Introducing the New CCRS and ELAR TEKS to Preservice Teachers

Dr. Kim Ruebel, Assistant Professor at The University of Texas at Arlington, has developed an outline to present the CCRS and new ELAR TEKS to preservice teachers preparing for 4th - 8th grade certification.  This presentation demonstrates how to integrate the CCRS and ELAR TEKS into instructional planning.  For an outline of the presentation click here.

Resources on Writing Instruction

Writing instruction remains a challenge at all levels.  Many students graduating from high school do not have the writing skills needed to succeed in college or career.  The E/LA Collaborative has put together a list of resources that  describe the challenges educators face as well as resources that offer best practices in meeting these challenges.

Teaching for a New World: Preparing High School Educators to Deliver College- and Career- Ready Instruction

This policy brief from Alliance for Excellent Education gives teacher educators an outline of key elements of what secondary teachers should know and be able to do in order to prepare students for college and careers. 

Teaching for a New World

Reports on Issues in Teaching Reading and Writing from Alliance for Excellent Education and Carnegie Corporation

Several reports published over the last few years have highlighed the issues in teaching reading and writing.  These reports combine the best research currently available with strategies for turning that research into practice and are a great resource for teacher educators.  The following are links to these reports:

Time to Act

Reading in the Disciplines

Reading Next

Writing Next

Resources for Teaching Reading and Writing in History Classes

According to the College and Career Readiness Standards, "While the primary responsibility for developing reading and writing skills in secondary school resides within English/language arts courses, first-year college students are expected to employ a range of subject-specific reading and writing strategies and techniques in all of their courses."   Therefore, it is imperative that teacher candidates are taught to provide instruction that meets the challenge of preparing students for college success. The English/Language Arts Faculty Collaborative has developed two papers that discuss issues faced when students are asked to read and write in social studies classrooms, particularly history classrooms. These papers inform teacher candidates and those that teach them of the best practices in teaching skills necessary for students to be successful readers and writers of history.

Writing Like an Historian

Comprehending History Texts

Resources for Teaching Text Comprehension

The following are power point presentations on two evidence-based strategies for helping students comprehend texts: Anticipation-Reaction Guide and QAR.  Teacher educators may use these power points when introducing these concepts to secondary preservice teachers. 

Anticipation-Reaction Guide 

QAR

Resource for Introducing the new ELAR standards to preservice teachers

The following is a power point presentation of a brief overview of the new ELAR standards.  The presentation consists of an overview of the ELAR TEKS, the CCRS, and the ELPS.  Particular attention is paid to how to navigate your way through the TEKS vertical alignment document.  For the full presentation, including a video presentation and additional materials,  go to http://www.englishspanishteks.net.

ELAR TEKS overview

Collaboration between Teacher Education and English Faculty Receives Funding

Holly Hungerford-Kresser, Kim Ruebel, and James Warren from The University of Texas at Arlington were awarded a stipend from the English/Language Arts Faculty Collaborative to support their revision of syllabi in English/language arts methods courses and a theory and practice course for pre-service English teachers. The work will connect the CCRS to the TEKS and to national standards developed by the National Council for Teachers of English (NCTE) and the International Reading Association (IRA).
The revised syllabi and any supporting documents will be available on this website at the completion of the project in August 2010. These documents can be useful tools for other teacher education and English faculty to use as exemplars when revising their own syllabi for integration of the CCRS.  

September 4, 2010

Source:

Past Professional Development

Instructional Tools for Paraphrasing

October 30, 2009
Hilton Garden Inn
Austin, TX

The English/Language Arts Faculty Collaborative hosted a seminar in titled Instructional Tools for Paraphrasing.  This paraphrasing strategy is designed to help students focus on the most important information in a passage.   The tools presented will include:  *Fundamentals of Paraphrasing, *The Paraphrasing Strategy and *The Frame Routine.
*Copyright 2009 by the University of Kansas

Presenter:  Candace Bixler, Strategic Instruction Model (SIM) Professional Developer

An Introduction to the new ELAR curriculum standards

August 13 & 14, 2009
Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort
Bastrop, TX

This professional development introduced secondary teacher educators to the new English/Language Arts curriculum standards that Texas teachers will be expected to implement beginning with the 2009-2010 school year. English/Language Arts TEKS, the College and Career Readiness Skills (CCRS), and the English Language Proficiency Standards were covered. This professional development was provided to give Teacher Educators a better understanding of the standards their teacher candidates will be expected to implement as preservice and inservice teachers in public schools.
Presented by: Kristie Hotchkiss, Terri Kurz, Lisa Drummond and Lilia Montelongo

The Sentence Writing Strategy

June 19, 2009
Four Seasons Hotel
Austin, TX

The Sentence Writing Strategy is a research-validated instructional strategy that is effective in developing writing proficiency and college readiness skills. This workshop, the first in a series on teaching writing skills, provided tools to implement the strategy in the general classroom and in small-group instruction.

Developed by the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning, this strategy has been used successfully with students of varying levels of writing proficiency, including English Language Learners.

Presented by: Candace Bixler, Strategic Instruction Model (SIM) Professional Developer

Disciplinary Literacy for Success in College & Careers

September 16, 2010

Hotel ZaZa Houston, TX

Critical Issues and Research in Adolescent Literacy Vital to Teacher Preparation

Featured Speakers:

Carol Lee, Northwestern University

“Literacy Learning as a Multidimensional Practice: What It Means for Teacher Learning Over Time”

Tim Shanahan, University of Illinois at Chicago

“Disciplinary Literacy: The Death of Content Area Reading”

Leslie Novosel, University of Kansas

“Conceptualizing Multitiered Intervention Frameworks for Secondary Content Area Teachers”

Plus breakout sessions addressing critical topics in the Texas College and Career Readiness Standards and adolescent literacy.

Register at the following site: http://ccriseptemberseminar.eventbrite.com (password: literacy)

Questions? Contact Kristie Hotchkiss: khotchkiss@austin.utexas.edu

Travel expenses will be paid by the College and Career Readiness Initiative: English/Language Arts Faculty Collaborative