Check out this presentation given by an ELA Common Core expert on the balance between literary and informational texts. Watch the full webinar recording, ask Alan a question, and even schedule a 1:1 chat with him at CommonCore.com.

1. Dispelling Common Core
Myths About Informational
vs Literacy Texts in a
Properly Aligned Classroom
with Alan Sitomer
www.AlanSitomer.com
@ alansitomer

2. Question:
Are English teachers
supposed to shift
into a curriculum
that disavows and/or
diminishes
literature?

3. Distribution of Literary and Informational Passages by
Grade
Types of Text:
Expected
percentages
with Common
Core
Unprecedented for
American classrooms
Rebalancing the types of texts K12 students encounter.

4. Gigantic Misperception
Common Core wants to eliminate fiction.
English classes must abandon literature
Informational text must exclusively
dominate the curricular landscape in
ELA.

5. Know the facts!

6. Gigantic Misperception
E!
LS
FA
Common Core wants to eliminate fiction.
Patently Un
tr
ue!
English classes must abandon literature
Informational text must exclusively
dominate the curricular landscape in
ELA.
No!
No!
No!

7. Like I just said…
Know the facts!

8. The facts say...
Literacy is to be a
Shared
Shared Responsibility
Responsibility
on campus.

9. s
n
o
ti
p
e !
c d
r
e
p
n
s
usmart
i
M a bo
Many people are taking
wrongly informed actions.

10. www.corestandards.org

11. Shared Responsibility for Literacy
Shared responsibility for students’ literacy
development
The Standards insist that instruction in reading, writing, speaking,
listening, and language be a shared responsibility within the school.
The grades 6–12 standards are divided into two sections, one for ELA and
the other for history/social studies, science, and technical subjects. This
division reflects the unique, time-honored place of ELA teachers in
developing students’ literacy skills while at the same time recognizing that
teachers in other areas must have a role in this development as well.
Across the entire school day
ELA
Other Content Areas + ELA

12. Shared Responsibility for Literacy
Shared responsibility for students’ literacy
development
The Standards insist that instruction in reading, writing, speaking,
listening, and language be a shared responsibility within the school.
The grades 6–12 standards are divided into two sections, one for ELA and
the other for history/social studies, science, and technical subjects. This
division reflects the unique, time-honored place of ELA teachers in
developing students’ literacy skills while at the same time recognizing that
teachers in other areas must have a role in this development as well.
School day = 8:00 am - 3:00
pm
6 hours of academic instruction
Half of all class time working with text
(3 hours per school day)
70% = 2.1 hours Informational Text
30% = .9 hours Literary Text
ELA
It’s silly to break down
school mathematically.
General guidelines!
Across the entire school day
Other Content Areas + ELA

13. Oh, come on... Is this interpretation
BALONEY?

14. Let’s turn to the experts.
Carol Jago in the Washington Post:
* Served as President of the National Council of Teachers of English
(NCTE)
* Directs the California Reading and Literature Project at UCLA
* 32 years teaching experience in the classroom
“The claim that the Common Core State Standards have
abolished the teaching of literature makes for a great
headline. Who wouldn’t get hot and bothered over the
idea that high school students will no longer be reading
“Romeo and Juliet,” “The Crucible,” and “Invisible Man?”
I would be up in arms, too. Fortunately, nothing in the
standards supports this claim.”

15. Let’s turn to the experts.
The Standards could not be clearer: ELA classrooms must focus on literature
-- that is not negotiable.
Said plainly, stories, drama, poetry, and other literature account for the
majority of reading that students will do in the high school ELA classroom.
The Common Core Standards apply to a broad spectrum of disciplines:
English Language Arts, and literacy in History/Social Studies, and Science
and Technical Subjects. By high school, the Standards require that 70% of
what students read be informational text, but the bulk of that percentage will
be carried by non-ELA disciplines that do not study fictional texts.
David Coleman and Sue Pimentel
* The lead authors of Common Core ’s State Standards for
English
* As in, the people who wrote the document.
ELA classrooms are not being taken over by informational text
and literature is not being left by the wayside.

16. e
s
e
th ?
ll
a rise
o
d sa
e
c
n
n
e ta tio
h e
w
r
m e rp
ro nt
F
i
is
m
How can so many smart people
be misinformed?

17. Headlines!
"Catcher in the Rye
Dropped From US School
Curriculum.”
The London Telegraph

18. Headlines!
“A new curriculum plan
almost certainly will diminish
exposure to works of
literature.”
Los Angeles Times

19. Headlines!
“The new achievement goals
actually set American students
back by de-emphasizing great
literary works for informational
texts."
Michelle Malkin
Fox News Channel Contributor

20. Headlines!
“English teachers at every grade
level must now ensure that 50
percent of reading materials are
“informational texts.” This figure
rises to 70 percent for high-school
students.” -John Griffing
The National Review Online

21. Headlines!
“Aliens to eat all fiction, literature
eradicated, novels burned!”
(And lose twenty pounds before next summer
with our new and sexy Common Core diet tips.)
-National Enquirer

22. self
our
ify y edge!
or t
F
wl
kn o
with
W
ith
FA
C
Know what the
Common Core
standards actually
say.
TS
!

23. Dispelling Common Core
Myths About Informational
vs Literacy Texts in a
Properly Aligned Classroom
with Alan Sitomer
www.AlanSitomer.com
@ alansitomer