May the Common Core Force Be With You

The ELA (English Language Arts) Common Core Standards...

• Are the "What", but not the "how" of our instruction
• Are based on what students need to be college/career ready
• Recognize that both content and skills are important
• All of the Above

The ELA Common Core standards are broken down into the following areas:

• Literature K-5
  Informational Text K-5
• All of the Above
• Writing K-5, Language
• Foundational Skills, Speaking, Viewing, Listening & Media Literacy

Who developed the ELA Common Core standards?

• Greenwood Teachers
• Yoda
• Dr. Chace Anderson
• Focus groups of educators, K-12 teachers and administrators, higher education instructors, parents, content specialists, national English Language Arts specialists

The reading standards for literature & informational text are broken into these areas:

• key ideas & details, craft & structure, integration of knowledge & ideas, range of reading and level of text complexity
• key ideas & details, summarizing, independent reading
• range of reading and level of text complexity, craft & structure
• Jedi training & Stormtrooper invasions

In order for 1st graders to be able to ask and answer questions about key details in the text, kindergarten teachers need to:

• Teach valuable lightsaber techniques
• Read a lot of books
• Prompt and support students in the practice of asking & answering questions.
• Quote accurately from a text when drawing inferences

What would be an appropriate learning target for standard 5.2.2.2 for informational texts?

• I can self select books at my level.
• I can determine 2 or more main ideas and support them with key details.
• I can read & enjoy a Star Wars graphic novel.
• I can determine the author's point of view.

The Writing Standards K-5 are divided into the categories of...

• Fact vs. Opinion writing, Grammar and Conventions, Spelling and Phonics
• Jedi penmanship, Jedi lingo, and letters to Vader
• Text Types and Purposes, Production and Distribution of Writing, Research to Build and Present Knowledge, and Range of Writing
• Writing purposes, writing styles, writing conventions, and the five point essay

Passion Time Objectives could teach and provide practice in the following writing standards...

• Writing Standard 7
• Writing Standard 8
• Writing Standard 9
• Writing Standards 7, 8, 9, and more, depending on student choice and grade level

True or False: We don't have adopted standards for using communication skills and/or using technology in the classroom

• True - we're expected to teach with no guidelines for what's expected of students
• False - there's a section titled "Technology Standards" within the ELA Common Core Standards
• True - we just use The Force to determine what to teach
• False - These skills are embedded wtihin the Speaking, Viewing, and Media Literacy Benchmarks K-5

Phonics and fluency expectations by grade level can be found in what section of the standards?

• Literature
• Nowhere 
• Embedded throughout all areas
• Foundational Skills