Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Common Core- Digging Deeper into each Standard

The BIG talk in the world of education is the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).  It is such a big thing that 48 out of 50 states have adopted these standards at some level.  At least that what was said at the last training I attended.

Why have we moved to CCSS?  What do these standards really mean?
Upon reading some information from the CCSS website I found some lines that I felt really spell out why we are moving in this direction.  Here they are:

"As a natural outgrowth of meeting the charge to define college and career readiness, the Standards also lay out a vision of what it means to be a literate person in the twenty-first century."
"As specified by CCSSO and NGA, the Standards are (1) research and evidence based, (2) aligned with college and work expectations, (3) rigorous, and (4) internationally benchmarked."

The rigorous piece is what I'd like to really speak about today.  How do we take these standards and teach them to the higher level in which they were created to be taught?  That's what I am hoping to find out through this journey that I would like to take with all of you.

So how to do this??  Fabulous question... My thought is to dive deeper and really look at what each standard is truly intended to teach.  I thought about starting with the first standard, but then right now I am working with a group of teachers on RL.6 so as crazy as it might seem, I'm starting there.

Hello RL.6!!!
The best way, I think, to begin tackling this standard is to understand where it starts and where it is going.  So Let's look at it vertically.

K-  With prompting and support, name the author and illustrator of a story and define the role of each in telling the story.
1-  Identify who is telling the story at various points in a text.
2-  Acknowledge difference in the points of view of characters, including by speaking in a different voice for each character when reading dialogue aloud.
3-  Distinguish their own point of view from that of the narrator or those of the characters.
4-  Compare and contrast the point of view from which different stories are narrated, including the difference between first- and third-person narratives.
5-  Describe how a narrator's or speaker's point of view influences how events are described.
6-  Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a text.
7-  Analyze how an author develops and contrasts the points of view of different characters or narrators in a text.
8-  Analyze how difference in the points of view of the characters and the audience or reader (e.g., created through the use of dramatic irony) create such effects as suspense or humor.

This website gives a nice snapshot of the vertical alignment of the standards as well as a nifty (who uses that word... really? lol) highlighting feature for the difference amongst grade levels. http://rt3nc.org/objects/standards/cclitmap/ela.html

Here's a good video from YouTube which gives basic information about Perspective and Point of View:



I really liked this comment, but somehow lost the site I found it on.  Sorry site!!!  "In other words, how does where a writer or narrator is coming from (point of view) and going towards (purpose) affect what he/she writes (content and style)?"

So to me,
POV at K-2 is simply...
*  identifying that an author and/or illustrator tells a story
*  sometimes the person telling the story changes.
*  Dialogue also comes into play at this age level because that is   how we identify who is speaking.

POV at 3-5 goes into...
*  how POV of characters differ from each other as well as from the reader.
*  1st-, 2nd-, and 3rd-person are introduced identified and elaborated on as to what role this plays in how the story unfolds.

Some thoughts I have been putting out there for teachers are...
*  How would the story have unfolded if told by another character's POV?
*  How would the story have been different if told in 1st person as opposed to 3rd?
*  Based on your POV, how would you have told the story differently?
*How did understanding the past experiences of the character help you understand his/her point of view in the story?

ABSOLUTELY LOVE this quote from ReadWriteThink.
"One of life's biggest challenges is accepting that there are numerous interpretations and that there is rarely oneright way to view the world. Literature can introduce characters who have learned to accept that different viewpoints exist, demonstrating how they persevere when faced with difficulties. Books can also change readers' perspectives about what they already know and extend their knowledge through new ways of seeing familiar things."
Doesn't that wrap RL.6 up in a nutshell??

Common Core website shout out time...  These sites have been VERY helpful to me with each standard.

What are your thoughts on Point of View and RL.6?  What are some things you are doing in your classrooms to teach this standard?  I would really appreciate hearing all of your teaching ideas as well as knowledge of this standard.  I really want these posts to be educational for everyone, including myself.
THANKS :)

Although this journey has been stressful and time-consuming thus far, I REALLY feel like we, as a nation, are moving in the right direction. 
Antoinette :)


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