THE NEW ACADEMIC ESSENTIALS: COLLEGE AND CAREER READINESS 8/13/13

THE NEW ACADEMIC ESSENTIALS: COLLEGE AND CAREER READINESS 8/13/13 Name: Date: Major/Field: School/Other: DOMAINS (Score yourself 0-3. 0 = don t know it/can t do it; 3 = major strength) Fall Spr COMMUNICATING: WRITTEN, ORAL, VISUAL, & OTHER MEANS OR MEDIA 1. Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and evidence. 2. Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately. 3. Use writing as one of many different ways to understand and deepen your grasp of a topic or a text. 4. Produce clear, coherent writing that develops and organizes ideas, and uses style appropriate to task, purpose, audience. 5. Demonstrate a command of conventions of standard English grammar, usage, and mechanics when writing or speaking. 6. Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach. 7. Design texts using images, words, different features (e.g., fonts), formats, or media in light of your purpose and audience. 8. Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, assessing its credibility before integrating it. 9. Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support your analysis, reflection, and research. 10. Convey arguments, ideas, and information using visual, graphic, or multimedia formats. 11. Use language when speaking or writing that is appropriate to your subject, occasion, audience, and purpose. 12. Participate effectively in conversations and collaborations in person and online for different purposes and contexts. READING: WORDS, IMAGES, INFORMATION, GRAPHICS 1. Read closely to determine the text s explicit meaning and make logical inferences based on evidence from the text. 2. Determine central ideas/themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details/ideas. 3. Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text. 4. Interpret words and phrases as used in a text, including determining their technical, connotative, and figurative meanings. 5. Analyze how specific word choices, figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in meanings shape meaning or tone. 6. Analyze how text structures specific sentences, paragraphs, larger sections relate to each other and affect the whole. 7. Assess how point of view or the author s purpose shapes the content and style of a text. 8. Integrate and evaluate content in diverse formats and media, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words. 9. Delineate and evaluate the author s argument, its specific claims, and the validity of reasoning and quality of evidence. 10. Analyze how two or more texts treat similar themes/topics in order to build knowledge and compare the authors approaches. 11. Interrogate texts: preview, annotate, outline/summarize, notice repetitions/patterns, compare/contrast with prior texts/topics. LEARNING: TAKING NOTES, TAKING TESTS, OBSERVING, REMEMBERING, & RESEARCHING 1. Take effective, organized notes that can be used to help you study, write, research, remember, or understand content. 2. Use different tools and techniques to capture ideas, evidence, or data during reading, observations, lectures, or experiments. 3. Employ a range of strategies when studying for and taking tests of any type. 4. Draw on different techniques to identify what you need to remember and to help you remember and apply that content. 5. Determine the criteria or questions to use when reading, viewing, or observing so you know what to notice and ignore. 6. Create and use a system for gathering, organizing, and using notes and documents essential to success in each class. 7. Seek out and use all available resources, including tutors, websites, and your teachers to help you learn and improve. 8. Identify a question or problem to investigate, collecting, evaluating, and synthesizing data from various sources. THINKING: IMAGINATION, CURIOSITY, CREATIVITY, & HABITS OF MIND 1. Ask questions to clarify, generate, connect, evaluate, analyze, solve/identify problems, challenge ideas, and show curiosity. 2. Identify, frame, analyze, and solve problems using a variety of tools or approaches. 3. Access and analyze information, determining what it means, why it matters, and how best to convey the findings. 4. Generate ideas, questions, hypotheses, interpretations, problems, solutions, alternatives, perspectives, and arguments. 5. Reflect on your own processes and performances, using the insights to improve your work in the future. 6. Explore other ways of doing, learning, solving, generating by being playful, curious, open, and even daring. 7. Imagine how others would perceive, respond to, or otherwise think about an idea, question, interpretation, or event. 8. Seek critical feedback about your work, allowing yourself to listen to, consider, and use any details that will improve it. 9. Construct logical arguments supported by valid evidence that acknowledges and addresses other perspectives. 10. Synthesize seemingly competing sources or findings when exploring a subject across a range of texts. MANAGING: YOURSELF, RELATIONSHIPS, RESOURCES, & YOUR REPUTATION 1. Know your needs and strengths; harness these to ensure success with whatever you do, whomever you work. 2. Monitor and manage your stress, impulsivity, attention, and energy to achieve the desired or specified outcomes. 3. Respect other perspectives, cultures, and values when collaborating, evaluating, or communicating. 4. Collaborate effectively with a range of people for different purposes in different situations in-person and online. 5. Make responsible, ethical choices regarding work and relationships; accept the consequences of your decisions. 6. Adhere to a strict work ethic by always being prompt, prepared, precise and accurate; and doing/submitting your own work. 7. Cultivate and maintain an ethos that establishes that you are trustworthy, ethical, committed, competent, and likable. 8. Demonstrate resiliency, initiative, grit, and persistence when encountering obstacles on solo or group projects. 9. Show adaptability and agility as conditions, demands, or required skills and knowledge change suddenly and over time. TOTAL SCORE 2013 Jim Burke. Sources: Academic Literacy (UC/CSU/CCC 2002); Closing the Global Achievement Gap (Wagner 2010); Common Core Standards (2010); Framework for Success in College Writing (CWPA 2011); The Flat World & Education (Darling-Hammond 2010); College Knowledge (Conley 2005); Interrogating Texts: 6 Reading Habits to Develop in Your First Year at Harvard (Harvard 2011). 2014 Jim Burke (unless otherwise indicated) visit englishcompanion.com for more information 1

QUICK REFERENCE: 6-12 ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS READING information clearly and accurately Presentation of Knowledge & Ideas through the effective selection, 4. Present information, findings, and Key Ideas and Details 1. Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text. 2. Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas. 3. Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text. Craft and Structure 4. Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone. 5. Analyze the structure of texts, including how specific sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of the text (e.g., a section, chapter, scene, or stanza) relate to each other and the whole. 6. Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text. Integration of Knowledge/Ideas 7. Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse formats and media, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words. 8. Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, including the validity of the reasoning as well as the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence. 9. Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take. Range and Level of Complexity 10. Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently. WRITING Text Types and Purposes 1. Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence. 2. Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and organization, and analysis of content. 3. Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences. Production/Distribution of Writing 4. Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. 5. Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach. 6. Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others. Research to Build/Present Knowledge 7. Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects based on focused questions, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation. 8. Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, assess the credibility and accuracy of each source, and integrate the information while avoiding plagiarism. 9. Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. Range of Writing 10. Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences. SPEAKING AND LISTENING Comprehension and Collaboration 1. Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively. 2. Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally. 3. Evaluate a speaker s point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric. supporting evidence such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. 5. Make strategic use of digital media and visual displays of data to express information and enhance understanding of presentations. 6. Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and communicative tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate. LANGUAGE Conventions of Standard English 1. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking. 2. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing. Knowledge of Language 3. Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening. Vocabulary Acquisition and Use 4. Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases by using context clues, analyzing meaningful word parts, and consulting general and specialized reference materials, as appropriate. 5. Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings. 6. Acquire and use accurately a range of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college and career readiness level; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression. Note: For the complete Common Core standards document, please visit corestandards.org 2014 Jim Burke (unless otherwise indicated) visit englishcompanion.com for more information 2

Teaching by Design Using Webb s Depth of Knowledge Model Created by Jim Burke This page offers you a quick-reference guide to using Norman Webb s Depth of Knowledge (DOK) model when you are developing instructional units, assessment tasks, or specific assignments in your content area. Two central concepts in the DOK model are the cognitive demands the learning or assessment tasks make on students, and the depth of knowledge or understanding a given task or question requires to complete or learn it. The assigned DOK level reflects the degree of cognitive processing a task, topic, text, or test demands. Bloom s Taxonomy assumed certain verbs required a level of cognitive processing; in his DOK model, however, Webb, argues that it is what follows the verb that determines the complexity of the task. Thus, a word like describe could appear at any of the four DOK levels, depending on what one was asked to describe. LEVEL 1 RECALL & REPRODUCE: We know but do not transform facts, details, terms, or principles. DESCRIPTION: LEVEL 1 Asks students to remember, list, locate, retell, identify, define, or use similar skills on assignments or assessments to show that they know certain target knowledge or skills. At this level, the cognitive demands are basic, requiring knowledge and skills that students either do or do not know; that is, Level 1 questions or tasks do not ask students to use the facts or other details to solve any problems or figure out additional questions. Identify all metaphors used in a passage. List three examples of irony from the text. Retell what happens to in the text. Define the word using a dictionary. Locate all details to include in works cited. Label each of the types of sentences in a. Memorize a passage or a complete poem. Recall the questions to ask about a poem. Find the key facts about in a text. Search online using the terms provided. Which definition is more accurate for the word as it is used in line 4? What does the author say is the most memorable quality of in his essay? What are the elements of a Shakespearean sonnet? In his second soliloquy, Hamlet describes himself as: a. b. c.. What different definitions does the dictionary offer for the word? LEVEL 2 SKILLS & CONCEPTS: We process/transform specified knowledge then use or apply it. DESCRIPTION: LEVEL 2 Asks students to infer, organize, predict, compare, classify, show cause-effect, solve simple problems, or complete similar processes that require students to determine what a word or concept means based on any available context or background information then to go beyond the obvious meaning of the word or concept, using it to estimate, classify, summarize, revise, translate, or modify something to show they understand it. Organize details in order of importance. Compare how X is similar to Y. Predict what X will do next based on. Display data as a table or graph. Summarize an author s argument. Translate a table/graph into a paragraph. Paraphrase a specified portion of the text. Distinguish the effect of X from Y. Define based on context clues in text. Represent the story using a plot diagram. How would you visually represent the relationship between X and Y? What other words could you use to describe X based on what you know? What question is the author trying to answer in this essay or presentation? What other defendible claims could you make about this text? Which of the following sentences makes the clearest, most effective claim? LEVEL 3 LEVEL 4 STRATEGIC THINKING & REASONING: We integrate in-depth knowledge & skills to solve/produce. DESCRIPTION: LEVEL 3 Asks students to assess, develop, draw conclusions, explain events/processes in terms of concepts, solve complicated problems, and engage in similar higher order thinking skills that require planning, reasoning, analysis, and evaluation. Students combine their deepening conceptual knowledge and growing array of skills to think strategically about how to solve and create. Level 3 emphasizes deep understanding of one text or source. State the reasoning behind a position and provide relevant evidence that supports it. Investigate a problem or question, explaining its origins and how it has evolved over time as a result of human intervention. Develop a logical argument about how a literary character changes over the course of a story and how they contribute to the meaning of the text as a whole; provide textual evidence to support any claims. What tone is most appropriate given your task, audience, occasion, or purpose? What logic informs the sequence of information in this text and how does it relate to the author s (or your own) purpose? How could you revise your paper to improve the logic or cohesion of your ideas? Explain how this poem honors and departs from the sonnet form, and how that departure affects the poem s meaning. EXTENDED THINKING: We extend our knowledge to address complex, real problems or questions. DESCRIPTION: LEVEL 4 Asks students to extend, integrate, reflect, adjust, design, conduct, and initiate or monitor authentic problems that have no obvious or predictable solution, drawing on a range of sources, texts of different types and perspectives, often in collaboration with others and over an extended period of time. Level 4 thinking demands we extend our thinking across sources, disciplines, and perspectives to solve a problem or create a final product. Design a multimedia slide presentation that documents the civil rights movement from different perspectives, analyzing key moments and explaining their effect on the movement and the people involved. Investigate a substantive topic for an extended time from multiple perspectives that results in a 10-page formal paper presented in a 3-5 minute multimedia TED-Talk format to parents and peers. Identify themes that are common to the different texts provided, explaining how these themes are treated and developed. Analyze how identity contributes to the meaning of each text, choosing a metaphor that effective captures what these various sources are saying about identity. Write an analysis of two (or more) sonnets, constructing and supporting with evidence a claim about what says about a subject they have in common. 2014 Jim Burke (unless otherwise indicated) visit englishcompanion.com for more information 3

Into the Wild: An Inquiry into Freedom Mr. Burke/English 7CP Overview Guidelines We have read Into the Wild as an inquiry into the concept of freedom. To that end, we have considered a range of perspectives (Adler, Thoreau, Maslow); definitions (liberty vs. freedom vs. license vs. autonomous vs. independent); and approaches (philosophical, psychological, socio-economical). All give us useful insights into the book in general and Chris McCandless/ Alex Supertramp in particular. The following assignment asks you to examine one aspect of freedom that interests you. This paper should: Have 6 paragraphs: 1 introduction, 1 conclusion, and 4 paragraphs written in response to Into the Wild as we read it (all of which should be related to the same idea) Be double-spaced, 1-1.25 margins, 12-point font, formatted in a serif font (like Minion versus this font, which is the sans serif font Arial), with a header formatted with the page number and your name) Include abundant textual evidence in the form of direct and indirect quotations, each one properly cited in the text). Feature your name, this class, my name, period, and class on first page justified-left Standards The following standards apply to this assignment: WS 1. Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence. WS 7. Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects based on focused questions, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation. WS 8. Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, assess the credibility and accuracy of each source, and integrate the information while avoiding plagiarism. WS 9. Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. Directions This paper asks you to do the following: Introduce and establish a precise, knowledgeable claim about your topic. Organize your claims, counterclaims, reasons, and evidence to establish a clear relationship among them. Develop your claims and counterclaims about your subject fairly and thoroughly using relevant evidence from Into the Wild and other texts we read. Use words, phrases, and clauses to clarify the relationship between claims, reasons, evidence, and counterclaims. Provide a conclusion that follows from and supports your argument. Establish and maintain a formal style appropriate to the topic and audience. Assessment This paper will be evaluated using the attached rubric for writing an argument. 2014 Jim Burke (unless otherwise indicated) visit englishcompanion.com for more information 4

Into the Wild: An Inquiry Into the Idea of Freedom List of Claims/Other for Each Chapter 1. Claim: The first impression one gets of Chris McCandless is that he wants to escape mainstream American society in general and his own past and family in particular. 2. Claim: Alaska is a breathtaking but inhospitable landscape that resist man s best efforts to control it--and the government s attempts to control the people who live there. 3. Claim: We really only feel free when we are with those who truly know and accept us for who we are, which is why McCandless found a sense of home in Carthage with the people there. 4. Claim: It was only after he burned his last money and left behind his remaining possessions that McCandless begins his real odyssey, for only then was he free to live in the world as he chose. 5. Claim: One thing we can never get entirely free of or fully escape is our need for money. 6. Claim: Chris also resisted the demands of intimate relationships with those he met along the way, preferring instead to remain free of any obligations to others. 7. Alternate: Provided students with a series of quotations from chapter 7, all related to the paradox that often the more we try to be free (from something a desire, a person, past) the more we are bound to that source for in trying to escape it we can only think of it. Into the Wild: An Inquiry Into the Idea of Freedom Chapter 7 Directions After reading chapter 7, examine the following quotations from the chapter, looking for a common element to them that would support some claim about an aspect of freedom in this chapter. 1. Knowing Alex, I think he must have just got stuck on something that happened between him and his dad and couldn t leave it be (64). 2. He brooded at length over what he perceived to be his father s moral shortcomings, the hypocrisy of his parents lifestyle, the tyranny of their conditional love (64). 3. McCandless was drawn to women but remained largely celibate, as chaste as a monk (65). 4. McCandless seems to have been driven by a variety of lust that supplanted sexual desire (66). 5. Once Alex made up his mind about something, there was no changing it (67). 6. No, I want to hitch north. Flying would be cheating (67). What is the subject common (hint: it s more specific than just freedom ) to these quotations? 2014 Jim Burke (unless otherwise indicated) visit englishcompanion.com for more information 5

FOCUS, ORGANIZATION, & PURPOSE ARGUMENT WRITING (GRADES 9-12) N AME: PERIOD: Writing Standard 1: Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence. 1. EXCEEDS THE STANDARD 2. MEETS THE STANDARD 3. APPROACHES THE STANDARD 4. MISSES THE STANDARD INTRODUCE & ESTABLISH PRECISE, KNOWLEDGEABLE CLAIMS THAT ARE DISTINCT FROM ALTERNATE/OPPOSING CLAIMS. Introduce a claim that is precise, knowledgeable, significant, and distinct from competing claims. Introduce a claim that is accurate, informed, substantive, & different from competing claims. Introduce a claim that is relevant, speculative, predictable, or difficult to distinguish from other claims. ORGANIZE YOUR CLAIMS, COUNTERCLAIMS, REASONS, & EVIDENCE IN A LOGICAL SEQUENCE. Use various transitional strategies to clarify & emphasize the relationship between key elements. Include strong claims, counterclaims, reasons, & evidence. Acknowledge & develop unbiased & thorough counterclaims. Use transitional strategies to convey the relationship between different elements. Include claims, counterclaims, reasons, and evidence. Identify & develop fair and general counterclaims. Use few or flawed transitional strategies to describe the relationship between key elements. Include few claims, counterclaims, reasons, and pieces of evidence. Acknowledge & summarize ineffective counterclaims. Introduce no claim or one that is flawed; include no competing claims or ones that are flawed. Use no transitional strategies to convey the relationship between key elements. Include no evident claims, counterclaims, reasons, or evidence. Identify & develop no valid counterclaims. DEVELOPMENT CONVENTIONS & STYLE DEVELOP CLAIMS & COUNTERCLAIMS FAIRLY AND THOROUGHLY, SUPPLYING THE MOST RELEVANT EVIDENCE. Use the most relevant evidence from a range of quality sources. Examine the strengths & limitations of evidence in anticipation of audience concerns, values, biases. Use relevant evidence from different legitimate sources. Indicate the strengths & limitations of some evidence in anticipation of audience concerns, values, biases. Use evidence from only a few sources, some possibly flawed. Note few strengths or limitations of evidence in anticipation of audience concerns, values, biases. Use no evidence or none from any credible sources. Ignore strengths or limitations of evidence, as well as any concerns, values, biases of the audience. USE WORDS, PHRASES, CLAUSES AND VARIED SYNTAX TO LINK THE MAJOR SECTIONS, CREATE COHESION & CLARITY. Use precise language & varied syntax to create cohesion & clarify relationships between claims & counterclaims. Use language & syntax to create cohesion & clarify relationships between claims & counterclaims. Use vague language & syntax that adds limited cohesion, confusing readers about the relationships between claims & counterclaims. Use language & syntax in ways that undermine cohesion & the relationships between different claims & counterclaims. PROVIDE A CONCLUSION THAT FOLLOWS FROM AND SUPPORTS THE ARGUMENT PRESENTED IN YOUR PAPER. insight about, connects logically to, and provides strong support for your argument. understanding about, connects to, and provides support for your argument. some understanding, connects with limited clarity to, and provides limited support for your argument. little understanding about, lacks any clear connection to, and does not support your argument. ESTABLISH & MAINTAIN A FORMAL STYLE & OBJECTIVE TONE; OBSERVE DISCIPLINARY NORMS & CONVENTIONS. Establish & maintain throughout your paper a style appropriate to the topic, audience, & purpose. Observe all disciplinary conventions that apply to the text, topic, or task. Demonstrate exceptional command of the conventions of grammar, usage, punctuation, & spelling. Establish and maintain for most of the paper a style appropriate to the topic, audience, & purpose. Observe most disciplinary conventions that apply to the text, topic, or task. Demonstrate a command of the conventions of grammar, usage, punctuation, & spelling. Establish and maintain for parts of the paper a style related to the topic, audience, and purpose. Observe some disciplinary conventions that apply to the text, topic, or task. Demonstrate a command of many conventions of grammar, usage, punctuation, & spelling. Lack a style appropriate to the topic, audience, and purpose for this paper. Observe few or no disciplinary conventions that apply to the text, topic, or task. Demonstrate a command of few conventions of grammar, usage, punctuation, & spelling. REQUIREMENTS Read more than assigned readings. Followed all directions to the letter. Included properly formatted in-text MLA citations and works cited at the end of your paper. Read the assigned readings. Followed all directions in general. Included properly formatted in-text MLA citations and works cited at the end of your paper. Read most of assigned readings. Followed most of the directions. Included formatted in-text MLA citations and works cited at the end of your paper (for most sources). Read few/none of assigned readings. Followed few of the directions. Included no properly formatted intext MLA citations or works cited at the end of your paper. Grade What Worked/What Needs Work 9/23/13 12:16 AM 2014 Jim Burke (unless otherwise indicated) visit englishcompanion.com for more information 6