1. Curriculum Update Secondary English Language Arts and Reading January 28, 2011

2. Title Critics’ Corner

3. Critics’ Corner Unitstoocrammed full of stories Toomuch to cover Grammardisjointed

4. We Heard You! TeacherOverview Genre Reading Skills WritingSkills ECOS Selections Removed the listening/speaking/mediatech.

5. We Heard You! VocabularyPriorities Vocabulary Building – stems thatneed to beexplicitlytaught AcademicVocabulary– wordsthat are frequentlyused in academic settings – thesewordsshouldbeemphasized Content-SpecificVocabulary – wordsthat are specific to ELAR - thesewordsshouldbeemphasized Vocabulary in Context – has been omitted – youdeterminewhichwordsneed to beemphasized

6. We Heard You! TEKS, ELPS, and CCRS, willbemoved to another document. Listening, Speaking, Media and Tech includedin new document.

7. We Heard You! High School Changes Guiding questions have been removed. Objectives only are listed. We’vebegunhighlighting the supporting and readiness standards.

8. NowPlaying… STAAR TEST

9. How will the S.T.A.A.R. test be formatted?

10. NowPlaying…

11. Coming Attractions

12. Let’s follow one path… ASSESSMENT INFORMATION

13. Writing Test DesignGrades 4 and 7 and High School Assessments at grades 4 and 7 administered over two days; writing component of English I, II, and III administered on Day 1 of test (with reading component on Day 2) Field tests embedded for grade 7 and English I, II, and III No thematic link between the reading and the writing test in high school Abbreviated stand-alone field test for grade 4 every three years

14. Open-Ended Response Body of evidence—they don’t have to support everything they say. If they do get a literal response (i.e. “they both served in Viet Nam,” “they were both old”), then they cannot get a 2. They must make a non-literal connection.

15. Open-Ended Response Shorter rubric—looking for strong, implicit connection • They may not write outside the box or double space. They get 10 lines—plenty of room to make a 3. Only first 10 lines will be scored. • One 2 OERs that count (3 total, but one is a field test)—one will be a single piece and one will be a crossover. The field test will be one or the other .

16. Open-Ended Response • Adjusted 2/3 line—5% 3s on field test • Short answer will be about 1/3 of the reading score—right now it’s 24%

17. NowPlaying… TextbookcommitteewillrecommendPrenticeHall’sWriting Coach. The Boardwillbeasked to approve the choiceat the February meeting.

18. NowPlaying… LiteratureAdvisoryCommittee CurrentlyreadingInto the Wild CurrentlyreadingWatson’s Go to Birmingham Remember to do a rationale to any book new to BISD

19. Coming Attractions Curriculum—This Fall The curriculum for 5th and 6th six weeksisbeingwritten right now. Wewill post as wegetitfinished.

20. Coming Attractions Curriculum—This Summer Wewillsurvey ELAR teachers to find out what changes weneed to make. Wewillrevise the first semester, addresources and integrate the new writing/ grammar book. Wewilltryto write a Deep Reading unit for all of the commonnovels.

21. Coming Attractions Wewill monitor and adjust all thatwe do based on: The new state budget The new STAAR test Our new leadership

22. Coming Attractions Theme: Curriculum Matters Weshould have four full daysnextyearwithour ALTS. All ELAR teacherswillbegiven a NeedsAssessmentthisspring to determinewhat sessions to offerduringthosedays. Wewill have ALT time to workwithcolleagues.