Making Common Core Standards Work For ALL Students Unwrapping the standards “focused alignment of curriculum, assessment, and instruction” *Information for this PPT Presentation was compiled by Elena Larranaga Sources can be found on the last slide of this presentation.

Unwrapping Priority Standards & communicating clear student expectations is an essential part of implementing core curriculum for ALL STUDENTS.

Define Curriculum What is your definition of curriculum?

Types of Curriculum Recommended – Standards as defined by experts in their field. Written – State standards, local goals and objectives (ie., curriculum binders). Supported – Curriculum for which materials are actually available, such as textbooks and software.

Written Curriculum: Unwrapping the Standards and Backwards Planning. Breaking down the individual standard into its component parts. 1) Content What you want the student to know and do 2) Context How you want the student to use the content 3) Enduring Understanding Students will understand that…… 4) Essential Questions Provocative questions to guide teaching and learning

Why Backwards Planning and Unpacking the Standards? teaches-history teaches-history?

Why Backwards Planning and Unpacking the Standard? To ensure that what we teach is actually aligned to the standards. Allowing teachers to let go of things that are not essential. Better prepare our students for exams, assessments and LIFE. Ensure that our students are better prepared for college and/or careers. Start the groundwork for year plans, unit plans, and common assessment. Implement and differentiate Common Core Standards the way they were INTENDED to be implemented. TEACH WHAT YOUR STUDENTS NEED TO KNOW, NOT WHAT YOU THINK IS NICE TO KNOW.

Let’s look at the Special Education Classroom

Select standards/indicators to “Unwrap” Underline key concepts (important noun and noun phrases) Circle or bold the skills/what students must be able to do (verbs) You can also use two different colored highlighters The Process Underline Nouns/Circle Verbs

Example Language Arts Common Core Standard: RI.6.6: Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text and explain how it is conveyed in the text.

Example of Unpacked Standard Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text and explain how it is conveyed in the text. What To DoWhat To Know/Learn Determine authors point of view Explain how you determined the author's point of view Points of view: Point of view (1st person, 3 rd person, etc…) Author’s purpose Word/phrase meaning Prerequisite Skills: Citing words and phrases to identify opinion/bias Use word/phrase meaning to identify point of view Extended lesson: Compare/contrast points of view of two authors on the same subject.

Hey…What’s the Big Idea?!?! Enduring Understanding Old high school/college tests…how would you do today if you took the same test? Big ideas are essentially “enduring understandings” of the things we want students to “get inside of” and retain after they have forgotten many of the details.” We need to help students “connect the dots” of understanding. In order for students to discover these concepts on their own they need learning opportunities that allow them to wrestle with ideas and understand them at a deep level

Still more on the Big Idea! Students discover the BIG IDEA for themselves and articulate them in their own words!!!! Example from Page 27 "Unwrapping" the Standards: A Simple Process to Make Standards Manageable

Guidelines to Determine the Big Idea/Enduring Understanding Ask yourself these questions: Will this big idea apply to more than one content area of learning? Will this big idea apply to more than one grade in school? Will this big idea endure? Will it be as important in the future as it is now? Will this big idea be one that students remember long after instruction ends?

Essential Questions Essential Questions are also known as: Guiding Questions Focus Questions Enduring Questions Essential Questions Essential Questions are not ordinary questions because they are derived from the unwrapped standards and indicators…standards based questions. When educators pose the Essential Questions to students at the inception of an instructional unit, they are advertising upfront the learning goals they expect students to meet The ultimate goal is for students to answer the Essential Questions with the Big Ideas expressed in their own words

Essential Questions… Focus on a broad topic of study. Have multiple answers and perspectives. They address “why” or “how”. They are “mental Velcro” that helps ideas stick in students’ minds.

Essential Questions As a result of unpacking the standard, meaningful essential questions can be rendered. Essential questions are open ended and designed for students to draw on their own experiences to allow for deeper understanding of the content. Example: How does where you live, influence who you are? Example: Why do you live here? What factors would cause you to move to another area?

Assessment Assessments are the products or performances that demonstrate student learning. Assessments are what the student does (the actual product or performance), not the evaluation tool used to assess the product.

Unpacking Assessments Unpacking is assessment driven Assessments tell you what skills NEED to be taught. Vertical and Horizontal Articulations can be identified through continuous use of assessments

Assessment Assessments are the products or performances that demonstrate student learning. Assessments are what the student does (the actual product or performance), not the evaluation tool used to assess the product.

“But MY students CAN’T meet the standards! This is TOO hard for them”

If that is what you believe then you are right.

What does this video have to do with the Special Education Classroom.

IT IS NOT AN EASY PROCESS, HOWEVER, WELL EXECUTED UNWRAPPING OF STANDARDS CAN ENSURE THAT EVERY STUDENT CAN MEET THEIR GRADE LEVEL STANDARDS TO SOME EXTENT.

Activities & Lesson Planning Key activities that lead to acquisition of knowledge and skills. Describe the "how" for the knowledge and skills. Sp.Ed teachers are EXPECTED to present content standards using differentiated products and processes based on the needs, Interests, talents, and skills of students.

Strategies for the Special Education Classroom

IDEAS FOR DIFFERENTIATION

RESOURCES "Unwrapping" the Standards: A Simple Process to Make Standards Manageable rAllStudents.pdf mwrapping_doc.pdf presentation.p...%E2%80%8E ?sectiondetailid=27111& Ds_Ainsworth_FAE6BD257ADAE.pdf *This presentation was adapted from several sources