Monday, September 22, 2014

Sample Teacher Learning Targets with Student-Centered ELA Common Core Standards

There's a formula with which you can change Common Core standards to teacher-centered learning targets:

Students will (concept and skill) by (cognitive application from Hess DOK) as demonstrated by (type of cooperative group activity).

The following are the teacher learning targets for a  month-long unit (seven units per year) for ELA fourth grade Common Core standards:


Student Learning Targets Changed to Teacher Learning Targets using DOK (depth of knowledge) and collaborative learning.



RL 5            I can refer to structural elements to explain major differences among poems, and prose.

Students will be able to refer to structural elements to explain major differences among poems, and prose by comparing a selection of one with the other demonstrated by jigsaw.

RL 7            I can make connections between the written text of a story and a visual or oral.

Students will be able to make connections between the written text of a story and a visual or oral by naming elements of narration/description in the image and matching them with text in the story as demonstrated by pair share.


RI 5             I can describe the structure used in a piece of informational text.

Students will be able to describe the structure used in a piece of informational text by identifying the organizational pattern (description, problem solution, chronological, compare/contrast and cause/effect) and recording the content of the structure on the appropriate graphic organizer.

RI 7            I can interpret information that is presented orally.

Students will be able to interpret information that is presented orally by explaining phenomena in terms of concepts from an science text in their own words as demonstrated by three-step interview .
(In step one the teacher presents an issue about which varying opinions exist and poses several
questions for the class to address. Step two, the students, in pairs become the interviewer and the interviewee. Step three, after the first interview has been completed, the students’ roles are switched. After each student has had a turn, the pairs read their interviews to the class.

W 3             I can write a real or imagined narrative piece where:
a. establish a situation, introduce a narrator, and organize an appropriate sequence.
b.  use dialogue and descriptions to develop events and characters,
c.  use transitional words and phrases to manage sequence of events.
d.  use concrete words and phrases and sensory details
e. provide some sense of closure.


Students will be able to write a fictional or nonfictional narrative by formulating story elements on a step-by-step brainstorming worksheet  the content of the presentation in their own words as demonstrated by peer editing.

W 6            I can use digital tools to produce and publish my work.

Students will be able to use digital tools to produce/publish work by organizing edited content including title, author, narrative content and printing it out as demonstrated by cooperative groups.

SL 2            I can paraphrase portions of a text read aloud or presented visually.

Students will be able to paraphrase portions of a text read aloud or presented visually by using vocabulary words as  context cues as demonstrated pair share.

SL 3            I can identify the reasons and evidence a speaker gives to support points.

Students will be able to identify the reasons and evidence a speaker gives to support points by constructing a graphic organizer that match each point with a reason and/or evidence.

              SL 4            I can speak clearly and audibly while reporting on a topic or telling a story or experience in an organized manner.

Students will be able to speak clearly and audibly while reporting on a topic or telling a story or experience in an organized manner by drawing conclusions of reading selections demonstrated by jigsaw group reporting.

AND/OR

Students will be able to speak clearly and audibly while reporting on a topic or telling a story or experience in an organized manner by recalling a topic or story covered in class as demonstrated corners (Each student moves to a corner of the room representing a teacher-determined alternative. Students discuss within corners, then listen to
and paraphrase ideas from other corners.)


SL 5            I can add audio recordings or visual displays to enhance a presentation.

Students will be able to add audio recordings or visual displays to enhance a presentation by critiquing books/stories/informational text read as demonstrated by class presentation.

SL 3            I can identify the reasons and evidence a speaker gives to support points.

Students will be able to identify the reasons and evidence a speaker gives to support points by summarizing the points as demonstrated by round table (are simple cooperative learning
structures that cover much content, builds team spirit, and incorporates writing. The roundtable has three steps to it. In the first step, the teacher poses a question that has multiple answers. Step two, the first student in each group writes one response on a paper and passes the paper counterclockwise to the next student. Finally, in step three, teams with the greatest number of correct responses gain some type of recognition.)

L 1b            I can form and use progressive verb tenses.

Students will be able to form and use progressive verb tenses by combining each of the progressive tenses with a subject before the verb and a prepositional phrase after it for given verbs as demonstrated by pair sharing sentence strips.

L 1d            I can use adjectives in conventional order; small, red bag NOT red, small bag.

Students will be able to use adjectives in conventional order small, red bag NOT red, small bag by identifying the patterns in conventional adjective noun sentences and state of being sentences as demonstrated by coop groups.


L 1f            I can produce complete sentences.
I can correct inappropriate fragments and run ons.

Students will be able to  produce complete sentences by comparing independent clauses with dependent ones as demonstrated by roundrobin with group leader calling on a group member to change a fragment and/or run-on on a list into a complete sentence.


L 1g            I can correctly use homonyms.

Students will be able to correctly use homonyms by constructing sentences for ten sets of homonyms and having a partner read them aloud and vice versa as demonstrated by pair sharing.


L 2a            I can use correct capitalization.

Students will be able to use correct capitalization by creating a travel brochure to a California destination using correct capitalization demonstrated by jigsaw, with each group working on the same destination.


L 2b            I can use quotations and commas to mark direct speech and quotations from a text.

Students will be able to use quotations and commas to mark direct speech and quotations from a text by modifying text that includes dialogue as demonstrated by peer editing.


L 2c            I can use a comma before a coordinating conjunction in a compound sentence.

Students will be able to use a comma before a coordinating conjunction in a compound sentence by categorizing a mixed list of sentences that contain two independent clauses and one dependent clause with an independent clause and sentences that are not compound sentences (simple/compound subject+verb clause) as demonstrated by peer editing.

L 2d            I can spell fourth grade words appropriately and consult references as needed.

Students will be spell fourth grade words appropriately and consult references as needed by using a choice of online dictionaries as demonstrated by peer checking.


L 3a            I can choose words and phrases to precisely convey ideas.

Students will be able to choose words and phrases to precisely convey ideas by modifying descriptive text each as demonstrated by jigsaw, each group working on a part of a reading selection composed of vague phrases and words.


L 3b            I can choose punctuation for effects.

Students will be able to choose punctuation for effects by comparing connotations with sentences that don't use punctuation for effects as demonstrated by pair sharing using the same text (a poem).


L 3c            I can differentiate between contexts that call for formal English and informal discourse.

Students will be able differentiate between contexts that call for formal English and informal discourse analyzing dialogue written in dialect by combining each of the progressive tenses with a subject before the verb and a prepositional phrase after it for given verbs as demonstrated by pair sharing sentence strips.


L 4a            I can use context clues to figure out word meaning.

Students will be able to  use context clues to figure out word meaning by hypothesizing a meaning of an unfamiliar word using words/phrases around it by pair share of predetermined unknown words identified in first step of close reading.


L 4b            I can determine the meaning of a word by using the affix or root.

Students will be able to determine the meaning of a word by using the affix or root differentiating these affixes in a word (separating them from the root word) as demonstrated by jigsaw (each group getting a list of words to analyze).


L 4c            I can determine the meaning or pronunciation of a word by consulting reference materials.

Students will be able to determine the meaning or pronunciation of a word by consulting reference materials by reciting the word after hearing it being pronounced (using an online dictionary) as demonstrated by pair sharing.


L 5a            I can explain the meaning of simple similes and metaphors.

Students will be able explain the meaning of simple similes and metaphors modifying banal adjectives in a descriptive/narrative writing assignment as demonstrated by peer editing.


L 5b            I can recognize and explain the meaning of common idioms, adages, and proverbs.

Students will be able to recognize and explain the meaning of common idioms, adages, and proverbs by identifying them in literature to define them using visuals/realia/TPR  as demonstrated by coop groups.


Thursday, September 18, 2014

Simplifying Standards, Learning Targets and Objectives for Common Core Part I--Creating Student-Centered Learning Targets

Common Core has brought us a change in education nomenclature so that it can often be confusing to parents, teachers and administrators if they aren't familiar with it.

Consider for a moment the translation of education terms you know into those of the Common Core in terms of student and teacher.

What you used to refer to as performance objectives are now called learning targets, more specifically, teacher learning targets.

New to common core is an extension of the old concept of performance standards so that they address students directly.  In order to do so involves a simple task that allows you to convert each standard from a teacher's point of view to a student's. By converting the third person point of view of the standard to the first person point of view for students allows you to directly address them when they are posted in the classroom.

For example, the RI4.1 (Reading Informational Text, Grade 4) standard for informational text (and a very similar one for literature) can be changed to the students' point of view in the following manner:

Third Person directed to teachers/parents/administrators for RL4/RI4.1: Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
Third Person directed to students for RL4/RI4.1: I can use details and examples to draw inference from a text.

So, there you have it, a conversion of a teacher directed standard to a student-friendly objective directed to students in first person.

Now you can move on to develop students' DOK (Depth of Knowledge) and method of output, the means to which students produce output/product.

Coming Soon: How to Write Learning Targets for Teachers from which to Develop Lesson Plans

Friday, September 12, 2014

Get Paid for Your Lesson Plans

You can get paid for your lesson plans, workbooks, thematic units and graphic organizers/thinking maps at Teachers Pay Teachers.

Registration is quick and easy, taking only about 10 minutes to complete, which includes uploading a "selfie" and giving some details about your education and experience.

Teaching materials are inexpensive and you can pay via paypal.

Submit your teaching materials and get paid for all that work on your lesson plans. 

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Grade 1-8 CCSS/Close Reading (Instructional Text) Lesson Plan Template


Informational Text Reading Selection Lesson Plan Template for Elementary and Middle School Teachers

Created by Matthew Bamberg, Adjunct Professor in Education, National University

In this template, you can create one-period lesson plan in literacy and/or English/Language Arts for any informational reading selection. Simply choose a reading selection from the materials section of the lesson plan template below and apply it to each lesson plan template step.


Standards: 


Grade 2 at https://www.thecorestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RI/2/
Grade 3 at https://www.thecorestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RI/3/
Grade 4 at https://www.thecorestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RI/4/
Grade 5 at https://www.thecorestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RI/5/
Grade 6-8 same URL for each with grade level replaced in last character. 


 Objectives/Learning Targets: 

Grade 4 Learning Targets Informational Text


Materials: 

There are a wide variety of reading materials you can use for this template from websites to ebooks to textbooks. The following is a list of Internet informational reading selections for grades 2-5. 

All grades free (sign-up) Current news articles from major publications/organizations  http://newsela.com 
All grades free for a month then $ at http://www.readinga-z.com/commoncore/informational-text/
Middle school free Black history at http://www.thehistorymakers.com/
Grade 3-8 free Informational Readings with questions by skill at http://teacher.depaul.edu/Skill-Focused-Readings/Summarize_Nonfiction_Fiction.html
All grades $ from Scholastic at http://cc.bigreddog.org/teachers/books/non-fiction
Grades 1-5 free Reading comprehension passages at http://mrnussbaum.com/readingpassageindex#5
Grades 4-5 free Nonfiction text selections with tests at http://d102.org/blogs/kgow/files/2011/05/Nonfiction-Article-Practice.pdf
Grades 3-8 free Flash technology talking books with images at http://www.tumblebooks.com/library/asp/book_details.asp?Category=Non-Fiction&isflash=1
Grades 1-8 free Guttenberg Children's history at http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Children%27s_History_(Bookshelf)
Grades 1-8 free Guttenberg Children's biography at http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Children%27s_Biography_(Bookshelf)
Grades 1-8 free Children's Instructional books at http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Children%27s_Instructional_Books_(Bookshelf)
To test webpages for reading levels copy and paste paragraph from page and paste into 

Procedure

Introduction: Introduce title and author (if available) of passage. Discuss what you know about the topic, including identifying it as narration, description, argument, poetry, play, subject area and so on. Relate topic to prior reading and set purpose for reading new selection.
1. Teacher reads selection aloud while students follow along (engagement). A list of websites with reading selections is included at the end of this lesson plan.
2. Teacher elicits from students what they think is the first characteristic (length, difficulty, tone, genre, purpose) they note about the passage. Write the words on the white board or note pad under document camera. (I do; we do; you do method)
3. Have students indicate the words they aren't familiar with (circle, highlight, etc...) Look up word in online or table dictionary and discuss with students, associating it with a concept of the unknown word. (I do; we do; you do method)
If selection is from textbook, go over visuals, headings subheadings, words in bold print/italics and so on). Let students know that this is called the selective attention learning strategy
For ELLs, type names of each word into Google Images, showing students the best representation of the word. 
4. Share out (Think/pair share) vocabulary words/explain in own words. Discuss punctuation/capitalization in passage. (I do; we do; you do method). For more prereading activities see http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/reading_lit.html
5.Students read selection again silently.

6. Ask critical thinking questions from Bloom's taxonomy at http://www.meade.k12.sd.us/PASS/Pass%20Adobe%20Files/March%202007/BloomsTaxonomyQuestionStems.pdf  Refer back to text when appropriate.

Assessment:

After teaching a few reading selections, create tests on the following skills for the grade level/reading level you teach. 

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Understanding specific Common Core Standards

As I was teaching this morning (online) I found that many teachers, parents and students might be confused by common core standards such as the World History standards below.

History/Social Studies CCR 2: Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of how key events or ideas develop over the course of the text.
ELD Standards Grade 9-10 Part I A. Collaborative 1. Exchanging information and ideas with others through oral collaborative discussions on a range of social and academic topic.
CSS History 10.1 Students relate the moral and ethical principals in ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, in Judaism, and in Christianity to the development of the Western political thought.

These standards are misleading in that the time frame in which they should be taught is ambiguous. These standards are good; however, the public reading them might interpret them as generalities that are too broad in subject matter and too vague about the time frame in which cover the skills and content should be taught.

All of these standards appear so broad with so many subtopics that the lesson ideas could be quite convoluted. For example, the last standard doesn't refer to covering all that material in one lesson, or even several. The question is how much time should students work on the standard. Teachers are now summoned to plan the scope and sequence of the curriculum with grade levels determined by the complexity of the standard, which used to be specifically drawn out in charts and chapter in textbooks.

So, how do high school teachers plan lessons? The get together by grade level and decide what they are going to teach according to the general standard for literacy corresponding to the subject taught and the subject itself. The best way to understand this is to see a sample lessons in a unit that addresses the Common Core.



Wednesday, March 5, 2014

The Power of the ING Verb--Common Core Gold

The ING verb is mighty powerful. From the words creating to debating, these suffix-dependent words spell another word--MARKETING. Rarely does a suffix make its face known in the marketing community so often as the ING verb.

As I develop the idea for my newest book, I take note at how effective ING verbs are as the first word in each listing of a table of contents in how-to books. Look for yourself. Every how-to book publisher uses these suffixes in their books' table of contents.

While this might not seem significant to most people, It should and does to educators. Why are ING verbs so effective and why should their use be taught to students of all grade levels as a real life application to marketing? Simply because it's the perfect put-the-reader-in-the-picture verb. Reading an ING verb in a table of contents or chapter beginning drops you right into the how-to scenario.

Consider the ubiquitous ING verb creating as in Creating a Diagram. The forceful nature of the suffix take you right into the process as if you were in the middle of it. Now this might sound trite, it isn't because ING words are worth billions, both in their effectiveness to sell just about anything to their marketing real-life applications that teachers should use a springboard for teaching them.

Take a look at any for Dummies book's TOC (Table of Contents) and you can see the ING verbs in action, doing their marketing magic. 

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Professor Matthew Bamberg's Writing Process Quick Guide

To be honest, writing wasn't always easy for me, but I have developed a few techniques that help. When I write a sentence, I think about it in terms of a set of phrases that are put together so that they include a subject and verb. Of course in complex and compound sentences there are often more than one subject and/or one verb.

I also write using the traditional steps--brainstorm, outline (for longer pieces), rough draft written using as the outline as a guide, revision, editing to produce a final draft.
1. The first is to go over that webpage I have written (http://www.commoncorestandardslinks.com/2013/09/three-common-grammar-errors.html) about the three errors. I grade a lot of papers, and most students make the same errors.
2. I proofread twice, once when I'm finished with a sentence and once when I'm finished the draft. This usually catches most errors. If the work is for an editor or other professional purposes, I sit on it overnight and edit it once more the next day. 
3. For spelling and some grammar, I use the spell check. On most computers there is a built in spell check that enables you to select the word you want to spell correctly and control click on a Mac. It's probably left-click on a PC.  If I can't find the word in the spell check, I type in the word spelled as best as I can into Google to find out the correct spelling. With some words I have to go through several sample spellings in order for Google to find the word I want.
4. For grammar, I use the Purdue Owl writing website. When I can't figure out whether to use a capital letter or a comma/semicolon/colon, I type the problem I am having into Google along with the words Purdue Owl (or just Purdue). The answer I'm looking for is usually one of the first three entries of the result that Google comes up with, showing the Purdue OWL webpage I need to look at. Purdue also has a quick reference page for commas. You can get there by typing in Purdue comma quick rules.

Friday, September 27, 2013

Three Common Grammar Errors

Since common core requires testing written work, I'll go over the three most common errors in grammar, mechanics or style that I have found in students' essays:

1.  One of the most common errors I note in students' composition papers is that students confuse a plural (which refers to more than one) with a possessive (which means ownership).
For example: consider the errors in this sentence: The course's that I have taken at Ashford have been challenging, yet rewarding. Note that the word courses indicates more than one class so you don't need the apostrophe. The sentence should be: The courses I have taken at Ashford have been challenging, yet rewarding.

Now if you wanted to write about a characteristic of a class (something the course takes ownership of), you could write a sentence like this: The course's textbooks are brilliantly written. Course's here can be rewritten as textbook of the course. If this sentence were written with the apostrophe after the s in the word courses the word would become courses', which means you are talking about possession dealing with more than one class. For example, to indicate the meaning of the word courses' you can write textbooks of the courses (more than one course).

Now the distinction between plurals using courses as an example and then using course's as another example makes more sense.

Again, a plural means more than one and doesn't need an apostrophe either before or after the s, and a possessive means ownership, which is indicated in two ways, a required apostrophe either before or after the s (course's textbooks means one course, and courses' textbook means more than one course).

2. The second error I frequently encounter when I read students' essays deals with capitalization. This one is straight-forward. You capitalize the names of people, places and/or things (proper nouns). For example: The students graduated from high school two years early because they were considered gifted by their teachers. Here the words high school are not capitalized because it is not the name of a specific high school. Now take a look at this sentence: The students graduated from Coral Gables High School two years early because they were considered gifted by their teachers. Note that the first letter in every word of  the name of the institution is capitalized.

Here are some other examples of nouns vs. proper nouns

state/Florida
city and state/Coral Gables, Florida
elementary school/Sunset Elementary School
name of building/Empire State Building
street/Butternut Street
president/ President Barack Obama
lake/Lake Okeechobee or The Big O (casually speaking)

3. The third error I want to write about deals with punctuation, specifically the comma, the bane of the beginning writer. Here you need to know about dependent and independent clauses. A dependent clause is a phrase. If it's written by itself as a sentence,  it's an error called a fragment. An example of a fragment would be: When the television went on the blink. An independent clause is a complete idea with subject and verb: When the television went on the blink, I brought it to the repair shop near my house.
Commas are often missed being placed before an introductory clause: Even though my mother is older, she remains beautiful.
Extra commas are often added to dependent clauses placed after the dependent clause: My mother is pretty, even though she is older. This is incorrect. It should be: My mother is pretty even though she is older.

Finally, there is the comma splice error. This is simply using a comma between two independent clauses that are not joined with a conjunction: The girls and boys in the Mrs. Gorden's class came into the classroom unprepared for the day's activities, a few of the math activities were expected to be challenging not only for the students to learn, but also for the teachers to teach.
The first comma should be changed to a period and the first letter of the next word needs a capital because these are two independent clauses (complete sentences) connected with a comma.
The sentence should be: The girls and boys in the Mrs. Gorden's came into the classroom unprepared for the day's activities. A few of the math activities were expected to be challenging not only for the students to learn, but also for the teachers to teach.

Monday, July 1, 2013

Book Review Recipes

Here's the case where the comment for a link is better than the link itself, which was a blog post for the Common Core standards.

Note the cleverness of this comment, added to a blog post by a teacher:


These sound like fun activities that kids can connect to their daily lives. I love teaching writing, and my students also have enjoyed writing book review "recipes" as an adjective/parts of speech writing exercise. Take "George's Marvelous Medicine" for example:

2 c. Magic
1 c. Wicked
1/2 c. Humor
2 tbs. Suspense
1 tbs. Revenge
1 tsp. Greediness
 
Directions: Pour the magic, wicked, & humor into a large bowl and mix well! Slowly sprinkle in the tablespoons of suspense, revenge, and greediness one at a time. Stir them all together for one delicious story!