English Language Arts Dispatch
September 2014
Monthy Update
PLC's will soon meet to calibrate scoring of Semester 1 Performance Tasks.
Questions to discuss in your PLC:
* How does writing instruction differ when teaching on-demand versus process writing?
* How do your expectations of student products change in on-demand versus process writing?
* How does your grading process differ for on-demand and process writing?
* What are the differences between holistic and analytic scoring? When might you use each?
* How do you define the differences between grading, scoring, commenting, or correcting?
Grading tip for PTs
Do an initial quick sort. Make one pile for “good enough” and one pile for “did not meet the standard.” Then do a second read where you sort the “did not meet the standard” pile into 1’s or 2’s and the “good enough” pile into 3’s and 4’s. This should be quick. Then, you read through each pile and assign scores with the rubric as the guide.
What grading tips do you have?
Post them in the comments section at the bottom of the newsletter.
Tips from Carol Jago author of Papers, Papers, Papers
* Comment heavily on drafts, but not the final. Final drafts only need a grade.
* Comment rather than correct.
* Make students read teacher comments and write a response to them.
* Students should write letters to themselves after receiving their graded papers. Hand these letters back to students while they work on their next paper so the students can remind themselves of areas they struggled with in the past.
Grading Papers, A Better Way?
"Recognizing the formidable power of language is the best antidote to our anxieties about imposing an alien voice, dialect, or identity on our students. The words we commit to paper, and the articulated sounds issuing from our mouths, have the power to change the lives of countless people. Let us strive to endow our students with the same power."
Data Bit
When an English learner who qualifies for ELD or SEI is placed in less than 2 qualifying EL courses, we deem them to be “Critically Misplaced.” At the beginning of last year 28% of our EL students fell into this category. Due to a coordinated effort between site and district personnel, this year that number is less than 10%, and dropping. That’s almost 1,400 more EL students receiving the EL strategies and scaffolds they need from highly qualified English teachers.
For more information on EL Placement and programs, contact Rebecca Robinson, EL Programs Instructional Specialist, at (619)585-4476.
Opportunities for Teachers
San Diego Area Writing Project's 'Fall Into Writing' 2014 Conference • (K-16)
Date: Saturday, September 27, 2014 •
8:00am - 12:00pm • UC San Diego
Registration Deadline: September 12, 2014
Secondary Literacy Partnership’s (SLP) free webinar series:
"Implementing the Common Core State Standards: Classroom Connections." Please see the flyer for more information.First webinar, "A Close Encounter, Through the Writers' Eyes, of the New ELA/ELDFramework," on September 17.
Greater San Diego Council of Teachers of English, Promising Practices Conference Saturday, October 11
Raising Rigor in Reading: Complex Texts in the English Classroom with Nancy Frey.
Pre-registration Deadline is October 6, 2014.
Link to GSDCTE webpage.
Theme: Uncommon Connections
Deadline for submissions is October 1, 2014
SUHSD ELA CURRICULUM
Email: gina.vattuone@sweetwaterschools.org
Website: https://sweetwaterschools.instructure.com/courses/1110585
Location: 1130 5th Ave, Chula Vista, CA, United States
Phone: (619) 691-5500
Quarter 2 Trainings
PSEUD0 53955
Sub reason: conference
Zone 1A, Oct.16, SYH
Zone 1B, Oct. 16, GJH
Zone 2A, Oct. 17, ELH
Zone 2B, Oct. 17, ELM
Zone 3A, Oct. 20, PDC, L St.
Zone 3B, Oct. 20, MOM
Zone 4A, Oct. 21, OLH
Zone 4B, Oct. 21, SOM
________________
ZONES:
1A=BVH, SYH, SUH
1B=BVM, GJH, NCM
2A=CPH,EH,MVH, OSS
2B = CPM, ELM, MVA
3A=CVH, MOH, ORH
3B = CVM, MOM, RDM
4A= HTH, OLH, PAH, SOH
4B = HTM, SOM, EHA/AV
Quote of the month
—Ernest Hemingway
Contacts
District ELA Curriculum Specialist, Contact for Zones: 1A, 2B, 3B, 4A
District ELA Curriculum Specialist, Contact for Zones: 1B, 2A, 3A, 4B
SpEd ELA and Read180
English Learner Programs Instructional Specialist: SEI/BIL/DL
ELD Curriculum & Instructional Specialist
Lead Curriculum Specialist
Katrine Czajkowski