1. Kelley Webb, Humanities Program Specialist
Rigorous Instruction
Kelley Webb, Humanities Program Specialist

2. On Level vs. Advanced/AP
What are some effective instructional strategies you have observed in on-level courses? What are some effective instructional strategies you have observed in advanced/AP courses?

3. AP History Sample Question

4. AP History Sample Question

5. AP English Lang and Comp
Instruction in reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language arts are to be a shared responsibility within the school.
Social studies teachers are also teachers of reading now.

6. AP English Lang and Comp
Instruction in reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language arts are to be a shared responsibility within the school.
Social studies teachers are also teachers of reading now.

7. GA Milestones Gr 11 ELA Question

8. GA Milestones Gr 4 ELA Question
Instruction in reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language arts are to be a shared responsibility within the school.
Social studies teachers are also teachers of reading now.

9. We Are All Teachers of Reading Now
p. 14, Subject Matters
According to the CC standards, our students are supposed to:
Read much more
Read more nonfiction
Read more closely and thoughtfully
Read increasingly complex and challenging materials
Discuss what they read with peers
Write about their reading
Instruction in reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language arts are to be a shared responsibility within the school.
Social studies teachers are also teachers of reading now.

10. Literacy Standards for ALL teachers
Key Ideas and Details 
History/Social Studies
English Language Arts
1: Recall and Infer
Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, attending to such features as the date and origin of the information.
Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
2: Summarize
Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of how key events or ideas develop over the course of the text.
Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.
3: Analyze
Analyze in detail a series of events described in a text; determine whether earlier events caused later ones or simply preceded them.
Analyze how the author unfolds an analysis or series of ideas or events, including the order in which the points are made, how they are introduced and developed, and the connections that are drawn between them.
p Subjects Matter
Pass out handout/ask teachers to look in their texts at pages to see all of the literacy standards
Focus on the key terms for each standard: recall and infer, summarize, analyze, etc.

11. Literacy Standards for ALL teachers
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
History/Social Studies
English Language Arts
7: Examine Text from Multiple Perspectives
Integrate quantitative or technical analysis with qualitative analysis in print or digital text.
Analyze various accounts of a subject told in different mediums determining which details are emphasized in each account.
8: Evaluate Reasoning and Evidence
Assess the extent to which the reasoning and evidence in a text support the author’s claims
Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is valid and the evidence is relevant and sufficient
9: Compare and Contrast Texts
Compare and contrast treatments of the same topic in several primary and secondary sources
Analyze seminal U.S. documents of historical and literary significance, including how they address related themes and concepts
p Subjects Matter
Pass out handout/ask teachers to look in their texts at pages to see all of the literacy standards
Focus on the key terms for each standard: recall and infer, summarize, analyze, etc.

12. We Are All Teachers of Reading Now
p. 14, Subject Matters
According to the CC standards, our students are supposed to:
Read much more
Read more nonfiction
Read more closely and thoughtfully
Read increasingly complex and challenging materials
Discuss what they read with peers
Write about their reading
Instruction in reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language arts are to be a shared responsibility within the school.
Social studies teachers are also teachers of reading now.

13. District Definition of Rigor
Teachers expect each student to learn at high levels. They support each student so that s/he can learn at high levels. They require each student to demonstrate learning at high levels.
Teachers promote thinking that goes beyond recalling information and performing procedures. They create learning experiences that require students to create their own meaning and integrate knowledge and skills to solve real-world problems, even when the “correct” answer is unclear.
(Barbara Blackburn, 2008)

14. Teacher Recommendations
Categories of Classroom Based Recommendations R: Raise Level of Content I: Increase Complexity G: Give Support and Scaffolding O: Open Your Focus R: Raise Expectations
What words stick out to you
p. 14, Subject Matters
According to the CC standards, our students are supposed to:
Read much more
Read more nonfiction
Read more closely and thoughtfully
Read increasingly complex and challenging materials
Discuss what they read with peers
Write about their reading

15. 4 Core Principles
4 core principles of a school with a rigorous program:
minimum graduation requirements that prepare students for college
high level content and instruction
wide range of supports for students to help them succeed
alignment of requirements with post-secondary education and work
What words stick out to you

16. How do we help teachers’ increase the level of rigor in their classrooms?
provide teachers with sample assessment items
model lessons that integrate reading and writing and cover multiple standards
provide examples of complex texts (variety of literary, informational, and digital texts) and assist teachers with selection of these texts
model close reading strategies, text analysis strategies, and text-dependent questioning
provide teachers with sample units and lessons that integrate reading and writing

17. Resources for Rigor Sample Assessment Items:
*also use for complex texts, lessons, and units
Write Score Assessments (these can become units and lessons)
GOFAR in SLDS
DOE Assessment Guides
Amplify Items in Fulton Connect
ELA Checkpoints Diagnostics
Amplify PBAs (Grades 2, 5, 8, 9-10)
Other Sample Model Lessons:
Write Score Assessments
NY Teachers’ College Reading and Writing Project
Teaching Channel

18. Model Lessons
Grade K-1 Informational Text Close Reading: (Bugs) Grade 3-5 Informational Text Close Reading: (Gorillas) Grade 3-8 Informational Text Close Reading: (Pilgrims) Middle/High School Close Reading of MLK Jr. Letter from Birmingham Jail

19. Preamble to the Constitution
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
he preamble is the introduction to the Constitution. It outlines the general goals of the framers: to create a just government and to ensure peace, an adequate national defense and a healthy, free nation. With its first three words, “We the People,” the preamble emphasizes that the nation is to be ruled by the people - not a king or a dictator, not the president, Supreme Court justices, members of Congress or state legislators. The U.S. Supreme Court held in 1905 (Jacobson v. Massachusetts) that the preamble is not a source of federal power or individuals' rights. Rather, all rights and powers are set out in the articles and amendments that follow.

20. What Matters Most: 10 Core Ideas
Four categories that “send a message about what the standards value”:
Key Ideas and Details: standards 1-3
what the text says
Craft and Structure: standards 4-6
how the text says it
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas: standards 7-9
compare and contrast different types of texts
Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity: standard 10
The Common Core standards can be very complex. As a SS teacher, these are the key ideas to take away from CC.

21. CC Reading Standards Key Ideas and Details: (Standards 1-3)
1. Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text
2. Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and events
3. Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text
Craft and Structure: (Standards 4-6)
4. Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone
5. Analyze the structure of texts, including how specific sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of the text relate to each other and the whole
6. Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text
Refer to Close Reading Handout
Fly in -- What the standards are asking for during close reading:
Standard 1: Say back what the text says and suggests
Standard 2: Determine central ideas, themes, morals, lessons
Standard 3: Connect parts of the text

22. CC Reading Standards
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas: (Standards 7-9) 7. Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse formats and media, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words 8. Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, including the validity of the reasoning as well as the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence 9. Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take
Refer to Close Reading Handout
Fly in -- What the standards are asking for during close reading:
Standard 1: Say back what the text says and suggests
Standard 2: Determine central ideas, themes, morals, lessons
Standard 3: Connect parts of the text