Module 10: Connecting Effective Library Services for African American Male Youth with the Common Core State Standards
It can also be difficult in some cases to get the buy-in needed from teachers and administrators when implementing new strategies in your program. By showing them that the strategies in these modules relate closely to the goals they are already trying to achieve, it might be easier to gain their support.
Explore: Standards and Strategies
Since the focus of these modules is on literacy, the most obvious place to start is with reading standards. The first table shows a selection of reading standards from grades 4, 8, and 11-12 that aim to develop students' understanding of themes in literature. Strategies that could be used for these standards include the use of culturally relevant and enabling texts in lessons, giving students purpose and mediation for these texts, and connecting writing to reading lessons.
|Grade 4: Compare and contrast the treatment of similar
themes and topics (e.g., opposition of good and evil)
and patterns of events (e.g., the quest) in stories, myths,
and traditional literature from different cultures.
Grade 8: Analyze how a modern work of fiction draws on
Grades 11-12: Demonstrate knowledge of eighteenth-
The second reading table illustrates potential strategies for teaching informational texts. This is particualarly important as the Common Core Standards emphasize a stronger focus on informational texts than may have been seen in the past. The first set of standards in the table are for students in grades 1, 5, and 7. These standards seek to develop students' analyitical abilities when reading about important events, individuals, and ideas. The suggested strategies include selecting positive African American male role models for analysis and incorporating figures, events, and ideas related to popular culture. The last standard selected is for students in 9th and 10th grades and asks students to analyze U.S. historical documents. Strategies here focus on the selection and mediaton of culturally relevant texts.
|Grade 1: Describe the connection between two individuals,
events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text.
Grade 5: Explain the relationships or interactions between
Grade 7: Analyze the interactions between individuals,
|Grades 9-10:Analyze seminal U.S. documents of historical
and literary significance (e.g., Washington’s Farewell
Address, the Gettysburg Address, Roosevelt’s Four
Freedoms speech, King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”),
including how they address related themes and concepts.
The next table includes a writing standard for students in grades 3-12 that focuses on students continuing work to ensure their writing becomes more organized, coherent, and appropriate for it's intended purpose over time. The strategies identified center on developing students' sense of purpose in writing and on creating a community of support.
Produce clear and coherent writing in which
the development, organization, and style are appropriate to
task, purpose, and audience.
The Common Core Initiative also provides standards for literacy in social studies/history and science/technical subjects for grades 6-12. Table 4 shows standards for students in grades 6-8 and 11-12 which center on the need to cite primary and secondary texts to support ideas. The historical perspective of Afican American men is often neglected in historical instruction, particularly outside of slavery, the civil war, and the civil rights movement. Primary texts written by African American men can and should be included instruction for these and other historical periods to represent their perspective and experience.
|Grades 6-8:Cite specific textual evidence to support
analysis of primary and secondary sources.
Grades 11-12:Cite specific textual evidence to support
SCIENCE & TECHNICAL SUBJECTS
The science standards selected in Table 5 are for grades 6-10 and set out to ensure students are able to read complex grade-level texts independently and proficiently. To help African American male students engage with these texts and find themselves represented, choose texts that include images of African American men and their achievements.
|Grades 6-8:By the end of grade 8, read and
comprehend science/technical texts in the grades 6–8 text
complexity band independently and proficiently.
Grades 10-11:By the end of grade 10, read and
Activity: Choose Your Own Standard
Common Core State Standard Initiative. (2010). The Standards. Retrieved from http://www.corestandards.org/the-standards