1. RIGOROUS WRITING through VERTICAL ALIGNMENT Day 1: Forsyth
How does Vertical Alignment work with GPS?
Why should students Write?
How do school leaders articulate a vertically aligned writing program?
How do teachers ensure that writing assignments are rigorous and relevant?
Kathy Cox: “We Will Lead the Nation in Improving Student Achievement.”

2. Bookkeeping issues 8 am-3:30 pm Break at 9:30 (10 minutes)
Lunch from 11:30 until 12:45
Break at 2:15 (10 minutes)
Dismissal at 3:30
Please feel free to stretch, go to the restroom, etc. when you wish.
Also, please turn off your cell phones.
Kathy Cox: “We will Lead the Nation in Improving Student Achievement.”

3. Activity 1: What Do I Know?
Receive a bingo card.
Listen closely to the term.
Volunteer a comment regarding the term (i.e., What does the term mean to you as an educator?)
Shout out when you achieve “Bingo.”
Receive your prize!!!
Kathy Cox: “We will Lead the Nation in Improving Student Achievement.”

4. Begin a year with the end in mind…

5. Why Vertical Alignment?
Curriculum focus during planning time
Focus on students’ academic growth
Vertical “connectedness” conversations lead to awareness of complete Standards process
Collaboration leads to developmental K-12 program
Impact of vertical alignment on assessment
Data analysis across grade levels
Kathy Cox: “We will Lead the Nation in Improving Student Achievement.”

6. Vertical Teaming and Alignment of Standards
Rigor
Relevance
Relationships
Kathy Cox: “We will Lead the Nation in Improving Student Achievement.”

7. Rigorous and Relevant Learning
Reasons
A changing world
A need to motivate students
An emphasis on essential skills and knowledge
A shift focus from teaching to learning
A reduction in the overloaded curriculum
A unified perspective and focus
A preparation for state tests
Kathy Cox: “We will Lead the Nation in Improving Student Achievement.”
Technology
Traditional classroom may be boring to some students and therefore not motivating
Know why they need this knowledge or skill
To using it
Connections between other content areas
State tests—the expectation

8. Statistical Facts Continued
One third of college freshmen are remedial students
(NCES, 2004; AEE, 2006a)
Freshmen are unprepared for rigors of college (ACT, 2007)
Evaluation of ELA/GPS
70% of high school students graduate on time
34% of graduates are ready for college
(Education Week, 2007; Greene & Winters, 2005)
Kathy Cox: “We will Lead the Nation in Improving Student Achievement.”

9. Original Terms New Terms
Evaluation
Synthesis
Analysis
Application
Comprehension
Knowledge
Creating
Evaluating
Analyzing
Applying
Understanding
Remembering
(Based on Pohl, 2000, Learning to Think, Thinking to Learn, p. 8)

10. Higher-order thinking
BLOOM’S REVISED TAXONOMY Creating Generating new ideas, products, or ways of viewing things Designing, constructing, planning, producing, inventing.   Evaluating Justifying a decision or course of action Checking, hypothesizing, critiquing, experimenting, judging    Analyzing Breaking information into parts to explore understandings and relationships Comparing, organizing, deconstructing, interrogating, finding   Applying Using information in another familiar situation Implementing, carrying out, using, executing   Understanding Explaining ideas or concepts Interpreting, summarizing, paraphrasing, classifying, explaining   Remembering Recalling information Recognizing, listing, describing, retrieving, naming, finding  

11. Activity 2: Putting the standards/elements in order
Get in pairs
Review the set of standards and elements
Label the grade level associated with each standard and the set of elements
Highlight key words that show level of thinking
Highlight key words that show progression of skills/knowledge
Discussion
Kathy Cox: “We will Lead the Nation in Improving Student Achievement.”

12. Activity 3: Recognizing Rigor
Please pair with another member of the group
Receive two different writing samples
Receive two “Rigor and Relevance” rubrics
Evaluate your samples
Discuss why you rated as you did
General discussion with the group
Kathy Cox: “We will Lead the Nation in Improving Student Achievement.”

13. Activity 4: Examination of tasks
Read and highlight key words (What must the student do? What skills must the student have? What standards are evident?)
Discussion
Kathy Cox: “We will Lead the Nation in Improving Student Achievement.”

14. What Does ELA Vertical Alignment Look Like in Georgia?
Please refer to the following handouts of vertically-aligned GPS examples developed by the ELA team
Kathy Cox: “We will Lead the Nation in Improving Student Achievement.”

15. Handout #1
Writing

16. Handout #2
Conventions

17. For early writers—Be consistent
Emphasize the reading and writing connection
Provide daily opportunities to organize, transcribe, and edit
Offer a variety of writing assignments appropriate to abilities
Build skills of letter formation, spelling, and sentence generation
Compose in stages: generating and organizing ideas, producing a draft, sharing with others to get feedback, revising, editing, proofreading, and publishing
What are the foundations of early writing? Kathy Cox: “We will Lead the Nation in Improving Student Achievement.”

18. Writing strategies
Summarization
Collaborative writing
Specific product goals
Word processing
Sentence combining
Prewriting
Inquiry activities
Process writing approach
Study of models
Writing for content learning
Reading/writing connection
What are the elements of effective adolescent writing instruction? Source: A Report to Carnegie Corporation of New York, Writing Next: Effective Strategies to Improve Writing of Adolescents in Middle and High Schools. (2007).

19. Activity 5: Developing a strong writing program
List 5 components you feel are absolute “non-negotiables” for a strong writing program.
Share ideas
From the list, choose the 5 that are necessary for Forsyth (Where do we begin?)
Kathy Cox: “We will Lead the Nation in Improving Student Achievement.”

20. Some ideas for a “strong writing” program
Triple Vision (Know what comes before you, what you are suppose to address, and what comes after you).
LOTS—(Language of the Standards)
Anchor Papers
Minimum expectations from each grade level
Avoiding an “abundance of redundancy”
Understanding and demanding rigor
Writing to Learn, Writing to Demonstrate, Authentic (Real World) Writing
Reading and Writing Connection
Kathy Cox: “We will Lead the Nation in Improving Student Achievement.”

21. Activity 6: What do you want for Forsyth?
Model how to vertically align (Persuasive)—Use the handout from earlier.
Groups: 2 elementary teachers, 2 middle school teachers, 2 high school teachers
Chart what types of assignments you would want in each area—elementary, middle, and high—for each genre.
Each group will share.
Kathy Cox: “We will Lead the Nation in Improving Student Achievement.”

22. Advantages to Vertical Teaming and Alignment
Sense of belonging for both teachers and students
Maximum use of teachers’ strengths
Development of rigor in tasks
Decrease in repetition
Kathy Cox: “We will Lead the Nation in Improving Student Achievement.”

23. Next Steps for Forsyth
Groups need to align all the writing standards (Choose a format that is easy to follow and that highlights the elements).
Decide what specific assignments might be required at each grade; you may create a list.
Find anchor papers for each genre so your teachers have a guide.
Monitor the writing as a school and as a department.
Kathy Cox: “We will Lead the Nation in Improving Student Achievement.”

24. “The research is crystal clear: schools that do well insist that their students write every day and [are] provided regular and timely feedback” (National Commission on Writing)

25. Final Thought
Successful Vertical Alignment Has Graduation As Its Mission and Vision =

26. We are here to help!!!
Mary Stout, ELA Program Manager,
Kim Jeffcoat, ELA Program Specialist,
Kathy Cox: “We will Lead the Nation in Improving Student Achievement.”