Standards Lead to Shifts

Can you find two standards that

support each of the shifts?

Place the shift number next to the

CCR Anchor standard.

Shifting Gears

Participants will review the

three shifts and apply their

understanding to

classroom instruction.

Shift One

Building knowledge through content-

rich nonfiction and informational texts

The Thinking Behind the Shift

• Much of our knowledge base comes from

informational text.

• Informational text makes up a vast majority of

required reading in college/workplace.

• It is harder to comprehend than narrative text.

• YET… students are asked to read very little of it

in elementary and middle school.

1. Closely read Shift One in the brochure

(remember to annotate).

2. How will this shift translate in terms of

classroom instruction? Review examples.

3. What changes might this shift bring to your

classroom/school/district? Complete the lined

section of the brochure.

Practice

ELA/Literacy Shift 1: Building Knowledge Through Content-Rich Nonfiction and Informational Texts

What the Student Does… What the Teacher Does…

• Builds content knowledge through

text

• Finds evidence

• Gains exposure to the world through

reading

• Handles primary source documents

• Balances informational & literary

text

• Scaffolds for informational texts

• Teaches “through” and “with”

informational texts by allowing

students to read the text instead of

summarizing

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• Purchases and provides equal amounts of informational and literary texts for

each classroom and supports teachers’ transition to this balance

• Provides PD and co-planning opportunities for teachers to become more

familiar with informational texts and how to use them side by side with literary

texts

• Supports the role of all teachers in advancing students’ literacy

Principal’s Role:

Shift Two

Reading and writing grounded in

evidence from the text

The Thinking Behind the Shift

• Ability to cite evidence differentiates

student performance on NAEP.

• Most college and workplace writing is

evidence-based and expository in nature

(not narrative).

1. Closely read Shift Two in the brochure

(remember to annotate, ask questions, …)

2. How will this shift translate in terms of

classroom instruction? Review examples.

3. What changes might this shift bring to your

classroom/school/district? Complete the lined

section of the brochure.

Practice

ELA/Literacy Shift 2: Reading and Writing Grounded in Evidence from the Text

What the Student Does… What the Teacher Does…

• Finds evidence to support their argument and

writes using evidence

• Forms own judgments and creates

informational texts

• Reads texts closely

• Engages with the author and his/her choices

• Compares multiple sources

• Facilitates evidence based conversations

and presents opportunities to write about

multiple texts

• Keeps students in the text and gives them

opportunities to analyze, synthesize ideas

• Identifies questions that are text-dependent,

worth asking/exploring, delivers richly

• Develops students’ voice so that they can argue

a point and articulate their own conclusions

using evidence

• Spends much more time preparing for

instruction by reading deeply

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• Provides planning time for teachers to engage with the text to prepare and identify appropriate text-

dependent questions

• Supports teachers as they spend more time with students writing about the texts they read – building

strong arguments using evidence from the text

• Encourage teachers to foster evidence based conversations about texts with and amongst students

Principal’s Role:

Shift Three

Regular practice with complex text and

its academic vocabulary

The Thinking Behind the Shift

• The gap between complexity of college

and high school texts is huge.

• What students can read in terms of

complexity is the greatest predictor of

success in college (ACT study).

1. Closely read Shift Three in the brochure

(remember to annotate).

2. How will this shift translate in terms of

classroom instruction? Review examples.

3. What changes might this shift bring to your

classroom/school/district? Complete the lined

section of the brochure.

Practice

ELA/Literacy Shift 3:

Regular Practice with Complex Text and its Academic Vocabulary

What the Student Does… What the Teacher Does…

• Rereads

• Tolerates frustration when engaged

with challenging text

• Uses high utility words across content

areas

• Builds “language of power” database

• Spends more time on more complex

texts at every grade level

• Gives students less to read, lets them

reread

• Provides scaffolding & strategies

• Develops students’ability to use and

access words

• Is strategic about the new vocabulary

words

• Teaches fewer words more deeply

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• Supports teachers as they work through and experience their students’ frustration with

complex texts and learn to chunk and scaffold that text

• Ensures that texts are appropriately complex at every grade and that complexity of text

builds from grade to grade

• Supports teachers as they scaffold so that students can move to more complex texts

• Provides training to teachers on the shift for teaching vocabulary in a more meaningful,

effective manner

Principal’s Role:

Create a Voki