2013 Uncommon Approaches to the Common Core Breakout Presentations

Uncommon Approaches to the Common Core Conference

August 13 Breakout Presentations

Click the title for access to a presentation via Google Drive. If you are a presenter and see that you have no presentation listed but would like to add it, please email it to csbiroli@mail.nysed.gov. 

Kate Gerson - Keynote Presentation 

Session 1 - 12:45 Presentations

                               

1.Art & the Common Core:Implications for Cultural Education Programs—Leslie Yolen. (presentation notes) What do the Common Core Learning Standards (CCLS) mean for museums working with teachers? The presentation will demonstrate how to choose "high-quality source material”,  do a "close read" of  works of art in a group setting, engage students in careful observation & description, and base analysis of a work of art on evidence, all approaches based on the CCLS shifts.

2.Local Government, PublicHistorians, Not-for-Profits and the Common Core—Gerry Smith, Matthew Urtz, Debbie Stack (second presentation) (third presentation). This workshop will feature local historians and educators from local governments and not- for- profit media outlets from across the state showing how they can assist teachers in locating and incorporating primary source documents and information in their curriculum. Participants will leave knowing easy ways to find primary source documents and include them in their lesson plans.

3.Connecting Earth ScienceContent & the CCLS Using Museum Resources—Rebecca Taylor, Melanie Cohen. This presentation will provide an innovative model for linking science and literacy through museum learning experiences.   It will explore how museum resources and school group visits can support Common Core Learning Standards for ELA and Literacy and the Core Curriculum for Earth Science. Besides the material that students would encounter during a visit to the exhibition, teachers are provided with content-rich student readings that are integrated into pre- and post-visit activities and writing tasks and rubrics for students to produce informational texts that incorporate what they learned during a visit to the museum.

4.Building a Common Understanding of the CCLS & Educational Uses of Assessment—Joette Stefl-Mabry, Ph.D. (Operationalizing Library Literacy Skills) (Logic Model). This hands-on workshop will enable participants to collaborate more effectively and productively with K-12 educators by presenting an overview of the Common Core Learning Standards (CCLS) and guiding participants to align their existing programs and resources to evidence-based instructional practices supporting the CCLS. Participants will be afforded the opportunity to discuss learning outcomes and instructional strategies, focusing on their own instructional programs and resources. They will begin designing assessment strategies to determine the effectiveness of their strategies. Participants should bring current examples of their educational programs and/or resources on which to focus; a laptop is recommended.

5.Common Core Curriculum inan Outdoor Classroom—Nicole Dillon. Children learn through play--exploring, re-inventing, taking apart and putting together.  The research recommends hands-on learning for all children, even after they enter public school.  In this session, we will examine how to create an outdoor classroom to enable children to freely explore and re-invent while aligning with the Common Core Learning Standards.  Participants will leave the session with a sketch of an outdoor classroom tailored to their available environment and written ideas and suggestions for activities, projects, and learning areas aligned to the Common Core Learning Standards.

6.The Grant Cottage, New York StateHistoric Site, Generates a Module for the CCLS—Mary Ratzer, Steve Trimm, Harriet Finch, Paige Jaeger. Building on a reenactment of Ulysses S. Grant and his moral education regarding civil rights, this workshop will enable participants to experience the dynamics of building a Common Core learning experience via collaboration at the local level. The ethical and moral nature of the reenactment, key primary documents, and historical content will be modeled as the basis for essential questions. The audience will brainstorm and generate essential questions for a similar learning experience in other localities. The presenters will demonstrate the rigorous use of primary documents, critical thinking, and student research.

7.Core Out Your InformationalText—Susan Bartle. This presentation will teach participants how to use a new Web-based evaluation tool to evaluate and identify how a piece of informational text/nonfiction will support the Common Core Learning Standards.  Participants will identify the deeper meaning of informational text/nonfiction and gain insight into how the qualitative measures, quantitative measures and considerations for reader and task (Appendix A: Research Supporting Key Elements of the Standards) work together to establish the educational value of informational text/nonfiction. Attendees will be able to use this tool in the library, classroom, and cultural institutions while working with students, staff, and parents.

Session 2 - 2 Presentations

                               

1.NYS's P-12 Common CoreLearning Standards (CCLS) for English Language Arts & Literacy: CurriculumModules & Resources for Implementation—Erik Sweet, Amy Rudin. During this presentation, representatives from the New York State Education Department (NYSED) Office of Curriculum & Instruction will provide an overview of tools for implementing the Common Core Learning Standards, including the NYSED Curriculum Modules. There will be time for questions and discussion during the presentation.

2.Enhancing Research withStructured Academic Competition: How the National History Day Model BringsTogether Victor CentralSchool and Community Resources—Preston Pierce, Ed.D., Darlene A. Cowles. Through a slide show and handouts, we will guide professionals and volunteers from many community institutions in the design of a unit.  Materials actually produced by early secondary students will be available for examination by participants.  All of the presenters have many years of experience in using the National History Day model and working with local libraries, museums and archives in addition to in-school and on-line resources.

3.How Museums AreInterpreting the CCLS—Erika Sanger. During this workshop, Erika Sanger will share the Albany Institute's on-site lesson Art2Math and examples of lessons developing by participating New York State museums that integrate Common Core Learning Standards, museum holdings, and Web-based distance learning tools. All examples are drawn from a successful IMLS grant written in partnership with the New York Institute of Technology. Participants will learn new approaches to collaboration and using technology to achieve the CCLS.

4.Cultural Kits,Collaboration and the CCLS—Suzanne Kolodziej, Diane Pamel. This presentation will describe the successful collaboration between the Southworth Public Library in Dryden, New York, and the East Asia Program at Cornell University. This project connected the novel, The Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson, read in the Library’s Together Book Talk Program, with Cornell’s East Asia Program Chinese Cultural Kits. The activities described addressed the Common Core in English Language Arts, provided examples of the use of primary resources, and showed the engagement of students using cultural resources.

5.Bringing Latino Cultureinto the Classroom—Juan Manzo (Resource Guide). In this project, Mexican muralism is explored as a method of representing community. With the use of masterworks, participants will learn the importance of muralism in Mexico and its relationship to Mexican history and culture. By learning how murals use symbolism, time and movement, participants will be able to create mini-murals based on the three elements and reflect on connections between Latin American culture and their own experience.

6.Collaborating for CollegeReadiness: Curriculum Reform as Opportunityfor Innovative Partnership—Leanne Ellis, Curtis L. Kendrick (Student Sample) (Logic Model). Learn about “high school to college” transition issues from City University of New York and New York City school librarians who have created a new community of practice model to address barriers to college success. Panelists will discuss Common Core school reform and share viewpoints on college readiness that have emerged from a pilot project that brought together college and school librarians, professors, and teachers across three disciplines for discussion, relationship building, and collaborative curricular revision.

7.New York State Science Learning Standards and the CCLS for ELA and Mathematics—Will Jaacks. The presentation will demonstrate how the current New York State Science Standards are already consistent with the Common Core Learning Standards for Math and ELA. Participants will work together to crosswalk the current Science Learning Standards with the CCLS. This workshop will interest anyone involved with science instruction in New York State.

Session 3 - 3:15 Presentations

               

1.Technology at the Core—Patricia Polan. The integration of technology is a key design consideration in the Common Core. Learn more about the significant role that technology plays in Common Core implementation, share strategies to support a technology-rich instructional program based on the Common Core, and learn how technology will shape the future of Common Core-based curricula and assessments

2.Students as Historians:Using Historical Records to Implement the CCLS—Jessica Maul (Handout).  This presentation will focus on the use of primary source documents and diverse instructional strategies to deepen student understanding of historical content and develop critical thinking skills. Using a selection of key documents related to the American Revolution, slavery, the Civil War, and immigration, participants will learn what makes a good teachable document, how to integrate documents into classroom instruction and how to build a standards- and document-based case study for classroom use. Participants will leave with copies of documents and learning activities ready for classroom use.

3.English Language Learnersand the Common Core—Arlen Siu Benjamin-Gomez (Chinese Example) (NLAP RI.2.4). This presentation will include an overview of the New York State Bilingual Common Core Initiative, designed to make the Common Core accessible to ELLs and other students developing new and/or home languages.  

4.A Writing-Based Approach to Understanding the CCLS—Peg Peoples. This interactive workshop will engage participants in a conversation around how writing can be used to support the implementation of CCLS across the curriculum. Participants will experiment and explore a variety of writing-based teaching practices (freewriting, dialectical notebooks, loop writing, writing from images, etc.) to discover new ways to approach the integration of the Common Core into their own classrooms and areas of expertise. During this workshop, participants will be exposed to practices that have already proven to be successful in classrooms of many levels and disciplinary focuses.

5.Find the Common in CommonCore: Fostering Collaborative Relationships between Teachers, Schools, andPublic Libraries—Christina Menetti, Joyce Laiosa. Increasing numbers of teachers are looking for informational texts that support the Common Core Learning Standards (CCLS). How can public librarians market services and help teachers and students manage the instructional learning shifts?  How can public librarians prepare collections and services?  How do they connect the school day experience with the public library mission?  To help answer these questions, participants will evaluate text complexity features using the EngageNY model of informational text.  Then participants will analyze passages from specific texts that would support a CCLS lesson. This enhanced knowledge of the CCLS will assist participants in understanding collection development, outreach, policy management, and program development that play an important role in the implementation of the Common Core Learning Standards. 

6.Teaching World Religionswith Objects—Claudine Dixon, Sydney Greaves. Participants will experience hands-on exploration of religious artifacts exactly the way that students do with the graphic organizers, guided observation, short response hand-outs, and informational text with text-based questions. Participants will see that this method of teaching could be used to promote inquiry, make connections, and engage students. Participants will see that community connections could bring an approach to learning that might not be ordinarily possible with limited school funding.

7.The PrekindergartenFoundation for the Common Core—Meg McNiff  . The New York State Prekindergarten Foundation for the Common Core provides a framework for rigorous instruction within the five critical developmental domains.  Carefully developed early learning expectations linked to K-12 standards contribute to a more cohesive, unified approach to young children's education. This interactive workshop will help participants gain a better understanding of the Prekindergarten Foundation for the Common Core, as well as explore ways in which they can support developmentally appropriate learning experiences for students, teachers, and parents that are aligned to these standards. 

Session 4 - 4:30 Presentations

               

1.Research & the CCLS—David Abel. This workshop will enable participants to understand how the CCLS demand a different conception of research, with a shift to iterative inquiry from defense of a static thesis.  Participants will take a deep look at the writing standards as they progress across the grades from K to 12, and they will learn about the "sub-shifts" of the Writing from Sources Instructional shift.  They will also learn about resources to support implementation.

2.Engaging Students ThroughInquiry-Based Learning Using Primary Sources at Home and on the Internet—Claire Enkosky. The presenters will share their experiences from a recent Teaching with Primary Sources grant from the Library of Congress and show the connections between local history resources and national education resources online. This presentation will encourage attendees to think about their own local history and show the important role historical investigation plays in Social Studies and ELA classes that promote student literacy. Handouts will be provided that will assist attendees in locating local history on the Internet, include sample lesson frameworks focused in different classrooms, and encourage exchange of ideas.

3.Plan Creative Curriculum & Address CCLS: Teaching with Authentic Cultural Objects, an Indonesia Example—Melina Draper (Lesson Plan). Workshop participants will experience a Common Core Standards-aligned ELA lesson and discuss how to use and modify the lesson for their settings. During the lesson, participants will compare and contrast American and Indonesian heroes, listen to a story from the Ramayana, view a video clip of a shadow puppet performance of the Ramayana, and write creatively in response to Indonesian cultural objects making use of the writing process (generating ideas, drafting, sharing work, and revising). Participants will leave with a better appreciation of how pairing cultural objects with texts from other cultures can enrich the curriculum and address the learning standards. They will also learn how to access and make use of Cornell's Southeast Asia Program and other international program resources.

4.Transforming Lessons for the CCLS Classroom—Sandy Goldberg. Join us as we explore media-rich resources that provide students with the skills, content knowledge, and motivation to meet Common Core Learning Standards across a range of subjects. This session will draw on the thousands of free resources offered in VITAL NY (http://vitalny.pbslearningmedia.org), now available on a brand new educational platform including video, interactive presentations, games, and more. We will share examples of Common Core units that incorporate VITAL resources and will also provide strategies and tools that support instruction with classroom-ready digital media. This is a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) session: you're welcome to explore VITAL's Common Core resources using your own laptop, iPad, or tablet.

5.Complex Reading Materials:Yikes! Where Do I Find Those Resources—Marla Yudin, Mary Tiedemann. Join us as we discuss the definition of complex reading and explore the many resources your School Library System can offer as you implement complex reading into your curriculum.  This workshop will explain what is meant by complex text, how to determine text complexity and how to use the vast resources in NOVELny to find informational texts.  Each participant will leave with a folder all the materials used and extra copies for duplication.

6.What to Do with Historic Documents: Using Primary Sources to Teach Colonial History—Ann Pfau. This presentation will focus on how to identify grade-appropriate historic documents, artifacts, and images and ways to prepare them for use by elementary and middle school teachers. It will start with a discussion of working with both teachers and scholars (historians, archaeologists, and linguists) to develop online lessons about colonial US history. It will go on to demonstrate the use of model lessons, developed by the New Netherland Institute and other cultural organizations that support the Common Core Learning Standards.

7.Cultural Educators, Mathematics and the CommonCore:  How Cultural Resources Can Supportthe Instructional Shifts in the Mathematics Classroom— John Svendsen, Susan Brockley. This presentation will focus on how to identify grade-appropriate historic documents, artifacts, and images and ways to prepare them for use by elementary and middle school teachers. It will start with a discussion of working with both teachers and scholars (historians, archaeologists, and linguists) to develop online lessons about colonial US history. It will go on to demonstrate the use of model lessons, developed by the New Netherland Institute and other cultural organizations that support the Common Core Learning Standards.