What Are the ELA Shifts in Common Core?

Shift 1: Balancing Informational & Literary Texts (K-5) Students read a true balance of informational and literary texts. Elementary school classrooms are, therefore, places where students access the world science, social studies, the arts and literature through text. At least 50% of what students read is informational. What the Student Does Build content knowledge What the Teacher Does Balance informational & literary text

Exposure to the world through reading Scaffold for informational texts Apply strategies Teach "through" and "with" informational texts

Shift 2: Knowledge in the Disciplines (Grades 6-12) Content area teachers outside of the ELA classroom emphasize literacy experiences in their planning and instruction. Students learn through domain specific texts in science and social studies classrooms rather than referring to the text, they are expected to learn from what they read. What the Student Does What the Teacher Does Build content knowledge through text Shift identity: "I teach reading." Handle primary source documents Find evidence Stop referring and summarizing and start reading Slow down the history and science classroom

Shift 3: Staircase of Complexity In order to prepare students for the complexity of college and career ready texts, each grade level requires a "step" of growth on the "staircase". Students read the central, grade appropriate text around which instruction is centered. Teachers are patient, create more time and space in the curriculum for this close and careful reading, and provide appropriate and necessary scaffolding and supports so that it is possible for students reading below grade level. What the Student Does Re-read texts Tolerate frustration with text What the Teacher Does Teach more complex texts at every grade level Spend more time on more complex texts Provide scaffolding & strategies to students Engage with texts with other adults

Read material at own level to enjoy reading Give students less to read in order to further in depth

Shift 4: Text-based Answers Students have rich and rigorous conversations which are dependent on a common text. Teachers insist that classroom experiences stay deeply connected to the text on the page and that students develop habits for making evidentiary arguments both in conversation, as well as in writing to assess comprehension of a text. What the Student Does Find evidence to support their argument Form own judgments and become scholars Conducting close reading of the text Engage with the author and his/her choices What the Teacher Does Facilitate evidence-based conversations about text Plan and conduct rich conversations Keep students in the text Identify questions that are text-dependent, worthwhile, and stimulate discussion Spend much more time preparing for instruction by reading deeply.

Shift 5: Writing from Sources Writing needs to emphasize use of evidence to inform or make an argument rather than the personal narrative and other forms of decontextualized prompts. While the narrative still has an important role, students develop skills through written arguments that respond to the ideas, events, facts, and arguments presented in the texts they read. What the Student Does Generate informational texts Make arguments using evidence Organize for persuasion Compare multiple sources What the Teacher Does Spend less time on personal narratives Present opportunities to write from multiple sources Provide opportunities to analyze and synthesize ideas Develop students' voice so that they can argue a point with evidence Give permission to reach and articulate their own conclusions about what they read

Shift 6: Academic Vocabulary Students constantly build the vocabulary they need to access grade level complex texts. By focusing strategically on comprehension of pivotal and commonly found words (such as "discourse," "generation," "theory," and "principled") and less on esoteric literary terms (such as "onomatopoeia" or "homonym"), teachers constantly build students' ability to access more complex texts across the content areas. What the Student Does What the Teacher Does Use high octane words across content areas Develop students' ability to use and access words Build "language of power" database Be strategic about the new vocabulary words Work with words students will use frequently Teach fewer words more deeply