3 Steps to Teaching for Student Mastery
Citing textual evidence is one of those seemingly easy things that actually strikes students as quite difficult. So, what is it about the standard that trips them up?
Schools across the country assess students regularly to monitor their progress on the standards. The one commonality among most is low student performance on the citing textual evidence standard.
How on earth is that possible? All they really have to do is find the right match.
Well, what some educators forget are the actual steps required of the brain to process evidence-based questions. Being able to cite specific textual evidence is multi layered and not just as simple as finding a match. Once we become aware of that step-by-step process, then we can pull the process apart, building upon each layer and then putting the pieces back together again.
Steps in the Cognitive Process Required for Citing Evidence
- Step 1: Students read the text
- Step 2: Students must then apply their own background knowledge to what was read (assuming the background knowledge is there.)
- Step 3: Students are then required to make an inference or draw a conclusion based upon the combination of steps 1 and 2. A common problem in this step lies in determining if the inference itself is correct. This is where the first level of confusion comes into play.
- Step 4: Students are expected to evaluate individual lines of text to see if they can be used to support the inference they’ve made. Another layer of confusion arises here since students often forget what they are trying to match up together. Students will find that in this step, they have to go back and reread the question and revisit their inference, to regain their focus.
- Step 5: If the students are able to select a match, great! Then the circuit is complete. However, if there is no match to support the inference then the assumption is their inference must be wrong.
This then takes us back to the drawing board and Step 1 again until a correct answer is selected to support the conclusion. Herein lies where the frustration level has hit its peak for many students.
Teaching the Standard with Success
What I have found that helps my students immensely, is using Education World’s three-step approach when getting kids to master the evidence standard. Remember, when we’re talking about the use of text evidence, we are usually talking about three separate, yet interrelated skills:
- Making an inference or conclusion about what a text
- Supporting that inference/conclusion with direct proof from the text
- Explaining how that proof supports the inference/conclusion made
The lesson that I’ve developed not only teaches these three skills but allows students to make a real world connection to the concept of citing evidence, possibly the most critical element needed to solidify true comprehension of the standard.
Saying it is one thing, proving it is another
A Resource that Works
There are a huge number of resources for citing evidence out there but what I’ve recently developed for my team of teachers is a combination of several ideas all rolled into one rigorous 90-minute lesson.
Designed for grades students in grades 9 and 10, and ideal for ELA students (although it can be adjusted for other subject areas).
Here is how it works…
Follow the power point presentation as it takes you through:
- A bell ringer for informal pre-testing where students match evidence to conclusion statements
- Presenting students with an essential question
- Defining academic vocabulary aligned to the standard
- Explicit teacher modeling of the 3-step process to citing evidence
- Applying the steps to part a & b question types
- Guided practice using visuals, small text excerpts and FSA questioning stems
- Independent application activity using the famous The Mysterious Death of Mrs. Huffington text
- Progress Monitoring assessment using a cold-read text and 4 standard-based questions
Try my pdf presentation for FREE! Just click the button below to download now.
With explicit instruction that takes students through the step-by-step cognitive process required for citing evidence, and engaging them with visuals, short texts and high interest reading, students will surely begin to see that it is, after all, not quite as hard as they had thought. It’s simply a matter of finding the right match!
Resources:
“The Mysterious Death of Mrs. Huffington.” Prism, prism.scholarslab.org/prisms/5c3f2018-b786-11e7-817a-005056b3784e/visualize?locale=en.
“Ways to Scaffold Finding Text Evidence.” Ways to Scaffold Finding Text Evidence | Education World, http://www.educationworld.com/ways-scaffold-finding-text-evidence.