Writing and the Common Core State Standards

Esther WojcickiFounder, Palo Alto High School Journalism Program

California State Teacher Credentialing Commission Teacher of the Year in 2002.

Discussion topics today

• What are the Common Core State Standards in Writing and Language Arts?

• The challenge: including non-fiction in the classroom

• How to meet the State Standards • requirements in your classroom

• Examples from the real world

Education yesterday

Not much has changed in 100 years

• Little or no project based learning• Lots of worksheets—now online• Little student control of learning• Collaboration is seen as cheating

• CHANGE IS IN THE COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS

What should school today look like ?

CREATIVE, INNOVATIVE, EXCITING, COLLABORATIVE

Differentiated instruction

Share their work online

Collaborative classroom

Give them control

Encourage collaboration

Encourage creativity

Lots of creativity

Teach kids to shareCREATIVE COMMONS

Teach them to SEARCH

Let them work in groups

KEY: ENGAGED students

Work collaboratively

Not afraid to take risks

Teacher as COACH

Project based learning

Teach respect by respecting them

BUT…..

Is it happening today??

Probably not in a school near you

80% of teachers LECTURE full-time

Classroom 2013

Another classroom 2013

Schools today discourage creativity

• TESTS, TESTS, TESTS• STANDARDIZED CURRICULUM

• SCRIPTED EDUCATION• WORKSHEETS

All kids have tremendous capacity for innovation

We educate innovation and creativity out of them with all the testing and

controlled curriculum

We are educating kids for a future that we don’t know

We need to teach them to think, to find information for themselves.

not to memorize useless facts

How do you get creativity into the schools?

Add project based learning into the scripted curriculum

Make school RELEVANT

Let them explore and write about their world

WHY JOURNALISM?

Journalism is the most effective and authentic project based

learning for all students

WHY?It’s real

Why Journalism?

• It ties directly to the Common Core State Standards

• The Common Core State Standards can help change the classroom

CCSS---Key Design Consideration

Research and media skills blended into the Standards as a whole

....students need the ability to gather, comprehend, evaluate, synthesize, and report on information and ideas, to conduct original research in order to answer questions or solve problems, and to analyze and create a high volume and extensive range of print and nonprint texts in media forms old and new. The need to conduct research and to produce and consume media is embedded into every aspect of today’s curriculum...

WRITING STANDARD

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.10 Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.

Journalism is research, primary research

It provides….the ability to gather, comprehend, evaluate, synthesize,

and report on information and ideas, to conduct original

research….

WRITING STANDARD

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.1.7 Participate in shared research and writing projects …

Come up with a story idea

Pay attention to what is happening

in the world around you

ability to gather information...

How to Search intelligently on the web

SEARCH EDUCATION--GOOGLE

LESSON PLANS & ACTIVITIES

POWER SEARCHING

A GOOGLE A DAY CHALLENGE

LIVE TRAININGS

JOURNALISM MEANS INTERVIEWING

Students need to know how to interview, how to ask good questions, how to do primary research. Students learn by doing…(John Dewey)

WRITING STANDARD

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.

Example: PERSONALITY FEATURE

At the beginning of the school year, have students interview each other and write a

personality feature (profile) about each other

The NY Times Learning Network has 100s of resources supporting

the teaching of journalism

NY Times Learning Network

Writing a Personality Feature

Seventh grade was when it all started. The song “Careless Whisper,” by George Michael, hooked Orion into the musical world, and kept him there. With its catchy melody by his side, Orion was able to excel at alto saxophone, and find a supportive group of friends that share similar interests as him.

“It’s the song that got me into music.” Orion says, when referring to “Careless Whisper”. He and his friends have been playing that song for several years now, and it still holds a special meaning for them. Orion described how he and his five other band friends played Careless Whisper after band practice one day. “We played it over and over,” he said. “We even got some of the teachers to come out and dance! Our friends came out and walked with us and they talked, and we just kept playing.”

Personality feature lead by 9th grader

Other people to interview

• Adminstrators

• Teachers

• Student leaders

• Parents

• Grandparents

• Community members

• Business people

JOURNALISM MEANS PUBLISHING

Top Three and Free ways to publish

BloggerWordPress

Tumblr

PUBLISH FREE ON GOOGLE SITES

C MAGAZINE (Palo Alto High)

PRINT WITH APRINTIS.COM

JOURNALISM is Opinion Writing.It ties to CCSS

• All kids are opinionated starting at birth…by the time they are in elementary school they want to run the show.

• Give them an opportunity to write about something they care about and be independent

WRITING STANDARD STARTING IN FIRST GRADE

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.1.1 Write opinion pieces in which they introduce the topic or name the book they are writing about, state an opinion, supply a reason for the opinion, and provide some sense of closure

MY THREE DAUGHTERS—MY FIRST CLASS—VERY SELF DIRECTED

PARENTS ARE A CHILD’S FIRST TEACHERS

• They are also the most influential of all the teachers.

• Parents are part of the educational team

MY PHILOSOPY WITH MY CHILDRENT.R.I.C.K

• Trust• Respect• Independence• Collaboration• Kindness

T.R.I.C.K WORKS IN THE CLASSROOM, TIES INTO CCSS

• It empowers students• Fosters collaboration• Helps teachers implement the project based

CCSS curriculum• Motivates students• Makes kids feel valued

857 students drop out every

hour

Reasons for dropping out

• School not relevant to real world• Feel disconnected to school

• Difficult home life• Economic issues

Help them feel connected

• Give them a chance to express their ideas (OPINION WRITING)

• Let them work together in groups (MORE FUN TO WORK WITH YOUR FRIENDS)

• Have them write everyday about what is important to them (or react to what is going on in the world) (USE GOOGLE DOCS TO SHARE)

EXAMPLES OF STUDENT OPINION WRITING

• STUDENTS CAN WRITE ABOUT– Local issues– Family issues– School issues– International issues– Class issues– So many topics

WRITING STANDARD

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.1.2 Write informative/explanatory texts in which they name a topic, supply some facts about the topic, and provide some sense of closure.

NEWS WRITINGTies to the CCSS

WRITING STANDARD

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.4.8 Recall relevant information from experiences or gather relevant information from print and digital sources; take notes and categorize information, and provide a list of sources.

NEWS WRITING

What is News Writing?

• Collecting information and or data• Distinguishing fact from opinion• Evaluating sources• Evaluating information• Writing it up in the inverted pyramid

format, most important to least important

You don’t need a dedicated journalism program

• Opinion writing can be done in an English class, a social studies class, a science class

• Easiest classes to integrate journalism into is 5th through 9th grade English classes

Book Reviews instead of Book Reports

Have students read professional book reviews• Ask them to support their opinions about the

book with examples and quotes• You can still ask them to evaluate plots,

characterization, theme....• Have students peer edit using Google Docs• Publish the reviews in a blog online

WRITING STANDARD

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.1.5 … focus on a topic, respond to questions and suggestions from peers, and add details to strengthen writing as needed.

WRITING STANDARD

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.1.6 …..use a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers

PEER EDITING

PEER EDITING

Everything turned in online & shared

From: Key Design Consideration

Standards for 6–12 ELA requires much greater attention to a specific category of informational text—literary nonfiction—than has been traditional.

Key Design Consideration--CCSS

Students need to be proficient in reading complex informational text independently in a variety of content areas.

Have kids read the news everyday

• EXAMPLES– New York Times– Local newspapers– Time Magazine– Atlantic Monthly– HuffingtonPost– Many more….

TED PRIZE 2013—Sugara Mitra

HAPARA

Kids are not afraid of making mistakes

But through schooling we stigmatize mistakesBy the time they graduate they are good at memorizing but not thinking

Promote learning with badges

WHY ???

• Why don’t schools change??

• 1. Schools of education have not changed• 2. Teachers teach the way they were taught• 3. Teachers are reluctant to give up any

control to students• 4. Teachers are given scripted curriculum

Everyone is interested in education

Let’s see if we can make a difference in getting kids

engaged (not threatened) in their learning

Let’s see if we can implement the CCSS

Videos to watch

SEARCHhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=v9yZco8bwI8

The power of Docs http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=TYPjJK6LZdM

Video at the end http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9PvlEWAr5I