The Common Core State Standards & Student Diversity

¶1 Sometime around 1440, the spring-
powered clock was invented. Instead of
depending on the pull of weights for
power, this type of clock used a flat
metal spring wound tightly into a coil.
The escapement allowed the spring to
unwind by turning one gear tooth at a
time. With the use of a spring, smaller,
truly portable clocks could be made.

¶2 The first well-known watches, made
in Germany around 1510 by Peter
Henlein, were so named because guards
or “watchmen” carried small clocks to
keep track of how long to stay at a
particular duty post.

¶3 Many different skills went into
making a clock, and new tools and
methods were constantly being
invented to make ever smaller, more
complicated mechanisms that
worked with greater precision.

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¶3 Many different skills went into
making a clock, and new tools and
methods were constantly being
invented to make ever smaller, more
complicated mechanisms that
worked with greater precision.

¶4 Founders melted and poured
metal into a mold to make clock
parts.

¶5 Spring makers hand-forged
(heated and pounded into shape) and
polished steel clock springs.

¶6 Screw makers cut screws used to
fasten clocks together by using a
small lathe devised by a German
clockmaker in 1480. Earlier, only
wedges or pegs were used.

¶7 Gear-tooth cutting had been done
by hand until the mid-1500s, when
Giannelo Torriano of Cremona,
Italy, invented a machine that could
cut perfect gear teeth.

¶8 Brass replaced iron for clock
making. Engravers, gilders, and
enamellers decorated clock cases and
dials. Glass-making shops made and
cut glass. Woodworkers made clock
cases.”

Summary––this

many sources of

! Informational density––
many pieces of information
and details included in texts
like this one. Why, because
they are necessary to insure
understanding!

! Grammatical complexity––
structural devices needed to
stuff as much information
into text as needed for
interpretation can increase
complexity considerably.

s text illustrates

text complexity

! Among the devices we
looked at––phrases and
clauses that situate events in
time and place, and relating
contingent information,
e.g., instead of depending on...

! Exploitation of devices such
as the passive voice, use of
definite and indefinite
determiner to structure the
reading of the text (e.g., The
escapement indicates this has
been previously discussed.)

That’s hardl

! The features of texts that make
process may be similar across t
found, depending on subject, g
text was intended.

! The language in written texts fo
language used in texts intended
looked at the exemplar texts in
document, you will see that ma
demanding as you go from elem

! Higher reading level means gre
relates to academic language. B

ly all there is

e them difficult to follow or to
texts, there are differences to be
genre, purpose, and for whom the

or adults are less constrained than
d to be read by children. If you’ve

Appendix B of the CCSS
aterials are substantially more
mentary to middle to high school.

eater language demand, and that
But what exactly does that mean?

Requisite lan

! The text we looked at is one typ
expected to do at the fourth & f
from which they can expand th
ideas and the development of t
take for granted.

! There are many other types of
science, literature, and math. T
each will present other challeng
found in the Clock and Time te

! Students are expected to expan
with the various types of texts t
grade to grade, towards college

nguage skills

pe of reading students are
fifth grade––informational texts
heir knowledge of the history of
the material world they mostly

readings––in science, social
The language register they find in
ges than some of the ones we
ext.
nd their language skills to deal
they encounter as they go from
e or the workplace.

Language prerequ
& learn

! A key to understanding the role
learning is that it is not much lik
used in conversation;

! That role requires specialized va
group together for discussion as

! These registers must be learned b
spoken language variety, in the c

! In many societies this is a recogn
clear that the written language u
school is sufficiently different fro
requires special attention at scho
countries, China and Arabic spea

uisites for literacy
ning...

played by language in literacy &
ke the language ordinarily heard or

arieties of language that we might
“academic registers.”

by children, in addition to the basic
course of schooling.

nized function of schooling––it is
used for literacy and learning at
om the spoken varieties that it
ool (e.g., in some European

aking societies).

Language prereq

! In U. S. schools, little thought or
development of these registers o
was little awareness that they eve

! It is assumed that the ability to h
having strong decoding skills and

! In fact, English learners are ofte
before they have had much oppo
all. Some can do it, although th
they are decoding represent.

! It should not be surprising then t
and learners of English alike, ha
level of proficiency in reading, if

quisites (cont’d)

r attention is given to the
of English––until recently, there
en existed.

handle complex texts depends on
d well-developed vocabulary.

en taught to decode in English
ortunity to learn the language at
hey have little idea what the words

that so many students, speakers
ave difficulty getting beyond a basic
f they get there at all.

Most childre

! The only ones who don’t need
mentioned earlier who arrive a
literacy. Once they learn to rea

! English learners will need instr
learn enough English to make

! The children who need the mo
are the ones who have not had
the early years of life. What ki
difference? The answer?

! What gives some children the s
Enrichment, enrichment, enric

en need help

much help are the lucky ones I
at school with a running start on
ad, they are on their way.

ructional support and time to
reading in that language possible.

ost help with reading and writing
d many the literacy experiences in
ind of help will make the greatest

special advantages they enjoy?
chment. Forget about drudgery.

Read al
doorway to the w

or, as Jim Tre
“commercials

louds...
world of books––
elease puts it:
s for literacy”

To learn an

! Children must have ample
enough contact with the
language of literature and
literacy in use (this provides
data on which they can
build their knowledge of
how the language works,
and practice in using it);

! The data must be “true” to
the target––in this case, to
academic language.

ny language

! They must pay sufficient
attention to the language
itself, in order to work out
the relationships between
form, function, and
meaning;

! They require the support of
speakers of the language
who can call attention to
such relationships as they
come up in texts.

Is the languag
classroom acad

! Not really––most of the langua
students or teachers is social an
category of more colloquial spe

! Academic language can be spo
debates, recitations) or written–
encounters with it will be in wr

! Written texts offer the most reli
language forms (vocabulary an
rhetorical features. The proble
texts they are given tend to avo

ge used in the
demic language?

age spoken in school whether by
nd interactive, and falls into the
eech.

oken (e.g., lectures, commentaries,
––but children’s most likely
ritten texts.

iable access to academic
nd expressions), structures, and
em for ELs and LMs is that the
oid such language.

Compare descriptions
intended Grades 4-

Something nasty is going on.
Studies show that strong
hurricanes are becoming more
common. Take Hurricane Katrina,
for example. She slammed into the
Gulf Coast with winds of 145 miles
per hour.

The 2005 hurricane season hit
the United States hard. Thirteen
hurricanes formed over the
Atlantic Ocean. That was a record
number. Luckily, some didn’t strike
land. They stayed at sea.

Scientists think the worst is not
over. They say the U. S. will likely
see a high number of strong
hurricanes in the years to come.
Why? They’re not sure.

NG Explorer, Pathway ed. Grs 4-6

of Hurricane Katrina,
-6 vs. Grades 2-3...

Something nasty is going on.
Many strong storms formed last
year. Take Hurricane Katrina.
She had wicked winds. They
raced at 145 miles an hour.

Last year had 13 Atlantic
hurricanes. That is a record
number. More will hit us in years
to come. Why? Scientists are
not sure.

Which is easier to read?
Which sounds more natural?
Which is more informative?
Which is more interesting?
Which version are ELs &
LM students likely to get?
NG Explorer, Pioneer ed. Grs 2-3

ELs especially a
simplifi

! The simplified text we just loo
readers, but it is not unlike tho
anyone who might have difficu

! The rationale for using simplif
ELs and struggling readers wil
texts. But is that true?

! The treatment given to conten
pitched at a much lower level t
students. The problem? Simp
without help, if reading does n
sound natural, or be informat

are given greatly
ied texts

oked at was intended for younger
ose used for ELs, LM students, and
ulty reading.

fied texts for such students is that
ll be discouraged by non-simplified

nt in simplified materials tends to be
than provided for English proficient
plified texts may easier to “read”
not require that the text make sense,
tive.

The problem fo
language m

! Their access to texts that might
works is severely limited by tea
would be far too difficult for th

! This might be true for the first y
the materials would be difficult
own for even longer than that––

! But they would not be too diffic
instructional support.

! Simplified materials make the t
difficult, and they are more diff

or ELs & other
minorities

t reveal how academic English
achers who believe such materials
hem!

year of exposure to English, and
t for them to manage on their
–

cult with the right kind of

task of learning English far more
ficult to understand!

All students, incl

! Co
ap
ali
wi

! Th
no
wh

! Th
inc
mu

luding ELs, need

ompelling and complex grade
ppropriate texts that are fully
igned with the CCSS, but not
ithout language support!

hat’s across the curriculum, and
ot just in ELD, or ESL, or
hatever.

he language support should
clude work on vocabulary––but
must go way beyond that!

What studen

! Instructional support from teac
course materials the class is wo
across the curriculum.

! These instructional interludes
but nonetheless bounded event
understand that special attentio
used in texts.

! Instructional conversation (pre
students in discussion focused
or two chosen from those texts
complexity.

nts also need

chers on how language works in
orking on each day. This is

should be part of larger lessons,
ts in which the students
on will be given to the language

eplanned)––engagement of
on various aspects of a sentence
s for their grammatical features or

Support for lan

! The only way to learn the regis
work is through literacy, and th
interact with complex texts in w

! Such texts, however, aren’t easy
we have seen, jammed packed w
need help unpacking the inform

! The most meaningful support i
students in instructional conver
students’ attention to the ways
words,phrases, clauses in texts

nguage learning

sters used to carry out academic
hat’s only if students actually
which it figures.
y to interpret because they are, as
with information. Many students
mation from those texts.
is provided by teachers engaging
rsations in which they draw the
in which meaning relates to
they are working on.

Nota

! There is no way in which acade
or “covered” as a unit, or as a l
teach ESL or French as a foreig

! It is much too pervasive and va
can be learned only through lite
focused on the relationship betw
meaning.

! Children need to have their atte
because they often do not notic
for attention to language becom
happens, they are in a position
acquires this register.

Bene

emic language could be “taught”
language course, as one might
gn language.
aried for that kind of treatment. It
eracy, and through discussions
ween forms, structures and

ention called to such relationships
ce them on their own. The goal is
ming a habit of mind. When that
to acquire it. This is how anyone

What does this

support lo

! I mentioned instructional
conversations focused on the
way language works in texts––a
strategy teachers in NYC
schools have been developing
with me over the past 4 or 5
years.

! These conversations are
anchored in instructional units
in which students learn content
through various activities,
including reading informational
texts and writing.

s instructional

ook like?

! We worked mostly on science
and social studies topics,
avoiding ELA initially, because
the schools were nervous about
making AYPs.

! Each day, teachers draw a
sentence or two from the texts
students are reading to feature in
an instructional conversation
they carry out with the students.

! The sentences they select are
ones that are complex enough to
deserve attention and
discussion.

Want to see h

! We have time for a few short
clips to show you how
teachers have made it work for
students.

! In the first, you will see a
second grade class that has
been working on a unit on
plant growth, the role played
by insects in pollination, and
on this part of the unit––the
mysterious dying off of bees.

how it works?

! In the second, you will see a
middle school class working
on a social studies unit on the
changes that global warming
had on food supply and life in
many parts of the world, and
the role human activities play
in creating those changes.

! In the final clip, you will see a
high school global history
class discussing the post
WWII Nuremberg Military
Tribunals.

A CCSS-ready Academ
Framework for Instructio

Compelling & INSTRUC
ComplexTexts UN

Big id

Essential

Concepts

Instructional Lang
Conversations

Speaking Liter
Listening
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mic English Curriculum
on for All, including ELs

CTIONAL Hands-on grade
level appropriate
NIT
instructional
deas experiences
questions
s/Themes

guage Vocabulary
Grammar
racy Communication

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Writing

How did it all c
MaryAnn Cucch

come together?
hiara will explain!