Education — District emphasizing modern instructional model to accommodate Common Core State Standards, upcoming state testing

For those who haven’t been to a middle or elementary school classroom since they were students themselves, seeing what is expected of children today could come as quite a shock.

As Oregon shifts to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), expectation levels are rising and assessment is moving away from content knowledge and toward skill proficiency. The result is students are being asked to do more at an earlier age than ever before.

For example, in Bethany Stoller’s eighth grade reading and writing class at Chehalem Valley Middle School, students are being asked to closely analyze complex nonfiction texts not only to achieve a deep level of comprehension, but also discuss and answer specific text-based questions. If that wasn’t enough, they then have to produce logically-written responses and persuasive arguments that utilize evidence from the text.

If that sounds like something you did when you were in high school or even college, you wouldn’t be alone.

The good news is that instruction in Newberg is also adapting thanks to the implementation of new teaching models across the district.

For example, during Thanksgiving week, all elementary and middle school teachers were given access to professional development training on the Close Reading instructional strategy.

Close Reading is not only one of seven instructional models the district identified in its K-8 literacy plan, but also emblematic of its response to the shifting educational landscape in the era of CCSS.

The district defines Close Reading as “an investigation of a short text, with multiple readings done over multiple instructional lessons.” It is typified by basically the previously-described exercise from Stoller’s class.

Close Reading lessons must be based high-quality and complex texts, mostly in non-fiction, but also centered on topics across subject matters, like social studies or science, not just literature.

“The big shift specific to reading is to more non-fiction and some fiction so that the ratio that we have students address is more non-fiction,” district director of professional development Stafford Boyd said. “The second one is how they use evidence from text. That’s really what Close Reading aims to do.”

Students will begin by reading the text individually, followed by group reading aloud and text-based questions and highly-focused discussion on elements of the text.

“Re-reading is a huge thing, so not just a cursory glance or going right through the text without getting it,” district literacy coach Barb Katts said. “It’s really forcing them to go back to answer the question.”

Discussions of an exploratory nature among students will often follow, which is why the desks in Stoller’s classroom are all arranged in pairs.

“It includes dialogue, so the kids are talking more and hopefully using that language that they are finding in the text, practicing it,” Sears said. “The other thing is, generally, it’s taken to some sort of writing task, so in the end, they’re writing about what they learned.”

Stoller said a key element is also teaching students how to take notes or annotate the texts as they read them, which is of great value for both comprehension and for supporting arguments in their writing.

The strategy addresses a major point of emphasis in CCSS, which is to independently read an analyze increasingly complex texts, and such exercises prep students for the types of tasks they will be asked to do on the state Smarter Balance test and for the rest of their academic careers.

Although it may sound daunting when people think back to their own middle school experiences, Stoller reports her students aren’t afraid of the work.

“So over these three years, I see students continually being able to do this,” Stoller said. “Teachers have that expectation with their students, with the support relationship with it, then they rise to the occasion.”

Written by: Seth Gordon