Common Core ELA in Science & Technical Subjects

[Jessica Fries-Gaither]

Have you seen the Common Core English Language Arts Standards? They include content areas (math, science, social studies) for grades 6-8 and include standards related to comprehension, vocabulary, and informational text features. See these standards at

http://www.corestandards.org/the-standards/english-language-arts-st....

How do you feel about the inclusion of the content areas in the Common Core ELA standards for middle and high school? Do you already meet these standards, or will you need to modify your instruction? Has your school or department talked about this issue? What ideas and resources can you share with others working through similar challenges?

April 13 Update:

We had two great conversations about these standards recently! If you couldn't join us, information for each session is listed below!

Part 1: Common Core and Reading Standards for Literacy in Science and Technical Subjects 6-12

Webinar Recording (Recorded March 14, 2012)

Presentation Slides

Diigo Resource List

Part I of our series on the impact the Common Core State Standards will have on science instruction in the middle grades. In this session, we’ll explore the writing standards for grades 6-8. Learn about the standards themselves, discover resources that can help you modify your instruction to meet them, and join the emerging conversation with other educators. You’ll get the most out of the seminar if you’ve browsed these standards ahead of time. Go to http://corestandards.org/, click on English Language Arts, and scroll to the Reading Standards for Literacy in Science and Technical Subjects 6-12.

Part 2: Common Core and Writing Standards for Literacy in Science and Technical Subjects 6-12

Webinar Recording (Recorded April 11, 2012)

Presentation Slides

Diigo Resource List

Part II of our series on the impact the Common Core State Standards will have on science instruction in the middle grades. In this session, we’ll explore the writing standards for grades 6-8. Learn about the standards themselves, discover resources that can help you modify your instruction to meet them, and join the emerging conversation with other educators. You’ll get the most out of the seminar if you’ve browsed these standards ahead of time. Go to http://corestandards.org/, click on English Language Arts, and scroll to the Writing Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects 6-12.

[David Lawrence]

Hi Jessica,

I teach middle school science in Lexington, MA, and we are just beginning to come to terms with the new LA standards as they relate to science.

Looking at these new standards, I personally feel that I am not yet meeting them -- I'm going to need to modify my instruction. Can you (or anyone) point me toward solid resources that science teachers can use to teach these skills within our science classes?

[Jessica Fries-Gaither]

Hi David - thanks for the reply! I am going to pull some resources together for you and will get back to you in a few days!!

Jessica

[David Lawrence]

Thanks Jessica! Looking forward to it.

[Jessica Fries-Gaither]

Hi David! Here are a few resources to get you started. I'll continue to look and post as I discover more.

1) A good place to start is with Laura Robb's book, Teaching Reading in Social Studies, Science, and Math. It's very readable and full of mini-lessons that can be used to support ELA without sacrificing your science content. Without re-reading the book, I'm sure she'll have mini lessons that address many of the standards listed in the Science and Technical Subjects section of the Common Core.

2) RST.6-8.4 has to do with determining the meaning of symbols, key terms, and domain-specific words and phrases. You might be interested in our resource guide, Developing Science Vocabulary as a place to start.

3) Another resource guide that you might find useful is Reading Comprehension Strategies in Science. It gives an overview of strategies that can help your students comprehend the text and how you can tweak your instruction to support them in doing so. It also has a few resources at the end that should be useful.

4) RST.6-8.7 states that students should be able to represent information visually. We have two archived webinars that may be useful - one on interpreting infographics and one on creating them. (For the latter, move the slide on the bottom of the screen to 25 minutes – we inadvertently started the recording early.)

Finally, I think that even though these new standards might seem intimidating at first, you'll be able to meet them fairly easily with some additional instructional objectives and tweaked approaches. Once you've had a chance to look at these resources, we can talk more about how this might be accomplished.

Hope these are helpful - let me know what you think!!

Jessica

[David Lawrence]

Thank you Jessica! That was hugely helpful. I'll dig into some of these this weekend.

Sincerely,

David

[David Lawrence]

Hi again, Jessica. Anything that you can recommend for the writing component?

[Jessica Fries-Gaither]

I'll start looking! 

[Kim Lightle]

Here is an article from the NYT that I thought was really appropriate for this discussion -- The Times and the Common Core Standards: Reading Strategies for ‘In...

[Jessica Fries-Gaither]

David, I haven't forgotten about your request for writing resources! I promise to have something up soon!

Jessica

[Jessica Fries-Gaither]

Hi David,

I'm embarrassed that I'm just now getting back to this. Check out the webinar slides, recording, and Diigo list I just posted above. I hope this gets you started!!

[Jessica Fries-Gaither]

Here's another resource I came across: 10 Ways to Promote Writing for an Authentic Audience. Most of the examples aren't science or math focused, but it should get the wheels turning!

[Jessica Fries-Gaither]

And another one: How to Teach Commenting Skills.