Common Core Chat Shift 4: Text Based Answers

Educators…

Thanks for joining me for
another chat! J  Today’s topic is text based answers.  Basically,
we are to facilitate evidence based conversations about text, plan out and
conduct rich conversations about the text, make sure that students are engaged
in the text, and make sure that when we are requiring a text based answer we
make sure that the student can site evidence of that example.

Hmm…that sounds awesome…in
a third grade classroom.  Ugh! :/ What does that look like with
firsties?  Or…kinders???  This was a really tough
common core shift for me to take in, if I’m being completely honest.  When
our literacy coach told us at the beginning of the year that the process of
embracing common core would be difficult for most educators, I was really ready
for it to be hard.  As I have been through training after training—one each week this ENTIRE SCHOOL YEAR—to be frank, I’ve really embraced all of it…until this one! L

Here’s my issue.  My
firsties come to me and can…not…read…how do you ask them to give you an answer
based on the text if the can’t READ the text? *sigh* Can you
hear the frustration in my voice?  So…the first place I went was to
the standards themselves for answers.

Since the standards build
on the previous year’s mastery…let’s start with the Kindergarten requirement
for text dependant answers, and move up through second.  My thinking here was to see exactly how much of this our students should come to us having…and leave with us having…

There were at least two standards in each grade level that specifically mentioned that the students needed to utilize text in order to
give a response.

KINDERGARTEN
STANDARDS

RL.K.1.     With
prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.

RL.K.4     With prompting and support, ask and answer
questions about unknown words in a text.

*Complex Text Requirement- Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding*

FIRST
GRADE STANDARDS

RL.1.1        Ask
and answer questions about key details in a text.

RL.1.4       Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that appeal to the senses.

RL.1.6       Identify
who is telling the story at various points in a text.

*Complex Text Requirement- With prompting and support, read prose and poetry of appropriate complexity for Grade 1*

SECOND
GRADE STANDARDS

RL.2.1       Ask
and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why and how to demonstrate
understanding of key details in a text.

RL.2.7      Use
information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text
to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot.

*Complex Text Requirement- By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, and poetry, in the grades 2-3 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.*

If the idea of these
standards is mastery, then although text dependency is embedded in all of the
standards…is it possible that if I focus on text dependency in the areas in
which it asks for it…and I strive towards mastery…is it possible that it will
be enough of a foundation for the students going forward?

Also of note…text dependant
answers in complex text really don’t come into play until the end of second
grade…so that would also lead me to believe that although we’d expose kinders
and firsties to text dependant questions in complex text…the expectation of
mastery of text dependant questions would be from developmentally appropriate
text.

Click on this link to check out Daina’s pack on TPT!

Friends…that’s where I’m
at. J  One
resource that I’ve found that helps me to expose my students to independent
level text are these ‘Prove It’ worksheets by Daina Roberts.  
Each
sheet has a short text on first grade level topics that the students read.  Then,
they code the text for answers. Daina has scaffolded the pack, so that the
paragraphs get progressively more difficult.  It’s a great way for
students to practice a difficult skill with approachable text.  Check
out her TPT page!

How are you guys doing with
working on this with your kinders and firsties??

Don’t forget to link up your common core themed resource below! 🙂