Links to Video Clips

The following videos are aligned with the message of chapter two which positions literacy as a discipline-specific process.  See how different teachers teach in discipline-specific ways and develop students’ literacy and content literacy and skills, as well as habits of mind in tandem.

• About Disciplinary Literacy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQk8XO1KgWk - Dr. Cynthia Shanahan explains what disciplinary literacy entails.
• Collaborate to Solve Compound Inequalities (Grade 8/ Math /Inequalities):https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/middle-school-lesson-idea - Observe how Mr. Cuccaro assesses students’ prior knowledge, creates ownership and incorporates shared accountability within the group.
• Gradual Release of Responsibility Model (All Grades / All Subjects / Lesson Planning): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/improving-teacher-practice - Explore the "gradual release" instructional model with a high school English Language Arts teachers as she tries it in her class.
• Habits of Mind: Collaborating to Design and Build Stable Structures (Grades 9-12 / Science / Physics): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/bridge-building-lesson-plan - Watch how Ms. Banks develops her students’ engineering habits of mind and practices by engaging them in collaborative inquiry.
• Habits of Mind: Read Like a Historian: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWz08mVUIt8 - A promotional video for Stanford History Education Group's curriculum intervention in five San Francisco High Schools.
• Habits of Mind: Reading Like a Historian—Overview (Grades 9-12 / History / Curriculum): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/reading-like-a-historian-curriculum - Watch three teachers develop students’ critical thinking skills while engaging them in historical inquiry.
• My Favorite “No”: Learning from Mistakes (Grades 6-8 / Math / Warm-Up: CCSS: Math.MP.6): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/class-warm-up-routine - Ms. Alcala demonstrates how to use mistakes to clarify math concepts and facilitate student thinking and learning.
• One Problem, Multiple Approaches (Grade 6 / Math /Fractions): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/multiple-approaches-to-solving-problems - Learn how Ms. Fazio encourages students to consider multiple approaches to solving math problems.
• Reading Like a Historian: Sourcing (Grades 9-12 / History / Analysis--CCSS: ELA.RH.11-12.6 ELA.RH.11-12.9): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/reading-like-a-historian-sourcing- Ms. Ziegler is teaching students how to analyze the source of documents about the Gulf of Tonkin.
• Reading Like a Historian: Contextualization (Grades 9-12 / History / Philosophy: CCSS: ELA.RH.6-8.1) - https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/reading-like-a-historian-contextualization - Ms. Duvoor is teaching contextualization as an important history-specific way to inquire.
• Reading Like a Historian: Corroboration (Grades 9-12 / History / Critical Thinking: CCSS: ELA.RH.11-12.9 ELA.RH.11-12.8): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/reading-like-a-historian-corroboration - Mr. Colglazier is teaching students how to corroborate information from multiple sources.
• Sorting and Classifying Equations Effectively Grade 8 / Math / CollaborationCCSS: Math.8.EE.C.7a):https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/sorting-classifying-equations-overview- Watch Ms. Warburton engage her students in mathematical thinking though questioning, encouragement, and reflection.

• Student Internships: https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/student-internship-value-bpl - Kathleen Cushman, a motivation researcher, explains the value of apprenticeship involved in student internships on student learning.
• Student Motivation and Adult-Student Collaborations: https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/student-motivation-hth - Listen to Kathleen Cushman, share her views on schools that use an apprenticeship model and motivate students to learn and reach their goals.
• The Distributive Property: Algebra Tools (Grade 9 / Math / Algebra): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/teaching-the-distributive-property - Mr. Munn uses guided practice to help his students understand and apply the distributive property.

Links to Classroom Resources

• Disciplinary Literacy is Not the New Name for Content Area Reading: http://www.shanahanonliteracy.com/2012/01/disciplinary-literacy-is-not-new-name.html - A blog post by Dr. Timothy Shanahan about what disciplinary literacy is and what it is not.
• Equity and Diversity: http://www.nctm.org/resources/content.aspx?id=15863 - Tips for supporting all students learn from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM).
• The Power of Motivation: http://www.nctm.org/resources/content.aspx?id=16481 - The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) states that you have the power to motivate students to learn.
• Motivation Matters: http://www.nctm.org/about/content.aspx?id=35720 - Tips for motivating students from the 2013 president of The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM).
• Motivation Matters: http://www.nctm.org/blog.aspx?blogid=207740 - Check out authentic motivation challenges and successes posted by mathematics teachers.
• Think Like an Artist: http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/feb08/vol65/num05/Thinking-Like-an-Artist.aspx - An article by Pamelia Valentine, a visual arts middle schoolteacher.
• Think Like a Scientist: http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/1949?ref=search - Tips from LEARN NC, a program of the University of North Carolina, School of Education.
• Tools and Technology: http://www.nctm.org/resources/content.aspx?id=6334 - Suggestions from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) about using tools and technology in the mathematics classroom.
• What is Disciplinary Literacy and Why Aren’t We Talking More About it? http://vocablog-plc.blogspot.com/2012/03/what-is-disciplinary-literacy-and-why.html- A blog post by Dr. Vicky Zygouris-Coe on disciplinary literacy.
• Wisconsin’s Approach to Disciplinary Literacy: http://standards.dpi.wi.gov/stn_disciplinaryliteracy - See resources compiled by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction for a variety of disciplines.  Sample disciplines include the following:
• Disciplinary Literacy in Art & Design: https://sites.google.com/a/dpi.wi.gov/disciplinary-literacy-in-fine-arts/home
• Disciplinary Literacy in Dance: https://sites.google.com/a/dpi.wi.gov/disciplinary-literacy-in-dance/home
• Disciplinary Literacy in Health Education: https://sites.google.com/a/dpi.wi.gov/disciplinary-literacy-in-health-education/
• Disciplinary Literacy in Social Studies: https://sites.google.com/a/dpi.wi.gov/disciplinary-literacy-in-wisconsin-social-studies/resources
• Resources: https://sites.google.com/a/dpi.wi.gov/disciplinary-literacy-in-wisconsin-social-studies/resources
• Disciplinary Literacy in Theatre: https://sites.google.com/a/dpi.wi.gov/disicplinary-literacy-in-theater/home

Why Historical Thinking Matters: http://historicalthinkingmatters.org/why/ - Examine this multi-media presentation by Dr. Sam Wineburg to learn how historians investigate the past.

Pedagogy from the Book

Chapter 2: Literacy as a Discipline-Specific Process

Chapter Highlights

• Twenty- first century learning requires citizens who are thinkers, problem solvers, collaborators, and developers of new knowledge.
• Each discipline has a unique body of knowledge, discourse, habits of mind, tools, and processes through which it makes sense of the world.
• General content area literacy strategies cannot sufficiently prepare students to meet the complex content and literacy demands of each discipline.
• Disciplinary literacy is specific to each discipline’s structure, goals, and ways of knowing and learning. It carries, also, Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and considerations and can prepare students to think, learn, and work like the professionals in each discipline.
• Disciplinary literacy learning principles facilitate content and literacy development within each discipline.
• Learning as apprenticeship allows students to experience, apply, and reflect on “learning and doing” in each discipline.

Classroom Life

I teach Geometry to Standard level students and to the lower quartile students. I teach two geometry blocks (2 periods) because these students did not pass the Algebra End of Course (EOC) exam last year. The biggest challenge that I face when working with these students in regards to literacy is their inability to pick out key words and understand what these words mean, and the inability to comprehend what they have read. If they see a word problem, they immediately get scared and think it’s going to be too hard. For example, they cannot understand that the word “less” is a clue for subtraction. I often times suggest to underline words or even use a highlighter, but most do not take the time to do so. Also, if a word problem says, “a motorcycle’s tire has a 25 in. diameter….”, they are not able to draw a circle and the line going through showing the diameter of 25 inches. If I have this picture drawn for them, they understand the concept and what to do, but they have an extremely difficult time drawing this, which prohibits them from solving the problem correctly. It is very difficult to teach math when students do not have the reading, vocabulary, and content knowledge and skills they need to learn and do math. (Ms. Candace Hilston, Mathematics Teacher, Winter Spring HS, Seminole County Public Schools, Florida).

CCSS Connections

• Students must be able to read to be ready for the demands of college- and career-level reading no later than the end of high school. They also need to be able to write logical arguments based on substantive claims, sound reasoning, and relevant evidence.
• Students gain, evaluate, and present increasingly complex information, ideas, and evidence through listening and speaking as well as through media in one-on-one, small group, and whole- class settings.
• Students should be able to think and reason mathematically, practice, and apply mathematical ways of thinking to real world problems.

Applying Discipline-Specific Literacies

• Identify three key questions from the text, defend your choices with evidence, and connect them to the overall theme. (English Language Arts)
• Read the problem and identify essential versus non- essential information for solving this problem. (Mathematics)
• Identify facts versus opinions in this scientific article. (Science)
• Determine the significance of different kinds of historical change. (Social Studies)

Think Like An Expert

• Identify multiple points of view on the topic and provide evidence that supports the existence of each point of view. (English Language Arts)
• What strategy, operation, or tools will I use to solve this problem? (Mathematics)
• What scientific problem or dilemma does this text address? (Science)
• Provide evidence that this document relates to other documents (first-, second-, and third-order) through this theme and narrative. (Social Studies)

College, Career, and Workforce Connections

• The ability to think systematically and logically is an important skill for college, career, and workforce success. Problem solving, analytical thinking, reading, writing, speaking, listening, and collaboration skills are part of work, learning, and life in any setting, career, and context.
• Support, mentoring, rigorous standards and instruction, and assessment are necessary for preparing students for professional careers and lifelong learning.
• Physical skills (e.g., wellness, appearance, legible writing, note-taking) are important for success.
• Although accounting deals with applied mathematics and statistics, it is called the “language of business” and uses a distinct professional vocabulary. Learning accounting is like learning to master algebraic “story problems” that are written in a foreign language! For students to succeed in accounting, they must have a solid background in math and an aptitude for understanding technical language (Robin Roberts, Chair, Accounting, University of Central Florida).

Digital Literacies

• QR Codes: http://www.qrcode.com/en/. Use QR codes to locate documents, link resources and solutions to problems, share text, web addresses, phone numbers, and connect to class or school website.
• ThingLink: http://www.thinglink.com. A tool for creating interactive images that support a variety of multimedia. Users can create multiple “hot spots” on specific parts of an image to build multimedia definitions that include video, images, audio, web links and more.
• Khan Academy: http://www.khanacademy.org. Khan Academy is an organization on a mission. It is a not- for-profit with the goal of changing education for the better by providing a free world- class education for anyone anywhere.

Summary

• Disciplinary literacy redirects our focus from “content coverage” to “teaching in a way that is appropriate and specific to each discipline.” Students in middle and high school grades are expected to comprehend texts that deal with complex concepts, problem solve in discipline- specific ways, inquire, think, talk, share, and represent their thinking in “expert” ways.
• Disciplinary literacy learning principles that are relevant to all content areas provide a pedagogical framework for teaching and learning in the disciplines. They (a) describe the characteristics of learning environments that will support, invite, and engage students in learning; (b) present learning as apprenticeship to parallel how people learn and work in the “real” world; (c) highlight the inextricably intertwined relationship between content and literacy development; (d) support discipline-specific inquiry development and practice; and (e) emphasize the role of assessment in guiding instruction.
• Disciplinary literacy instruction is both complex and promising in turning content area classrooms into learner- centered, knowledge- centered, inquiry- based, collaborative and reflective learning cultures.

Differentiating Instruction

• All students benefit from working with, listening to, and problem solving with others in a supportive, motivating, and safe classroom environment. ELLs, in particular, will benefit from working with others in small groups, receiving feedback from peers and teacher, and being exposed to different models of talking, reading, writing, thinking, arguing, defending, questioning, evaluating, and sharing knowledge and learning.
• Struggling readers and ELLs benefit from clear objectives, rigorous and explicit instruction, clear input and much modeling, active engagement and participation, feedback, opportunities to apply new learning, sufficient practice and review, interaction with others, and frequent assessments.
• Students with varied exceptionalities may have difficulty with various discipline-specific concepts; for example, visual perception (math), hypothesis (science), time (history), 3-D relationships (art), and figurative language (ELA). Relevance is a big issue for striving readers—teachers need to provide them with meaningful and relevant activities.
• Provide modeling, support, and opportunities for students to learn and use academic language, and make necessary instructional accommodations due to language limitations (e.g., use visual clues, images, graphic organizers, provide material with familiar content, provide extra practice and time, and target language and content skills).

Reflect and Apply

1. How did you engage in discipline- specific thinking (ELA, math, science, or social studies) when you were a middle or high school student? Share your experiences with a small group, or with the class, and discuss how these experiences have framed your views about teaching and learning.
2. What insights from this chapter could you use to offer some instructional suggestions to Ms. Hilston? Use your knowledge about disciplinary literacy learning principles to help her students apply their geometry knowledge to the real- world problem or the problem at hand. Discuss your suggestions with your peers in a small group.
3. Share a lesson plan with one of your peers. Ask your peer(s) to review and identify (a) how you plan to teach select standards, discipline-specific inquiry, and habits of mind; (b) how you plan to implement the Gradual Release of Responsibility instructional model to help students develop deep understanding of the topic; and, (c) how apprenticeship is implemented throughout your instruction. Discuss areas you can improve on to make your instruction more rigorous, relevant, and effective.

Extending Learning

1. Thinking about disciplinary literacy, what three aspects of it would you like to bring to the next class or next department meeting and further discuss with your peers? Also, use insights from the chapter to help Ms. Hilston with some of her instructional challenges (see Classroom Life vignette).
2. Mentoring students as disciplinary readers, writers, thinkers, and learners is an integral part of learning in any content area classroom. Share your thoughts with your students (future or current) about learning as apprenticeship in your discipline by developing a set of norms, expectations, and routines that you will be implementing in your classroom. Exchange ideas with peers from your discipline.
3. Get together with two or three of your peers from your discipline and co- develop a classroom poster that highlights the key habits of mind that are necessary for learning in your discipline. Communicate these habits of mind in an inviting, motivating, and relevant way. Present to the rest of the class or your school and discuss what role these habits of mind will play in creating a culture of inquiry, collaboration, and reflection in your classroom.

Links to Video Clips

The following videos highlight several issues associated with rigorous instruction in the disciplines and offer examples on how to structure, implement, and reflect on rigorous instruction that results in deeper learning. 

• Carbon Cycling: Create Your Own Biology Lab (Grade 9 / Science / Experiments: CCSS: ELA.RST.9-10.3): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/ninth-grade-biology-lesson - Ms. Krubski provides structure, facilitates students’ design of their experiments, and promotes student collaboration and reflection.
• Challenging Students to Discover Pythagoras (Grade 8 / Math / Pythagoras: CCSS: Math.8.G.B.7): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/pythagorean-theorem-lesson- Watch how Mr. Ivy challenges students’ thinking and guides them into discovering The Pythagorean Theorem.
• Check for Understanding: http://houstonisdpsd.org/practice-instruct/i-2/ss.html - See how Ms. Hoyer checks for her 10th grade students’ Science understanding and responds to their misunderstanding.
• Communicating Content and Concepts: http://houstonisdpsd.org/practice-instruct/i-6/ss.html - Observe how Ms. Durant, a 12th grade History teacher, communicates content and concepts to her students.
• Deeper Learning—Defending the College Success Portfolio: https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/college-success-portfolio-defense-structure-eed - Learn how deeper learning occurs at this high school.
• Develop Objective-Driven Lessons: http://houstonisdpsd.org/practice-instruct/i-1/ss.html - Examine how Ms. Bivens facilitates organized, student-centered, objective-driven lessons in her 7th grade Math class.
• Differentiating Instruction: http://houstonisdpsd.org/practice-instruct/i-3/ss.html - Ms. Raquel Sosa-Gonzalez differentiated her instruction to meet her 6th-8th grade ESL students’ needs.
• Five Keys to Rigorous Project-Based Learning (PBL): http://www.edutopia.org/video/five-keys-rigorous-project-based-learning - Learn how different schools around the country are implementing Edutopia’s Five Keys to PBL.
• Keeping the Rigor While Making Math Fun (Grades 6-8 / Math / Games): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/making-math-fun - See how teachers turn games into math lessons.
• Learning to Think: A Foundation for Analysis (Grades 9-12 / ELA / Scaffolding): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/teach-students-to-think - Watch how Ms. Wessling scaffolds students’ analysis skills.
• Maximizing Instructional Time: http://vimeo.com/46763736 - See how Ms. Martin, an 11th grade US History teacher organizes and maximizes her instructional time.
• Promote High Expectations for All Students: http://houstonisdpsd.org/practice-instruct/i-7/ss.html - Examine how Ms. Tian holds high expectations for all students in her 10th grade math class.
• Simplifying Text Complexity: https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/simplifying-text-complexity - High school teacher Sarah Brown Wessling unpacks the idea of text complexity and discusses how teachers can design tasks with text complexity in mind.
• Students Actively Participating in Lesson Activities: http://vimeo.com/45151335 - Watch Ms. Braxton-Trimble actively engage students in her 6th grade Social Studies classroom.
• Webb’s Depth of Knowledge (DOK) & Cognitive Rigor: http://vimeo.com/42788913 - A New York Department of Education video that introduces Depth of Knowledge as a tool for increasing instructional rigor.
• When a Lesson Goes Wrong (Part 1, Uncut: Grades 9-12 / ELA / Analysis
• CCSS: ELA.RL.9-10.2 ELA.RL.9-10.9): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/how-lesson-plans-fail- Watch Ms. Wessling revise a lesson plan that fails.
• When a Lesson Goes Wrong (Part 2, Uncut: Grades 9-12 / ELA / Analysis
• CCSS: ELA.RL.9-10.2 ELA.RL.9-10.9): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/adjusting-failed-lesson-plan- See how Ms. Wessling adjusts her lesson plan.

Links to Classroom Resources

• Achieve the Core Resources: Quantitative & Qualitative Dimensions of Text Complexity: http://achievethecore.org/page/642/text-complexity-collection - See rubrics, lesson plans, resources to find texts, and tools for determining and teaching text complexity.
• Rubric for determining qualitative text complexity of informational texts : http://achievethecore.org/content/upload/SCASS_Info_Text_Complexity_Qualitative_Measures_Info_Rubric_2.8.pdf
• Rubric for determining qualitative text complexity of literature: http://achievethecore.org/content/upload/SCASS_Text_Complexity_Qualitative_Measures_Lit_Rubric_2.8.pdf
• Text-Dependent Questions: http://achievethecore.org/page/710/text-dependent-question-resources
• Closing on Close Reading: http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/dec12/vol70/num04/Closing-in-on-Close-Reading.aspx - An article by Nancy Boyles on close reading that also includes instructional ideas for implementing it.
• How to Select Quality Texts and Materials: https://www.engageny.org/resource/selection-of-authentic-texts-for-common-core-instruction-guidance-and-a-list-of-resources - Check our EngageNY resources and ideas about selecting authentic quality texts for your classroom.
• New Hampshire Department of Education—Text Complexity Resources: http://www.education.nh.gov/spotlight/ccss/complexity.htm - See rubrics on text complexity for literary and informational texts, and questions on reader-text considerations.
• Podcasts (A different type of “text): http://teachingamericanhistory.org/podcasts/ - Teaching American History through free podcasts.
• The Common Core State Standards: English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science & Technical Subjects—Appendix A:http://www.corestandards.org/assets/Appendix_A.pdf- Learn more about text complexity.
• The Common Core State Standards: English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science & Technical Subjects—Appendix B:http://www.corestandards.org/assets/Appendix_B.pdf- Text Exemplars and Sample Performance Tasks.
• Use Easy NonFiction to Build Background Knowledge: http://www.adlit.org/article/19865/ - A Texas librarian shares how he uses nonfiction picture books to introduce new concepts to struggling adolescent readers and build their background knowledge.
• Use Multiple Texts to Teach Content: http://www.learningpt.org/pdfs/literacy/shanahan.pdf - An article by Dr. Cynthia Shanahan on how to incorporate multiple texts into science, English and civics classes, and sample strategies to use with texts.
• Want to Learn More about Close Reading? http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2013/05/13/the-best-resources-on-close-reading-help-me-find-more/ - Larry Ferlazzo, an educator, has compiled comprehensive resources on close reading.

Pedagogy from the Book

Chapter 3: Reading Complex Texts Beyond the Textbook

Chapter Highlights

• College, career, and workforce readiness requires students to have deep understanding of complex texts.
• Determining text complexity is a multi- faceted process involving qualitative and quantitative dimensions of text complexity, and reader factors.
• Close reading of discipline-specific complex texts is a demanding process. Students need to develop their engagement with complex texts, and teachers need to provide modeling and much scaffolded support.
• Reading complex texts through a disciplinary lens requires immersion in the discourse, texts, and habits of mind of each discipline.
• Mentoring and collaborative inquiry will facilitate students’ understanding of the complex texts they read in the disciplines.

Classroom Life

Since yesterday, I have been working with my class on Edgar Allan Poe’s The Red Masque of Death. Needless to say, I’ve been pulling teeth . . . My students find his writing hard; they try to wrap their heads around it but many have difficulty with several words, the author’s style and tone, and how Poe explores death and vanity in his complex and morbid way. The text is a masterpiece but its plot is unpredictable and rich with complex characters. I want them to get Poe’s beautiful interrogation of death but I am finding myself spending so much time on vocabulary and on prompting them to look at clues, read the text again, and again. Figurative language is “killing them”—or may be it is “killing” me
. . . I am getting morbid, myself . . . They are also struggling with syntax/semantics. How can I get them to question the author more and pay attention to the context, find the big ideas in the text, and want to talk about it with their peers? I need to ask them more questions or maybe allow them to come up with questions. I am going to spend more time dissecting the text and asking them questions that will guide them toward better comprehension of the text. I am going to start with the first paragraph:
Red Death had long devastated the country. No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous. Blood was its Avatar and its seal—the redness and the horror of blood. There were sharp pains, and sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the pores, with dissolution. The scarlet stains upon the body and especially upon the face of the victim, were the pest ban which shut him out from the aid and from the sympathy of his fellow- men. I am going to start with the first paragraph, identify the words they have been having trouble with (e.g., devastated, pestilence, fatal, hideous, profuse, dissolution, seizure, progress, termination, incidents); I will also focus on these phrases: “The Red Death,” “scarlet stains,” “Blood was its Avatar and its seal—the redness and the horror of blood,” and on “. . . pest ban which shut him out from the aid and from the sympathy of his fellow- men.” I will allow time for reading and rereading, and small and whole group discussions. I will do anything to get them to understand and appreciate the beauty of this text. Tomorrow is a new day! (Ms. Tierney Miller, Secondary English Language Arts Content Specialist, Boston Public Schools, Massachusetts)

CCSS Connections

• The CCSS center on students experiencing and learning how to read and comprehend grade- level complex text in order to develop the domain-specific language skills, habits of mind, and knowledge they need for success in school and beyond.
• Proficiency and performance on complex texts is the strongest differentiating factor in reading between students who are more likely to be college ready and those who are less likely to be college ready.
• Anchor Standard #10: R.CCR.10: “Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently” (Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects, p. 35).

College, Career, and Workforce Connections

• “GRADES 11-CCR: By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend literature (informational texts) at the high end of the grade 11-CCR text complexity band independently and profi ciently. By the end of grade 11, read and comprehend literature (information texts) in the grades 11-CCR text complexity band proficiently, and with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range” (Retrieved from http://www.corestandards.org/the- standards/english- languagearts-standards/reading- informational-text-6-12/grade-11-12/).
• To succeed in college, career, and the workforce, high school graduates must be well equipped with the knowledge, habits of mind, and skills that come from a rigorous, rich, and relevant high school curriculum. The CCSS emphasize the role of text complexity in determining student readiness for college and careers.
• Students need to develop their information technology and media skills (e.g., how to research, gather, and evaluate information, search the web, use library and commercial databases, use survey tools, store and use records, and conduct interviews).
• I need students with solid knowledge background in mathematics, biology, environmental science/earth science and physics, and with good technical writing skills (Ni-Bin Chang, Professor, Engineering, University of Central Florida).

Applying Discipline-Specific Literacies

• All students should have (a) ample opportunities to experience grade-level complex text, and (b) teachers who scaffold disciplinary reading, thinking habits of mind.
• Disciplinary learning and knowledge development require deep, critical reading. Students need many experiences with reading complex texts in each discipline.
• Close reading of complex texts promotes understanding and appreciation for each discipline’s discourse, texts, ways knowledge is organized, shared, developed, and evaluated.

Think Like An Expert

• Literary scholars read through a literary lens: for interpretation of a story, the behavior of its characters, the use of language, and the use of literary devices. (English Language Arts)
• Mathematicians read carefully, slowly, closely, attentively, analytically, and precisely. (Mathematics)
• Scientists apply an inquiry stance when they read text; they read critically, pay attention to vocabulary and mathematical and visual information, and read for explanation and prediction. (Science)
• Historians read critically, consider the author’s (and their own) perspectives and biases, and look for “whys” (why events happened, why the author arrived at such conclusions) and “hows” (how they affected people; how the author developed and supported explanations). (Social Studies)

Digital Literacies

• Read and annotate online texts and share annotations with others: www.diigo.com.
• Free teen books and resources at the US Library of Congress: http://www.read.gov/teens/; Epic books: http://www.epicreads.com; Cool books for teens: http://www.pulseit.com; Romance books online: http://www.publicbookshelf.com/teen/; Free ebooks for teens: http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/23017.FREE_Ebooks_For_Teens; Online contemporary and romance books: http://www.storycrush.com; Teen contemporary books, author interviews, and resources: http://www.teenreads.com.
• Construct concepts maps or outlines: www.mind42.com or use Smart Art in Microsoft Word.

Summary

• Research shows that students come to secondary classes with more experiences with narrative than expository texts. The CCSS are based upon a premise that real learning comes from experiences with complex text and much teacher scaffolded support.
• Reading complex text requires teacher knowledge in how to (a) determine the quantitative measures of the text (word length, word frequency, word difficulty, sentence length, text length, text cohesion); (b) analyze the qualitative measures of the text (structure, language demands, conventions, knowledge demands, levels of meaning, purpose); and, (c) reflect on the reader and task considerations (motivation, knowledge and experiences, purpose for reading, complexity of task assigned regarding the text; complexity of questions regarding the text).
• Dynamic interactions between the reader and the text, purposeful, close, and careful (not superficial skimming) reading of text, rigorous, rich, relevant instruction that promotes discipline-specific ways for examining, evaluating, and reflecting on text, and collaborative peer inquiry play a role in reading and learning in the disciplines.

Differentiating Instruction

• To support differentiated instruction in reading, it is extremely important to measure the text complexity of content and student reading ability.
• Struggling readers, ELLs, and students with language and learning disabilities will require additional support and interventions in order to develop their capacity with reading and comprehending complex text.
• With ELLs, provide access to grade level content, build on students’ first language skills and knowledge, build on effective practices used with native English speakers, make needed instructional adjustments, and promote collaboration among all students.
• Students with varied exceptionalities need much help with text structure; text features can be helpful to them for locating and following the flow of information. They also need reminders about purpose, reflecting while they are reading, and interacting with the text.

Reflect and Apply

1. How do you read complex text? Share your experiences with a small group or the entire class and discuss how your experiences might have framed your practice.
2. What insights from this chapter could you use to offer some suggestions to Ms. Miller (see Classroom Life vignette)? Apply your knowledge about reading complex text to her instructional challenge. Discuss your suggestions with a peer, or with a small group of peers.
3. Select a complex text from your content area. Use the close reading instructional sequence to map out how you will model and support close reading of text. Share your plans with your peers, and discuss how to improve your instruction to make it more rigorous, relevant, and effective.

Extending Learning

1. You and a couple of your colleagues are working on a unit plan. What text or text selections will you select from relevant complex text to promote close reading in your classroom? Plan on your own first, identify text and/or text selections, and write five to seven text- dependent questions. You can also use the performance tasks shared in the chapter as models for creating your own assessment. Share your ideas with your colleagues, consider their perspectives, and revisit your plans. Lastly, plan to get together every couple of days to reflect on the implementation of your plan.
2. Using your insights and evidence from the text, what role do disciplinary habits of mind, apprenticeship, gradual release of responsibility, and accountable talk play in reading and comprehending complex text? Provide specific evidence from text, discuss with your peers, revisit the text as needed, and present your views to a larger group.
3. In a small group of peers from your discipline, select two examples of complex text. Work together with your peers to identify (a) qualitative dimensions of text complexity, (b) quantitative dimensions of text complexity, and (c) reader factors. Discuss challenges associated with text selection and close reading instruction and share your work and perspectives with your peers.

Links to Video Clips

The following videos provide different examples for teaching, promoting, and structuring close reading of texts in different subject areas.

• Author's Purpose: Analyzing & Adapting Texts (Grades 9-12 / ELA / Analysis: CCSS: ELA.RI.11-12.2 ELA.RI.11-12.6 ELA.W.11-12.3):
• https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/analyze-adapt-text Mr. McComb models to students how to analyze a speech and use its themes to develop and deliver a choral reading.
• Close Reading as a Disposition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDY5_d7CIIs - Dr. Cynthia Shanahan explains that close reading involves careful "digging in" to a text to analyze it and to figure it out.  The persistence required to make it through more complex text serves to create a certain disposition in a reader.
• Close Reading of Text--Identifying Key Ideas and Supporting Details Part One: The Setup (Grade 6 | History | Common Core Standards: RI.6 and RH 6-8): http://www.adlit.org/articles/watch_and_learn/55494/ - Sixth grade history teacher Jodi Hoard prepares her students for a close reading of a text about Meresamun, a temple singer in Ancient Egypt.  In this clip, Ms. Hoard shows students how to read for the key idea and supporting details.
• Close Reading of Text—Identifying Key Ideas and Supporting Details Part Two: Modeling (Grade 6 | History | Common Core Standards: RI.6 and RH.6-8): http://www.adlit.org/articles/watch_and_learn/55495/ - In this clip, Ms. Hoard "thinks aloud" as she annotates the first section of text from the day's reading on Ancient Egypt.  Ms. Hoard models taking notes on challenging vocabulary words and concepts.
• Close Reading of Text--Identifying Key Ideas and Supporting Details Part Three: Students at Work (Grade 6 | History | Common Core Standards: RI.6 and RH.6-8): http://www.adlit.org/articles/watch_and_learn/55496/ - Ms. Hoard's 6th grade students work on their own and with partners to navigate a text about Meresamun, a temple singer in Ancient Egypt.  Ms. Hoard helps her students to identify key ideas, to discuss some details and to draw inferences from what they're read.
• Common Core State Standards & Text-Dependent Questions: https://www.engageny.org/resource/common-core-in-ela-literacy-shift-4-text-based-answers/ - Watch NYS Commissioner of Education John B. King Jr., David Coleman (contributing author to the Common Core) and Kate Gerson (a Sr. Fellow with the Regents Research Fund) address Shift 4 –Text Based Answers.
• Evidence and Nuance in Non-Fiction Text: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sP2bd5NfAE - Dr. Marc Aronson, an award-winning author, explains that reading across texts to uncover a full range of facts and opinions helps strengthen critical thinking skills.
• Interacting with Complex Texts: Scaffolding Reading (Grades 6-8 / ELA / ELL: CCSS: ELA.RI.7.2 ELA.RI.7.4 ELA.RI.8.2): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/middle-school-ela-unit-persuasion - Ms. Park-Friend uses focus questions to guide students’ interactions with the text.
• Integrating Knowledge and Ideas Across Multiple Sources of Information (Grade 11 | History | Common Core Standards: RI.11-12 and RH.11-12): http://www.adlit.org/articles/watch_and_learn/55370/ - Ms. Heppeler sets the stage for an ambitious multi-day unit examining four key documents from President Lincoln: his first inaugural address, the Emancipation Proclamation, the Gettysburg Address and the second inaugural address.  She helps students draw inferences from Civil War-era photos, cartoons and maps as well as the primary texts.
• Making the Declaration of Independence Come Alive: https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/teaching-declaration-of-independence - Watch how Mr. David and Ms. Kantznelson help students construct knowledge of a complex text.
• Thinking Notes: A Strategy to Encourage Close Reading (Grades 9-10 / ELA / Reading): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/student-annotated-reading-strategy - Watch how Mr. Hanify requires students to track their response to a text and engage in more thoughtful reading.

Links to Classroom Resources

• Cognitive Rigor Resources: http://www.stancoe.org/SCOE/iss/common_core/overview/overview_depth_of_knowledge.htm - Matrices of Bloom’s Taxonomy and Webb’s Depth of Knowledge (DOK); descriptors of DOK levels for social studies and the arts; DOK chart and questions stems; Hess’s cognitive rigor matric for math and science, and reading and writing.
• EQuIP: http://www.achieve.org/EQuIP - EQuIP (Educators Evaluating the Quality of Instructional Products) is an initiative of the American Diploma Project (ADP) Network designed to identify high-quality materials aligned to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). 
• EQuIP Exemplars: http://www.achieve.org/EQuIP
• EQuIP Rubric for Lessons & Units: Mathematics: http://www.achieve.org/files/EQuIPmathrubric-06-17-13_1.pdf
• EQuIP Rubric for Lessons & Units: English Language Arts (ELA): http://www.achieve.org/files/EQuIP-ELArubric-06-24-13-FINAL.pdf
• EQuIP Rubric for Lessons & Units: Science:http://www.nextgenscience.org/sites/ngss/files/EQuIP%20Rubric%20for%20Science%20052714.pdf - The Educators Evaluating the Quality of Instructional Products (EQuIP) Rubric for science provides criteria by which to measure the alignment and overall quality of lessons and units with respect to the NGSS.
• Learning Goals and Objectives: http://www.marzanoresearch.com/resources/tips/dtlgo_tips_archive - See free tips from Dr. Marzano on designing and teaching learning goals and objectives.
• Marzano Center Essentials for Achieving Rigor: http://www.marzanocenter.com/essentials/ - Examine resources and instructional ideas for achieving academic rigor in your classroom from the Marzano Center.
• Setting the Record Straight on “High-Yield” Strategies: http://www.sde.ct.gov/sde/lib/sde/pdf/curriculum/cali/setting_the_record_straight_on_hield_yield_strategies.pdf - An article by Dr. Robert Marzano on effective instructional strategies.
• Verbs That Define Bloom’s Taxonomy: http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/06/take-action-verbs-that-define-blooms-taxonomy/ - Check out this great infographic by Mia MacMeekin on verbs that define Bloom’s revised taxonomy—a great resources for any classroom!

Pedagogy from the Book

Chapter 4: Rigorous Instruction in the Disciplines

Chapter Highlights

• New educational standards do not show teachers how to teach; rigorous, effective, discipline-specific, and powerful teaching is needed to help students reach the standards.
• Rigorous instruction promotes deep learning, inquiry, metacognitive behaviors, persistence, and the ability to learn and problem- solve even in the midst of uncertainty and ambiguity.
• When planning for rigorous instruction, ask yourself, “What will all students need to know, be able to do, and what types of thinking processes will they need to engage in?” (Standards); “How will I know if they have learned it?” (Assessment); “How do I teach so that all students will learn?” (Instruction); “What will I do if they don’t know, or if they come to us already knowing?” (Intervention, Differentiation, Enrichment).
• Explicit instruction helps make rigor visible to all, equips all with the tools, dispositions, skills, and knowledge needed to learn in deep and transferable ways, and facilitates mastery of learning goals.
• Rigor needs to exist in standards, expectations for all, learning goals, instruction, materials, classroom environment, learning experiences, support, and assessment.
• Rigorous instruction in the disciplines should equip all students with the specific types of thinking needed in our society, such as, analytical reasoning, interpretation, hypothesizing, problem- solving, drawing inferences, reflection, and synthesis.

Classroom Life

During an 8th grade lesson incorporating guided practice on reviewing simple algebraic expressions and the distributive property, Ms. Ferrante asks a student to complete the following simplification 8(6x + 4). The student hesitates and the teacher provides wait time. After 30-45 seconds, the student articulates, “I don’t know! I can’t do this; I am so stupid.” Ms. Ferrante proceeds to do the following to resolve this situation. First she reassures the student and says, “We all have questions about what we are learning and sometimes things might not make sense right away; Anthony, that does not make you stupid! I don’t want to hear you or anyone else say that about themselves in my class ever again! Let me go over a couple more examples to make sure we are all on the same page.” She then proceeds to model the problem again through a think-aloud and makes connections with what they have already learned in class about relationships between linear equations and previous concepts or equations. She listens to the way the student is attempting to solve the problem, gives him feedback, and addresses any misconceptions. Next, she asks students to work on a similar problem with a partner, gives them time to discuss how they arrived at the solution, and walks around the classroom listening to students’ conversations about the problem. She hears Anthony say, “I got it!” and watches him help his partner with the problem. She decides in the future to spend more time on guided practice before she calls on a student individually. (Ms. Pam Ferrante, Instructional Specialist, Seminole County Public Schools, Florida).

CCSS Connections

• The CCSS call for moving classroom teaching away from a focus on worksheets, drill and memorizing activities to an engaging, rigorous, and relevant curriculum that supports content acquisition requiring students to employ key cognitive strategies for learning and success in school and beyond.
• For students to graduate from high school prepared for postsecondary success in college, or career, they will need to know how to think deeply and accurately, identify, analyze, and evaluate multiple meanings, engage in discipline- specific inquiry and thought, deal with uncertainty and work through complexity, and use knowledge, skills, and processes in known and unknown contexts.
• Reaching the rigor of the CCSS will require having high expectations for all students, rigorous instruction and support for student learning, high- level assessments, and a culture of excellence.

College, Career, and Workforce Connections

• Students need the same set of skills for both college and the workplace, particularly in reading and math.
• Key cognitive strategies to prepare students for college, career, and the workforce include problem formation, research/inquiry, interpretation, academic discourse/communication, and precision/accuracy.
• Employers seek employees with professionalism/work ethic, good oral and written communication skills, the ability to work collaboratively with others, and possessing critical thinking, problem solving, and creativity skills. Employers also expect employees to know how to use quantitative tools (e.g., numbers, graphs, charts, and tables, and spreadsheet programs).
• Incoming college students to succeed in computer science [need to meet] the usual prerequisites for admission to college, such as algebra and trigonometry. In terms of dispositions, students who are successful tend to:
• Enjoy thinking logically and carefully; they have an analytical style of thinking that usually leading to success in Mathematics.
• Enjoy Math and Science.
• Are creative.
• Are fearless about tinkering.
• View Computing as a way to help the world, and extend human capabilities

(Gary Leavens, Professor, Computer Science, University of Central Florida).

Applying Discipline-Specific Literacies

• Rigorous instruction plans not only for what students will need to know and be able to do, but also plans for what discipline-specific thinking processes they will need to engage in, develop, and apply.
• Rigorous learning experiences in each discipline must relate to rigorous standards, discipline-specific thinking, promote student interests, equip them to continue to inquire rigorously, and maximize their performance on summative assessments.
• Disciplinary learning and knowledge development require rigorous standards, instruction, materials, experiences, assessment, support, and opportunities to transfer learning.

Think Like an Expert

• Literary experts are open- minded, comprehend and evaluate complex texts, construct effective arguments, learn through research and wide reading, question assumptions, and access the veracity of claims. (English Language Arts)
• Mathematicians identify connections between bits of mathematical knowledge, apply mathematical thinking to formulate and execute problem- solving strategies, apply mathematics in novel situations, see and use mathematics in real- world situations, and communicate and collaborate mathematically. (Mathematics)
• Scientists identify topics of interest, engage in research, develop deep understanding of related vocabulary, evaluate data sources, and carefully examine how and where data was collected and what it represents. (Science)
• Historians think deeply about the past, present, and future. Concepts of change over time, causality, context, complexity, and contingency (interconnectedness), provide the foundation of historical thinking. (Social Studies)

Digital Literacies

• Zunal Wequest http://zunal.com/. Develop rigorous scaffolded road maps that are aligned with the standards.
• Subtext: http://www.subtext.com/. Subtext is an application (app) that allows for close reading of text, citing textual evidence, and analyzing a PDF, or text (aligned with the CCSS).
• Create a video lesson: www.showme.com or www.educreations.com. Students can create and share screencasts and videotaped lessons.

Summary

• Rigor, relevance, and relationships are all important for improving student learning. Rigor needs to exist in standards, pedagogy, and assessment.
• Teachers who plan carefully, have clear learning goals and high expectations for all, use assessment to inform instruction, create and select relevant and stimulating materials, deliver explicit instruction that engages all in meaningful learning, provide needed support, value collaborative inquiry, and model and promote critical thinking and ownership of one’s learning, are teachers who make it easy for students to take intellectual risks, persist when meaning does not come easily, and continue to learn.
• Rigorous instruction is necessary for postsecondary success in college, career, and the workforce.

Differentiating Instruction

• Increase the intensity of instruction, the time to model and provide feedback, and the feedback and scaffolded support. Utilize individual educational planning for students and provide accommodations when appropriate (e.g., extended time, assistive technology, etc.). Use multiple modalities and resources (e.g., visual, gestural, digital) to provide context to ELLs that are not language dependent.
• Use small- group instruction to reteach both students having difficulty and advanced students. Require active participation in class (e.g., questioning, discussion, explanation).
• Although ELLs and students with varied exceptionalities have unique learning needs, keep them accountable on persevering with their goals, and hold high expectations for all students. Use a timer they can see on a screen or wall to help them budget time, be flexible as they are learning, and differentiate based on their needs. Teach them how to take notes, how to discriminate relevant from irrelevant information, and prioritize the big picture, smaller parts, and details.
• Use student questions, topics, and interests to guide materials selection and instruction. Develop rubrics for success based on both grade- level expectations and individual student learning needs.

Reflect and Apply

1. What elements of rigorous instruction do you recognize in Ms. Ferrante’s (see Classroom Life vignette) instructional decisions? What other suggestions could you offer? Discuss your thoughts with a small group of peers, or with the entire class.
2. Select one of the lesson plans shared in this chapter. What instructional elements might you change to further improve the rigor in goals, materials, and instruction? Discuss your suggestions with a peer from your discipline, and present your suggestions in class.
3. Write a learning goal for your content area and create a rigorous summative assessment to guide your instruction. Discuss with your peers how you will know students have mastered the learning goal in a rigorous way, and what evidence you will collect to determine their mastery.

Extending Learning

1. A peer invites you to visit her classroom, observe, and suggest ways she could improve rigorous learning. Using evidence from this chapter, develop a short observation protocol to guide your observations and peer feedback. What five to seven core instructional areas would you include in it? Defend your choice of items in your observation protocol and explain how they address rigor. Last, conduct your observation and use your notes to discuss with your peer what worked well and what she could improve.
2. What does teaching for transfer mean to you in your discipline? Select a topic, and design rigorous learning experiences that will help students acquire new information, develop the discipline-specific thinking skills to learn the information at a deep level, and apply problem- solving skills to new challenges. Provide specific examples, and present your plans to the class or a subject area colleague.
3. Gather the learning material you plan to use in an upcoming unit and analyze it for rigor. Is the material directly connected to your learning goals? Does it match the content students will face in a summative assessment? Is it grade- and age-appropriate? Is it relevant? Does it contain multiple meanings? Will it engage students over time? Can you identify ways to increase the rigor for students who are ready for more challenge? What strategies will you use to help students who are having difficulty accessing the rigorous material you have chosen? Discuss with a small group of peers how this learning material aligns with your instructional choices and student needs.

Links to Video Clips

The following videos showcase different content area teachers’ efforts to develop students’ vocabulary.

• Building Science Vocabulary (All Grades / Science / Literacy):https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/strategy-to-build-student-vocabulary - Watch how Ms. Banks involves students in self-selecting and defining challenging science vocabulary.
• Extending Understanding: Vocabulary Development (Grades 6-8 / ELA / ELL CCSS: ELA.RI.7.6 ELA.RI.8.6): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/middle-school-vocabulary-development - See how Ms. Langlois does vocabulary development after completing the various activities around a complex text.
• Graphing Linear Equations—Full Body Style (Grades 6-8 / Math / Pre-algebra: CCSS: Math.8.EE.B.5): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/graphing-linear-equations-lesson - Learn how Ms. Davis engages students in applying their knowledge of linear equations by graphing a line given slope-intercept on a giant coordinate plane.
• Kick Me: Making Vocabulary Interactive (Grade 7 / ELA / Writing
• CCSS: ELA.L.7.5b): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/making-vocabulary-lesson-interactive - Ms. Macauley engages her students in finding missing words from classmates to complete analogies.
• Learning Difficult Vocabulary (All Grades / ELA / Digital Literacy): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/teaching-hard-vocabulary-words - Ms. Niebur teaches her high school students how to learn key vocabulary related to copyright and fair use.
• Literacy in Physics: Reading a Primary Source (Grades 9-12 / Science / Bridges: CCSS: ELA.RST.11-12.2 ELA.RST.11-12.10): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/ccss-literacy-science-classroom - Watch Ms. Banks teach her students how to read a scientific article by going through vocabulary to find unfamiliar terms and use context clues to figure out the definition.
• Literacy in Science: Word Clouds (Grades 6-12 / Science / Reading): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/reading-teaching-strategy - Consider Mr. Hill’s pre-reading strategy for arousing student’s curiosity about science words.
• Modern Dance--Three-Dimensional Vocabulary (Grades 9-12 / Arts / Movement): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/teaching-modern-dance-vocabulary - Learn how Ms. Martin develops a physical representation of vocabulary promote deep learning.
• Preparing Students to Read: Word and Inference Walls (Grade 7 / ELA / Reading CCSS: ELA.L.7.4a): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/prep-students-for-new-text - Watch How Ms. Farrell Use word and inference walls to anticipate a new chapter of "The Outsiders."
• Vocabulary Paint Chips (Grades 9-12 / ELA / Synonyms; CCSS: ELA.L.11-12.4b): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/build-student-vocabulary - Ms. Wessling builds her students’ vocabulary by examining related words and using paint chips to illustrate degrees of meaning.

Links to Classroom Resources

• 10 Dos and Don’ts For Teaching Vocabulary in Any Content Area: http://www.teachthought.com/featured/10-dos-and-donts-for-teaching-vocabulary-in-any-content-area/ - A relevant visual summary of effective principles of vocabulary instruction for any content area teacher.
• AdLit Vocabulary Resources: http://www.adlit.org/article/c138/ - Examine additional support and ideas for effective vocabulary instruction in the content areas.
• Increasing Use of Academic Vocabulary in English Language Arts (ELA) Classrooms: http://www.ncte.org/library/nctefiles/resources/journals/vm/0204-may2013/vm0204how.pdf - A practical article that includes examples of ways to increase students’ vocabulary in ELA classrooms.
• Interactive Word Walls in Science: http://learningcenter.nsta.org/files/ss1103_45.pdf - Suggestions for, and authentic examples of, interactive word walls from various science classrooms.
• Literature Circle Roles for Science Vocabulary: http://learningcenter.nsta.org/files/tst0707_52.pdf - Great ideas for using literature circle roles to develop students’ scientific vocabulary.
• Mathematics Word Wall Cards (Grades 6-8): http://www.doe.virginia.gov/instruction/mathematics/resources/vocab_cards/math_vocab_cards_6-8.pdf - An exhaustive list of math vocabulary word wall cards compiled by the Virginia Department of Education.  The cards are aimed to provide a display of mathematics content words and associated visual cues to assist in vocabulary development.
• Mathematics Word Wall Cards: Geometry: http://www.doe.virginia.gov/instruction/mathematics/resources/vocab_cards/math_vocab_cards_geom.pdf - An exhaustive list of math vocabulary word wall cards compiled by the Virginia Department of Education.  The cards are aimed to provide a display of mathematics content words and associated visual cues to assist in vocabulary development.
• Science Vocabulary for All: Strategies to Improve Vocabulary in an Inclusive Biology Class: http://learningcenter.nsta.org/files/tst1103_45.pdf - A practical and authentic article about using cooperative learning strategies to develop all students’ vocabulary.
• Vocabulary for the Common Core: http://www.marzanoresearch.com/resources/tips/vcc_tips_archive - Examine Dr. Marzano’s tips and ideas on developing students’ academic vocabulary.
• Vocabulary Resources (Grades 6-12):http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/sol/standards_docs/english/2010/vocabulary/index.shtml- Strategies, lesson plans, and ideas for developing students’ vocabulary.

Pedagogy from the Book

Chapter 5: Vocabulary Learning and Instruction in the Disciplines

Chapter Highlights

• College, career, and workforce readiness requires rich, robust, and complex vocabulary knowledge that will equip students to continue to learn about the discipline, collaborate and communicate effectively with others, and create knowledge.
• New educational standards place much attention on the development of students’ academic vocabulary.
• Each discipline possesses its own complex and unique discourse. Knowledge and development of that discourse is necessary for both content and literacy development and learning. Students will benefit from a language-rich, vocabulary-rich, print-rich, and collaboration-rich learning environment.
• Vocabulary development in the disciplines should be ongoing, and should be accompanied by targeted, deliberate, broad, deep, and systematic instruction that will promote vocabulary learning knowledge and independence. Engaging with the texts of each discipline will help students develop discipline- specific discourse and habits of mind.
• Students will benefit from explicit instruction, guided support, multiple exposures to words, use of effective instructional strategies, and opportunities to identify, discuss, apply, and reflect on word meanings and connections between words.
• Classroom talk should be a “staple” in each content area classroom. Learning how to hold academic conversations, provide evidentiary responses, respond to others’ ideas and negotiate meaning, and practice accountable talk, will facilitate student learning.

Classroom Life

I teach 6th Grade life science, and something I’ve noticed my kids have challenges with is to take scientific language, understand it, and restate it in their own words. I find that they will skim a text to try and find what sounds like the right answer, but they’re not really comprehending the text. I think partially the vocabulary intimidates them, but also I think they have a hard time with the density of scientific texts. I remember one of my professors teaching us that science texts will try and explain multiple concepts in just a few sentences. I think the kids try to read science texts like they would read a novel, quickly and without taking time to think between sentences. Then, when they can’t get through a lot of text in as short a time as they expect, they end up picking out just a few pieces of information rather than actually digesting and understanding the text. (Ms. Amanda Heglund, 6th Grade Science Teacher, Gotha Middle School, Orange County Public Schools, Florida)

CCSS Connections

• Students in grades 6–12 should be able to 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.
• Students in grades 6–12 should be able to determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple- meaning words and phrases by using context clues, analyzing meaningful word parts, and consulting general and specialized reference materials, as appropriate.
• Students in grades 6–12 should be able to demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings, acquire and use accurately a range of general academic and domain- specific words and phrases sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college and career readiness level. They should also demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge when considering a word, or phrase important to comprehension or expression.

Applying Discipline-Specific Literacies

• Think about how words are conceptually related in English language arts.
• Pay attention to polysemous words. Because words are borrowed from many other fields in social studies, many terms can be abstract, metaphorical, and heavily contextualized.
• Make sure that students know words, symbols, and functions. Pay attention to words that change meaning in a mathematical context, and to subtechnical terms.
• Use Latin and Greek roots to develop students’ knowledge of science technical terms.

Think Like an Expert

• Literary experts have well- developed, rich, and broad vocabularies and rich linguistic expression. Their vocabularies become richer and more varied over time due to wide reading and writing. They are masterful at manipulating words and language and working with the nuances of words. (English Language Arts)
• Mathematicians extract lots of information from numbers, symbols, data, and words. They strive for precision and accuracy in their use of mathematics vocabulary, and use specialized and math- specific terms to communicate their knowledge about mathematics. (Mathematics)
• Vocabulary is very important in science; it helps to advance scientific knowledge. Scientists use exact terms (and at times a lot of jargon) to describe, explain, and represent science concepts. Scientists use a lot of jargon to communicate and exchange ideas with their peers; science vocabulary is specialized, complex, and tedious. (Science)
• Historians use their own specialized vocabulary. The vocabulary of the historian includes context, chronology, artifacts, facts, movements, opinions, primary sources, interpretations, and reasoned and evidenced judgment. (Social Studies)

College, Career, and Workforce Connections

• The CCSS indicate that one of the most important college and career readiness factors is a well- developed, or robust vocabulary. Teachers should develop students’ ability to use domain- specific and academic words and be strategic about the kind of vocabulary and strategies their students will need to have and be able to use to be college, career, and workforce ready.
• Students need to acquire and use accurately a wide range of general academic and domain- specific words and phrases sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college and career readiness level. They also need to demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge when considering a word, or phrase important to comprehension or expression.
• Learning and success in postsecondary education and life requires effective verbal communication skills (e.g., the ability to express oneself verbally, engage in conversations, communicate and collaborate with others, present to groups, and use visual displays).
• First and foremost the student should have a passion for understanding why and how we move, breathe, and function. Sport and Exercise Science is a broad field with many opportunities that range from coaching to medicine. However, the common learning theme for each focus area is understanding applied physiology. What makes this program most interesting is the focus on human physiology, which allows students to learn and apply concepts to the population that they will eventually work with. Students excelling in this field generally have excellent communication skills, both written and oral. In addition, they need to be comfortable and capable of learning from a broad array of sciences that include biology, chemistry, physics, physiology, biochemistry and anatomy. As such, they should be willing to take on challenges that come with this course load (Jay Hoffman, Professor, Sport & Exercise Science, University of Central Florida).

Digital Literacies

• Online Etymology dictionary: http://www.etymonline.com/ is an online resource explaining the meaning of word parts.
• Wordle: http://www.wordle.net/create, or Tagxedo: http://www.tagxedo.com/ are advanced word organizers that can be used to identify main idea before reading or to share their interpretation of the text after reading.
• Padlet: http://padlet.com is a free and user- friendly digital tool that allows users to create a digital wall of multimedia sticky notes, which can include text, images, links and videos. Teachers can create a vocabulary word wall and embed it into a webpage, blog or wiki for quick and easy access 24/7.

Summary

• Language is core to knowledge and vice versa. For students to be ready for college, career, and the workforce, they will need to know and use words beyond the definitional level. New educational standards emphasize the need for students to engage in systematic, purposeful, and collaborative discussions and conversations about what they are reading, researching, and learning.
• Explicit vocabulary instruction should focus on strategies that promote independent word knowledge acquisition and equip them with ways to analyze the semantic, syntactic, or context clues to derive the meaning of the words and the context in which they are used.
• Discipline- specific vocabulary instruction has to take place in authentic and meaningful ways. Students will benefit from instruction that will help them learn disciplinary content, develop their understanding of word meanings and language, enable them to participate in academic conversations and express their learning in writing, and provide them with ample opportunities to build, comprehend, and apply language.

Differentiating Instruction

• The CCSS support English language development through the basic design of the standards. The Speaking and Listening standards provide opportunities for students to listen to language and engage in collaborative conversations, while practicing using newly acquired vocabulary. The language standards provide a focus on learning language conventions in both writing and speaking. Often, ELLs approach the language as if it were math or science by trying to equate one word precisely to another. The concept that one word can have more than one meaning doesn’t make sense to these students, causing confusion when they encounter multiple meaning words in text. In addition, they often try to spell the words differently in different contexts. This notion is further reinforced in that many words with identical pronunciations but different meanings— such as no and know—are spelled differently.
• Learning vocabulary is a challenge for ELLs, as well as those students who speak non- standard dialects such as African American Vernacular English (AAVE), Bahamian English, or Gullah. Here are some steps in teaching new words to ELLs and other special needs students.
• Say the word. The teacher, or other fluent reader, models how the word is pronounced. Students then repeat the pronunciation.
• Analyze the word. Examine root words and affixes. Make connections to related words students may know.
• Discuss the word. Discuss denotations, connotations, and etymologies of target words to broaden students’ understanding, and help them make connections between target words and known words.
• Write the word. Teachers write the word on the classroom word wall. Students write the word and its meanings, using their own words, in their journal, personal dictionary, or notebook.
• Involve the use of their senses during word study. The more senses they use, the better they understand and remember.
• Involve concrete objects that are labeled with target words. Teachers often begin by labeling objects in their classrooms.
• Provide an experiential base for the concept or target words (e.g., the Internet, videos, photographs, can help provide experiences that students can then write and discuss using the target vocabulary).
• Provide students with many opportunities to use the word in meaningful situations.
• ELLs and others benefit from collaborative learning activities in class.
• In addition to carefully selecting words to teach as part of vocabulary instruction, teachers should also balance direct teaching of word meanings in meaningful contexts and teaching word-learning strategies (e.g., context clues, dictionaries, glossaries). ELLs will also benefit from strategies that draw on cognate knowledge meaning, an understanding of words that have similar orthographic structures in English and the ELLs’ native language (e.g., English–Spanish cognates: information–información, artist–artista).
• Provide opportunities for active and collaborative explorations of words, ideas, and interpretations. ELLs and students with varied exceptionalities, will need more practice with applying word knowledge in multiple contexts, and support in being able to distinguish which meanings of words make sense in certain contexts. Media and technology can be very useful for vocabulary support.

Reflect and Apply

1. What elements of your current practice (if you are an inservice teacher), or your future instruction (if you are a preservice teacher) are aligned well, or would be aligned well with the shift toward more emphasis on general academic vocabulary? Use your knowledge from this chapter to discuss one to three ideas about this shift with a partner, or a small group of your peers. Share your ideas and perceived challenges associated with this instructional shift in your discipline.
2. How can content area teachers teach vocabulary effectively? What suggestions could you offer to Ms. Heglund (see Classroom Life vignette)? Discuss your suggestions with a small group of peers.
3. Use what you learned in this chapter about the importance of academic conversations and accountable talk for strengthening vocabulary, language, and thinking, and come up with a few specific accountable talk moves you would like to implement in your classroom. If you are currently not teaching, write a note to a friend who is teaching, and explain to her how to use accountable talk in her classroom. Discuss with your peers key factors that will promote, or inhibit, accountable talk in content area classrooms.

Extending Learning

1. Interview a disciplinary expert about the ways he or she learns and uses vocabulary to apply and generate knowledge in their discipline. Write five questions about the unique structure and vocabulary demands of the discipline, and seek feedback on how to promote students’ discipline-specific vocabulary. Summarize the interview responses, and present your findings to the class.
2. Select one topic from your discipline, identify the words that are worthy of teaching, and develop an explicit vocabulary instruction plan. Outline your steps, provide a rationale for your choice of words to teach and describe one or two ways you will teach them. Be sure to also specify how students will learn these words. Present your plan to the class or a subject area colleague, and defend it using principles of effective instruction from this chapter.
3. Choose a topic of study from your content area textbook (e.g., lesson or unit). Study the text and work with a partner (preferably from your community of practice) to identify Tier Two and Three words in the text. Together, identify a couple of ways you will teach Tier Two and Tier Three words, and also consider the needs of ELLs and other struggling readers in the classroom. Present your topic, list of words, and vocabulary strategies to the class and practice a focused academic conversation on your choices.

Links to Video Clips

The following videos provide examples of teachers using different types of questions and questioning techniques to develop students’ comprehension.

• Asking Questions That Connect Math to Real World Learning: Statistical Analysis to Rank Baseball Players (Grades 11-12 / Math / Statistics CCSS: Math.S.ID.1 Math.S.ID.2 Math.S.ID.3): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/statistical-analysis-lesson - Watch how Ms. Denton involves her students in asking key questions that will help them rank the greatest NY Yankee homerun hitters using statistical analysis.
• Closed or Open? That is the Question (Grade 7 / Social Studies / Questioning): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/teaching-economic-systems - Examine how Mr. Korinek grapples with when to use closed vs. open questions to engage students in learning.
• Designing Leveled Questions (All Grades / All Subjects / Scaffolding): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/designing-questions - Ms. Thomas builds her high school students’ understanding through a series of questions.
• Divergent Questioning in 8th Grade Math (Grade 8 / Math / Evaluation):  https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/professional-development-teacher-evaluation - See how Mr. Brettle uses divergent questioning to better engage his students in learning.
• Document Based Question (DBQ): http://www.dbqproject.com/video.php - What is the DBQ project and how can it help teachers help students read, think, and write in a critical manner?
• Engaging Students in Direct Instruction (Grades 9-12 / ELA / Questioning): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/direct-instruction-lesson-tips - Observe how Ms. Culver uses questioning to push her students’ understanding of the history of American music.
• Inquiry-Based Teaching: Asking Effective Questions (Grades 9-12 / ELA / Questioning): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/questions-for-inquiry-based-teaching - See ways to ask effective questions during inquiry-based lessons.
• Self-Correction: Does Your Answer Make Sense? (All Grades / Math / Independence): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/student-self-correction - Watch how Ms. Brookings and Mr. James encourage their high school students to check their own work.
• Structure Learning with Essential Questions (Grade 8 / Science / Questioning): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/structure-learning-essential-questions - Observe how Mr. Rettberg introduces units with essential questions.
• Student-Centered Questions for Exam Prep (Grades 9-12 / Math / Assessment): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/preparing-students-for-tests - Ms. Giudice demonstrates how engage students in generating their own questions for an upcoming exam. 
• The Art of Questioning: Content, Meaning and Style (Grades 9-12 / ELA / Literature: CCSS: ELA.RL.11-12.5): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/structuring-questioning-in-classroom - Ms. Schaeffer uses structure questioning based on content, meaning and style to assess students’ understanding of the text.
• Using Questioning to Develop Understanding (All Grades / All Subjects / Scaffolding):https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/questioning-in-the-classroom - Ms. Baines uses questioning to scaffold her high school students’ understanding.

Links to Classroom Resources

• 50 Questions to Help Students Think About What They Think: http://www.teachthought.com/learning/metacognition-50-questions-help-students-think-think/ - A comprehensive list of questions for content area teaching and learning.
• Asking Good Questions and Promoting Discourse (Part I): http://www.nctm.org/resources/content.aspx?id=25149 - Get ideas from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) on the importance of asking good questions and facilitating classroom discourse in mathematics classrooms.
• Asking Good Questions and Promoting Discourse (Part II): http://www.nctm.org/resources/content.aspx?id=25150 - Get more ideas from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) on the importance of asking good questions and facilitating classroom discourse in mathematics classrooms.
• Essential Questions in Teaching American History: http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/resources/essential-questions-teaching-american-history - A comprehensive list of essential questions for US History teachers and their students.
• Science: Letting Students Ask Questions and Answer Them: http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/661 - Instructional suggestions from LEARN NC, a program of the University of North Carolina, School of Education.
• The DBQ Project: http://www.dbqproject.com - A project designed to help teachers teach students how read with understanding, think straight, and write clearly in History and English Language Arts classrooms.
• DBQ & Best Practices Alignment: http://www.dbqproject.com/best-practice-alignment.php
• DBQ & CCSS Alignment: http://www.dbqproject.com/common-core-long.php
• Materials: http://www.dbqproject.com/about-dbqs-and-mini-qs.php

Pedagogy from the Book

Chapter 6: Questioning and Comprehension in the Disciplines

Chapter Highlights

• Schools must prepare students for the skills, knowledge, and habits of mind they will need to learn and succeed in college and in tomorrow’s careers and workplaces.
• Comprehension is a complex, active, and interactive process of constructing meaning from text. It involves the reciprocal interaction of three factors—the reader, the text, and the context in which the text is read.
• The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) recognize the importance of students becoming active learners and effective questioners.
• Each discipline has its own inquiry process. Learning how to think, reason, ask questions, and communicate in discipline-specific ways will help students meet the demands of each discipline and will prepare them for college, work, and life.
• Text- dependent questions, open- ended questions, and essential questions will facilitate close reading of text, deeper comprehension, and transfer of knowledge to new situations.
• Teachers need to provide explicit instruction in comprehension and questioning, scaffolded support, adequate practice and feedback, progress monitoring, and opportunities for students to discuss what they are learning with others.

Classroom Life

In my High School Social Studies classroom, the most common challenges in content area literacy are vocabulary, comprehension, and recognizing and understanding point of view. The students I work with, mainly seniors, are largely lower-quartile students and struggle with reading and writing. The obstacles these students face in the classroom stem from learning disabilities and a lack of progression in the skills they have. The vocabulary level of my students is perhaps the most obvious issue in their writing, speech, reading, and comprehension. I have found that even basic terms are not a part of their vocabulary and are not recognized when they read and write. For example, when I used the term “characteristic” in a short prompt, a significant number of students were unable to answer the question, because they did not know what it meant. Before we could continue, I had to explain the term characteristic into even more elementary terms like “something that describes something else.” Underdeveloped vocabulary becomes a major obstacle for reading and comprehending historical texts. Another challenge my students face in content area literacy is comprehension, particularly when using primary sources. They have difficulty reading and analyzing primary sources. Higher-order questions are extremely difficult for the majority of the students in my classes, unless the answer is phrased almost exactly like the question. In a recent lesson, students were asked to evaluate the bias of a contemporary of Napoleon Bonaparte and the majority of the class was unable to understand another point of view. They come to class not knowing how to identify point of view, biases, and assumptions in texts, and they give up when it comes to evaluating different perspectives. Point of view is very important for historical thinking. (Mr. Chase Fults, 12th grade Economics (standard and honors) and 10th grade World History Honors, Lake Mary High School, Lake Mary, Florida)

CCSS Connections

• The CCSS expect that students are involved in critical examination of texts, use evidence from texts to present careful analyses, well- supported claims, and clear and logical information.
• Text-dependent questions require deep understanding of texts that extends beyond knowledge of basic facts.
• The CCSS call for instruction that will help students not only acquire facts and information but develop knowledge, prepare them to question what they read, and equip them with knowledge, skills, and dispositions that will enable them to learn throughout life.

College, Career, and Workforce Connections

• College, career, and workforce readiness require that students read and analyze texts through the use of text- based questions. Students need to become independent thinkers, be able to identify critical information in written texts or oral presentations, communicate their ideas effectively, ask relevant questions, and consider others’ perspectives.
• College, universities, and employers want students to apply their knowledge to solve real- world problems. Teachers need to teach more than “how to get the answer.” They need to support students’ ability to question what they are learning, think critically and reflectively, and access concepts from a number of perspectives.
• Students need to learn how to ask and answer questions, pay attention to details, identify essential versus non- essential information, apply knowledge, and evaluate actions and responses.
• Students ideally should have excellent communication skills (written and oral), the ability to comprehend things that they read, and the disposition to improve all those skills in the course of their university education. They should also have the disposition to be open to new ideas, texts, and experiences and the willingness and ability to analyze—or, at least, the willingness and ability to learn to analyze—all those new things they encounter (Anna Maria Jones, Associate Professor, English, University of Central Florida).

Applying Discipline-Specific Literacies

• Questioning is part of learning in each discipline. Facilitate the development of discipline- specific inquiry in your classroom.
• Teach students how to recognize different types of questions, how to look for textual evidence to support their answers, and how to generate questions that will promote discipline-specific discussions and further exploration of the topic.
• Teach students discipline-specific ways to question texts and perspectives, and teach in a way that promotes higher order thinking and questioning skills that are inherent to, and are needed, for learning in each discipline.

Think Like an Expert

• Literary experts ask many questions when they read. They question who is speaking, what is the intended audience, what is the author’s background and how his or her background affects the writing, how language is organized and presented, how the author presents the characters and conflict(s) in the text, and how this work relates with other similar works on the subject. They also engage in problematizing the topic of the novel by raising critical questions about the text, the author, its message, and the impact of the work on humanity. (English Language Arts)
• Mathematicians use inductive reasoning to solve new problems; they ask many questions and take risks. Students need to learn multiple ways to solve and represent problems, explain their steps to solving the problem, and consider others’ approaches to solving the problem. To solve mathematical problems accurately, students need to have good understanding of mathematical content, thought, and language. (Mathematics)
• Scientists also ask many important questions. They often ask questions about the significance, validity, accuracy, and soundness of other scientists’ work. Scientists do that because they are skeptical about other scientists’ work. They are often skeptical of others’ work and invest much time on examining the implementation of the scientific method, the use of hypothesis and data collection, and carefully examining the conclusions others draw about their research. (Science)
• Historians are deeply involved in historical explanation; they question everything and everyone. They compare, contrast and evaluate evidence from multiple documents (crosschecking) as it relates to setting and time (contextualization), perspective (sourcing: who made it, when, why, and is it believable?), and use corroboration among primary and secondary sources and others’ interpretations. (Social Studies)

Digital Literacies

• Discuss text or topics, share comments, feedback, and links: http://todaysmeet.com, or www.voicethread.com.
• Chartle: http://www.chartle.net/. A chart- making tool that can help organize and synthesize concepts. Summarize text through word clouds: http://tagul.com.
• Flashcard Stash: http://flashcardstash.com. A dictionary- based website for helping students learn vocabulary and more. Rewordify: http://rewordify.com is a free, online reading comprehension and vocabulary development software.

Summary

• Comprehension is a complex, active process that requires the reader to be actively and meaningfully involved in constructing meaning from text. New educational standards expect students to acquire knowledge and apply knowledge to new situations. Good thinkers are also good questioners; they ask questions that build and extend their thinking and knowledge, and they also ask questions that have no immediate answers.
• One of the major instructional shift s resulting from the CCSS is the focus on having high-level, text- based discussions in each discipline and grade. Students need explicit instruction in questioning, in identifying different types of questions, in collecting evidence from text to support their answers, and in asking questions that will challenge others’ thinking. Effective questioning promotes meaningful and deep student engagement with reading and learning.
• Effective comprehension instruction will focus on questioning, text-dependent questions, and in meaningful engagement of the reader with texts and with learning. Questioning does not have to be an individual act; collaborative inquiry works especially well in content area classrooms to promote sound reasoning, accountable talk, and discussions that will strengthen and extend students’ knowledge and learning.

Differentiating Instruction

• Use hands- on learning. Allow students to collaboratively work on examining texts, problem solving, and questioning and checking each other’s ideas, perspectives, and solutions. Students’ reading comprehension skills will improve when you provide modeling on how to ask good questions, how to evaluate answers, and how to provide evidence from text to support one’s claims.
• Vary questioning strategies to build exceptional education students’ comprehension. Teach questioning strategies explicitly, provide immediate feedback, and encourage students to generate their own questions about what they are reading or learning.
• Learning to comprehend text is an essential skill for all students. Balance teacher-generated and student-generated questioning. Use questioning to motivate students, identify their misconceptions, encourage involvement of passive learners, evaluate students’ thinking processes and knowledge, gain insight about students’ interests, help students how to construct meaning from texts, and provide student feedback.
• Create a print-rich, language-rich, and learning-rich classroom environment that supports each student’s learning, is inviting, safe, accepting, empathetic, respectful, motivating, and challenging. Promote student- student collaboration through flexible grouping, accountable talk, and project- based learning. Hold high expectations for all learners, and provide needed support.

Reflect and Apply

1. What suggestions can you offer to Mr. Fults (see Classroom Life vignette) from what you learned in this chapter? Provide a rationale about your choices, and discuss them with peers in a small group.
2. Questioning plays an important role in comprehension. What role will questioning play in your instruction? Use information from this chapter, and identify one to three ways you plan to teach questioning and foster student question generation. Discuss your ideas with a peer, or peers from your own discipline.
3. Using your knowledge of your discipline and how students’ comprehension develops, what are one to three areas that are particularly challenging for students when it comes to higher- order questioning skills, text-dependent questions, or student-generated questions? Select information from the text to plan instruction that will address those challenges. Discuss with a peer, or peers and record any additional ideas or questions that emerged from the peer, or group discussion.

Extending Learning

1. Select one topic from your discipline, and plan a lesson on discipline- specific questioning to promote students’ comprehension of topic. Present your plan to the class or a subject area colleague, and use evidence from this chapter on questioning and comprehension to support your instructional decisions.
2. Visit a classroom from your own discipline. Pay particular attention to the role of the teacher and the students in the learning process. Who does the questioning? What types of questions are asked? Which types of questions students have difficulties with? Analyze your observations, look for patterns, and use information from the text to offer some discipline-specific suggestions to the classroom teacher about ways to promote students’ questioning skills and comprehension.
3. Think about your own discipline and suggest five to seven ways to build struggling readers’ questioning and comprehension skills. Collaborate with an ESOL and an exceptional education teacher. Share your ideas, incorporate theirs, and present the collaborative suggestions to your peers.

Links to Video Clips

The following videos are examples of different content area teachers’ comprehension instruction.

• Conjecturing About Functions (Grades 6-8 / Math / Reasoning: CCSS: Math.8.F.B.4 Math.Practice.MP2 Math.Practice.MP3): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/conjecture-lesson-plan - Watch how Ms. McPhillips gets her students to analyze patterns, represent functions, and reason for their choices.
• Deeper Learning: http://www.hewlett.org/programs/education/deeper-learning/what-deeper-learning - Rahil Maharaj, a high school students, explains that attending a school that focus on deeper learning in Hayward, California, has motivated and prepared him for college.
• Developing Students’ Higher-Order Thinking Skills: http://vimeo.com/42865258 - Watch how Mr. Pearl engages his 9th Grade Human Geography class in work that develops higher=level thinking skills.
• Evidence and Argument (Grades 9-10 / ELA / Planning CCSS: ELA.RI.9-10.2 ELA.W.9-10.6 ELA.SL.9-10.1a): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/evidence-arguments-lesson-planning - Learn how Mr. Hanify designs his instruction to engage students in identifying main idea from a text and providing evidence to support their understanding.
• Getting Ready to Write: Citing Textual Evidence (Grades 6-8 / ELA / Child Labor: CCSS: ELA.RI.6.1 ELA.SL.6.1a ELA.W.6.2a):https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/teaching-about-textual-evidence- Observe how Ms. Norris engages students in identifying, discussing, and applying textual evidence.
• Literary Analysis Through Interactive Stations (Grades 9-12 / ELA / Engagement: CCSS: ELA.RL.11-12.2 ELA.SL.11-12.1a ELA.RL.9-10.2): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/increase-engagement-and-understanding - Watch how Mr. Wallace involves students in analyzing how a central idea develops over the course of a text. 
• Read, Discuss, Debate: Evaluating Arguments (Grades 9-12 / ELA / Analysis
• CCSS: ELA.RI.9-10.8): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/evaluating-both-sides-of-argument - Examine how Ms. Davaney-Graham engages her students in evaluating two sides of a debate.
• Real World Problem-Solving: Designing an iPad Case (Grades 9-12 / Science / Engineering CCSS: ELA.WHST.9-10.7 ELA.WHST.9-10.8): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/high-school-engineering-lesson - Mr. Carpenter involves his students in real-world problem solving and models how to self-assess progress.
• Text Structure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uk4x72lm5oE - Dr. Cynthia Shanahan describes the value of teaching different text structures to students.
• Trigonometry in Flight: 12 O’Quad High (Grades 9-12 / Math / Reasoning
• CCSS: Math.F.TF.5 Math.Practice.MP2 Math.Practice.MP3): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/laws-of-sines-cosines-lesson - See how Ms. Brookings and Mr. James connect math to real-world problems and invite and develop students’ mathematical reasoning and knowledge.

Links to Classroom Resources

• 6 Powerful Strategies for Deeper Learning in Your Classroom: http://www.teachthought.com/learning/6-powerful-strategies-deeper-learning-classroom/ - Learn fun and innovative ways to promote deeper learning in the content area classroom.
• 27 Ways to Inspire Innovative Thinking in Students: http://www.teachthought.com/learning/27-ways-inspire-innovative-thinking-students/ - Learn about quick, easy, and effective ways to facilitate innovative thinking in the classroom.
• AdLit Comprehension Resources: http://www.adlit.org/article/c116/ - Examine additional support and ideas for effective vocabulary instruction in the content areas.
• AdLit Fluency Resources: http://www.adlit.org/article/c122/ - Examine additional support and ideas for effective fluency instruction in the content areas.
• AdLit Text Structure Resources: http://www.adlit.org/strategies/23336/- Examine additional support and ideas for effective text structure instruction in the content areas.
• Kansas Department of Education White Paper: Fluency is More Than Speed: http://community.ksde.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=wOohb2XGn5Q%3d&tabid=5000&mid=14272 - See suggestions for developing students’ fluency in English language arts, mathematics, and other subject areas.
• Summarizing with Drawings (Grades 6-8, Science/Math): http://www.nsta.org/publications/news/story.aspx?id=53158 - Learn how a teacher used drawings to summarize the main idea of an article.

Pedagogy from the Book

Chapter 7: Discipline-Specific Comprehension Instruction

Chapter Highlights

• The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are designed to help all students promote and develop deep comprehension of complex text.
• The most effective comprehension strategies identified by research include: instruction in questioning, story and text structure, summarizing, using graphic organizers, multiple strategy instruction, and comprehension monitoring.
• Although generalized literacy strategies such as KWL, QAR, prediction guide, anticipation guides, and note- taking are particularly beneficial for struggling readers, for students to develop deep understanding of disciplinary texts and concepts, content area teachers need to use instructional strategies that are reflective of the specialized nature, structure, discourse, and habits of mind of each discipline.
• Taking a discipline- specific approach to deeper learning will ensure that students learn how to read, think, write, argue, communicate, and evaluate in ways that are unique to each discipline.
• Transfer of learning does not happen automatically. Students need to learn in environments that are rigorous, supportive, and are also conducive to inquiry, exploration, and deep learning.
• Teach students to how to read carefully, purposefully, and closely, analyze the text, look for patterns in text structure, ask questions about the text, summarize, discuss and argue with others, synthesize, and reflect on information.
• To develop students’ metacognitive skills, teachers need to provide them with many opportunities to monitor their own progress, reflect, work collaboratively with peers (take the perspective of others, listen, and talk), and formulate and share their thinking, knowledge, and explanations.

Classroom Life

I am telling you, comprehension instruction is tough. It is not something you can pigeonhole for 15 minutes a couple of times per week. If you just touch and go, students are going to be floundering. You have to plan for it, you have to integrate it throughout your instruction, and you have to be deliberate and creative with it. I use whole class instruction to teach and model new information; I usually spend 12–15 minutes or so on it. I do a lot with partner work and collaborative activities because kids need to process what they are reading, writing, and learning. Some weeks, when I have more time, I might devote a whole period on a collaborative inquiry activity. My students fought me for a while at the beginning of the year—they don’t like to make their thinking public and they didn’t like to work with others. I decided to use some strategies that would challenge them to think! One of them I have used over and over again with my history classes is, Take a Stand. I spent much time at the beginning of the year modeling it, explaining what kinds of thinking we would be doing, and why we were going to use them in our groups. I usually select 2–3 primary documents, ask students to read them, discuss them, raise questions about them, and then Take a Stand as a group about the issue or topic at hand; they have to collaborate together, find evidence from all documents to support their stand, and they also have to defend it to the other groups. I have seen them grow so much! They talk, they do close reading, they argue, they negotiate, and they get a deeper understanding of the texts and the ideas in them. I look for comprehension strategies that will “hit a couple of birds with one stone.” History is not something to be memorized; it has to read carefully, it has to be processed deeply, and it has to be discussed and argued in order for students to understand that perspectives shape our interpretations of life. Comprehension instruction is something I continue to learn about; I want to make history real and I also want to motivate my students to continue to learn and stimulate their curiosity. (Ms. Erin Foley, 10th grade Social Studies, Hagerty High School, Oviedo, Florida).

CCSS Connections

• Students in grades 6–12 need to read and comprehend disciplinary texts critically, independently, and proficiently. They should be able to cite strong textual evidence to support their analysis and interpretation of the text(s), determine central themes and ideas, identify relationships among ideas, and provide objective summaries of text(s).
• Students in grades 6–12 will need to learn how to compare and contrast the structure of two or more texts, analyze how the structure of each text contributes to its meaning and style, determine the author’s choices and point of view or purpose in a text, and analyze how the author acknowledges and responds to conflicting viewpoints, provides explanations, discusses procedures, or discusses results in a text.
• Students in grades 6–12 need to read text(s) critically and be able to determine the argument and claims in the text, distinguish between fact, opinion, and reasoned argument, analyze the relationships among concepts in a text, analyze the author’s purpose, and assess the evidence the author provides to support his, or her claims.

Applying Discipline-Specific Literacies

• Build students’ experiences with reading, discussing, and responding to a wide variety of texts. Develop students’ understanding of texts through discipline-specific text structure instruction.
• Use discipline-specific strategies that promote understanding of text(s), are aligned with the structure, questions, processes, and habits of mind of your discipline, facilitate metacognitive thinking, and foster deep learning.
• Make disciplinary learning fun and also make it challenging, relevant, collaborative, and reflective. And be there, as a facilitator, to provide support, guidance, and feedback to students—implement a disciplinary literacy learning framework that views learning as an apprenticeship process.

College, Career, and Workforce Connections

• According to David Conley (2012), there are four keys to college and career readiness. First, students need to know and be able to use key cognitive strategies, such as: formulating hypotheses, problem- solving, identifying sources and collecting information, analyzing and evaluating findings and viewpoints, organizing and constructing work products in a variety of formats, and monitoring and confirming the precision and accuracy of all work produced. Second, students need to have deep understanding of content knowledge, the ways knowledge is structured, accessed, and constructed in each discipline, and the habits of mind that enable students to interact with the knowledge and others. Third, students need to have key learning skills and techniques, such as: ownership of learning (motivation, self- awareness, progress monitoring, self-efficacy) and specific learning techniques (strategic reading, study skills, collaborative learning, technology skills, and self- monitoring). Fourth, students need to have key transition knowledge and skills that will provide course planning during high school to prepare them for higher education or career pathways.
• Employers want future employees who can identify problems, and plan, develop, and implement solutions.
• In order to learn history at the college level, incoming students need to abandon dogmatic beliefs they cannot defend with evidence, allow themselves to be challenged (though not brainwashed) by new ideas, and possess the skills needed to convey written information clearly and concisely to a variety of audiences (Daniel Murphree, Associate Professor, History, University of Central Florida).

Think Like an Expert

• Literary experts critically examine the role of the author in interpreting a text, focus on identifying and analyzing the conflicts, have many questions about the author’s purpose, biases, and ways of organizing the text, and hold conversations about literature, its context, and its relationship to the world. (English Language Arts)
• Mathematicians focus on precision and accuracy, and they work hard to understand solutions. They engage in problem solving, they ask a lot of questions, pay attention to details, and are focused on concepts rather than just on formulas. (Mathematics)
• Scientists understand the deeper meanings of concepts, systematically observe natural phenomena, they develop hypotheses and plan experiments or research, collect, critically question, analyze, and interpret data in order to problem- solve, evaluate the validity of conclusions, and work collaboratively with others. (Science)
• Historians read inside and outside the text, look for corroboration from other sources, think about which perspectives are represented in documents and which ones are left out, analyze images and contextualize information, and evaluate the trustworthiness of sources. (Social Studies)

Digital Literacies

• Wix: http://www.wix.com/. Develop a classroom homepage that supports comprehension instruction and offers links to resources. Wikispaces: http://www.wikispaces.com/. Great places to post meaningful questions for classroom collaboration inside and outside of the classroom.
• Digital Docs in a Box: http://www.digitaldocsinabox.org. Allows teachers and students to access digital documentary kits and create digital documentaries.
• Storify: http://storify.com. Students can follow current events, speeches, and presentations, and turn them into stories using social media.

Summary

• Comprehension is a complex, active, and interactive process that involves the reader, the text, and the context. Comprehension is regulated by cognitive, emotional, and social experiences. Comprehending involves activating a schema, a unit of organizational knowledge. Deep comprehension requires the student to read critically, make inferences, ask questions, provide evidence to support his or her assertions, make connections among knowledge, and transfer knowledge to new situations.
• Deep learning of disciplinary content will not happen through mere teacher lecture, student note taking, and memorization. Students need to learn how to develop knowledge, how to analyze text, how to think about text, how to support their thinking with text evidence, how to questions what is said and what is not said in the text, how to consider others’ interpretations and processes, and how to reflect and monitor their own understanding and learning. Comprehension monitoring, summarizing, graphic organizers, question answering and question generation, text structure, multiple strategy instruction, and comprehension monitoring are effective ways to promote good comprehension of texts in content area classrooms.
• Effective comprehension instruction will focus on how the teacher engages the reader to think critically about texts and to demonstrate, use, and reflect on his, or her understanding. Essential comprehension instruction elements include knowledge of students and content, critical engagement of students with texts, discipline-specific instruction, monitoring of student learning, and assessment. In addition, comprehension development requires a classroom climate of rigor, disciplinary inquiry, apprenticeship, collaborative inquiry, and accountable talk.

Differentiating Instruction

• Before starting a unit of study, use an informal assessment, like a survey, to pre-assess the students’ prior knowledge of the topic. Take into account the students’ language proficiency and use pre- reading activities that assess and build upon students’ background knowledge. Use formative assessment data effective comprehension instruction strategies and create a positive learning environment.
• Students with varied exceptionalities require explicit comprehension instruction. Use related graphic organizers, provide scaffolded teaching and learning, demonstrate fi x- up strategies, and use guiding questions, think-alouds, that provide an active model for thinking during the reading process. Choose reading materials that are culturally relevant, and use media and technology.
• Summarization helps students’ comprehension (August & Shanahan, 2006). Teach ELLs how to summarize and provide them with feedback, diverse models, and peer support. Encourage summarizing with short text selections, promote use of journals for note taking, and monitor students’ summarization skills.
• Collaborate with English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers and literacy coaches about how to make text more accessible to ELLs—e.g., create scaffolded outlines, study guides, rewritten texts, audio texts, and leveled texts. ELLs benefit from using computers and technology to locate information, research, synthesize, and communicate with others. Use a structured approach when teaching ELLs. Engage them in reading and learning by explaining directions, developing purpose questions, pre- teaching vocabulary, obtaining assistance from native language speakers, and using discussion. The CCSS steers teachers away from placing too much emphasis on activating and building students’ background knowledge through films and lengthy introductions before students read the text. Guide students’ thinking during reading through teacher read-alouds of short text sections, partner reading, using text-based questions, discussions, and informal writing. Extend ELLs’ thinking after reading by making connections with their experiences, summarizing, using informal writing, discussion, and collaborative learning activities.

Reflect and Apply

1. What three insights from the text do you plan to implement in your instruction to support and extend students’ comprehension skills and knowledge of subject matter? Provide a rationale about your choices, and discuss your insights, reflections, and plan with a peer.
2. Using your knowledge of your discipline and how students’ comprehension develops, what suggestions could you offer to Ms. Foley (see Classroom Life vignette)? Discuss your ideas with a peer, or peers in a small group.
3. Select one of the discipline- specific strategies presented in this chapter and teach it to a group of students (in grades 6–12). After you model it and provide sufficient guided and independent practice and feedback, collect some feedback from the students about how the strategy supported their learning and any challenges they had with using it. Share your personal observations and the students’ feedback with a group of peers. Last, suggest ways to improve the strategy and/or its implementation.

Extending Learning

1. Develop a classroom poster on the thinking skills and processes necessary for students to develop understanding in your content area. Focus on five to seven key thinking skills all students need to develop in order to learn and succeed in your discipline. Include tips or short explanations for students. Use your creativity to construct your poster, and present it to the class or to a group of peers.
2. Visit a content- area classroom for a few days and take notes about the role comprehension instruction plays in that classroom. Is it specific, explicit, and deliberate? What discipline-specific strategies does the teacher use to support students’ comprehension development? Using information from this chapter, select one discipline-specific strategy you think will work well with the students in that class. Provide a rationale, share it with the teacher, explain he or she can use it, and follow- up with some more classroom observations. Do a before and after comparison on student engagement, learning, challenges, and instruction, and share with the classroom teacher and your peers.
3. Choose a topic of study from your content area textbook (e.g., lesson or unit). Study the text and work with a partner (preferably from your community of practice), and select one or two discipline- specific strategies to implement. Present your instructional plan using specific examples from the topic. In your plan, also consider areas of challenge for your students, demonstrate your modeling and scaffolded support, and specify how you will monitor their understanding of text.

Links to Video Clips

The following videos offer many examples for creating and maintaining a discipline-specific, positive, rigorous, collaborative, and safe learning environment for all students.

• Analyzing Data in Small Groups (Grade 8 / Science / Data Analysis): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/analyze-data-with-groups - Find out how Ms. Blea uses small groups to review and analyze data from the previous day's lab.
• Building a Positive and Respectful Environment: http://houstonisdpsd.org/practice-instruct/i-10/ss.html - Observe how Mr. Reed builds a classroom environment that is conducive to learning in his 7th grade Math classroom.  
• Creating a “Comfortable” Classroom Environment (All Grades / All Subjects / Class Culture): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/building-a-comfortable-classroom - See how Mr. Van Dyck, a middle school teacher,  creates a positive classroom culture.
• Facilitating Academic Discourse (Grade 8 / Science / Classroom Talk): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/how-discussion-enhances-learning - Learn how Mr. English refines his students’ understanding of scientific concepts through small group and whole class discussions.
• Facilitating Peer Learning (Grade 7 / Math / Engagement: CCSS: Math.Practice.MP4): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/peer-learning-between-students - Examine how Mr. Egger helps students take ownership of math content through dialogue, peer teaching, and presentation.
• Inquiry-Based Discussion (Grade 7 / ELA / Inquiry / CCSS: ELA.RL.7.1 ELA.RL.7.3): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/inquiry-based-discussions-for-text - Watch Ms. Fransler involve her students in an inquiry-based discussion on To Kill a Mockingbird.
• Interacting with Complex Texts: Jigsaw Project: Grades 6-8 / ELA / ELL CCSS: ELA.RI.7.8 ELA.RI.8.8): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/groups-to-analyze-complex-texts - Middle school students work in groups to analyze speeches and share expertise.
• Literacy Partners in the Science Classroom (All Grades / Science / Collaboration): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/pairing-students-in-classroom - Learn how Ms. Banks engages students in a collaborative analysis of scientific texts.
• Pinwheel Discussions: Large Group Conversations (Grades 9-12 / ELA / Discussion: CCSS: ELA.SL.11-12.1a ELA.SL.11-12.1c): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/ap-english-lesson-plan - See facilitation strategies for large group discussion.
• Read Like a Historian: Turn to Your Partner (Grades 9-12 / History / Collaboration): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/increasing-student-collaboration - See how Ms. Duvoor uses physical position to facilitate student collaboration.
• Socratic Seminar: Supporting Claims & Counterclaims Grades 9-12 / ELA / Debate: CCSS: ELA.W.9-10.1a ELA.W.9-10.1b):  https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/using-socratic-seminars-in-classroom - Watch how Ms. Procter uses debate to help students support claims and address counterclaims.
• Socratic Seminar: The "N-Word" (Grades 9-12 / ELA / Analysis CCSS: ELA.RI.11-12.7 ELA.SL.11-12.1c ELA.SL.11-12.2): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/teaching-the-n-word Ms. Wu uses a Socratic Seminar to teach students how to evaluate arguments presented in reading materials.
• Strategies for Student-Centered Discussion (Grades 9-12 / ELA / Student Discourse: CCSS: ELA.SL.11-12.1a ELA.SL.11-12.1c ELA.RL.11-12.1): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/strategies-for-student-centered-discussion - Learn how to master the art and science of engaging students in rigorous discussion.

Links to Classroom Resources

• 10 Characteristics of a Highly Effective Learning Environment: http://www.teachthought.com/learning/10-characteristics-of-a-highly-effective-learning-environment/ - A useful summary of research on effective learning environment characteristics.
• 14 Ways to Cultivate Classroom Chemistry: https://www.teachingchannel.org/blog/2012/09/10/14-ways-to-cultivate-classroom-chemistry/ - Sarah Brown Wessling is a high school English teacher in Johnston, Iowa. She is the 2010 National Teacher of the Year and is the Teacher Laureate for Teaching Channel.
• 21 Simple Ways to Motivate Your Students: http://www.teachthought.com/teaching/21-simple-ideas-to-improve-student-motivatio/ - Simple and important ways to motivate any student in grades 6-12.
• Before Your Students Arrive: http://www.nctm.org/resources/content.aspx?id=23463 - The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) offers valuable tips for creating a learning environment that is conducive to learning, and learning to plan for “first things, first”!
• instaGrok: http://www.instagrok.com - instaGrok is an innovative educational search engine that creates interactive concept maps and makes learning more engaging and personalized.
• Resources and Downloads for Collaborative Learning: http://www.edutopia.org/stw-collaborative-learning-resources - See discussion guidelines and rubrics, and collaborative learning resources for English Language Arts and Math.
• The Highly Engaged Classroom: http://www.marzanoresearch.com/resources/tips/hec_tips_archive - Examine Dr. Marzano’s tips for suggestions for creating a highly engaged classroom.
• WikiBrains: http://wikibrains.com - A brainstorming website for organizing and navigating ideas, starting a story, and building a web that explains the connections between its elements.

Pedagogy from the Book

Chapter 8: Disciplinary Literacy Learning Environments

Chapter Highlights

• College and Career Readiness (CCR) warrants deep learning, critical reasoning supported by evidence, and application of knowledge and skills. The ongoing technological advancements of the 21st century also require students to know how to collaborate with others, problem-solve, inquire, and communicate effectively.
• Each discipline possesses its own complex and unique discourse. Knowledge and development of that discourse is necessary for both content and literacy development and learning. Students will benefit from a language-rich, conversation-rich, information-rich, and collaboration-rich classroom environment.
• Accountable talk is the talk of each discipline that fosters disciplinary habits of mind and learning.
• Students need opportunities to learn, develop, and use communication, reasoning, problem solving, perspective taking, and collaboration in authentic disciplinary learning environments.
• Collaborative learning, problem solving, and inquiry are necessary for college, career, and workforce readiness, as well as for life.
• Disciplinary learning environments should include rigor, inquiry, apprenticeship, accountable talk, collaboration, and support.

Classroom Life

As a Social Studies teacher, my classroom is arranged for cooperative learning groups. Early in the school year, rules were set for movement, transitions, and voice levels. My students work in pairs (shoulder partners) or in groups of four. Having a majority of English Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) or Language Students (LS) in my classroom has been a big challenge. My first language is Spanish and most of my ESOL and LS students talk the same language. You may think is easier since I can translate and they can understand the lesson but the reality is it is not. I learned throughout the years, that work created with a group is just as important as individual performance. It is very difficult to get the ESOL or LS students to perform with their group or individually. My pacing guide is moving at a very quick pace and covers a lot of material. The ESOL and LS students have great difficulty understanding the vocabulary and content required to be covered by the pacing guide. I understand that I have to accommodate the lesson to their needs and I do; but my concern is that most of the times they leave the classroom not knowing the lesson for that day. My other concern is that it is not fair to the other students since most of the times I have to teach the lesson in two languages. I have to continually engage in formative assessments to make sure no one is left behind. For that reason, I do not ask many higher order questions, since I know it will take me double the time to explain what it means. One resource that helps me in my classroom, especially with cooperative learning activities, is a graphic organizer that is part of their book. My students seem to enjoy it and actually compete with each other to complete questions; it helps to guide their conversations and thinking. Anything that has structure—helps them to stay focused while in groups, stimulates their thinking with higher order questions, and supports good conversations—works for them and for me! I also use a variety of other graphic organizers to address the different needs of my students. Getting them to work in cooperative learning groups without planning, structure, and support does not work for my students. I work hard at building their proficiency in the English language as well as their academic vocabulary and thinking skills and I incorporate whole group, small group, and partner talk activities. (Ms. Maria Rodriguez Negroni,6th grade History/Geography, Kissimmee Middle School, Kissimmee, Florida).

CCSS Connections

• Students in grades 6–12 are expected to engage, initiate and participate effectively in varied collaborative discussions with peers to discuss, question, interpret, and evaluate texts, and one another’s understanding of them.
• Students in grades 6–12 need to know how to have good communication skills, and be able to present claims and findings, support them with evidence, discuss them with others, consider others’ diverse perspective, and negotiate meaning.
• Students in grades 6–12 are expected to respond respectfully and thoughtfully to diverse perspectives, summarize points of agreement and disagreement, and, when needed, qualify, or justify their own views and understanding and make new connections in light of the new evidence and reasoning presented.

Applying Discipline-Specific Literacies

• All disciplines have a unique discourse, habits of mind, communication, and collaboration. Help your students develop deeper understanding of subject matter and critical thinking skills, through the use of accountable talk and collaborative inquiry.
• Expect, model, support, and monitor students’ use of discipline-specific discourse in small and whole group settings.
• Create a classroom environment that is positive, safe, motivating, organized, rigorous, reflective of disciplinary ways of learning and knowing, and one that promotes accountability and collaborative inquiry.

Think Like an Expert

• Literary thinking experts engage in ongoing conversations, questions, and debates about the discipline. They also evaluate and negotiate diverse interpretations, theories, critical responses, and contexts about literature and the discipline. (English Language Arts)
• Communication, problem solving, reasoning, considering others’ perspectives, and dialogic inquiry are central to mathematical learning. (Mathematics)
• Scientific research is collaborative and multidisciplinary in nature. Scientists also use collaborative inquiry as a method for deepening their understanding, furthering their research, and co-developing knowledge. (Science)
• Historical thinking and inquiry involves questioning ideas, perspectives, evidence, connecting ideas and concepts, sourcing, making inferences, considering alternative perspectives, and making interpretations based on evidence across multiple sources. To understand the past and disseminate historical research to audiences, historians engage in collaborative inquiry with experts from their discipline, with diverse audiences, and also with various agencies. (Social Studies)

College, Career, and Workforce Connections

• Students need to know how to problem- solve, interpret results, and construct quality products on their own, and with others. Students need to have knowledge, skills, and strategies for collaborative inquiry and learning.
• Disciplinary learning environments should prepare students for the types of thinking, doing, and collaborating they will be required to know and do in postsecondary education.
• Working effectively with others, building professional relationships, working in teams, and teaching others are all important for postsecondary learning and success.
• Students entering our undergraduate pre- licensure BSN (baccalaureate in nursing) program need to like people, have the ability to accept and work with individuals with a wide variety of beliefs and behaviors, some of which will be different from those valued by the student. They must also enjoy taking responsibility for their own learning and going beyond the minimum level of knowledge needed to simply “pass” a course. They must be well prepared with deep knowledge of the sciences (chemistry, anatomy, physiology and human nutrition) and statistics as well as the social sciences (psychology and sociology) and be able to apply that knowledge when assessing patients and providing nursing care. For optimal effectiveness, they should seek to develop a wide view of the health care system, and how its different components relate to each other and impact the health of both individuals and communities and the world. Since nurses are educated, not trained, their chances of success in their education as a nursing professional also depend on their holistic view of the patient and their family, and the community in which the patient lives and works (Diane Wink, Professor, Nursing, University of Central Florida).

Digital Literacies

• Zoom: http://zoom.us/ , or Google Hangout http://www.google.com/+/learnmore/hangouts/. Use for cloud- based collaborative meetings and learning.
• Videolicious: https://videolicious.com. Make video, share, and communicate, or create a class newsletter and host a class website: http://www.weebly.com.
• Glogster: http://www.edu.glogster.com. Students can create class posters on topics, books, people, and events with text, photos, video, and sound files.

Summary

• College, career, and workforce readiness goes beyond content knowledge, critical thinking skills, and dispositions. It also includes having, and using, communication skills to exchange ideas, problem- solve, and create/co- create knowledge. Learning in school, beyond school, and in life, also requires collaborating with others, learning how to consider others’ perspectives, and working with others in various learning environments.
• Academic discourse requires knowledge of subject matter, use of disciplinary vocabulary, effective ways to express one’s understanding, and communication skills. The CCSS place a strong emphasis on providing instruction that actively involves the learner in speaking, listening, using academic discourse, and participating in collaborative inquiry.
• Create learning environments that have rigor, relevance, apprenticeship, accountable talk, and collaborative inquiry. Accountable talk supports disciplinary learning and promotes co-construction of meaning by all in the classroom. Accountable talk involves three important learning aspects: (1) accountability to the learning community; (2) accountability to accurate knowledge; and (3) accountability to rigorous thinking.

Differentiating Instruction

• Create safe, supportive, inviting, accepting, and culturally and linguistically responsive classroom environments for all students. Assess and monitor students’ progress and use classroom observation, one- on-one conferencing, and peer tutoring for extra feedback and support.
• Provide ELLs and students with exceptionalities with opportunities to socialize with peers, practice academic vocabulary, and learn from other’s perspectives, reasoning, and explanations. Include a wide range of motivating and culturally relevant materials, and use technology to provide additional communicative support.
• Students with varied exceptionalities need learning environments that engage them in learning, but do not over- stimulate them, or distract them. Create a motivating learning environment by having posters of disciplinary experts with learning exceptionalities.
• Collaborative learning opportunities are natural contexts for meaning-making and authentic communication. Build students’ academic language skills, encourage students to use academic discourse, and provide them with instruction. Give students feedback and support on how to effectively communicate, collaborate, and negotiate meaning with others.

Reflect and Apply

1. Describe the ideal disciplinary learning environment. What does it look like? How are desks, materials, and equipment arranged? What learning conditions, expectations, norms, and ways of knowing and learning would one see and experience in that space? Support your choices with evidence from this chapter, and share with a peer or colleague.
2. What does accountable talk mean to you and how will you implement it in your classroom? Select key accountable talk moves that are specific to your discipline, and explain to a peer or colleague how you will model, encourage, support, and develop students’ disciplinary knowledge and thinking through accountable talk.
3. Using your knowledge of this topic, offer some suggestions to Ms. Rodriguez Negroni (see Classroom Life vignette), and discuss your ideas with your peers in a small group.

Extending Learning

1. Observe a content area classroom, and collect information on the classroom learning environment, on the presence or absence of academic discourse and accountable talk, and on the role collaboration plays in student learning. Compare and contrast your observations with insights from this chapter, and present them to your class or subject area colleagues. Offer key suggestions to the teacher for ways to improve, or extend all of the above in that classroom.
2. Create a presentation you can give at a department meeting (choose the subject area) about the relationship between developing a deep understanding of subject matter, and collaborative learning. Include two to three specific examples to help teachers reflect on their instruction and on student learning, and think of ways to promote collaborative inquiry in their classroom.
3. Develop a lesson plan on a topic of your choice. Study the material, design your learning goals, and work with a partner (preferably from your community of practice) to identify ways to promote accountable talk and collaborative inquiry. Present your lesson plan to the class or a subject area colleague, consider others’ suggestions and ideas, negotiate on meaning, and make related adjustments to your lesson plan as a result of collaborative inquiry.

Links to Video Clips

The following videos highlight how different content area teachers teach and promote writing in their classrooms.

• Choosing Collaborative Groups (All Grades / All Subjects / Collaboration):     https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/choosing-collaborative-groups - Watch how Ms. Hobbs uses flexible grouping strategies in her 9th grade Geometry class.
• Collaborative Digital Presentations Enrich Projects: http://www.edutopia.org/tech-to-learn-collaborative-digital-presentations-video - Educator Kate Summers engages her students by asking them to "teach back" chemistry concepts to their peers via online demonstrations created with tech tools like Google Docs, Keynote, and PowerPoint.
• Explanatory Writing—Part 1 (Grade 6 | Language Arts | Common Core Standards: W.6): http://www.adlit.org/articles/watch_and_learn/57637/- Watch how Ms. Ramsey helps her students work as "experts" to plan a piece of procedural writing written for a "novice" audience.  Ms. Ramsey guides students in using an organizational structure that includes an introduction, steps, materials, domain-specific vocabulary, background, and a conclusion.  Also, see additional resources included as part of this video module.
• Explanatory Writing—Part 2 (Grade 6 | Language Arts | Common Core Standards: W.6.4): http://www.adlit.org/articles/watch_and_learn/57670/ - In this video, Ms. Ramsey, explains how Domain-specific vocabulary and transitional words are two important parts of explanatory writing.  Working in pairs, the students consider their topics and the words they could use to enhance their writing.  Also, see additional resources included as part of this video module.
• Text What You Learned: Using Technology to Assess (Grades 9-12 / All Subjects):https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/texting-to-assess-learningLearn how to incorporate technology in the classroom, in a more fun and active way to assess student learning.
• The Writing Recipe: Essay Structure for ELLs (Grades 6-8 / ELA / ELL; CCSS: ELA.W.8.1 ELA.SL.8.1): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/ell-essay-structure-lesson - Ms. Sackman uses writing manipulatives to engage English language Learners in essay writing.  Also, see additional resources included as part of this video module.
• Understanding Craft and Structure, Part 1 (Grade 11 | History | Common Core Standards: RI.11-12 and RH.11-12): http://www.adlit.org/articles/watch_and_learn/55371/ - History teacher Johanna Heppeler guides her students through a process of "sourcing a document," which includes looking at the speaker, the occasion, the audience, the purpose and the tone.
• Understanding Craft and Structure, Part 2 (Grade 11 | AP English | Common Core Standards: L.11-12, RH.11-12, RI.11-12, and W.11-12): http://www.adlit.org/articles/watch_and_learn/57673/ - In Part 2, students read closely to analyze the text from Lincoln's Inaugural Address in an effort to understand what can be learned by studying specific words and phrases.
• Writing an Argument (Grade 11 | AP English | Common Core Standards: W.11-12.1, W.11-12.4, W.11-12.5, and W.11-12.8): http://www.adlit.org/articles/watch_and_learn/57672/- Watch how Mr. Kandik hone his students’ skills in writing an argument by working to refute or defend a complex prompt provided by their teacher.  Also, see additional resources included as part of this video module.
• Writing to Learn (All Grades / All Subjects): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/writing-to-learn - Ms. Culver explains how low stakes writing encourages students to develop deep understanding of content.

Links to Classroom Resources

• A Conversation with Troy Hicks About Digital Writing: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/troy-hicks-conversation-digital-writing-todd-finley - Learn about digital writing tools, the benefits of digital writing, and examine related resources.
• Digital Is: http://digitalis.nwp.org - The National Writing Project (NWP)’s open knowledge base created website that includes resources, collections, reflections, inquiries, and stories about what it means to learn and teach writing in an increasingly digital and interconnected world.
• Digital Texts & The Common Core: http://digitalis.nwp.org/resource/3201
• Resources: http://digitalis.nwp.org/resources
• Digital Resources: http://commoncore.org/maps/resources/digital_resources - Sample free digital resources and tools for creating, collaborating, researching, and sharing.
• Infotopia: http://www.infotopia.info - A Google alternative safe search engine for kids.
• NoodleTools: http://www.noodletools.com/index.php - The Web’s most comprehensive platform for the academic research process.
• About: http://www.noodletools.com/about/index.php
• Teacher Resources: http://www.noodletools.com/debbie/index.html
• Reading Today Online—App a Day: http://www.reading.org/reading-today/digital/apps#.U735C6VrX4Q -  See how educators use Apps to support student learning from the Reading Today Online website of the International Reading Association (IRA).
• Resources to Help Students Avoid Plagiarism: The following sample resources include lesson materials, key vocabulary, video examples, and related resources.
• Evaluating Sites
• Identifying High Quality Sites (Grades 6-8): https://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators/lesson/identifying-high-quality-sites-6-8
• Collective Intelligence (Grades 9-12): https://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators/lesson/collective-intelligence-9-12
• Strategic Searching (Grades 6-8): https://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators/lesson/strategic-searching-6-8
• Understanding and Avoiding Plagiarism
• A Creator’s Right (Grades 6-8): https://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators/lesson/creators-rights-6-8
• Rework, Reuse, and Remix (Grades 6-8): https://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators/lesson/rework-reuse-remix-6-8
• Copyrights & Wrongs (Grades 9-12): https://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators/lesson/copyrights-and-wrongs
• Rights, Remixes, & Respect (Grades 9-12): https://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators/lesson/rights-remixes-and-respect
• The Common Core State Standards: English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science & Technical Subjects—Appendix C: http://www.corestandards.org/assets/Appendix_C.pdf - See samples of student writing.
• Utah Education Network: http://www.uen.org/core/languagearts/writing/argumentative.shtml - Educator resources, lesson plans, and student activities on argumentative writing.
• Lesson Plans for English Language Arts (Grades 6-12): http://www.uen.org/Lessonplan/LPview.cgi?core=1
• What the Best Writing Teachers Know: http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/10/what-the-best-writing-teachers-know/263573/ - This blog post is from a high school student who explains how she discovered the "two dimensions" of writing.

Pedagogy from the Book

Chapter 9: Writing in the Disciplines

Chapter Highlights

• College and Career Readiness (CCR) requires good writing skills; writing is a must for learning, working, collaborating, problem solving, and living in the 21st century global economy.
• The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) Anchor Standards for Writing focus on three types of writing (i.e., argument, informative/explanatory, and narrative), and present writing as a learning, thinking, communication, and knowledge- building process that is essential for knowledge development in each discipline.
• Argument is a key feature of academic writing and learning. Students will benefit from intensive, explicit, and effective writing instruction within each content area.
• Writing for a variety of purposes, increasing students’ knowledge about writing, writing about the texts students read and the interests they have, and using technology and assessment, will help students become strategic writers.
• Students need to write routinely, they need feedback from the teacher, peers, and others, and they also need opportunities to collaborate with peers in the writing process. Collaborative inquiry and writing as an apprenticeship are important elements of college, career, and workforce readiness.
• With guidance and support, students need to learn how to use technology, digital tools, and the Internet to create, share, refine, and publish their writing. They need to learn how to use technology strategically to create, refine, and collaborate in writing. They also need to learn how to use technology accurately to collect, evaluate, and cite sources.

Classroom Life

As a teacher, primarily focusing on writing, there are many struggles faced each and every day. Our school has a high population of non-English speakers, low- income families as well as homeless and highly transient students. These factors cause many struggles in the classroom. In addition, many of my students not only have inconsistent educational histories, lack of academic background knowledge and vocabulary, but behavioral issues as well. Many of the issues pertaining to writing would focus primarily on lack of vocabulary and background knowledge. When asking students to write an essay to address a prompt, they are often confused about what the prompt is and they have difficulty coming up with good evidence to support their claims. Recently our school administered a monthly essay assessment and the prompt asked students, “How do you feel about your parents supervising you when you use the Internet?” Many students did not write a good essay because they were unsure of what the word “supervised” meant. I think as teachers, we work hard to teach our students new words and help students learn and apply new information, but at times we forget that most of our students do not speak or use academic language outside of the classroom. Another contributing factor to students’ struggles with writing is their lack of background knowledge; this becomes particularly challenging when they have to produce the writing in a limited time frame. Many students have an extremely hard time thinking of supporting evidence to back up any claim they want to make in their writing. This seems to be the hardest for teachers to address since there is no way of knowing what a standardized or summative type assessment prompt might ask them to write about. If a class works for a month on a specific topic, or a piece of literature, and the teacher involves students in routinely writing, most students will produce a substantial amount of support for their writing because they have been exposed
to the information which can be used. However, without that background knowledge on a topic, students have a very hard time developing specific levels of support for their claims or conclusions. Writing about the texts they read helps their comprehension of text and their writing. We need to be engaging our students in wide reading and routine writing in each content area classroom. (Ms. Nicole Colabella Dunham, 7th grade English Language Arts, Kissimmee Middle School, Kissimmee, Florida).

College, Career, and Workforce Connections

• College instructors use writing to evaluate students (to some degree) in postsecondary courses. Arguments, expository, and narrative are key types of college writing. Students are expected to write routinely and in relatively short amounts of time; they need to know how to pre- write, edit, and re- write before, and often after, their writing is submitted for feedback. College writing requires students to present arguments clearly, substantiate claims, utilize the basics of a style manual when writing a paper, and produce writing that is largely free of grammatical and usage errors. College writing and learning also includes research and identifying and using appropriate strategies and methodologies to explore and answer problems. Students need to know how to access different types of information, evaluate that information, synthesize it, and incorporate it into a paper, or report.
• Students who are college and career ready know how to demonstrate independence, and know how to respond to the varying demands of the audience, task, purpose, and discipline. They also value evidence when offering written interpretation of text, and use technology and digital media strategically and capably.
• In order for students to succeed in rising global market challenges, they need to be prepared for diverse writing types and formats, written communication and collaboration, and use of technology and online writing tools and communications.
• In order to learn history at the college level, incoming students need to abandon dogmatic beliefs they cannot defend with evidence, allow themselves to be challenged (though not brainwashed) by new ideas, and possess the skills needed to convey written information clearly and concisely to a variety of audiences (Daniel Murphree, Associate Professor, History, University of Central Florida).

CCSS Connections

• Students in grades 6–12 need to write routinely over extended periods of time for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences. Students need to learn how to write (a) arguments to support claims using valid and sufficient evidence; (b) informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately; and (c) narrative texts using well- chosen details and well- structured event sequences.
• Students in grades 6–12 need to produce clear and coherent writing, engage in all phases of the writing process, and use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing, interact, and collaborate with others.
• Students in grades 6–12 need to conduct short and sustained research projects, gather and evaluate information from print and digital sources, and use information to support analysis, reflection, and research.

Applying Discipline-Specific Literacies

• Writing is interconnected with knowing and learning. Each discipline has its own specialized vocabulary, conventions, style, genres, and uses for texts. A health professional will follow a different writing style than an accountant. Students need to understand how conventions are used in each discipline.
• The purpose of writing in the disciplines is to empower the student to communicate effectively in clear and correct prose in a style appropriate to the subject, task, occasion, and audience.
• Disciplinary writing is also a form of communication for the members of each discourse community. Collaboration and feedback from peers is important for writing development, revision, sharing, and publication.

Think Like an Expert

• Literary experts “play” with language in creative ways. They use language, strategies, and devices to convey meaning, make arguments and counter- arguments, and write to describe, inform, entertain, and persuade. (English Language Arts)
• Mathematicians use writing to show how well they understand the mathematical concepts and ideas, use facts and evidence to explain their thinking, justify their answers and processes, and make logical conclusions. (Mathematics)
• Scientists observe carefully and write down their ideas and observations. They conduct experiments, and write down their hypotheses, procedures, and observations. They also communicate with others through writing and share and publish their results, reports, observations, and questions. (Science)
• Historians conduct evidence- based writing. They evaluate sources, provide interpretations based on valid and adequate evidence, and offer alternative perspectives on historical issues, questions, events, and figures. (Social Studies)

Digital Literacies

• Sample websites for digital writing, sharing, and web publishing tools:
• Blogger (http://www.blogger.com).
• Edmoto (http://edmoto.com).
• Google Docs (http://docs.google.com).
• Google Sites (http://sites.google.com).
• Kidblog (http://kidblog.org).
• Twitter (http://twitter.com).
• Padlet (http://padlet.com).
• Wiggio (http://wiggio.com).
• Wikispaces (http://wikispaces.com).
• Tumblr (http://tumblr.com).
• Sample digital presentation tools include the following:
• Glogster (http://edu.glogster.com).
• Prezi (http://prezi.com).
• Slideshare (http://www.slideshare.net).
• Wordle (http://www.wordle.net).
• Blurb: http://www.blurb.com/. A digital storytelling platform that allows the user to import photos, videos, and text, and share through social networking such as hashtags, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, or e-mail.

Summary

• College, career, and workforce readiness require students to have good writing skills. Writing in the disciplines requires students to learn how to inquire, read, think, speak, and write in ways that are appropriate for each discipline.
• The CCSS for writing emphasize three types of writing (i.e., argument, informative/explanatory, and narrative) and pay particular attention to argument writing. Writing effective arguments about claims and counter- claims, that are supported by valid and sufficient evidence, is a must for college and career readiness. Students are expected to develop and use different types of claims and collect, evaluate, and present quality evidence to support their claims.
• Research on effective writing instruction shows that students need to write about the texts they read, write routinely in each content area, receive explicit instruction in writing, receive feedback from teacher and peers, have opportunities to revise their writing, and use technology and digital tools for writing, sharing, and publishing purposes.

Differentiating Instruction

• Demonstrate how reading and writing are connected, and use a variety of strategies to attract students’ attention to differences in style and genre. Involve English language learners (ELLs) in writing frequently and explain to them how writing is a tool for thinking, communicating, sharing, and learning. Give students opportunities to write for different purposes, build their vocabulary, and allow them to write in both languages.
• Expose ELLs and struggling writers to extensive modeling. Explicitly demonstrate the writing process and encourage revision and editing. Model topic selection that is meaningful, interesting, and relevant. Provide step- by-step instruction, which includes academic vocabulary, organization of ideas, and writing. Teach grammar in the context of the actual writing, present mini- lessons, and provide guided writing practice, and much feedback.
• Some students may have dysgraphia (a writing disability). Some students freeze when it comes to writing due to having difficulty encoding a word, a thought, accurate language, connected thoughts, and accurate composition. They require a lot of scaffolding, encouragement, and feedback. Many students who are language impaired and/or have limited experiences, may not have the range of vocabulary, and/or language- expressive skills required in your discipline.
• Create a culture of collaboration. Encourage collaboration throughout the writing process and encourage peer sharing and editing. Use learning logs, journals, and technology to support ELLs’ writing.

Reflect and Apply

1. Reflect on what you have learned from this chapter. What types of writing have you produced so far (e.g., lab report, essay, research paper, poem, etc.)? What type of writing do you enjoy the most? What aspects of your writing would you like to improve? Discuss your answers with your peers, and provide evidence to support your conclusions.
2. Tap into what you learned about writing and writing instruction from this chapter to offer some suggestions to Ms. Dunham (see Classroom Life vignette). Use technology, the Internet, or a digital tool to share your ideas with a small group of peers.
3. The message of writing in the disciplines is that writing and content learning need to take place in tandem. Using information from this chapter, find three pieces of evidence from the chapter that support this thesis and discuss them in a small group.

Extending Learning

1. Visit a content area classroom for at least a week. Use a learning log to record your observations about the role of writing in that classroom. Categorize your observations using the following categories: (a) time spent writing; (b) types of writing genres; (c) writing to learn strategies; (d) writing instruction (modeling, guided practice, feedback); (e) collaboration; (f) technology use; (g) formative assessment. Organize your findings and write a report. Include suggestions to improve writing in that class and evidence to support your suggestions from course readings. Last, share your suggestions with your class or colleagues.
2. Think about your own discipline, select a type of writing you would like to introduce or strengthen in the classroom, and write a lesson plan. Make sure that you include pertinent lesson plan information such as: grade level, subject area, objective, related CCSS, procedures, materials, and related activities. Share the first draft of your lesson plan with a content area teacher, receive feedback, revise, and present your planned lesson to the class.
3. Conduct research on digital writing tools and uses of technology to develop writing in grades 6–12. Use a research paper format to share your research with your class or your colleagues.

Links to Video Clips

The following videos offer examples and guidance about the role of assessment for planning quality instruction that results in learning for all students.

• Building Formative Assessment into Game-Based Learning: http://www.edutopia.org/made-with-play-game-based-learning-assessment-video - In a sixth grade classroom at Quest to Learn, ongoing feedback is embedded throughout the course of a collaborative geography game called Galactic Mappers.
• Carol Dweck on Performance Assessment (All Grades / All Subjects / Mindset): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/growth-mindset-eed - Carol Dweck, psychologist and growth mindset researcher, shares her insights on the approach on performance assessment and a growth mindset.
• Florida School for the Deaf & the Blind (Grades 9-12 / School Systems / Special Ed): Learn how teachers at this school make instructional modifications and accommodations to meet the needs of their students.
• Video 1: https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/school-for-the-deaf-and-blind
• Video 2: https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/school-for-the-deaf-and-blind-cc
• Formative Assessment Using the U-P-S Strategy (Grades 9-12 / Math / Geometry): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/ups-strategy-as-assessment-tool --Watch how Ms. Mickle informally assesses her 9th-10th grade students’ understanding of Geometry content.
• Introduction to the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ND4vaAqTSCk - Watch an introduction to the Smarter Balanced assessment system.
• Quality Evidence Rubrics (Grade 7 / Math / Assessment):  https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/quality-evidence-rubric-student-assessment - Watch how Mr. Egger uses quality evidence rubrics to involve his 7th grade math students in self-assessing their work.
• Response to Intervention at the High School Level: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtTKuBZ-nvY - Watch how Tigard High School in Portland, Oregon implemented RtI at their school.
• Response to Intervention at the Middle School Level: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlRM6kf7EZ0 - Learn about successes and challenges associated with RtI at Russell Middle School in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
• Student-to-Student Assessment (Grade 7 / Math / Assessment; CCSS: Math.Practice.MP3): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/peer-assessment-homework - Watch how Ms. Cleveland uses peer assessment in her 7th grade math classroom.
• Show Your Cards! (Grade 8 / Science / Assessment): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/show-your-cards-student-assessment - See how Mr. English informally assesses his students’ understanding of science content.
• The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP): http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/about/schools.aspx - See two videos designed for school staff and students about NAEP, and how teachers and students can prepare to participate and excel in the program.
• What is PARCC? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZ2YiMeNeRc - Learn about the PARCC assessment from educators who are sharing their views and identify needs and challenges associated with the assessment.

Links to Classroom Resources

• Alternate Forms of Assessment: http://www.nctm.org/resources/content.aspx?id=17290 - Suggestions for informal classroom assessment from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM).
• Formative Assessment and Standards-Based Grading: http://www.marzanoresearch.com/resources/tips/fasbg_tips_archive - Examine Dr. Marzano’s tips and ideas about using formative assessment in your classroom.
• Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC): http://programs.ccsso.org/projects/interstate_new_teacher_assessment_and_support_consortium/#Mission - Examine the impact of INTASC, a consortium of state education agencies and national educational organizations teacher preparation, licensing, and on-going professional development, and its related standards.
• Lexile Framework for Learning: https://www.lexile.com - Learn how to match students with texts.
• What is a Lexile Measure? https://www.lexile.com/about-lexile/lexile-overview/
• Find a Book/Text, and Get a Lexile Measure: https://www.lexile.com/analyzer/ - The Lexile Analyzer ® will evaluate the readability of books, articles, and materials.
• Lexile at School: https://www.lexile.com/using-lexile/lexile-at-school/ - Learn how to use the Lexile Measure to help students grow as readers.
• Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for Colleges and Careers (PARCC) Consortium: http://www.parcconline.org
• About PARCC: http://www.parcconline.org/about-parcc
• The PARCC Assessment: http://www.parcconline.org/parcc-assessment
• The PARCC Assessment System: http://www.parcconline.org/assessment-system
• PARCC Sample Questions in English Language Arts/Literacy and Mathematics: http://www.parcconline.org/samples/item-task-prototypes
• PARCC Practice Tests: http://www.parcconline.org/practice-tests
• PARCC Resources for Educators: http://parcconline.org/for-educators
• Preparing for Tests: http://www.nctm.org/resources/content.aspx?id=2147483737 - Wonderful suggestions on test preparation from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM).
• Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium: http://www.smarterbalanced.org
• Smarter Balanced Assessments: http://www.smarterbalanced.org/smarter-balanced-assessments/
• Smarter Balanced Practice & Training Tests: http://www.smarterbalanced.org/practice-test/
• Smarter Balanced Sample Items & Performance Tasks: http://www.smarterbalanced.org/sample-items-and-performance-tasks/
• Smarter Balanced Publications & Resources: http://www.smarterbalanced.org/resources-events/publications-resources/

Pedagogy from the Book

Chapter 10: Assessing Student Learning in the Disciplines

Chapter Highlights

• Assessment of student learning plays an important role in informing and improving student learning and instruction, and in preparing students for college and career readiness.
• Standardized assessment provides a general picture of a student’s performance, and has been used for accountability, funding, and comparison purposes. Authentic Assessment captures, in detailed ways, student content knowledge, skills and processes, in naturalistic settings and contexts.
• The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 brought about sweeping assessment and curricular changes. Accountability implications of the policy have resulted in narrowing the curriculum.
• The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for Colleges and Careers (PARCC), and the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) are the two federally funded assessment consortiums that are aligned with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).
• Assessment should be an ongoing, flexible, and collaborative process that uses multiple types of information to gauge student learning and progress.
• Implementation of the CCSS and the new generation assessment systems will require more effective systems of accountability, engaging, relevant, and rigorous curricula and materials, and focused teacher preparation and ongoing professional development.

Classroom Life

One of the challenges that content area teachers face in regards to assessment is how quickly what is being assessed is changing. Many teachers in the content areas continue to assess students with tests that strictly test their ability to recall facts in regards to a topic. As we move deeper into the Common Core era, the transition to close reading and critically thinking about the text and questions will be an obstacle that is sure to impact their teaching. Students must be taught to actively engage with the text and read and reread text in order to extract the meaning of text. Students must also be able to support their answers with text- based evidence. Our current teaching methodologies consist of presenting students with a summarized version of the content. Students are rarely in the text attempting to make connections and extrapolating the essence of what they are reading. Content area teachers must be supported as this instructional shift occurs. Creating a school culture that focuses on literacy in all aspects of instruction and by providing professional development on the key concepts associated with disciplinary literacy can actualize this. Another obstacle that teachers in the content areas face in regards to assessment is taking the time to analyze the data provided from the various assessments. In
our county, students are assessed each quarter by a district created assessment as well as by the end of course exams provided by the state. Our district also requires teachers to administer a progress monitor test three times a year. Much of the work I have done with teachers in their professional learning communities consists of supporting them as they make their way through an overwhelming amount of data. In most cases, the conversations tend to stray away from determining trends. Teachers are inundated with data but they do not feel they have the time to do anything about it. They often discuss the fact that they have “so much to cover” and cannot spend the time reteaching concepts that students have not mastered. As a result, many students continue to superficially navigate through many of their content area classes. This is certainly a perspective that will be difficult to change. In our current culture of assessment, students are required to test on all standards associated with the discipline. Teachers are “under pressure” to cover all material regardless of mastery. As a first step to change, leadership at the school and district levels must communicate to subject area departments that simply “covering the material” is not the goal. District assessments should be written to correlate with the goals of Common
Core State Standards. A classroom environment that focuses on high expectations, inquiry, critical thinking, and accountable talk should be encouraged and expected in each content area classroom.
(Ms. Analexis Kennedy, Secondary Reading Specialist, Seminole County Public Schools, Florida).

Applying Discipline-Specific Literacies

• Content area teachers should assess students’ discipline- specific declarative knowledge, procedural knowledge, and attitudes and habits of mind.
• Effective assessment in the disciplines is based on authentic tasks and meaningful learning processes and contexts. Effective assessment in the disciplines is also multi- dimensional, and uses a wide range of tools and methods.
• Effective assessment in the disciplines is based on criteria that students know, understand, and are appealing to their strengths and goals. Effective assessment is a collaborative process that involves the students, and is ongoing and continuous.

Think Like an Expert

• Knowledge of genres, purpose, audience and task, as well as the ability to clearly communicate ideas in writing, are major foci of literary experts. (English Language Arts)
• Assessment of knowledge, mathematics learning, processes, and mathematical practices is a routine for mathematicians. (Mathematics)
• Scientists place much emphasis on well- structured scientific knowledge, understanding and reasoning; they use formative and summative assessment, as well as ongoing self-assessment and reflection. (Science)
• Historians are skilled in reading, analyzing, synthesizing, and interpreting primary documents, evaluating information from multiple sources, and using evidence to support their claims. They use performance assessment to facilitate historical habits of mind. (Social Studies)

CCSS Connections

• Students in states that have adopted the CCSS, will be assessed by one of the following assessment consortia: the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), or the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium. Students in grades 6–12 will complete formative and summative common ELA and mathematics assessments on a computer, or tablet.
• CCSS assessments will allow for comparison across students, schools, districts, states, and nations. They are designed to provide information that will support more effective teaching and learning, and prepare students for college and careers.

College, Career, and Workforce Connections

• College instructors and employers will use a variety of assessments to gauge students’ and employees’ knowledge, skills, progress, and learning.
• Students who are college and career ready use feedback from assessments and standards of evaluation, and use self- assessment and reflection to propel their learning.
• They also are knowledgeable about media and technology and use their knowledge to collect, document, and share their work for college and career purposes.
• Knowledge of media and technology, software expertise, foreign language skills, art and music skills, networking skills, and even personal hobbies and interests, are all important for learning and success in today’s competitive career markets.
• Acceptance into the Bachelor of Music Education degree requires a high school student to pass an audition into the music department and a music education interview. Auditions include a performance (one – two classical solo pieces of contrasting nature), scales, and the display of musicianship skills such as sight-reading, pitch/interval recognition, and chord recognition. The interview evaluates personality, professionalism, teaching/leadership skills, and motivation for teaching (goals, evidence for teaching/music, and philosophy of education) (Kelly Miller, Faculty, Music Education, University of Central Florida).
• In addition to a base knowledge of music and competency as a performer, potential music education majors must also possess the ability to synthesize knowledge and to apply it creatively in new situations (Scott Tobias, Director of Bands, Music, University of Central Florida)

Digital Literacies

• Awesome Screen Shot: http://awesomescreenshot.com/. Allows the user to capture a whole page or any portion of a page to annotate, upload, and share with others.
• Blurb: http://www.blurb.com/. A digital storytelling platform that allows the user to import photos, videos, and text, and share through social networking such as hashtags, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or e-mail.
• Collaborative writing: http://primarypad.com, or http://docs.google.com. Students can collaborate while writing or write in a shared journal.

Summary

• International and national comparisons of student achievement have made assessment mandatory, and have also placed a focus on the accountability of the classroom teacher. Assessment exists to inform and improve instruction, and promote student learning. Fundamental assessment questions should include: What do teachers expect students to learn? How will teachers best assess their learning? What best instructional practices will teachers use to promote student learning? How will teachers know whether or not students have learned? What will teachers do if students do not learn?
• Assessment types include formal (high stakes) and authentic or informal. The implementation of the CCSS is coupled with new generation assessment systems that focus on college and career readiness.
• Authentic assessments provide teachers with more immediate and instructionally relevant information about student learning. Assessment should be ongoing and flexible. The form and frequency of assessments will vary according to purpose, student needs, task, and instructional objectives. Teachers should set clear, fair, and objective grading criteria for student performance, communicate standards and criteria to students, and provide feedback to students about their learning.

Differentiating Instruction

• For students with special educational needs, administer tests individually, or in a small group, in a separate location with minimal distractions. If needed, provide the test in audio format. Highlight words, or phrases in the directions. Allow for a flexible schedule, and extend the time allotted to complete the test. Allow frequent breaks as needed during testing. Administer the test in several sessions and over several days, and specify the duration of each session.
• For ELLs, provide extra assessment time, breaks during the test, offer it in a small group format, and administer it over several sessions. Give oral directions aloud in English, or in the student’s native language, and allow dictionary use as needed. Use a variety of formative and summative assessments, monitor student progress, set short- term goals, and offer specific feedback.
• Students with exceptionalities may need assessment accommodations; for example, spacing on the page or screen, larger font size, chunking the assessment into pieces or assessment blocks, and additional time to complete the assessment. Consider alternative classroom assessments.
• When students are working in their zone of proximal development (ZPD), student achievement is optimal. Students will benefit from differentiated instruction that is customized to their level of readiness, learning rate, learning interests, or prior knowledge, and language proficiency. All students will benefit from differentiated instruction in a classroom where (a) teachers make instructional decisions that are based on formative assessment data and research- based instructional strategies, and they are valued, and (b) in a positive learning environment where everyone is valued and respected.

Reflect and Apply

1. What are your attitudes toward assessment? What types of assessment do you prefer and why? Share with your peers your attitudes, preferences, and experiences about assessment, and discuss the role assessment has played in your learning.
2. Use what you learned about assessment to offer some suggestions Ms. Kennedy (see Classroom Life vignette) can use with the teachers she is working with, and discuss your ideas with a group of peers.
3. What did you learn about portfolio assessment? In what ways might you use portfolio assessment in your classroom? Specify type, purpose, and contents of portfolio you plan to use in your own content area class. Seek feedback from a couple of your peers.

Extending Learning

1. Interview a school principal, a school district superintendent, or a state department of education representative to find out how your state is aligned with NCLB and the new Common Core State Standards assessments. Discuss implications of the policy and the initiative for student learning, and teacher evaluation purposes. Share the results of your interview with your peers.
2. Select a content area textbook and design a formative assessment using insights from this chapter. Administer the assessment to at least three students to gauge their knowledge of course material. Score and interpret the results and using evidence from student performance, identify instructional plans to improve student comprehension of text. Evaluate your assessment, and discuss your experience with your peers.
3. Find out what standards exist for your state, what the key state assessments are, and how test results are used. In addition, find out if your state has recommendations for assessments that can be used for screening and progress monitoring purposes. Organize your findings in a paper, and present it to your class or your subject area colleagues.

Links to Video Clips

The following videos provide information about the role of professional development for all content area teachers.  Additional videos are included to showcase the 2014 National Teacher Finalists.

• Charlotte Danielson: Importance of Professional Development Aligned to the Framework for Teaching: http://www.iobservation.com/danielson-collection/videos/charlotte-danielson-importance-of-professional-development-aligned-to-the-f/ - Listen to Charlotte Danielson as she explains the complexity of teaching and the need to have professional development that is aligned to teacher evaluation systems.
• Data Carousels (All Grades / All Subjects / Data Use):  https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/data-carousels-improve-instruction - See how an entire school analyzes data to improve instruction and student learning.
• Data Walls (All Grades / All Subjects / Data Use):  https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/differentiated-instruction-with-data-walls - Learn how a leadership team uses data walls to differentiate instruction.
• Instructional Coaching (All Grades/ All Subjects/ Coach Feedback): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/instructional-coaching - See an example of instructional coaching and how important feedback is to teachers for improving their instruction.
• Lesson Study: Surface Area of a Cylinder (Grade 7 / Math / Feedback: CCSS: Math.7.G.B.6): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/math-lesson-plan-critique - Watch how colleagues engage in lesson study by highlight and critiquing the techniques used in a lesson on cylinders.
• Leadership Teams & Student Needs (All Grades / All Subjects / Feedback): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/leadership-teams-meeting-student-needs - See how leadership teams can effectively address the needs of all learners.
• Measures of Effective Teaching: Observation (All Grades / All Subjects / Feedback): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/measures-of-effective-teaching-observation - Examine the importance of observation and peer evaluation in teacher evaluation.
• Multiple Measures of Effective Teaching (All Grades / All Subjects / Student Feedback): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/improving-teacher-performance - Learn about the importance of multiple measures of effective teaching and how they promote teacher reflection and growth.
• New Teacher Survival Guide: 8 Essential Skills to Learn: www.teachingchannel.org/blog/2014/06/16/video-playlist-new-teachers/  - Watch Teaching Channel’s video selections on eight essential skills for new teachers. 
• Professional Learning Communities (PLCs): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLGHY9-sibA - Listen to Drs. DuFour and Dufour as they explains the importance of PLCs for teacher and student success.
• Sir Ken Robinson: The Art of Teaching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUatQQYha3w&index=6&list=PLvzOwE5lWqhSgJVgg7VfRkBisbmm-BFUL - Sir Ken Robinson shares his views on the art of teaching.
• Supporting Individual Professional Development (All Grades / All Subjects / Teaming): https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/professional-learning-communities - Learn about the importance of teacher collaboration for improving teaching practice.

2014 National Teacher of the Year Finalists: Profiles in Practice

Catch a glimpse into the classrooms of three middle and high school national teacher finalists—Sean McComb was named the 2014 National Teacher of the Year.

• Ryan Delvin, Junior/High School English Language Arts Teacher, Rockway, Pennsylvania: https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/meet-ryan-devlin-2014-ntoy-finalist
• Sean McComb, High School English Language Arts/AVID Teacher, Baltimore, Maryland: https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/meet-sean-mccomb-2014-ntoy-finalist
• Dorina Sackman, Middle School ESOL Teacher, Orlando, Florida: https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/meet-dorina-sackman-2014-ntoy-finalist

Links to Classroom Resources

• 25 Things Successful Teachers Do Differently: http://www.teachthought.com/teaching/25-things-successful-teachers-do-differently/ - Quick and useful tips from successful teachers.
• 50 Ways to Challenge Yourself as a Teacher: http://www.teachthought.com/teaching/50-ways-challenge-teacher/ - Teacher-proven ways for professional improvement.
• Becoming a Reflective Teacher: http://www.marzanoresearch.com/resources/tips/brt_tips_archive - Examine Dr. Marzano’s suggestions about what it takes to become a reflective teacher.
• Homework: http://www.nctm.org/resources/content.aspx?id=6338 - Tips for making homework assignments effective from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM).
• Interact for Impact: http://www.nctm.org/resources/content.aspx?id=16653 - Learn about the importance of teachers interacting with students, colleagues, parents, and others from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM).
• Reflection Improves Instruction: http://www.nctm.org/resources/content.aspx?id=17133 - Why reflect on one’s instruction?  Check our tips from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM).
• PLC Evidence of Effectiveness: http://www.allthingsplc.info/evidence/ - Search the AllThingsPLC database to find schools and districts similar that have built successful professional learning communities.
• The Charlotte Danielson Group: http://danielsongroup.org
• About: http://danielsongroup.org/about/
• The Framework for Teaching: http://danielsongroup.org/framework/
• Resources: http://danielsongroup.org/books-materials/
• The Marzano Teacher Evaluation Model: http://www.marzanoevaluation.com
• About the Model: http://www.marzanoevaluation.com/evaluation/causal_teacher_evaluation_model/
• Video Resources: http://www.marzanoevaluation.com/evaluation/free_video_resources/
• Other Resources: http://www.marzanoevaluation.com/evaluation/free_resources/
• The Only Thing You Need to Be a 21st Century Teacher: http://www.teachthought.com/teaching/the-defining-characteristics-of-early-21st-century-learning/ - What is that one thing?  Read this blog post to find out!
• Top 10 Things I Wish I Had Known When I Started Teaching: http://www.nctm.org/resources/content.aspx?id=23089 - Check out important teaching tips from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM).
• Using Real Data:http://www.nctm.org/resources/content.aspx?id=16263- The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) suggests using real data and current events to teach mathematics.

Pedagogy from the Book

Chapter 11: Teaching Discipline-Specific Literacies and Professional Development

Chapter Highlights

• Professional development should be at the center of educational reform.
• Effective professional development is cohesive, relevant, job- embedded, ongoing, collaborative, and discipline-specific. Teachers need time, support, feedback, and opportunities to collaborate with colleagues on improving teaching and student learning.
• Professional development needs to be learner-centered, knowledge-centered, instruction-centered, and assessment-centered.
• Professional development is closely connected to teaching and learning standards, teacher evaluation, accountability, and school improvement plans. Evidence of teacher effectiveness should use multiple sources of evidence, be collected over time, and be discussed at all times with the teacher. Feedback is vital for teacher growth and reflection.
• Different types of professional development include Professional Learning Communities (PLCs), study groups, data or leadership teams, lesson study, and collaborating with instructional coaches.
• A collaborative professional culture is a must for ongoing teacher and student success. Teaching is a complex process that warrants collaboration among all stakeholders.

Classroom Life

Persistence of Vision:

As a novice English Language Arts teacher when courses such as “The Novel,” “The Short Story,” “Journalism,” “Literary Criticism,” were the norm of the times, I had the opportunity to teach a course entitled, “Introduction to Film.” Because this was a survey course introducing the history of the motion picture, and concluding with film genres, I spent the entire summer prior to that school year, reading everything I could get my hands on about film history and criticism. I planned extensively. Daily lessons, units and activities were all designed to engage, excite, and inspire tenth graders to study film from a precise literary point of view. But not long into that first day of class, I realized most had registered for the class thinking they would watch movies every day. As I led the class through the syllabus, I was interrupted by, “What is with all this reading and writing? Aren’t we supposed to be watching films, miss?” Needless to say, as teachers do, I reflected, and then refined my lessons, brokering a compromise with my students about the balance of “movies” and authentic reading coupled with writing about the content. When I consider the vision and the promise that could; and, should occur with the implementation of the Common Core State Standards, I mull over those lessons from my early teaching days. The expectation of the CCSS is that all students will be prepared to meet the demands of colleges and careers in an ever- evolving world. Our instructional practice shifts beyond what the teacher desires to teach to what students really need to be able to know and do when they leave us. Who can really argue that coherent, cohesive, content rich curricula might just lead to improved student achievement, and better prepared citizens? But will that hope become a reality? What will our schools look like in the coming years? One definition of vision is the ability to see things that are invisible. Like the potential in our children. Teachers who have vision see what is beautiful in all things. Teachers are the ones who helped us learn to see. We hear it far too often about our kids . . . they will never be able to get this concept, or complete this rigorous work or pass the test. Why? “Because it’s too hard.” Or she doesn’t have a good home life. Or he is too lazy, or too mean, or too aloof. And that perception is dangerous and unfair, because it impacts kids in ways we can’t even imagine, and therefore, impacts their entire future. Goethe wrote, “Treat people as if . . . they were what they ought to be. . .and you help them become . . . what they are capable of being.” And that holds true for our kids. We must remember that we have every opportunity to transform ourselves and our practice. We have to understand daily that our frame of mind and vision for our students is essentially up to us. And it is this opportunity to refresh, reinvent, and refocus that is well within the reach of teachers who seek daily to do what we should ask of all students: take a risk, test your limits, stretch your thinking, and push a bit beyond the comfort zone. As teachers we know that achievement has a direct correlation to expectation. When we set high standards for our students we challenge them to reach heights they perceive as: unimaginable. It is that relentless, persistent pursuit of excellence, that refusal to accept anything less than the best effort that creates outstanding teaching. Now back in my Introduction to Film days, we learned that your eye and brain retain a visual impression for about 1/30th of a second. This ability to retain an image is known as persistence of vision. The eye retains the image of each frame long enough to give us the illusion of smooth motion. In film and video, this phenomenon is widely believed to account for our ability to perceive a sequence of frames as a continuous moving picture that sparked the concept of animation and eventually led to the development of motion pictures. The anticipatory hook used was inadvertently simplistic. Take a quarter, turn it up on its side, hold the top of the quarter with one finger, take your other finger and flip that two dimensional object. What does it turn into? If you are skillful enough and persistence of vision occurs, you will see the flat coin appear to be a spinning sphere. My vision for that class was something different than that of my students. As we worked together throughout the course, the content became the vehicle to observe with a critical eye, to think about connections to broader concepts, to engage in real debate about what the director, actors or the screenwriter intended. And yes, we watched some film clips only to find evidence to support student assertions. Although I have no way of knowing, I doubt that any of my students went on to Hollywood, but perhaps some of that “reading and writing” we did helped them to succeed in their chosen path. So today what we see in our classrooms are kids with the same dreams and aspirations as we had. The learning opportunities we provide will fill in those gaps between what we see and what we can’t see. Let’s quit making excuses. We need to set and maintain high standards and expect no less from each and every student. Instead of saying all students can learn, let’s say all students will learn. Let’s focus our instruction on the specific needs of our students with no other judgment. Let’s stop allowing any child to “opt out” of his or her education. Yes, we definitely have students with needs beyond our comprehension but what better way to help them escape from these issues then to construct avenues for success. Let’s commit to these essential expectations . . . an environment where teaching is a passion and learning nonnegotiable, where the focus is placed upon the needs of our students, where a supportive atmosphere thrives for students and adults alike, where an outstretched hand is the rule of the day. The vision of the Common Core will always remain two dimensional unless we remain persistent towards our vision. (Ms. Karen Nolen, Coordinator of Professional Development, Seminole County Public Schools, Florida).

College, Career, and Workforce Connections

• Teacher professional development should focus on the complexities and demands of college-, career-, and workforce-readiness in a technologically driven global economy.
• Teachers should prepare all students with the knowledge, skills, dispositions and behaviors necessary for educational, career, and civic engagement.
• Student preparation for college, career, and the workforce should also include preparation in media, technology, and Web 2.0 tools students will need to communicate, collaborate, share, produce, and present in the 21st century and beyond.
• The field of hospitality is very broad and encompasses many different types of businesses, including hotels, restaurants, theme parks, and vacation ownership. All of these businesses require employees who have a desire to serve others. Event management, while related to hospitality, is a different business model and requires great attention to detail and the ability to juggle multiple tasks (Deborah Breiter, Professor, Hospitality, University of Central Florida).

Applying Discipline-Specific Literacies

• Discipline-specific literacies should be one of the main foci of professional development for content area teachers.
• Teachers need to have a solid knowledge of core disciplinary concepts, structures, relationships, development of disciplinary knowledge over time, and major challenges.
• They also need to have effective pedagogical skills about how to engage students in learning, doing, inquiring, and reflecting about disciplinary knowledge, skills, processes, and habits of mind.

Think Like an Expert

• English Language Arts teachers need professional development on (a) the role of narrative and informational text in student learning; (b) ways to motivate and support students to do close reading of texts; (c) how to engage students in academic discourse; and (d) how to develop students’ writing skills. (English Language Arts)
• Math teachers will benefit from professional development that expands their understanding of mathematics, encourages them to view mathematics as a problem-solving, student-centered and inquiry- based process, and provides teachers with opportunities to reflect on, and develop, their own teaching practice. (Mathematics)
• Science teachers need to develop a strong understanding of scientific ideas and engineering practices, cross- cutting concepts, and disciplinary core ideas and practices. They need to learn how to teach them in engaging and relevant ways, including how scientists inquire, and collaborate to develop new theories, models, and explanations of natural phenomena. (Science)
• History teachers need to learn how to teach historical inquiry, how to promote historical thinking, how to read and analyze primary and secondary sources, and how to think, write, and communicate in historically appropriate ways. History teachers need professional development that will help them deliver instruction that will develop deep understanding of content and will promote historical habits of mind. (Social Studies)

Digital Literacies

• The Teaching Palette—Perfecting the Art of Education Blog: http://theteachingpalette.com; Career and Technical Education, Texas: http://cte.unt.edu/aggregator/sources/2; Larry Ferlazzo’s Blog on English and Social Studies resources and lesson ideas: http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/about/
• Math Notations Blog: http://mathnotations.blogspot.com; Life of a Foreign Language Educator by Justin Tarte http://www.justintarte.com; Music Teachers Blog: http://www.musicteachershelper.com/blog/.
• Physical Education Blog: http://www.thephysicaleducator.com/blog/; Science Education on the Edge: http://see.ludwig.lajuntaschools.org; World History Teachers Blog: http://worldhistoryeducatorsblog.blogspot.com.

CCSS Connections

• The CCSS implementation will require comprehensive and ongoing professional development for teachers in grades 6–12.
• The new standards require teachers with deep content knowledge, ability to personalize learning for diverse learners, use of formative and summative assessment, new leadership roles for teachers and school administrators, and a culture of collaboration.
• The CCSS do not prescribe how teachers should teach the standards but mastery of the standards requires rigorous instruction, effective ways to engage students in learning and inquiry, the development of disciplinary dispositions, and various forms of assessing and monitoring student progress.

Summary

• The implementation of new educational standards and the pressures for improved student performance place a strong focus on the types of professional development teachers will need to successfully prepare students for postsecondary education, work, and life. Effective teacher evaluation systems should have professional standards that are aligned with student learning standards, describe excellent teaching, and provide a common language for teacher and administrator dialogue about effective teaching practice.
• Data or leadership teams, study groups, PLCs, communities of practice, lesson study, and collaborating with instructional coaches are major types of school- based professional development. Analyzing student data, monitoring student progress, and setting short term, measureable and attainable goals, are effective ways for teachers to collaborate on instructional improvements and student learning growth.
• Content area teachers need discipline-specific professional development that builds their knowledge of content and pedagogy, and is founded on discipline-specific inquiry, habits of mind and dispositions, and collaborative inquiry. Discipline-specific professional development should also be closely linked to standards, disciplinary ideas, curriculum, assessment, and student and teacher needs. Preparing all students to succeed in grades 6–12 and beyond requires ongoing collaboration and reflection among all stakeholders.

Differentiating Instruction

• Teachers need professional development that will increase their knowledge of ELLs’ needs, and the needs of students with learning exceptionalities.
• Teachers need help understanding students’ background knowledge, and learning appropriate strategies, teaching, interventions, and assessment.
• Teachers will also benefit from learning how to create a culturally responsive learning environment, select diverse materials, teach in discipline- specific ways, analyze and reflect on student data, and plan for improved instruction.
• Students who receive ESE (Exceptional Student Education) services for their learning needs have true learning needs. Some can read, but have difficulties with comprehension, while others have excellent verbal and upper- level thinking, but have difficulties decoding words. Teachers can benefit from professional development on the nature and needs of adolescent ELLs, ESE, gifted, ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder), dyslexia, language and communicative disorders, and others with varied exceptionalities.
• Key topics for all content area teachers include: (1) how exceptional education students perceive, process, respond, and produce information and knowledge; (2) ideas for assessments; (3) learned helplessness; (4) how to scaffold instruction; (5) behavior and classroom management; (6) flexible cooperative learning; and (7) RtI.

Reflect and Apply

1. Think about the teachers you have had so far in your educational career. Which teacher stands out? Why? Would you characterize that teacher as a “good” teacher or not? What were some of his, or her key attributes, knowledge, skills, practices, and dispositions? What would you like to emulate in your practice from that teacher and why?
2. Revisit the Classroom Life vignette. What are your thoughts about Ms. Nolen’s Persistence of Vision? Discuss your reaction to her vignette with a group of peers.
3. What type of professional development would an art, career and technical subjects, English language arts, history, math, physical education, or social studies teacher need to have to help his or her students develop a deeper understanding of content knowledge? Describe the elements, duration, and type of professional development, and provide evidence from the text to support your suggestions.

Extending Learning

1. Observe an excellent content area teacher from your discipline in his or her learning environment. Using evidence from this chapter, develop an observation protocol by identifying the areas of teaching and learning you would like to observe. Conduct the observation, record your notes, analyze them, and present them to class. Also identify areas of improvement, and use your knowledge of effective practice in that discipline to provide specific instructional improvements.
2. Get together with some of your peers and suggest five ways an instructional coach, a school principal, or a mentor could use to support content area teachers in your school to meet the needs of ELLs, and other students, who are having difficulty learning. Describe your rationale, strategies, and ways to implement them. Offer specific ideas to teachers about ways to collect data on student progress. Share your plan with the class.
3. Write a letter to a policy-maker at the state, or school district level about the need to provide discipline-specific professional development for content area teachers. Use research evidence to explain the importance of effective professional development for teacher and student learning, and request the types of support teachers will need in order to help all students succeed. Present your letter to a group of peers, obtain feedback, and revise as needed.
4. Using information from this chapter, develop a plan for making department group meetings more collaborative, relevant to each discipline’s challenges and demands, and instruction- and assessment- centered. Anticipate teacher resistance due to negative or unproductive experiences with professional development. Your plan should span over a nine week period of time and it should include elements of effective, collaborative, and relevant professional development. Share your plan with a department head, or content area teacher from your discipline, and discuss their feedback to your plan with a group of peers.