Understanding and Applying Standards

This week I looked at the Common Core Standards through special lenses. Actually, I selected one Common Core Standard to work closely with, to dissect and contemplate. I decided on the following Common Core Standard:

For Kindergarten Literacy

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.7

With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear (e.g., what moment in a story an illustration depicts).

I chose to concentrate on this standard because reading is such a fundamental skill and a foundation for all areas of learning. It really takes its roots in Kindergarten, which I will be teaching next year, and a student's first initiation can affect how he or she feels about reading and even about school in general. I love reading and sharing books and stories with others that one of my most ardent goals is to try to instill a love of reading, or at least an appreciation for it, in all of my students. Even though I love reading and want to share it with my students, just reading the standard does not give a teacher any major clues as to how to go about helping students learn about the relationship between illustrations and the story. To really get to the heart of the standard, there are three methods to use to be able to break it down and scaffold it into different lessons: Unpacking A Standard, Backwards Mapping and Writing Objectives. 

Unpacking A Standard 

I found this first step, unpacking a standard, really helpful in understanding the essence of the standard. In looking at the verbs in the standard you are able to know what students need to do and what types of activities they need to take part in, to achieve the standard. The nouns, too, tell you about the content the students should be learning. Knowing these hints, to look at the verbs and nouns, was so useful to me in breaking down the standard and fully grasping it. I was also better able to understand how I could create effective lessons for my students. For example, the only verb in the standard I chose to focus on is the verb describe. At a first read and taking the standard as a whole, it seems pretty basic. But, in pulling out the verb and really thinking about it, I was able to consider the verb in different ways. Describe is often oral, but it can also be a written description or a pictorial description. So, in pulling the verb out of the context of the standard, I was able to come up with different ways for my students to communicate the connection between illustrations and the story.


Backwards Mapping

I really liked backwards mapping. It was quite a natural process because it makes perfect sense to me. In thinking about the end goal, and what I wanted my students to be able to do with the content and accrue in  knowledge, was a great way to start. When you have an image in your mind of your students succeeding with the content, then you can plan more easily the proficiencies, activities and assessments that will bring them to that place. I found this process rather instinctive.  I also felt that it flowed nicely from the unpacking exercise. With the standard dissected, it was easier to see how you could build up to the end goal. 

Mapping and Writing Objectives 

Having already unpacked the standard and having looked at it through backwards mapping, it was a logical step in the process to write the objectives next. The first two steps really give you a deeper understanding of the standard itself as well as different ways to approach it. When we have our proficiencies in mind from backwards mapping, we can create concrete and clear objectives. I found Bloom's Taxonomy of Learning Domains very helpful when defining and writing my objectives.

G-O-A-L!!!

Overall, I found all three steps very valuable in the planning process. Independently, each strategy helped breakdown the standard into smaller, workable parts while together they created a scaffolded model of the standard in the form of objectives, proficiencies, activities and assessments. I will definitely use all three approaches when planning future lessons. 


Sources

http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RL/K/

Clark, D. (2015), Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning Domains. Retrieved from http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/bloom.html

NA. (2005). Effective Use of Performance Objectives for Learning and Assessment (For Use With Fink’s and Bloom’s Taxonomies). Teacher & Educational Development, University of New Mexico School of Medicine. Retrieved from http://ccoe.rbhs.rutgers.edu/forms/EffectiveUseofLearningObjectives.pdf

Sources for Images

http://www.slideshare.net/sknight/unpacking-standards

http://www.mapsandlanterns.org/backward-mapping/

http://nearsay.com/c/109347/85134/3-tips-for-massachusetts-real-estate-agents-on-creating-goals-for-2016