common+core+writing+across+the+content+areas

Common Core Curriculum: ELA, Science, Social Studies, Technical Subjects, Math

All of the administrators, the curriculum leaders, and the members of the Common Core Curriculum Committee have read their level's standards (elementary, middle school, and high school). They have read the 3 appendices to the CC ELA curriculum. Appendix A includes the research on literacy and describes literacy across the disciplines. Appendix B includes the sample tasks and texts for literary and informational texts by grade level and content area. Appendix C includes samples of proficient and advanced student writing.

In our next CCCC-ELA meeting, we will plan how all teachers will address the CC- Year 1: Where are we with complex texts and tasks now based on examples of student work and specific tasks from each grade level, team (MS), and department (HS).

If we accomplish the goals of the CC in ELA and Mathematics, we will have TRANSFORMED education for our students. The transformation requires that teachers leave their posts as sage on the stage and get students to talk, to write, to solve problems: to engage with their own education. We want the students to be doing most of the work in the classroom. We will have to support our teachers as they leave our traditional educational practices (that some call a mile wide and an inch deep) and believe that preparation for the test (the CC and the tests of life) require higher order problem solving, collaboration, creativity, and communication (speaking, listening, writing, and reading). Some call these 21st century skills, but they are the fundamentals that we always long to see daily in our classes.

Goals: In three years, we will have increased the frequency, the quality, the diversity, and the skills of writing for ourselves and our students starting at the earliest grades and continuing in a coherent and consistent manner through graduation.

As a district, as individual schools, as individual teams, departments, and grade levels, we will individually and yet collaboratively pursue this goal.

YEAR 1. We will develop a three-year plan to accomplish these goals. First, we'll determine where we are now. What are our strengths and weaknesses? What do we need? What should come first? How do we know if we're making progress? How do we know if we're reaching milestones? How much time should be dedicated to this task? How important is writing to our students' needs?

Where are we now? What do our writing tasks look like now? What do our students' products look like? What do we need to do to reach our goals.

What is writing frequently in each grade? What is writing diversely in each grade? What is quality writing? Does it change for each discipline? How do we teach writing well? Does it vary by grade level? By discipline?

The CC and writing. What does complex writing or a complex task look like? What isn't complex? What is the value of authentic tasks? What is the value of interdisciplinary tasks? When is an interdisciplinary task really a multi-disciplinary task?

How can we do this when we don't have time to get where we need now? How can art, music, PE, technology, and library help?

What is a multi-genre research paper? What is the Independent Investigation Method? What is authentic writing?

Begin with the administrative team. The Assistant Principal Work Force and the Superintendent's Advisory Council

Use TWP form and examples.

Use examples of MCAS long essays (as the highest uniform expectation for all students) What do our average literary analyses have in common? What are their strengths? their weaknesses? What do our average open response (we will now call them critical response) essays look like? What are their strengths and weaknesses?

What works to improve writing (See research; Writing Next, TWP, excerpts about five-paragraph essay, They Say, I Say).

To lead our schools, what do we need to know as leaders to support our teachers as they take on a major challenge? What are the fundamentals of teaching literacy that all teachers need to understand? What would a classroom look like if it was teaching literacy effectively? What techniques would teachers need to have? What materials? What experiences? (Do all teachers need to take a writing workshop?) Why has reading been taught, but not writing when research now shows that reading and writing work hand-in-hand from the very beginning? What do all teachers need to know about reading and writing in their discipline to be appropriate and authentic for their field?

Do we need to change elementary, middle, or high school schedules or priorities to accomplish these ambitious goals.