students for the work place? Kendall states that “during the last several years, research has shown the increasing amount of remediation required to bring postsecondary students up to mastery, and businesses have complained about high school graduates’ lack of preparedness for the work world.” (p. 27) Isn’t this something to look into? This is not a good statement and should be taken seriously. Kendall, John S. Understanding Common Core State Standards. ASCD Publications, 2011. Ariel T. NCTM and Literacy For those I am meeting for the first time through this class, I teach Algebra I for a BOCES alternative education program. As NYS is moving away from CCLS to Next Generation, I closely follow the National Council of the Teachers of Math standards. These standards are very similar to both CCLS and Next Gen standards, but I feel are more clear in intent and purpose. NCTM contains the same content standards as CCLS, covering number operations, algebra, geometry, stats and data, and measurements. These are not specific necessarily to grade and encompass all content standards addressed in K-12 math classes. NCTM also includes process standards, which focus on problem solving, reasoning and proof, communication, connection, and representation. I use problem solving frequently as a tool to engage student learning and create a meaningful connection to the content. " By solving mathematical problems, students acquire ways of thinking, habits of persistence and curiosity, and confidence in unfamiliar situations that serve them well outside the mathematics classroom. " My activities also require a lot of communicating mathematically, where students are given many opportunities to organize their thoughts and understanding of various concepts, either verbally or written. Last semester, I struggled with a lot of the initial assignments due to a lack of my own connections between literacy and math. For students to be successful in algebra, there is a lot of vocabulary they need to not only know, but understand. Therein lies a lot of literacy work, where students must be able to not only read the words on the page, but understand the meaning behind them and be able to decode what the question or problem may be asking. If students struggle with literacy, problem solving activities that require a fair amount of reading, along with being able to communicate an answer, will also be a struggle. " Through communication, ideas become objects of reflection, refinement, discussion, and amendment. When students are challenged to communicate the results of their thinking to others orally or in writing, they learn to be clear, convincing, and precise in their use of mathematical language. " Students that struggle with literacy will struggle with these standards and expectations. I have already become more efficient (in my opinion) in introducing, implementing, and practicing vocabulary into class time, mainly through our vocabulary cards. This gives students the tools they need to be successful in the NCTM standards. https://www.nctm.org/uploadedFiles/Standards_and_Positions/PSSM_ExecutiveSumma ry.pdf
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Explanation & Answer

Attached.

Running head: STANDARDS AND LITERACY

Discussion: Standards and Literacy Across the Content Area
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

1

STANDARDS AND LITERACY

2

Standards and Literacy Across the Content Area
I am currently an ELA teacher dealing with 10th students. I have worked and interacted
with learners from diverse backgrounds, and therefore I have some considerable experience on
various expectations that they have from our educational system. In every domain of education
that I participate, various literary standards must be embraced. Without standards, it can be
challenging to develop a streamlined educational system. There are standards everyone in the
entire world, and this makes it possible for people to have a clear view of the generally accepted
models of operations in those respective domains.
Kendall emphasizes that these standards are indispensable in our schools. He goes on to
challenge fellow educational practitioners, especially Mike Schmoker and Diane Ravitch who
have been rather skeptical when people talk about the benefits and potential of Common Core.
Kendall argues that the standards were carefully crafted to meet the needs of the various
stakeholders who are directly involved in making our s...


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