I'm Megan, an instructional coach from North Carolina! So excited for this!!

Hello from Gilman WI!

ri

Dallas, NC

My name is Amber Martinez, I am a first grade teacher at Glendale Kenly Elementary in North Carolina.

Liz Durham, NC

Providence, RI

MN!!

High Point, NC

Youngstown Ohio

Columbus Ohio!

I'm Katie, an Intervention Specialist from Ohio!

Indiana!

Malta, NY

Vonore, Tennessee

Port Angeles,Washington

Hello from Minnesota!

Ohio!

Hello from Portland Oregon. My name is Jennifer

New Jersey

Hello from Washington

Lindsay Covington, Virginia

Kentucky

Good morning, I am a Literacy Coach from New Jersey.

School City of East Chicago!!!!

Chicago, IL

Minnesota

Burlington, Washington

Rhode Island

from Kentucky

Missouri

Wi

Amanda, Principal in Rehoboth Beach, DE

Mississippi

Durham, NC!

MIssissippi

Veronica Mendoza, Special Education Teacher from Madera, CA!

Nebraska

Houston, Tx

Melissa, first grade teacher, Louisiana

Virginia

Houston TX

Cumming, GA

Youngstown, OH

Dayton, OH

Covington, Virginia

Houston, Texas

Hello from Pasco, Florida

Michigan

Kentucky

Anna Raleigh NC

Dayton,Ohio

Horda Semdani - Bossier City Louisiana

Good morning. I am from the St Helena School District

Virginia

Lancaster, PA

Rhode Island

Pawtucket, Rhode Island Potter-Burns School

Samantha, Science teacher. Leavittsburg OH

Paula, Vista, California

Hello from Rankin, TX

Good Morning from Youngstown, Ohio!!

Youngstown, Ohio

Alabama

Monroe, Louisiana

I'm from Michigan.

Matt from Cincinnati, Ohio

Durham, NC

Raquel from Springdale, Arkansas

Greenville, MS

Greenville, MS!

Providence, RI

Please make sure your comments are to "all panelists AND attendees" to make them visible to all!

Philadelphia, PA

Estrella Rego Pawtucket, RI

AldineISD, TX

Chicago, IL

Kenly, NC

Cumming, GA

Good Morning!! Marrero, Louisiana

Taylor Ripley Charleston, SC

Hello from Cumming, Georgia!!! : )

Durham, NC

It's all good!

Maria Johnson

Kaylona Scott Charleston, SC

Hendersonville, NC

Chelsea Chandler Charleston, SC

Durham, NC

The way we teach in elementary school impacts what we see at the Middle and High School levels

Problems at Elementary School are even more pervasive and hidden

Please make sure your comments are to "all panelists AND attendees" to make them visible to all!

Rehoboth Beach, Delaware

Becky from Ukiah, CA

East Chicago, IN

Lewes, DE

Hello ALL! from Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin

cricket?

Natalie Thank you for this hands on activity-

I agree

Paula Autrey, Fletcher, NC

Without background knowledge- the task of finding main idea is "pretty impenetrable" Natalie Wexler

Asheville, NC

We will provide resources via email at the conclusion of the webinar.

Building knowledge is just as important as mastering thinking skills- How do we build knowledge? Can't wait to Natalie's perspective!

My high school teacher always told us "KIP" - Knowledge is Power

How do we move past the isolated skills when that's the way the standards are written and typically assessed? It's a challenge.

The way the court system works-

legal mumbo jumbo

Calls to background knowledge

Standards are written to directly support one another… the trick is changing this view of looking t them as isolated skills, because they truly aren’t and aren’t written to be isolated out

Content written for the general assumes much "common knowledge" How do we prepare students as responsible citizens?

This trick relies on the content of what their reading so those connections can be seen and operationalized

Great point Abbey

Abbey Gunn--YES!!

My family is from a British controlled island and own a Cricket Club here in the states. I understood the first passage better than this latter one. Legal jargon overwhelming the brain. Possible to comprehend it though with focus..I suppose :)

We see this all the time when we don't provide the vocabulary support to students, especially students where English is their second language. Not an intellectual problem, a teaching problem.

Abstract skills and randomness are confronted most strongly with a deep well of knowledge.

absolutely!

Must be careful not to make those assumptions about backgroung knowledge.

The role of education and of a high quality curriculum is to build deep content knowledge-

parents who speak in full sentences to their children make all the difference, regardless of socioeconomic status

Yes, Mario!!

That's why hands-on experience and introduction to a rich vocabulary are so important!

How is this knowledge also impacted by text complexity? These sentences are pretty syntactically complex in addition to being content dense.

So true! Writing doesn't seem to be anywhere!

The ability to read and comprehend complex text hinges on the degree of content knowledge one has acquired-

Tasks embedded in thematic inquiry may be the ticket to deep content knowledge building-

Makes me think about deeper learning and content development at Kindergarten

not to mention whether high schoolers care

YES - That's a lot of my kids!!!

The use of content rich resources in all schools rather than anthology-type programs that highlight isolated skills is imperative to this work starting from KG

"Good morning, I have coworkers trying to get into the meeting, but it is saying the capacity has been reached. What should they do?" - Will we be sending something to the registered people who couldn't get in?

High quality instructional materials provide structures to bridge the divide - tapping into what kids know and are interested in to broaden and deepen their knowledge base

As a teacher in NYC I often wondered what makes a good thematic unit- what is an essential question by nature and how do I gather the right texts to develop deep content knowledge- instead of just a read aloud about Martin Luther King during Black History month-

Critically important to understand the importance of not making the assumptions about backgroung knowledge!

Schools are implementing too many programs in one setting. Students are not allowed the opportunity to acquire the foundational skills needed in the lower grades.

I agree

I agree

Agree!

Agreed!

How do we get legislators who mandate curriculum understand this?

In chapter 9 Natalie walks a through a revealing perspective on the roll out of the Common Core

There is not enough time to make the connections to deep knowledge

Tests should be made by the teachers.

Yes - Debra! That is the KEY to this, isn't it?

There are a lot of read-alouds in Kindergarten I found myself building a lot of background knowledge to make the learning experience engaging in order for the students to demonstrate comprehension.

I just want to say thank you, I've been racking my brain out what we were doing wrong and I just could not figure it out until I read your book. I don't know why it took so long to realize this, but my whole school is changing how we approach curriculum due to your book.

Most legislators have never taught in the classroom. They must understand what curriculum and instruction entail.

Hello! Thank you for reaching out. This webinar has been very popular! We'll be sharing resources from this webinar with anyone who has registered.

ELA tests are knowledge tests in disguise- WOW

As a teacher we are introduced to new programs frequently so it is a challenge to become comfortable to what we are supposed to teach our students.

Even though we are focusing on comprehensioin, is the gap partly because of not having effective intervention in place for students that have not acquired the founcational decoding skills?

Yes, language is knowledge based - but your speaking on content

it is a connection issue and teachers are the solution

Im thinking about Thematic Inquiry to build knowledge horizontally across the grade itself and also vertically across the years of education

Why do we, as teachers allow these test companies to hold all the power, while we struggle to teach and lose our students?

Yay! Wow - that is great!!

I don’t see this as a foundational skill problem. Decoding is not sufficient.

How can a text-centered approach to teaching "standards" work in partnership with text sets to build knowledge?

We must learn to use publishing company materials as a Supplemental resource and become creative as classroom teachers.

What are the most effective processes to locate High Quality Curriculum? What criteria does it include? Building Knowledge is one of them-

Organized by TOPIC rather than SKILL of the WEEK- This is HUGE Thanks Natalie

Time on a topic - repeated exposure to vocabulary, ideas, and organization of thinking

Breaking things down by topic rather than skill is huge!!

Yes Christy! This is a hard task to achieve- how much of it falls on teachers? Administrators?

Yes - this material from publishing companies is a supplement not your core textual information - teachers need to level reading and content connection

No one gets excited about Main Idea- Bugs on the other hand.....

Archie I might argue that if teachers could rely on a complex, truly aligned curricula that does the alignment work for them, they can prioritize their time less on creating curricula themselves but more on critically planning the right scaffolds for their students in particular. No program knows the students like the teacher knows the students, and their planning time is limited and so very valuable

concrete connection, rather than abstract terms

very much the Socratic method

I concur; however, creativity encompasses knowing the needs of your students and design lessons based on student's ability.

OMG - YES!!! This is amazing!

Natalie, can you share your thoughts on the Core Knowledge Sequence?

This is key- engaging stories and high motivation to absorb rich vocabulary

yes

Gina great question

Awesome!

Julie yes! Cognates are key- then how they are used in context at the sentence and discourse levels - even more interesting

Content in the foreground and skills in service of understanding the content -

@Gina if she does not speak to it here, it is discussed in her book.

That Topic of the week is so important. In the past 15 years I have felt so pushed to focus on the skills. Even been told that we aren't teaching content we are teaching skills... almost to the point that we were not allowed to explore the content at all. But, in my first years I taught through thematic units. I enjoyed it, the kids enjoyed it. I appreciate the swing back and look forward to really exploring a way to make both thematic units and skill/strategy work come together to create a really powerful ELA program.

yes

Awesome, Karen!!!

this sounds similar to project based learning

Thanks, Michelle. Still waiting for my Amazon delivery of her book. :)

ARC Core builds knowledge through thematic inquiry within and across grades. Careful attention is paid to texts to ensure they are knowledge and skill-building and also multi-cultural and multi perspective.

Natalie is redefining what the problem we are trying to solve actually is- if you build deep content knowledge, skills development will be fostered

Jennifer - I firmly believe that knowledge building and PBL can go hand in hand, if done correctly!

@Karen so true. thematic units were frowned upon. However, my students outperformed all other students when thematic units were used

that is the most vital point jennifer

Yes BARB! Love this! ARC Core does it in Spanish too :-)

The discussions in this chat are amazing! Don't forget that we also have Facebook lives where rich discussions also happen.

En mi escuela- tuvimos que traducir Lucy Calkins a español en vez de buscar un currículo auténtico y más adecuado'

Kevin - are those discussions through the ARC facebook page?

No sabíamos que existía ARC Core en español

I have found that some teacher end up focusing more on content instead of strategies and skills.

Kermyonne - I think Natalie's point is that it should be a balance. Like she showed with the picture of that one classroom's chart - use the skills to think about and analyze the content

As a teacher of English language learners, teaching content is vitally important so that we can build their background knowledge

Melissa that's unfortunate! How have you advocated for change?

Yes, or using scientific findings without really understanding the entire research. Can cause misuse or misinterpretation.

We need both, 0 times anything equals 0!

Kelsey - We'll share information about those facebook lives on our main page along with the follow up email for this webinar. :)

perfect, thanks Kevin!

Evidence based doesn't mean effective-

Thanks Kevin! Looking forward to learning about ARC.

Great point Mario!

At one time - NRP report era - only foundational skills were considered evidence based. It led us down the wrong road.

The guilt was REAL when we first read The Knowledge Gap when it first came out! We had to face it and talk through it and then accept the mantra “Now we know better, so we’ll do better”!

Yes, Mario

Uh Oh- Confirmation BIAS - Its real---

I'm guilty of it too

Yes Taylor, know better do better!

Taylor - I think that's a conversation that we ALL need to have. Preferably with the entire faculty!

Its like Natalie is in my head when I was a teacher in The Bronx NYC

Herd conversations produce the most growth… nice work to your team, Taylor!

*hard

We are introduced to so many programs. So how do you know what to believe.?

YES! We did a virtual book study with lots of staff from across our district! So powerful!

We are trying our best to build knowledge building curricula in the NYCDOE

ARC's Facebook Live page link is www.facebook.com/groups/ARCTeacherNetwork/

How are you doing this Luis? I miss the NYCDOE

How do we balance the skills students need to know for standardized tests and teaching content ?

We are looking forward to implementing ARC

Productive Struggle- ZPD + motivation

We want to implement a knowledge building curriculum

ZDP!

I can't wait to use this new program for my students.

Teachers need protocols to support with knowledge building advanced literacy curricula

Dawn are you using ARC Core?

We are using it next year.

I am SO happy that we are having these conversations now - so we have time to talk about this over the summer and during pre-school

Does ARC come in Spanish, Mario?

@Angela, ACT tells us to increase the level of text complexity kids can handle independently. A big part of this is the building of background knowledge - it's all tied together.

Japanese schools don't do PD.

Professional Development HAS to be done in CONTEXT- embedded in classrooms elbow to elbow- now virtually this can still be effective

When I have taught thematically, my students not only recall more, they connect more. It is easy to let your excitement result in a loss of skills instruction but it is possible to find a balance. I've worked at schools that were completely skill-driven and when we asked our students what we did the day before, they could never draw connections to the current day. I never once heard, "We've been working on supporting details this unit."

Yes - so are we

Good point Karen Francis. You’re right non

@Karen Francis: YES!

YES YES - All PD should look like this!!

Zone of Proximal Development is critical in a students ability to enhance his or her reading level.

We use the Tenets of Improvement Science with ARC Professional Development with Teachers- a framework on how to improve systems for deeper learning

Resources from this webinar we be shared via email after the webinar ends. :)

WOW! Because he KNEW the CONTENT!

That is how Paulo Freire taught farmers to read, through their core knowledge

Yes MARIO!

So- reading levels are different based on background knowledge- WOW

Yes, Natalie! Kids always rise to the challenge when we give them the conditions to do so… love it!

That is a great conversation starter, Mario!

LOVE this every time I hear it- I'm K reading level with Cricket content

Because reading comprehension is the product of decoding AND listening comprehension/background knowledge!

I am so inspired right now. Thanks Natalie for writing your book and speaking with us today! :) <3

Can we have the link to receive the PD certificate?

We provide a certificate of attendance. There is no PD credit for this. Please email events@americanreading.com to request it.

We are providing resources via email.

what about the questions we submitted beforehand?

How does this relate to distance learning?

We will provide resources via email at the conclusion of the webinar.

Thanks. Great confirmation of what ARC is doing.

Excellent question Mary Huffcutt!

QUESTION - Even though this really stems from elementary school, I have a hundred-plus high school students in my reading classes who are struggling. What's the solution for these kids who were just pushed along and are now 10th & 11th graders? Will cross-curricular courses help build their lacking knowledge?

Questions were forwarded to the panelists. I'll look into it.

School districts spend thousands of dollars on curriculum materials. Rather than spending more, in districts that are struggling financially, can the knowledge building approach be used with the curriculum that they already have?

There were 2 questions that were emailed in. Can someone remind Amelia? The person who asked inquired about her questions.

I have the same question as Gail S.about high school. I teach SPED.

In addition to EdReports, state reviews can be really useful sources of info on high quality curriculum-- Here's links to some we've participated in at ARC https://www.americanreading.com/state-approvals/

I'm wondering the same thing, Gail! My team is looking at the article-a-day series from ReadWorks to supplement what we have.

Melissa thanks for joining- spread the knowledge!

You're welcome! Be sure to register for future webinars. We're proud of all of our hosts.

What makes a good Unit of Study?

How about building knowledge- vertical and horizontal articulation?

Are videos with background knowledge and audio books/podcasts considered evidence-based practices that support comprehension?

Could you share the history sequence (proposed National History Standards that you discussed in your book?)

I also am wondering about the financial aspect. We have spent a great deal of $ on ARC. I do not think the admin would be interested in spending more$$$.

Thank you for bringing a clear picture of knowledge based curriculum. This information has inspired me to keep serving our children they need our encouragement and empowerment to overcome their challenges. With our continued support they will rise to the challenge and gain skills to embrace their fear and engage in reading.

Having Science and SS integrated with ELA and SLA seems more important now then ever!

@Marisa This is a CRITICAL part of knowledge building. Getting a multicultural and multiperspective understanding of the events....

Mario - I completely agree!! For kids of all ages!!

How can we marry district mandates to display a standards based learning target when we are using a knowledge building curriculum?

We’ve implemented Core Knowledge, it was lacking

As a Special Ed Teacher my students need so much differentiation when teaching them skills for reading. They are already so far behind due to their difficulties with their disabilities.

What knowledge would we consider CORE and ESSENTIAL? Great question!

I am curious about the potential impact on engagement and student behavior when the content is more interesting. Is there any research/evidence on this?

When we looked at core knowledge, I thought it was dated and dull.

I wish more teachers would teach social studies because kids love to learn about the world around them. Within this subject area students will be able to read and apply the same strategies taught in ELA to learn new skills. My Kindergarten students love social studies. They engage in rich discussion.

Catherine what was it lacking what grade do you teach?

Resources from this webinar we be shared via email after the webinar ends.

This has been a powerful webinar. I appreciate you sharing this information. The book is phenomenal.

If we get back to teaching social studies and science, the knowledge gap with shorten. elementary teachers are solely focused on reading and math. We should start there.

Reading specialist. Seemed to use older texts with awkward language … probably due to trying to use texts in the public domain. I was looking at elementary- probably 3-5.

Thank you very much!

I am LOVING the Writing Revolution!

Thank you

Natalie , Are you familiar with David Kilpatrick?

Thank you!!

Thank you!

Great presentation Ms. Wexler!

Thank you so much, Natalie and Amelia! This was fantastic :)

Thank you!!

Thank you so much Larson and Wexler!

Thank you!

Thank you!!

Thank you!

Thank You Ms. Wexler

Thank you so much!

Thank you!! Very inspiring

Thank you!

thank you

This was great. Looking forward to the next.

Thank you!

www.nataliewexler.com

Thank you

Thank you!

Thank you !

Thank you1

Thank you!!

Thanks

Thank you!!!'

Thank you

Thank you

thank you !