Teachers' Common Core Planning Toolkit
A guide for elementary teachers
Step Two: Address Instructional Shifts
Next, consider these questions:
- Where in the unit plan does it make sense to include informational text? Will you incorporate it during literacy lessons, content-area lessons, or both?
- Where will you find the texts you need? TeachersFirst has some suggestions for you here as part of the article Common Core: the Fuss over Non-Fiction.
- Is there a complex text that you can use in a close reading exercise over a period of days? A printable packet, reviewed by TeachersFirst , is available to help you with this shift. Text-dependent questions are discussed here as well.
- What provisions will you make for vocabulary instruction? What high-frequency and domain-specific academic language is necessary to your unit?
- Where in the unit plan will you have students write? Will they offer an argument or opinion related to the study topic? Help for this type of writing (which is new to many teachers of young students) is available here from Teachers First. Will students read multiple texts and then write an explanation of some kind?
- Is there an opportunity to conduct a short, focused research project?