1. Common Core in Content Areas: Academic Literacy
Lehigh Bucks EduSummit
August 14, 2013
Colleen A. Lenett, M.S.Ed.
Staff Development Facilitator
(610) x1064

2. Discussion Points The Common Core and Academic Literacy
Characteristics of Literacy Rich Content Area Classrooms
Apprenticing for Reading Engagement
Resources

3. Key Advances - Literacy
Standards for reading and writing in history / social studies, science, and technical subjects
Complement rather than replace content standards in those subjects
Responsibility of teachers in those subject areas
Alignment with college and career readiness expectations

4. Key Advances Reading Balance of literature and informational texts
Text complexity
Writing
Emphasis on argument and informative / explanatory writing
Writing about sources
Speaking and Listening
Inclusion of formal and informal talk
Language
Stress on general academic and domain-specific vocabulary
Standards – Key advances

5. Distribution of Reading

6. Distribution of Writing

7. Assessing Text Complexity
Quantitative
Qualitative
Reader and Task
Refer to rubrics on Engageny

8. Discussion What kind of reading do you already do in your classroom?
What changes do you need to make in order to meet the PA Core Standards for Literacy in History / Social Studies, Science and Technical Subjects?

9. Characteristics of Literacy Rich Content Area Classrooms
Content area teachers emphasize the reading and writing practices that are specific to their disciplines.

10. Characteristics of Literacy Rich Content Area Classrooms
Mathematics:
In literacy-rich mathematics classrooms, language processes support students while they are learning new content and help them demonstrate what they have learned.
The teacher models problem-solving techniques such as think alouds, and students talk and write about how they solve problems.
Students actively develop concepts with their teacher.
The teacher helps students make connections to real-life applications.
Students actively construct mathematics-specific vocabulary and explicitly use reader aids to enhance their understanding of mathematics texts.
Students work in varied, flexible groupings to present mathematical solutions to problematic scenarios.

11. Characteristics of Literacy Rich Content Area Classrooms
Science:
In literacy-rich science classrooms, reading, writing, and discussion are a daily occurrence.
Students use a variety of texts, including academic journal articles, scientific websites, science fiction, and essays.
Students have access to electronic media, film, visuals, and lab experiences, which further support reading comprehension.
Students actively construct science-specific vocabulary and explicitly use reader aids to enhance their understanding of science texts.
Students frequently discuss, present, and write about possible hypotheses, predictions, analyses, findings, and ideas.
Students include elements of the writing process in their lab reports, solutions to problem sets, and research findings.

12. Characteristics of Literacy Rich Content Area Classrooms
Social Studies: In literacy-rich social studies classrooms, students' interests are taken into account, and students work in various groupings on different kinds of assignments.
Students use various resources, including reproductions of primary sources such as diary entries, maps, film, historical fiction, and newspaper accounts.
Students explicitly call out reader aids, use specialized vocabulary in spoken and written communications, and investigate the thinking and approaches of anthropologists, archaeologists, economists, sociologists, and social historians.
Students actively explore essential questions and make frequent connections between and among eras, people, and events from the past and present.
Students use research skills and examine how languages develop and how various cultures use them.

13. Apprenticing for Reading Engagement
A model for direct, explicit, comprehension instruction
Focus is not on strategy implementation but on the creation of a environment in which students become active and effective readers and learners
RFU2

14. Apprenticing for Reading Engagement
Teachers plan along four dimensions: social, personal, cognitive, and knowledge building
Metacognitive conversations occur in the classroom
The social dimension focuses on establishing and maintaining a safe and supportive environment in which all members' processes, resources, and difficulties are shared and collaboration is valued. One simple and effective way to do this is to use the "turn to your neighbor" technique.
The personal dimension focuses on improving students' identities, their attitudes as readers, and their interest in reading. It also promotes self-awareness, self-assessment, metacognition, and ownership. Teachers should gradually release the responsibility for learning to students.
The cognitive dimension is where students are given the reading tools and strategies they need to read like experts in the discipline. Students need to practice these skills and receive feedback. Ultimately, students must learn to transfer their skills to new learning situations.
The knowledge-building dimension focuses on building content, topic knowledge, and knowledge of a discipline's typical text structures and styles.

15. Resources
Handout
Other states: NY, Kentucky, Maryland and North Carolina, Delaware

16. Sources
ASCD Express, Vol. 8, No. 6. Copyright 2012 by ASCD. Schoenbach, Ruth, Cynthia Greenleaf, and Lynn Murphy. Reading for Understanding. 2nd. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, Print. Teaching Reading in the Content Areas (pp. 48– 51), by Vicki Urquhart and Dana Frazee, 2012, Alexandria, VA: ASCD. Copyright: 2012 by ASCD