Standard A: Instructional Leadership for Continuous Improvement

v. Complete a curriculum audit. The audit will include graphs representing subjects and
the amount of time spent on each.
Description of Textbook
This paper will analyze the alignment between the Lucy Calkinss Units of Study and the
Common Core State Standards for first grade. The Units of Study are divided into four writing
units per grade level. Each grade has an individual unit that focuses on narrative, informative,
and persuasive writing, plus an additional genre of writing specific to that grade level. In first
grade, this additional genre of writing is realistic fiction. These standards are aligned to meet the
demands of the Common Core State Standards in writing, language, speaking and listening. In
addition, numerous reading literature, reading informational, and reading foundational standards
are included throughout the writing curriculum.
This writing curriculum uses the writers workshop model daily. Lucy Calkins defines
the program as the following:
The workshop model in the Units of Study in Opinion, Information, and Narrative
Writing series is, by definition, always individualized. The child chooses what she will
write about, chooses the words she will use, chooses the people and places and topics and
opinions that will be brought forth in the texts, chooses meanings that are vibrantly
important to her, and chooses the level of vocabulary and of sentence and text structures.
Therefore, the instruction teachers provide is necessarily differentiated. (2014, p.2).
In addition, the curriculum is tightly aligned to Common Core State Standards. Lucy Calkins
says, This new series not only provides a coherent, systematic curriculum in the three types of
writing mandated by the Common Coreopinion/argument writing, information writing, and

narrative writingit also reflects the latest research on data-based, responsive instruction
(2014, p.2).
Analysis and Alignment to Common Core
The first grade units of study consist of 80 sessions, which are lessons that may take two
to three days to complete. Each lesson is aligned with several writing standards that are taught
throughout the mini lesson. Many mini lessons use picture books as mentor texts to enrich with
some reading information, reading literature, and reading foundational standards. Each session
includes a mid-workshop teaching point, and these teaching points frequently incorporate the
language standards. Every session is concluded with a whole group share, and these are aligned
to the speaking and listening standards.
80
60
40
20
0

In order to more fully analyze the alignment of these units, I

calculated how many sessions addressed each Common Core Standard and created a bar graph to
represent the data. This unit covers many standards, but the most important area to focus on is
the writing standards. In first grade, there are seven writing standards. These standards are each
covered in numerous sessions. There are 58 sessions that address W.1.5 that emphasizes adding
details to writing and making revisions. In addition, W.1.3, W.1.1, and W.1.2 are covered in
twenty session or more. W.1.6 (using digital tools to publish), W.1.7 (group research), and W.1.8
(individual research) are taught less frequently. When using this curriculum, teachers should use
strategies to incorporate these areas into instruction more frequently.

The writing series includes instruction that targets the language standards, but the focus is
on grammar. The grammar standards are L.1.1 and L.1.2, and they are each included in close to
80 different sessions. The grammar is taught through revision during the writing cycle. The
other language standards focus on vocabulary, and these standards are addressed very little
throughout this series. Teachers would need to supplement the curriculum to allow students to
achieve mastery of those standards.
The Common Core includes speaking and listening standards, and each of these standards
are covered throughout the writing series. The standard with the most emphasis is SL.1.1, which
is Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners (2014, English Language
Arts Standards). This standard is taught in 79 sessions throughout the curriculum. However,
SL.1.3, which teaches students to ask questions to gain understanding, is addressed in only seven
sessions throughout the curriculum.

15

25
20
15
10
5
0

10
5
0

40
30
20
10
0
RF.1.1 RF.1.2 RF.1.3 RF.1.4

100
80
60
40
20
0

This writing curriculum provides additional support to a reading

curriculum by tying in reading standards while teaching writing. The three standards that are
supported the most are RL.1.1, RI.1.1, and RF.1.4. All of these standards are focused on
comprehension through reading. Students improve comprehension by rereading their writing as
a reader to support revision.

This curriculum addresses each writing standard, which is the main focus of the
curriculum. Teachers do need to be aware of the weak areas to ensure every standard is fully
taught. In order to support that, teachers need to add additional lessons that incorporate using

digital tools and research projects. The curriculum does include several language, speaking and
listening standards. Each day students share their work to gain practice in speaking and
listening, but this writing curriculum does not equally emphasize each standard. The language
standards are not fully aligned; grammar is addressed frequently, but vocabulary is ignored.
This curriculum offers a strong foundation in writing, but teachers must not rely on this
curriculum to cover all the language, speaking and listening. Additional lessons must be
included to supplement these weaknesses.
Given the chance to do it again, how would you do it better?
As a school administrator, I would use the data from the alignment to work with teachers
to plan instruction and fill gaps. I would meet with the grade level team, and we would discuss
the findings. Together we would identify the biggest areas of weakness and formulate an action
plan to ensure that students are prepared for each standard area. I would continue this cycle with
each grade level to determine that each grade level is aware of the strengths and weaknesses of
the curriculum.
References
(2014). English language arts standards. Common Core State Standard Initiative. Retrieved from
http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy
Calkins, L. (2014). K-5 Overview: Units of study in opinion, information, and narrative
writing. Heinemann. Retrieved from:
http://www.heinemann.com/shared/onlineresources/E04717/CalkinsSam_LoRez.pdf

Calkins, L. (2014). Research Base: Units of study in opinion, information, and narrative
writing. Heinemann. Retrieved from:
http://www.heinemann.com/shared/onlineresources/E00871/
UoSWResearchBase85x11.pdf
Calkins, L. (2014). Units of study in opinion, information, and narrative writing. Heinemann.
Retrieved from:
http://www.heinemann.com/shared/onlineresources/E04717/CCSS_Correlation.pdf.