1. LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER © 2013 University of Pittsburgh Supporting Rigorous English Language Arts Teaching and Learning Tennessee Department of Education English Language Arts Module 5 Sequenced, Text-Based Questions 1

2. LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER © 2013 University of Pittsburgh Module 5: Goals Deepen understanding of text-based questions that scaffold students’ reading, writing, speaking, and listening by learning more about: research about writing in ELA. the CCSS perspective of text types. designing culminating assessments and writing assignments. qualities of text-based questions. research about questions in ELA. how the sequencing of questions helps students meet the CCSS. developing sequenced, text-based questions for a set of sequenced complex texts. 2

3. LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER © 2013 University of Pittsburgh Rigorous ELA Teaching and Learning TextTalkTask 3

4. LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER © 2013 University of Pittsburgh Review of Key Shifts in ELA/Literacy CCSS 1.Complexity: Regular practice with complex text and its academic language. 2.Evidence: Reading, writing and speaking grounded in evidence from text, both literary and informational. 3.Knowledge: Building knowledge through content- rich nonfiction. *Excerpted from A Strong State Role in Common Core State Standards Implementation: Rubric and Self-Assessment Tool, p. 6, Table 1, Key Instructional Shifts of the Common Core State Standards, by the Partnership of Readiness for College and Careers Transition & Implementation Institute, 2012, Washington, DC: Achieve. 4

5. LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER © 2013 University of Pittsburgh Research about Writing in ELA Complex writing is an essential skill: –It allows students to support argument or analysis- an important skill for college readiness. –It is a predictor of academic success and a basic requirement for participation in civic life and in the global economy. Students are struggling: –Students have difficulty recognizing and applying argumentative text structures, generating evidence, offering relevant reasons, counterarguments, and rebuttals, and formulating arguments about texts using relevant and sufficient evidence from a text. –50% of high school graduates are not prepared for college- level writing (Achieve, Inc., 2005). 5

6. LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER © 2013 University of Pittsburgh CCSS Perspective on Text Types Take a few minutes to read “Writing: Definitions of the Standards’ Three Text Types” on pages 23-25 of Appendix A with these questions in mind: 1.What are the differences between argument and informational/explanatory writing according to the CCSS? 2.What are the differences in argument and informational/explanatory writing among the content areas? 3.What are the differences between argument and persuasion according to the CCSS? 4.How do these ideas challenge and/or affirm your thinking about argument, informational/explanatory writing, and narrative? 5.What are the implications of these ideas for your work and student learning? 6

7. LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER © 2013 University of Pittsburgh CCSS Perspective on Text Types Be prepared to share your answers with the whole group. Whole Group Discussion 7 “Appendix A” ( 23-25)

8. LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER © 2013 University of Pittsburgh Central Drivers Part II: Culminating Assessments and Writing Assignments 8

9. LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER © 2013 University of Pittsburgh Central Drivers of Instruction 9 Overarching Questions CCSS Culminating Assessment Complex Texts

10. LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER © 2013 University of Pittsburgh 10 Culminating Assessment Is a summative assessment. Is related to the unit’s overarching questions, texts, and key standards. Provides a guide for the work in the unit. Provides evidence of student understanding and proficiency of the identified CCSS and learning goals. Allows for the construction of new knowledge or an extension of their thinking rather than a regurgitation of what students learned in the unit.

11. LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER © 2013 University of Pittsburgh 11 Culminating Assessment Culminating assessments across a year should require a variety of writing genres & modes. Once you’ve decided on a culminating assessment, make a list of what students need to know & be able to do to be successful. Design the unit with that as your guide (backward mapping). Unit texts should be able to support much of what students need to know and be able to do. Develop the culminating assessment with the rubric in mind.

12. LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER © 2013 University of Pittsburgh 12 Culminating Assessments: Writing Assignments A good writing assignment is: focused on a single guiding question. composed so that the task or invitation to write is clearly visible. scaffolded so that students –understand the connection to the work that precedes it, –see clearly what is being asked of them, and –find some help in imagining how to begin the writing. Resource: Culminating Assessments & Writing Assignments (white book, blue, p. 137)

13. LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER © 2013 University of Pittsburgh 13 The following three-part template is helpful when developing a writing assignment: 1 st paragraph/section: Situates the writing for students 2 nd paragraph/section: Writes out the request 3 rd paragraph/section: Offers some (but not too much) help to begin Culminating Assessments: Writing Assignments

14. LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER © 2013 University of Pittsburgh Develop the Culminating Assessment Working again in your pair/trio from the last module, and using the task sheet you started with the first three central drivers, develop the fourth central driver (culminating assessment) for your unit: write a brief version of the task in the culminating assessment box on the task sheet. identify which CCSS are being addressed by the culminating assessment. using your culminating assessment and the genre specific rubric, create a list of what students would need to know and be able to do to be successful on that assessment. 14

15. LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER © 2013 University of Pittsburgh Develop the Culminating Assessment Whole Group Discussion Each pair/trio at the table will share the culminating assessment they developed as well as the standards that are being assessed. Use the feedback starters (“I notice…” and “I wonder…”) to help with notating if there should be any revisions to any of the central drivers. 15

16. LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER © 2013 University of Pittsburgh Argument Rubric Grades 9-12 16

17. LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER © 2013 University of Pittsburgh Informative/Explanatory Rubric Grades 9-12 17

18. LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER © 2013 University of Pittsburgh Text-Based Questions 18

19. LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER © 2013 University of Pittsburgh What Are Text-based Questions and Tasks? Text-based questions and tasks: are focused on the text. are generally text-specific rather than generic questions that could be asked of any text. don’t get students off of the text (e.g., tell me about a time you went camping…). require students to re-read the text closely to do such things as draw inferences, develop interpretations, and analyze ideas and language. may promote convergent (comprehension) and divergent (interpretation/analysis) thinking about a text. 19

20. LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER © 2013 University of Pittsburgh Research about Questions in ELA Nystrand & Gamoran (1997): Higher spring performance in classes that devoted time to discussion around authentic text- dependent questions about literature. Langer (2001): Students in schools that have made unusual progress on standardized tests were given more authentic text- dependent questions than those in schools that have made more typical progress. Applebee, Langer, Nystrand, and Gamoran (2003): Higher spring scores on writing assessment in classes where teachers provided students with authentic text-dependent questions. *Authentic text-based questions are questions that have more than one possible response that can be supported with evidence from the text. 20

21. LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER © 2013 University of Pittsburgh Text-based Questions: Meeting the Common Core Standards for ELA Please take a moment to read the quotation from the Publishers’ Criteria with the following questions in mind: How do Coleman and Pimentel define high-quality text- based questions in the quotation from the Publishers’ Criteria? What are they saying about the benefits of using sequences of high-quality text-based questions? 21 Publishers’ Criteria (blue book, pink, p. 7)

22. LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER © 2013 University of Pittsburgh Text-based Questions: Meeting the Common Core Standards for ELA “High-quality sequences of text-dependent questions elicit sustained attention to the specifics of the text and their impact. The sequence of questions should cultivate student mastery of the specific ideas and illuminating particulars of the text. High-quality text-dependent questions will often move beyond what is directly stated to require students to make nontrivial inferences based on evidence in the text. Questions aligned with Common Core State Standards should demand attention to the text to answer fully. An effective set of discussion questions might begin with relatively simple questions requiring attention to specific words, details, and arguments and then move on to explore the impact of those specifics on the text as a whole. Good questions will often linger over specific phrases and sentences to ensure careful comprehension and also promote deep thinking and substantive analysis of the text. Effective question sequences will build on each other to ensure that students learn to stay focused on the text so they can learn fully from it. Even when dealing with larger volumes of text, questions should be designed to stimulate student attention to gaining specific knowledge and insight from each source” (Coleman & Pimentel, 2011, p. 7). 22 Publishers’ Criteria (blue book, pink, p. 7)

23. LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER © 2013 University of Pittsburgh Studying Text-based Questions: Moving From… and Moving To… With a partner, study and compare the “moving from” and “moving to” questions. Discuss and take notes on your response to the following questions: –What differences do you see between the “moving from” and “moving to” questions? –What’s the intellectual work required of students to answer the “moving from” questions? The “moving to” questions? –What patterns do you see among “moving from” questions? In other words, with what do writers of questions usually struggle? 23

24. LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER © 2013 University of Pittsburgh Studying a Sequence of Questions-Bridge to Practice 6 Using the “Moving From…Moving To…” handout, look now at the entire sequence of Moving To questions for the text. Then, talk with a partner about the following: What do you notice about the relationship among the questions as you move vertically through the sequence? How does the question sequence organize instruction and scaffold students’ learning? In what ways does the organization of questions help students meet the demands of the CCSS? 24.

25. LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER © 2013 University of Pittsburgh Module 5 Session Ends

26. LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER © 2013 University of Pittsburgh MODULE 5 SESSION 2 BEGINS

27. LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER © 2013 University of Pittsburgh Studying Sequences of Questions for a Sequence of Complex Texts Look now at the full unit outline. Then, talk with a partner about the following: What do you notice about the relationship among the questions as you move vertically through each text’s sequence and horizontally through the different texts? How do the question sequences organize instruction and scaffold students’ learning toward the overarching questions and culminating assessment? In what ways does the organization of questions help students meet the CCSS? 27.

28. LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER © 2013 University of Pittsburgh Argument & Methods Unit Outline 28

29. LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER © 2013 University of Pittsburgh Sequencing Text-based Questions for Instruction: Types of Questions Prior Knowledge (P) (non-text-based) Comprehension (C) (includes vocabulary work) Significance (S) Interpretive (I) Analytic (A) StepBack (SB) (non-text-based) Retrospective (R) (text-based and/or non-text-based) 29

30. LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER © 2013 University of Pittsburgh Argument & Methods Unit Outline: Labeled 30

31. LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER © 2013 University of Pittsburgh Developing Sequenced, Text-Based Questions 31

32. LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER © 2013 University of Pittsburgh Designing Sequences of Text-based Questions for a Sequence of Complex Texts Working in pairs or trios, -develop a sequence of text-based questions for the first text in your unit. Important reminders about questions- Be open ended, Be answered using evidence from the text, Be specific to the text discussed, Be authentic in meaning, Have multiple plausible answers, Be significant to understanding the text, Focus on the purpose of the unit, and Be connected to one or more of the Common Core State Standards. 32

33. LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER © 2013 University of Pittsburgh Share out and Feedback Take a few minutes to discuss your creations. –What do you notice? –What do you wonder? Assess the questions. –What questions do you have? –What ideas do you have for revision? 33

34. LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER © 2013 University of Pittsburgh PARCC Model Content Framework: Grade 9 34

35. LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER © 2013 University of Pittsburgh PARCC Model Content Frameworks How do IFL units work in conjunction with PARCC’s Module Content Frameworks? IFL units utilize a sequence of complex texts to build knowledge through close reading and sequenced text-based questions and tasks. IFL units provide regular opportunities for students to read and write routinely for different purposes and in different genres. cite evidence from texts in writing and talk. study vocabulary. study language. IFL units apprentice students to the discipline through talk and writing, and scaffold students toward independent work with a gradual release of responsibility. PARCC’s Model Content Frameworks can be found at: http://www.parcconline.org/parcc-model-content-frameworks 35

36. LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER © 2013 University of Pittsburgh Module 5: Takeaways 36 Texts need to be able to support multiple readings for different purposes. Intentional planning of text-based question sequences, both horizontal and vertical, ensures coherence with and fidelity to the central drivers of unit. Different types of text-based questions ask for different kinds of mental work and invite particular kinds of writing and talk from students. Text-based question sequences are scaffolded so that earlier responses in writing and talk provide the foundation for later responses. Developing text-based questions is hard work, is best done collaboratively, and requires deep knowledge of the text(s) under study. Text-based questions should be developed with attention to the CCSS.

37. LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER © 2013 University of Pittsburgh Module 5: Reflection- Bridge to Practice 7 Take a few moments to respond to the following questions as a way to reflect on your learning during this module. What was your biggest insight or learning in this module? Why was that significant? What one thing will you do differently in the classroom based on your understanding of this module’s content and the demands of the CCSS? What do you want to learn more about in order to implement the learning in your practice? What questions do you still have? 37