"Deeper learning comes from great questions, not great answers."
The authors of Expeditionary Learning's Transformational Literacy contend that the Common Core demands deeper thinking, deeper critical analysis, deeper understanding from students - in short deeper learning.
Of course, plenty of debate surrounds these standards (anyone who follows Diane Ravitch on Twitter reads about this every day). Nonetheless, districts across the country are grappling with these demands, working through the shifts of these standards: Building Knowledge through Content-Rich Non-Fiction & Informational Texts, Reading and Writing Grounded in Evidence from Text, Regular Practice with Complex Text and Its Academic Vocabulary.
Even Mike Schmoker, who - in his widely-read book Focus, jabs at national standards as overwrought, supports these shifts. His framework for instruction in ELA classrooms centers on reading, writing and talking. He emphasizes a balance between fiction and non-fiction texts, the use of challenging texts, and student use of evidence in speaking and writing, which should be primarily argumentative in nature. Most importantly, though, according to Schmoker, is that students read and write a lot (60 minutes of reading and 40 minutes of writing per day). Does it need to be more complex than this?
And that is the focus of this blog. As a curriculum specialist, my goal is to engage as many voices in designing a secondary (middle grade/ high school) ELA instructional model that achieves these demands, that makes these shifts, and that works for students and teachers.
So, let's begin (consider any/all/none of the questions below when responding):
What does your ideal ELA lesson look like?
What does your perfect day in your classroom look like?
How do we get students to "deeper learning"?
How does word work and grammar instruction fit in to the ELA curriculum?
In short: What are the key elements to effective ELA instruction in the Common Core Era?
Join the conversation.
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