COVERING NEW GROUND
Helping teachers understand the ELA Standards
An Online Resource for Understanding the 6-12 ELA Common Core Standards for Science, Social Studies, and Technical Subjects.
6-12 ELA Standards for Science and Technical Subjects
RST.1 - Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of science and technical texts, attending to the precise details of explanations or descriptions.A challenge that students have is to be genuine with their work while acknowledging the creative ideas of others.
A strong emphasis in the CCSS is to require students to cite their sources. Schools might want to develop common citing notation structures so that students are exposed to the same rules and procedures in all classes.
11-12 - Make certain the students are questioning the author’s conclusions. Where did the develop the idea? What influenced them as a research and writer. Specifically note when an author of text notes “gaps and inconsistencies” in their own writing when compared to research or others’ thoughts.
Graphic Organizers / Tools:
Lesson Plans:
SCIENCE 6-8: Science at the White House
SCIENCE 9-12: Adolescent Sleep - Science Netlinks
RST.2 - Determine the central ideas or conclusions of a text; trace the text's explanation or depiction of a complex process, phenomenon, or concept; provide an accurate summary of the text.“What is the most important idea you’re taking away from your reading?”
Students can often have difficulty in establishing the main idea of a paragraph. As an instructor with literacy, making certain that “the main thing is the main thing” is a critical skill to encourage with students. Do they have the ability to synthesize what is read into ONE coherent thought? Does an individual student’s summary compare accurately with other’s? And ultimately - does the student know the difference between their OPINION of what is important about the text compared to what is really the central idea.
11-12 - Can students create a summary of text while using their own words instead of restating what the author has already said? It takes practice!
Graphic Organizers / Tools:
Main Idea Worksheets and Lessons
Lesson Plans:
SCIENCE 6-8: Jean Craighead George: Unsentimental Naturalist
SCIENCE 9-12: First Class First? Using Data to Explore the Tragedy of the Titanic
RST.3 - Follow precisely a complex multistep procedure when carrying out experiments, taking measurements, or performing technical tasks attending to special cases or exceptions defined in the text.
This standard is, most likely, a big part of the science and technical classroom. Teachers should encourage students to independently read procedures and carry them through. “Independently” being the key word.
Graphic Organizers / Tools:
Lesson Plans:
RST.4 - Determine the meaning of symbols, key terms, and other domain-specific words and phrases as they are used in a specific scientific or technical context relevant to grades 9-10 texts and topics.
Developing vocabulary is one of the best opportunities students have to develop their literacy skills in classrooms outside of Language Arts, etc. The standard, however, refers to the ability to figure our the meaning of unknown words, phrases and/or symbols once students encounter them in their reading. Science and Technical Subjects Teachers should encourage the development of subject-related vocabulary with research-based techniques (not just the “go look it up” strategy). Teachers should also teach students techniques for learning unknown words etc. on their own.
Graphic Organizers / Tools:
Vocabulary Development Website
Lesson Plans:
ALL SUBJECTS 9-12: The Teaching Channel - Making Sense of Symbols
SCIENCE 6-8: Medieval and Renaissance Art: Botanical Symbolism
PE 6-12: Exercise and Nutrition
RST.5 - Analyze the structure of the relationships among concepts in a text, including relationships among key terms (e.g., force, friction, reaction force, energy).
Think of a recent article you encouraged students to read as a part of your curriculum. If the author had switched around the paragraphs... would it have still made sense? would it have developed a different meaning? Or did the author use any techniques when writing to enhance the meaning such as a surprise conclusion? or a categorization of the information? Students should realize that in scientific and technical literature, the STRUCTURE that an author gives to the writing helps to develop the meaning. If students can detect what structure is being used, they will be able to understand what the author is trying to share with them. Questions to ask while reading:Did the author organize this writing in any particular way that you can detect? How did the author organize the information he or she was sharing with us?Would there have been a better way to organize the paragraphs in your opinion?
Graphic Organizers / Tools:
Summarizing Graphic Organizers
Lesson Plans:
SCIENCE 6-8: Can Crittercam Help Protect Humpbacks?
SCIENCE 9-12: Galileo and the Inevitability of Ideas
RST.6 - Analyze the author's purpose in providing an explanation, describing a procedure, or discussing an experiment in a text, defining the question the author seeks to address.
Good ‘ole “author’s purpose”. The sentiment behind determining the “author’s purpose” is to understand what the author set out to do in writing the selection. Were they trying to entertain you? to sell you something? to convince you that their ideas are best? Students can often make the mistake of thinking that whatever they read is true and right. But if the author is trying to sell a product, the reader should be somewhat “on their guard”. The information presented in an advertisement should be regarded differently than that of an informational article. Teachers should encourage students to consider what the author was trying to accomplish when writing... even if they’re reading a textbook!
Questions to ask while reading:
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What do you think the author is trying to accomplish by writing this piece?
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Do you feel like you’re being sold something or is this writing trying to convince you in any way?
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How would the language change if the author was writing to convince you that this was the best technique?
Graphic Organizers / Tools:
Author's Purpose Worksheets and Lessons
Lesson Plans:
SCIENCE 6-8: Making Good Decisions about Diet and Exercise
RST.7 - Translate quantitative or technical information expressed in words in a text into visual form (e.g., a table or chart) and translate information expressed visually or mathematically (e.g., in an equation) into words.
Have you ever read a technical article and thought, “This would be better with a graph!” Students should start to align what is read with the information presented by graphs, charts, etc. By the 11th and 12th grade years, students should be asked to form their opinions about whether or not multiple kinds of text / video / graphs, etc. all represent the same thought or idea. They should also be proficient and creating visual representations of information -- making certain to not lose the original ideas of the text.
Questions to ask while reading:
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Did seeing the information in the chart make it easier or more difficult to understand? Why or why not?
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Is there any information in this text that could be better understood through some kind of visual representation?
Graphic Organizers / Tools:
Lesson Plans:
ALL SUBJECTS 9-12: And the Question Is... Evaluating the Validity of a Survey
SCIENCE 9-12: Climographs: Temperature, Precipitation, and the Human Condition
RST.8 - Assess the extent to which the reasoning and evidence in a text support the author's claim or a recommendation for solving a scientific or technical problem.
“Prove it!” This should be a student’s battle cry when reading informational text. In middle school, teachers emphasize that authors have OPINIONS and they write FACTS based on research. Students should begin to know the difference. In high school, however, the game changes. When students detect an author is sharing an opinion based on research, they should ask different questions such as, Where did the author get the research? Is the research from a reputable and qualified source? etc. So that by Junior and Senior year, the students can look at a hypothesis put forth by an author and begin to research how they came about their conclusions. The key question for these students is, “Based on your findings, would you disagree with the author’s hypothesis?” Now we’re talking!
Lesson Plans:
SCIENCE 6-8: Finding the Science Behind Science Fiction Through Paired Readings
RST.9 - Compare and contrast findings presented in a text to those from other sources (including their own experiments), noting when the findings support or contradict previous explanations or accounts.
“Pull it Together” We’re asking students in these standards to gather information from more than one source and compare the information, etc. The overriding principal is to make sure students don’t accept information as fact simply by reading it from one source. They should seek out multiple sources and detect similarities and differences amongst the information. And if there is conflicting information... find the answer!!
Graphic Organizers / Tools:
Compare and Contrast Graphic Organizers - Wonderful ideas!
Lesson Plans:
SCIENCE 6-8: The Prometheus Project: The Science Behind Science Fiction
SCIENCE 9-12: Earthquakes: A Whole Lot of Quakin' Goin' On
RST.10 -By the end of grade 10, read and comprehend science/technical texts in the grades 9-10 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
One of the biggest challenges for reading teachers is to make certain that students are reading material that is appropriate for their instructional ability as well as challenges them. Make certain you are consulting with other language arts teachers in your building to know what instructional grade level at which your students are reading. The instructional grade level is different than their age-grade level.
Tools:
Permabound Searching Tool for Books