2. COMMON CORE FAQ
• Why change to this new set of standards?
 Simplified & more clear for students, parents & teachers
 Move towards National Standards & accountability
 Deeper thinking skills prepare students for college &
workforce
• How are the CCSS different from the Illinois State
Standards?
• Fewer standards, but more in depth.
• When will this change take place?
• Fully implemented by 2014
• More content-specific standards are coming

3. COMMON CORE FAQ
• How will this be assessed?
 Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College &
Careers (PARCC); 25 states will be using PARCC
• Online means instant feedback
• 4 times per year
• What does this mean for me?
• A lot of us already do this
• Less content to cover
• Preparing now for the transition
• Greater focus on reading comprehension
• Department collaboration for common vocabulary
• Curriculum-related writing
• Areas that aren’t tested will still be held accountable

4. EFFECTIVE VOCABULARY INSTRUCTION:
1. Doesn’t rely on definitions.
2. Requires students to represent their knowledge of words
linguistically and non-linguistically.
3. Involves multiple exposures to words.
4. Involves teaching word parts. (prefixes, suffixes & roots).
5. Requires different types of instruction.
6. Has students discussing the terms they are learning.
7. Has students playing with words.
8. Focuses on terms that have a high probability of
enhancing academic success.

5. AS A DEPARTMENT, WHAT ARE
YOU CURRENTLY DOING THAT
WORKS WELL?
OR
WHAT COULD YOU DO
DIFFERENTLY TO IMPROVE
VOCABULARY INSTRUCTION?

6. WRITING
• Combination of long-term & short-term writing
assignments
• Writing on demand; timed
• Use interesting writing topics
• Student choice
• Authentic purposes
• Opinion/persuasive writing
• TEXTUAL SUPPORT/EVIDENCE
• Writing makes good homework

7. 5 MINUTES. RECORD YOUR OBSERVATIONS

8. AS A DEPARTMENT, WHAT ARE
YOU CURRENTLY DOING THAT
WORKS WELL?
OR
WHAT COULD YOU DO
DIFFERENTLY TO IMPROVE
WRITING INSTRUCTION?

9. READING
• Literacy Strategies
• Textbook Feature Analysis (beginning of the year)
• Organization & Signal Words (transitions)
• Article of the Week for your content area
• 20 Questions Strategies
• “What Were You Thinking” (written evidence of
thinking/interactions with the text)
• Post-It Notes
• Somebody-Wanted-But-So

10. SAMPLE ARTICLE OF THE WEEK:
“Texas Man Gets First Full Face
Transplant in US”

11. HELPFUL WEBSITES
• www.corestandards.org
• www.commoncore.org (CCSS-aligned lesson plans)
• www.jc-schools.net/tutorials/vocab/strategies.html
(vocab games for LA, math, science & Social Studies)
• www.parcconline.org (assessment)
• www.fcrr.org (Florida Center for Reading Research)
• www.kellygallagher.org (Article of the Week)
• www.wesclinpd.wikispaces.com