Unpacking an ELA Standard for Third Grade

Matthew Bamberg unpacks a third grade English language arts standard.

Ebonics and Language Diversity

Currently, I'm in the prewriting stage for a book about language diversity. The book is based upon a real-life experience about when I taught in Oakland, California. I taught there during the Ebonics controversy (1980s).

That controversy was to have African American students use nonstandard language (Ebonics) as a springboard to learning standard English. I considered that it was just a different way of teaching grammar. I remember being trained how to teach it. It actually wasn't a bad idea because nonstandard language exists in popular culture and now from texting.

Controversy about Ebonics instruction came like a tidal wave because it was interpreted that people were saying that Ebonics was a language just like English.  Ebonics (called African American Vernacular English) has its roots in African language and culture.

ITL 600

Hello ITL Students and Others:

This is my blog.

It reads like a journal. This is my latest entry.

Check out the article about URLs.

Lesson Plan Template

Finding a good lesson plan template isn't easy. You want something that has room to write the five steps, which are:

1. Description

2. Goals and Objectives

3. Materials and Tools

4. Procedure

5. Assessment/Evaluation

Get the lesson plan template.

Writing a Personal Essay

Writing a personal essay doesn't have to be hard. One would think that the most important part of a personal essay would be writing a draft. This isn't so. While it is important, there are other parts of the writing process that are just as important for writing a focused "A" paper.

One of the first tasks you do before you write the rough draft is to have a topic that is appropriate for a personal essay.

As you may recall, a personal essay should be written in first person, usually about an account of an event, a story about a person, a travelogue of a place or  an illustration of an object (in words) that is or was special to you. Well, does that mean you should write about your mom, your childbirth (if you're a woman) or your vacation? Any of these topics are a good choice for a personal essay.

Recall that the writing process:

1. Brainstorming--Create your topic. Narrow it down.

2. Outlining--Yes, this is necessary!

3. Drafting--Writing your draft from the outline.

4. Revising--Looking at the paper and paragraphs as a thorough explanation of your thesis.

5. Editing--Correcting errors in spelling, grammar, capitalization, punctuation and missing words/typos. Run a spell-check during this step.

That's it! Those are the five writing steps. You can do them any way you want with any topic. You can revise while you're editing if you want or vice versa. Whatever you're comfortable with.

Common Core Parody

Depth of Knowledge and Critical Thinking

10 Common Core Math Tips

1. Have students talk through a math problem.

2. Reading and understanding a math problem.

3.  Teaching fractions according to common core. 

4. Use clearly defined units in math problems such as gallon or yard instead of pitcher or slice.

5. Using geometric shapes riddles.

6. Transforming shapes.

7. Video: Teaching division with Common Core.

8. Water math problems from the Peace Corps.

9. Counting on fingers benefits students.

10. Dozens of math word problems.

Current State of Common Core Standards in California 2016

Below is some information about the current state standards adoptions for all subjects with regard to CCSS. CCSS has now been developed for history/social science in California as of this date.

Beginning teachers often confuse ELA (English/Language Arts) literacy standards for history/social studies and science with California State Content Standards for history/social science and science.

The state of the standards and some useful links are provided below:

California State CCSS and Content Area Subject Standards (note that these are only content standards) are at http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/

Two sets of Common Core standards exist for History-Social Studies
1.  ELA Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science and Technical Subjects is at http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/documents/finalelaccssstandards.pdf).  
2.  California Social Studies Content Standards at http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/documents/histsocscistnd.pdf

Two sets of Common Core standards exist for Science
1. ELA Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science and Technical Subjects is at http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/documents/finalelaccssstandards.pdf).
2. Next Generation Science Standards for California Public Schools, Kindergarten through Grade Twelve (CA NGSS) at http://www.cde.ca.gov/pd/ca/sc/ngssstandards.asp

Common Core History/Social Science content standards have not yet been adopted.They're being reviewed. The 1998 standards are still relevant again at http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/documents/histsocscistnd.pdf

ELD (English Language Development) standards are at http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/el/er/documents/eldstndspublication14.pdf

For more info about NGSS in California, see http://www.cde.ca.gov/pd/ca/sc/ngssintrod.asp

Finally, one other element, Common Core, is worth mentioning, which emphasizes that instruction based on authentic, real-life topics. CCSS developed the Standards drawing upon input from educators and educator groups, higher education stakeholders, content experts, parents and the public" (Thatcher, 2012). For this reason, the state officials who initiated the standards had relevant real-life input about what their worker's skill-sets are and how students can successfully  complete tasks related to them.

Thatcher, D. (2012). Common Core Standards: frequently asked questions for state legislators. National Conference of State Legislators. Retrieved from
https://sites.google.com/site/ncslccssupdate/home/resources-and-comments/NCSL - CCSS FAQ (June 2013).pdf?attredirects=0&d=1

NPR's Common Core FAQs

NPR (National Public Radio) has published a fascinating FAQ about Common Core.

The Common Core FAQ