Clustering Benchmarks

Each strand has anchor standards and in READING for example, there are ten anchor standards. Anchor Standards Clustering Benchmarks Minnesota Education
Standards The State of Minnesota requires all districts to put state standards into place, so that all students have access to high quality content and instruction. What exactly are standards? The knowledge and skills our students should acquire in the classroom. What are benchmarks ? Benchmarks are just what they sound like...marks or measurements that help evaluate performance. l 1. Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly 2. Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development... 3. Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text. 4. Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text... 5. Analyze the structure of texts, including how specific sentences, paragraphs, and larer portions of the text... 6. Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text. 7. Integrate and evaluate presented in diverse media and formats... 8. Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text... 9. Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge... 10. Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently. So HOW to you read the benchmarks?? The standards are organized into sections, whereas each section is divided into strands. In the language arts standards there:
are 4 strands READING WRITING SPEAKING, VIEWING, LISTENING, & MEDIA LANGUAGE Reading's Anchor Standards BENCHMARKS Each anchor standard has a benchmark identified by a four-digit code,
For example, in the code 0.1.3.3
• The 0 refers to the grade kindergarten
• The 1 refers to the substrand , Reading
• The first 3 refers to the anchor standard
• The second 3 refers to the benchmark And there are many benchmarks for each standard To be sure we are covering all the standards, we can cluster the benchmarks. Let's CLUSTER! Here's how we cluster a unit 1. First choose a skill you will teach. You can use the scope and sequence in your reading series. 2. Next decide which strand the skill falls in ( reading, writing, speaking..., language) 3. Then determine the anchor standards that are used. 4. Finally list all the benchmarks that apply. Let's look at a clustered unit for third grade Comprehension Skills we will use:
1) asking questions
2) identifying main idea
3) supporting details The Reading Anchor Standards used are: 1, 2, 4 Literature text Benchmarks found are:
3.1.1.1 - Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text...
3.1.2.2 - Recount stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures... Select a pair of learning targets to review ( you may find these in your scope and sequence) Review each strand and select appropriate anchor standards and benchmarks that reflect the learning necessary for the targets. selected
Record in the appropriate space on the worksheet. Each anchor standard has a benchmark identified by a four-digit code,
For example, in the code 0.1.3.3
• The 0 refers to the grade kindergarten
• The 1 refers to the substrand , Reading
• The first 3 refers to the anchor standard
• The second 3 refers to the benchmark