Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/1103796
O N E O F T H E ILC teams studied by the Learning Policy Institute was in Madera Unified School District, where a large proportion of the student population is low-income and classified as English learners. The team focused on language and literacy development across con- tent areas, including classroom norms for productive discussion, and sentence frames to scaffold academic conversation. Teacher leaders showed how sentence frames could build across grades to foster more complex dia- logue, from K-1 ("I think … because …") to more advanced ones in grade 6 and beyond ("Based on …, I infer that …"). Seeking to leverage the strengths of Madera teachers in different subject areas, the team determined that "arguing from evidence" was the commonality among various state standard practices (see illustration). An ILC team member said, "We looked at the three-circle Venn diagram and said, 'So I'm a science teacher, he's a math teacher. What can we do together for all our teachers?' There, in the sweet spot, is arguing from evidence." Another teacher leader noted, "Our big goal was communicating that whatever you're teaching can go to every single subject if you're teaching the language first. Because if they can't articulate what they're talking about, the content will never take shape." The ILC team workshops continued to work on expanding the teachers' repertoire in deep- ening student learning, so that students can effectively develop arguments from evidence, both verbally and in writing. MATH ELA SCIENCE M1: Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them M2: Reason abstractly and quantitatively M6: Attend to precision M7: Look for and make use of structure M8: Look for and make use of regularity in repeated reasoning S1: Ask questions and define problems S3: Plan and carry out investigations S4: Analyze and interpret data S6: Construct explanations and design solutions E1: Demonstrate independence in reading complex texts, and writing and speaking about them E7: Come to understand other perspectives and cultures through reading, listening, and collaborations M4: Models with mathematics S2: Develop and use models S5: Use mathematics and computational thinking E2: Build a strong base of knowledge through content rich texts E5: Read, write, and speak grounded in evidence M3 & E4: Construct viable arguments and critique reasoning of others S7: Engage in argument from evidence E6: Use technology and digital media strategically and capably M5: Use appropriate tools strategically S8: Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information E3: Obtain, synthesize, and report findings clearly and effectively in response to task and purpose Commonalities Among the Practices in Science, Mathematics and English Language Arts Based on work by Tina Cheuk ell.stanford.edu NGSS @ NSTA STEM STARTS HERE nsta.org/ngss Case Study 53 A P R I L / M AY 2 019