ThinkCERCA FAQs

Signing Up for the First Time

Upon signing up for a ThinkCERCA account, you will be prompted to input an Upgrade Code before your account can be created.In order to access your account, you must first obtain a 12-character upgrade code from your school administrator or the ThinkCERCA School Success team. A code is only available to schools and districts that have purchased a ThinkCERCA subscription.

ForgotYour Code (Subscribers Only)?

If yourschool or district purchased ThinkCERCA, but you have misplaced your code, please contact your dedicated School Success Manager or email our Customer Support Team to obtain an upgrade code.

Not a Subscriber Yet?

If you're interested in learning more about ThinkCERCA Premium, watch an on-demand demo or book time with our School Partnerships Team.

Returning Users Who Are Ready to Upgrade

If you had prior access to a free ThinkCERCA account (no longer available) and your district or school has purchaseda ThinkCERCA subscription, you will need to contact [email protected] to reactivate your account.

Informational texts to accompanyThe Hunger Games

The Hunger Games is a dystopian novel set in the futuristic, post-apocalyptic nation of Panem. The country is divided into 12 districts, which are controlled and serve at the mercy of the Capitol. We learn early on that the inhabitant of the districts are mostly poor, working to provide resources for the wealthy citizens and government officials of the Capitol. Every year the Capitol hosts a competition in which each district must provide two tributes who will fight to the death in the televised Hunger Games. For the districts, the Hunger Games serves as a punishment for an earlier rebellion and a constant reminder of the power and ruthlessness of the Capitol. For the citizens of the Capitol, the Games are a much anticipated form of entertainment. The novel is written from the first person perspective of Katniss Everdeen, a young woman from District 12, who volunteers as a tribute. A high level of student interest and engagingthemes for discussion make The Hunger Games one of my favorite novels to teach. I have found students to be passionate about the issues of justice, government control, and social inequality raised by the novel. At the same time, themes around the media, glorification of violence, and teenage development allow for meaningful integration of nonfiction texts. Integrating short stories with similar themes, such as "The Lottery" or "The Most Dangerous Game," allows students to compare and contrast across literary texts. The writing prompts for both of these ThinkCERCA applied lessons push students to delve deeper into character analysis by thinking about motivation and individual choice. The same questions could be applied to Katniss, the protagonist of The Hunger Games, and would make for a rich classroom discussion or writing assignment. Both short stories are a higher reading level than the novel, and I have used them as independent/small group enrichment; however, they could also be explored as a whole class with more teacher support for lower readers/grade levels. There are many opportunities to bring nonfiction texts into a unit on The Hunger Games.In my experience, exposing students to current news articles on similar subjects helps them make real-world, personal connections to the novel. The Capitols zealous consumption of the violence and death of the Games is often shocking to students. It can be easy to write off the citizens of the Capitol as cold, unfeeling, and detached from reality. I love complicating this idea by asking students to think about their own interactions with violence as a form of entertainment. The CERCA Set (differentiated lesson set for grades 4-12) on video games forces students to dig deeper and find the similarities between the dystopian novel and their own society. For some interesting science integration, students could explore the biological factors contributing to risk-taking in teenagers. The participants of the Hunger Games, all of whom are between the ages of 12 and 18, must constantly grapple with decisions of risk and survival. I would lead students through a close reading of passages from the novel that deal with Katniss internal dialogue about risks and help students make connections to the nonfiction texts. A Socratic seminar around the question Why are only teenagers made to participate in the Hunger Games? would be a great way to get students to draw evidence from multiple texts and their own experiences.

Reading Practice

Learning to Die (Grades 3-5; CCSS.CCRA.R.8)

Your Brain on Movies (Grades 6-8; CCSS.CCRA.R.8)

The Shock Machine (Grades 11-12; CCSS.CCRA.R.1)

Writing Lessons

When We Step In--And When We Dont (Grade 5; CCSS.RI.5.5;CCSS.W.5.1)

Aliens? Or Just Wired to Be Weird? (Grade 6;CCSS.RI.6.2;CCSS.W.6.2)

The Violent Side of Video Games (Grade 6; CCSS.RI.6.1;CCSS.W.6.1)

The Teenage Brain (Grade 7; CCSS.RI.7.2;CCSS.W.7.2)

Leaving the Nest (Grade 8; CCSS.RI.8.2;CCSS.W.8.2)

Multiday Short Fiction: The Lottery (Grade 8; CCSS.RL.8.3;CCSS.W.8.1)

Multiday Short Fiction: The Most Dangerous Game (Grade 9; CCSS.RL.9-10.3; CCSS.W.9-10.1)

Shooting in the Dark (Grade 9; CCSS.RI.9-10.1; CCSS.W.9-10.1)

Differentiated Writing Modules for Grades 4-12

Conflict and Dominance : How do conflict and the struggle for dominance affect the human spirit?

Video Games : What are the benefits and drawbacks of playing video games?

Risk Taking : How do you know when a risk is worth taking?

Introductions to Key Skills & Concepts

Making Arguments About Point of View (Grades 3-5;CCSS.CCRA.R.6)

Making Arguments About Point of View (Grades 6-12;CCSS.CCRA.R.6)

Developing Effective Paragraphs (Grades 3-5;CCSS.CCRA.W.4)

Developing Effective Paragraphs (Grades 6-12;CCSS.CCRA.W.4)

Making Arguments About Central Ideas (Grades 3-5;CCSS.CCRA.R.2)

Central Ideas (Grades 6-12;CCSS.CCRA.R.2)

ThinkCERCA provides all teachers with the essentials for powerful literacy and critical thinking education across disciplines. Our expert-designed, differentiated lessons are aligned to Common Core State Standards. This careful alignment allows teachers to differentiate for each individual student's level of readiness while maintaining cohesion and opportunities for collaboration among the whole class.

Great educatorsknow that collaboration and discussion are essential for student engagement and improved student outcomes. That's why we've designed ThinkCERCA with multiple opportunities for students to share their thoughts and build knowledge with their peers. Use these strategies to help students collaborate in pairs, small groups, or as a whole class with ThinkCERCA lessons.

New Writing Lesson: Student Engagement Strategies [PDF Download]

Classic Experience: Student Engagement Strategies [PDF Download]

Student Collaboration & The New Writing Lesson Experience

The Debate Game Packet

Engagement Strategies

Steps in ThinkCERCA

Engagement Strategy

Brief Explanation of Strategy

Direct Instruction/ Skills Lessons

Jigsaw

An instructional activity where students work in both home and expert teams to learn about topics and share with classmates

Overview

Silent Conversation

Students take notes and write questions asthey'reworking independently, for their partners to read and respond

Get Started

Vote with Your Feet

An out-of-your-seat strategy where students express their points of view or position on a topic by standing in different areas of the room or on a continuum

Read

Collaborating to Find Evidence (Teacher Resource)

Students work in partners and then in small groups discuss the evidencethey'refinding and the reasoningthey'rewriting

Collaborating to Find Evidence (Student Resource)

Analyze

Prediction Strategies

Students predict the answer to a multiple choice question before looking at the answer options

Error Analysis

Students look back at the multiple choice questions they got wrong, find the correct answer in the text, and write why the correct answer is correct

Check

Think, Pair, Share

Students think independently about their answer, discuss their thoughts with a partner, and share with the class

Summarize & Develop

Gallery Walk

Students work together to write each CERCA component on sticky notes, place the sticky notes on chart paper, and place the chart paper on the wall. Students walk around the room, read the sticky notes, and then discuss what they noticed

Draft

Peer Editing

Students switch written responses and highlight their partners claim, reasons, evidence, reasoning and counterargument all in different colors. Afterward, partners can focus on editing conventions

Review

Socratic Discussion (Slides)

The teacher begins with an open-ended question with many possible answers. Students respond and ask questions of one another. The questions and discussions build off the previous participants' ideas

Socratic Discussion Packet

The Debate Game

Students organize into teams, representing a position on a particular topic. Each team works together to develop an argument and later a rebuttal to the opposing team

With PowerSchool, district administrators can seamlessly connect their rosters to ThinkCERCA.

To enable rostering using PowerSchool, please follow the steps below:

Sign in to PowerSchool admin portal.

On the start page, select "System" from the main menu.

Select "System Settings."

Select "Plugin Management Configuration."

Select "Install."

Choose the plugin installation file ( plugin.xml ), and select "Install."

Record the values for the Client ID and Client Secret in a secure place. (You will need these later.)

Once the configuration is completed, please reach out to a PowerSchool representative to obtain the Endpoint URL that allows ThinkCERCA to access your PowerSchool system.

When you have obtained the Endpoint URL from PowerSchool and completed the steps above, please submit this ThinkCERCA form.The details shared in the form will allow a ThinkCERCA representativeto begin your roster configuration.

After you submit the form, a ThinkCERCA representative will be in touch in 1-2 business days to discuss the file sharing process with you. The ThinkCERCA representative will then set up the rostering sync, and confirm with you when the rostering process has concluded.

You can use these examples written by our team of former educators as a guide to providing feedback on student writing.

Examples of Feedback You Can Provide on Writing Lessons

Below are options of pieces of feedback you can use in each section of the ThinkCERCA rubric. Please use these examples as a guide, and edit the comments to be personalized for each student.

Claim/Counterclaim (Strengths)

"You introduced the topic clearly. This lets the reader know right away what you're going to be writing about, provides your readers with more information about the topic, and shows your readers that you know a lot about the topic."

"You included a clear and supportable claim."

"You acknowledged an opposing claim, which lets your readers know that you have thought about other sides and viewpoints."

Claim/Counterclaim (Areas of Growth)

"Be sure to introduce the topic in the beginning of your argument so your readers know what your writing is going to be about. You can do this by restating the question in your claim."

"Make sure that your claim is clear so your reader can fully understand your viewpoint. Restating the question can help make your claim clearer."

"Next time, try going even further in your written argument to include an alternative or opposing viewpoint (counterclaim)."

"Moving forward, we will work on adding counterclaims, to address other viewpoints. This can help make your argument stronger by showing your reader that you thought about many different sides of the argument."

Evidence (Areas of Strength)

"You included # pieces of relevant evidence to support your claim and reasons."

"Your evidence was from accurate, credible sources."

"You provided many specific examples from the text (evidence) to support your analysis."

"I like how you included phrases such as: 'According to the text,' 'According to the author,' and 'In the passage.' This lets readers know that you're about to draw evidence from a literary or informational text."

"Great job adding your own experiences to further explain your argument."

Evidence (Areas of Growth)

"Next time, be sure to include more pieces of evidence from the text to strengthen your argument. There are many examples you can choose from."

"Make sure that your evidence is drawn explicitly from the text. You can do this by finding examples from the text and writing, 'According to the text'"

Reasons and Reasoning (Areas of Strength)

"You organized your reasons, evidence, and reasoning clearly. This helps your reader follow along with your argument."

"You included # clear reasons to support your claim."

"The words and phrases you included supported a cohesive argument and clarified relationships among your claim, reasons, evidence, and reasoning."

"You clearly explained how your evidence supports your reasons and claim. This is reasoning."

"Great job adding your own experiences to further explain your reasoning."

Reasons and Reasoning (Areas of Growth)

"Be sure to clearly explain why you made the claim that you did (reasons), examples from the text to support our claim (evidence), and further explanation regarding how your evidence supports your reason and claim (reasoning)."

"Moving forward, be sure to clearly explain, in your own words, how each piece of evidence connects back to your reasons and claim. This is reasoning and helps make your argument stronger."

"As you include more pieces of evidence from the text to support your reason and claim, continue to explain the connection between your evidence and claim."

Conclusion (Areas of Strength)

"You provided a concluding section that concisely captured your argument without repeating your claim."

"An effective conclusion that supports the argument presented helps reinforce your ideas to your audience."

Conclusion (Areas of Growth)

"Remember to end your writing by including a concluding paragraph or sentence that wraps up your argument clearly. This helps to reinforce your ideas."

"To make your argument stronger, you can conclude with: a call to action, a question you want your audience to consider, and/or another statement of your personal opinion."

Audience (Areas of Strength)

"You established and maintained a formal style."

"The style of your writing is appropriate to the task, style, and audience."

"You included grade-appropriate academic and domain-specific vocabulary."

"The language you included effectively expressed your ideas without unnecessary wordiness or redundancy."

Audience (Areas of Growth)

"Think about the differences between speaking and writing. Most of the time, writing requires a more formal style than speaking does."

"If your audience is knowledgeable about the topic, be sure to include discipline specific vocabulary. This will show your audience that youre knowledgeable about the topic, as well, and can."

Conventions of English (Areas of Strength)

"You demonstrated an understanding of the conventions of standard English grammar, usage, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling."

"Your writing has few or no errors in the conventions of standard English grammar."

Conventions of English (Areas of Growth)

"As you continue to further your writing, we'll work on writing in only one tense."

"We will also learn how to turn run on sentences into two, clearer sentences."

"As we continue writing, we'll be sure to work on standard English grammar usage and writing complete, clear sentences."

If you're having difficulty accessing ThinkCERCA, in full or in part, from your school's networkand you cannot replicate these difficulties when outside your school's networkit is possible that your school's network security measures are blocking access.

To ensure that your school can fully access and use all of ThinkCERCAs features, please make sure that your school's I.T. department can confirm that the URLs found in our whitelist spreadsheet are all allowed.

If you or your school's I.T. team have any questions regarding whitelisting URLs or otherwise handling network difficulties, please feel free to contact us at [email protected].

Likewise, if you are havingdifficulty accessing ThinkCERCA from home, we recommendthat youmake sure your own internet security, antivirus, and firewall software are not blocking the URLs listed in thewhitelist spreadsheet.

Overview

ThinkCERCA's Training Courses are composed of 13 coursesorganized by four topic-specific chaptersthat help teachers learn more about using ThinkCERCA with recommended best practices.

In tandem with the Training Courses, teachers can also take an online quiz to receive a certification and digital badge for each chapter in the Training Courses.

How to Access

To access the Training Courses, teachers and administrators can click the drop-down menu next to their name in the top-right corner of ThinkCERCA.From there, select "Training Courses" to visit the Training Courses page.

Courses and Chapters

Chapter 1: Getting Started

Course 1:ThinkCERCA Overview (video lesson)

Course 2:Create an Account (video lesson)

Course 3: Create a Class (video lesson)

Chapter 2: Experiencing Lessons

Course 1: Writing Lesson (video lesson)

Course 2: Assign a Lesson (video lesson)

Course 3: Skills Lesson (video lesson)

Course 4: Direct Instruction(video lesson)

Course 5: Grade a Lesson(video lesson)

Course 6: Access Reports(video lesson)

Chapter 3: Implementation Resources

Course 1: Planning and Implementation (interactive lesson)

Course 2: Student Engagement (interactive lesson)

Chapter 4: Grading Resources

Course 1: Scoring and Feedback (interactive lesson)

Course 2: Norming(interactive lesson)

Reading Leveling is a type of assessment that measures student reading levels. In many schools that use ThinkCERCA, the Reading Leveling assessments are delivered by ELA teachers at the beginning of the year. Teachers can assign three leveling assessments below, at, and above grade level to confirm student reading levels. This information will be used to differentiate Writing Lessons for students later on.

How to Assign Reading Leveling

Follow these steps to assign Reading Leveling assessments:

From the Curriculum page, make sure ELA is selected as the subject.

Scroll to the bottom of the page, and you will see Reading Leveling listed under Assessments.

Select Reading Leveling and you will be taken to the Benchmark Assessments page.

Under the tab labeled Beginning of Year, the Reading Leveling assessment is listed at the bottom of the page.

Select a class under the drop-down menu on the right of the page.

When the Reading Leveling assessment is assigned, each student in the class will receive three texts to read and answer multiple-choice questions about. By default, the students will receive one text at their grade level, one text at one grade level above, and one text at one grade level below. If you teach a seventh-grade class, for example, you will be prompted to assign three texts leveled at grades 6, 7, and 8.

Assessment levels can be changed with the Adjust assessment level link. Individual students can also receive a leveling assessment, rather than the whole class.

Select a due date and click Assign to complete the Reading Leveling assignment process.

Learn more about adjusting student Reading Levels >>

How to Analyze the Data from Reading Leveling

Once students have completed their Reading Leveling assessment, you can view student data on the Reports page.

ThinkCERCAs leveling assessments provide two kinds of data about student performance:

Applied Practice indicates a students ability to apply a literacy skill to a text.

Background Knowledge indicates a students level of familiarity with the background knowledge needed to understand the text.

When analyzing student leveling data, look first at Applied Practice, and use Background Knowledge for context. If a student achieves Not Yet Proficient in Background Knowledge, that may indicate that he or she did not have the level of familiarity with the Background Knowledge to successfully access the text. In such a case, the Applied Practice score may not accurately reflect the students ability level.

How to Level Students Using the Data from the Reading Leveling

You should always use your professional judgment, personal observations, and any student information, such as previous levels or testing data, in addition to ThinkCERCA's leveling data, to gather a well-rounded understanding of your student and help you with the leveling process.

Scores of Consistent Mastery may indicate that a student should be assigned to a higher reading level. Reading Levels can be adjusted with a dropdown beneath the students name on the Leveling Assessment report page.

Similarly, scores of Proficient may indicate that the student is at the correct level of challenge, and scores of Not Yet Proficient may indicate that the student should be assigned to a lower level. Outlier scores should be disregarded.

Continue to Check-In

Regardless of the initial placement of your students, remember that it is important to review data on a regular basis. The best practice is to review data and adjust the level of students (as needed) after every two Writing Lessons. Use what you know about the context as well as the data to decide if you should maintain a students level, level them up, or level them down. The Reading Levels affect which differentiated Writing Lessons students receive.

Overview

ThinkCERCAs Writing Benchmarks are a type of assessment for measuring student writing progress at the beginning, middle, and end of the year. Writing Benchmarks are a great way to gain insight into students writing abilities and personalize instruction throughout the school year.

In many ThinkCERCA schools, Writing Benchmarks are traditionally administered by ELA teachers. However, check with your administrator to confirm your schools implementation plan before assigning.

Beginning-of-Year Benchmarks

Time to Complete: 45-60 minutes Since this may be the first time a student is encountering ThinkCERCA, beginning-of-year Writing Benchmarks are designed to both introduce students to the CERCA Framework as well as provide you with a baseline writing sample.

Includes:

What is CERCA? Direct Instruction lesson

Standards-aligned Writing Lesson

Middle-of-Year and End-of-Year Benchmarks

Time to Complete: 45-60 minutes

The middle- and end-of-year Writing Benchmarks are designed to monitor student writing progress throughout the school year.

Includes:

Standards-aligned Writing Lesson

How to Assign Writing Benchmarks

From the Curriculum page, make sure ELA is selected as the subject. Scroll to the bottom of the page, and you will see Writing Benchmarks listed under Assessments.

Select Writing Benchmarks to be taken to a page that shows beginning of year, middle of year, and end of year assessments.

Select the type of assessment you wish to deliver, and select a class under the drop-down menu under Assign Assessments on the right of the page. By default, Writing Benchmarks are assigned to a whole class, but you can also choose the option to assign it to individual students. We recommend using the default assessment level settings. If you have a special circumstance, edit the grade level of the assessment, select a due date, and click Assign to complete the process.

There are many lesson types in ThinkCERCA:

Writing Lessons

Skills Lessons

Reading Practice

Direct Instruction

Custom Lessons

To assign any of these lessons in ThinkCERCA, you must first navigate to the type of lesson you wish to assign. Then, follow these steps to assign the lesson to your whole class, a group of students, or individual students :

Select the Assign button.

Choose a class to assign the lesson to.

Select Next.

You will be presented with a screen that by default matches differentiated lessons to students reading levels. You can accept this suggestion or override it, assigning lessons by groups, individuals, or an entire class. You can also add or remove levels. (If a differentiated level is not available, leveled suggestions may not appear by default.)For example, here's what it would look like if you assign lessons based on the automatic differentiation: just one student Alternatively, here's how you could adjust the levels to assign the lesson to :

Once you're satisfied with how the lessons are matched to the students in your class, select Next.

Then, you can use the calendar icon to select the duration for the lesson. (Note: You can assign the classic experience by selecting the checkbox)

Select Assign to assign the lesson.

Finally, select View Class Planner or Done to complete the assignment process.

There are many lesson types in ThinkCERCA:

Writing Lessons

Skills Lessons

Reading Practice

Direct Instruction

Custom Lessons

To assign any of these lessons in ThinkCERCA, you must first navigate to the type of lesson you wish to assign. Then, follow the steps below to assign the lesson to individual students.

(If you wish to assign the lesson to your whole class or a group of students, please see the " Assign a Lesson" article.)

Steps to Assign a Lesson to an Individual Student:

Select the Assign button.

Choose a class to assign the lesson to.

Select Next.

You will be presented with a screen that by default matches differentiated lessons to students reading levels. You can accept this suggestion or override it, assigning lessons by groups, individuals, or an entire class. You can also add or remove levels. (If a differentiated level is not available, leveled suggestions may not appear by default.)For Example, here's how you could adjust the levels to assign the lesson to just one student:

Once you're satisfied with how the lessons are matched to the students in your class, select Next.

Then, you can use the calendar icon to select the duration for the lesson. (Note: You can assign the classic experience by selecting the checkbox)

Select Assign to assign the lesson.

Finally, select View Class Planner or Done to complete the assignment process.

Each Writing Module in ThinkCERCA contains resources to help teach Writing Lessons. These Teaching Resources include applicable English language development supports, vocabulary routines, graphic organizers, related media, and more.

To access these resources, simply select a Writing Module from the Curriculum page. Then, select the tab labeled Teaching Resources beneath the name of the Writing Module (to the right of Lesson Detail).

Additionally, teachers can access general teaching and implementation resources by clicking the "Resources" button in the top navigation menu. This action will bring up a modal that includes links to teaching resources, such as:

The Teacher Resource Packet

The Novel Guide Template

The Paper-based Writing Lesson

The Teacher Guide

The Writing Lesson Checklist

ThinkCERCA currently offers 10 Reading Practice and seven Direct Instruction lessons for Spanish speakers. Each lesson is available in both Spanish and English.

Grades 3-5 Reading Practice

Spanish: Cuntos M and Ms?

English: How Many M & M's?

Spanish: El ruidoso ocano

English: The Noisy Ocean

Spanish: El Lobo sobre el Sof

English: The Wolf on the Sofa

Spanish: No Slo Para Chicos

English: Not Just For the Guys

Spanish: Dnde guardas tu esqueleto?

English: Where Do You Keep Your Skeleton?

Grades 6-8 Reading Practice

Spanish: Todos a Bordo del Ferrocarril Subterrneo

English: All Aboard the Underground Railroad

Spanish: La Prueba de la Muneca

English: The Doll Experiment

Spanish: Slo en Mxico

English: Only in Mexico

Spanish: Aletas y dedos, alas y pezuas

English: Fins and Fingers, Wings and Hooves

Spanish: Escuchando a los elefantes

English: Listening to Elephants

Grades 3-12 Direct Instruction

Spanish: Declaracin

English: Claims

Spanish: Evidencia

English: Evidence

Spanish: Razonamiento

English: Reasoning

Spanish: Contraargumento

English: Counterargument

Spanish: Audiencia

English: Audience

Spanish: Resumir

English: Summarizing

Spanish: Por qu hacemos argumentos?

English: Purpose of Arguments

ThinkCERCA offers a recommended Scope and Sequence for the English language arts curriculum. This Scope and Sequence is a suggested order for delivering lessons, organized in a way that ensures students develop standards-aligned skills in a meaningful and coherent process.

While the ELA Scope and Sequence is a recommendation, teachers may choose any order to assign lessons in ThinkCERCA.

Where to find the Scope and Sequence:

Navigate to the Curriculum page from the top of ThinkCERCA.

Make sure ELA is selected as the subject.

Select View Writing Modules.

Writing Modules will appear in a descending list. This is the recommended order to assign ELA lessons.

Administrators can upload school rosters to create student accounts in ThinkCERCA.

Alternatively, if your district uses one of ThinkCERCA's supported student information system (SIS) integrations, administrators can use the SIS to sync a roster to ThinkCERCA. Supported SIS integrations include:

Infinite Campus

Skyward

ClassLink

PowerSchool

The directions below instruct administrators on how to upload rosters directly into ThinkCERCA. To use an SIS integration, click on the relevant link above.

Steps Upload a Roster and Create Student Accounts

1. Download our roster template and open it with spreadsheet software (e.g., Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, Apple Numbers).2. Complete the necessary information in the required format (see details below).3. Save your roster as a Comma Separated Values file (CSV). Click on File, then Save As (or a similar option like Download As or Export Asphrasing varies depending on which software youre using), select Comma Separated Values (.csv) from the dropdown menu, and hit Save.4. Click on the Classes tab at the top of your dashboard, then "Manage School Roster."

5. Click the button labeled "Upload a Roster."

6. Follow the prompts to upload your roster.7. Check your email for confirmation that your roster uploaded successfully.

Content Requirements

Your spreadsheet must include the following column headers:

First Name

Last Name

Email: The students email address (if the student doesn't have email, make one up)

Password: Must be 8 or more characters long

Enrolled Grade Level: The students grade level (3-12)

Please note: Our system requires an 8-character password for each student when uploading a roster, even if your students use Google or Clever to login. Please use the same password your students use to login to their Google or Clever accounts. If you do not know your students' Google or Clever passwords, you can create a random 8-character password that is the same for all students (i.e. "password"). If your students use Google or Clever to log into ThinkCERCA, theywon'tneed the random password; it will only be used in the roster upload.

Format Requirements

Your spreadsheet must be formatted to the following specifications:

While the order of the columns doesnt matter, the headers must match those contained in the sample roster exactly (e.g., spelling, capitalization, spacing) or your roster will not upload. Every column (whether required or optional) must be filled out completely; do not leave any cells blank. First and last name must be separated into the two columns specified. Every email address must be unique. For example, if you have two students named Scott Smith, theycan'tboth use the email [email protected]. Email addresses cannot contain spaces; if you use a spreadsheet function to combine first and last names, you must remember to delete any spaces between or contained within those names. Grade levels must be entered as the numerals 3-12 only. If a student is in grade 5, the Enrolled Grade Level column should read 5, not 5th or fifth. The roster uploader will not recognize any grade below 3, so if a student is in grade 1 or 2, simply enter 3. The required and optional columns listed above are the ONLY columns the roster uploader will read. DO NOT ADD EXTRA COLUMNS. Information contained in extra columns will not upload.

With Skyward, district administrators can seamlessly connect their rosters to ThinkCERCA.

To enable automatic rostering with ThinkCERCA, you must first add ThinkCERCA to your Skyward Roster Server, using these steps outlined by Skyward.

After you have added ThinkCERCA to your Skyward Roster Server, you will need to submit this form created by ThinkCERCA. The details shared in the form will allow a ThinkCERCA representativeto begin your roster configuration.

After you submit the form, a ThinkCERCA representative will be in touch in 1-2 business days to discuss the file sharing process with you. The ThinkCERCA representative will then set up the rostering sync, and confirm with you when the rostering process has concluded.

With Infinite Campus, district administrators can seamlessly connect their rosters to ThinkCERCA.

To enable automatic rostering with ThinkCERCA, you must first add ThinkCERCA to your Infinite Campus Roster Server, using these steps outlined by Infinite Campus.

After you have added ThinkCERCA to your Infinite Campus Roster Server, you will need to submit this form created by ThinkCERCA. The details shared in the form will allow a ThinkCERCA representativeto begin your roster configuration.

After you submit the form, a ThinkCERCA representative will be in touch in 1-2 business days to discuss the file sharing process with you. The ThinkCERCA representative will then set up the rostering sync, and confirm with you when the rostering process has concluded.

With ClassLink, district administrators can seamlessly connect their rosters to ThinkCERCA.

To enable automatic rostering with ThinkCERCA, you must first add ThinkCERCA to your ClassLink Roster Server, using these steps outlined by ClassLink.

After you have added ThinkCERCA to your ClassLink Roster Server, you will need to submit this form created by ThinkCERCA. The details shared in the form will allow a ThinkCERCA representativeto begin your roster configuration.

After you submit the form, a ThinkCERCA representative will be in touch in 1-2 business days to discuss the file sharing process with you. The ThinkCERCA representative will then set up the rostering sync, and confirm with you when the rostering process has concluded.

In the Core Curriculum, lessons belong to a Module, which are organized by Units. As a teacher using the Core Curriculum, you can assign an entire Module to your class, or choose specific lessons within that Module to assign.

Core Curriculum

Follow these steps to assign a Module in the Core Curriculum:

Navigate to the by selecting "View Writing Modules" from the ELA Curriculum page.

Select the appropriate Unit from the left-hand side of the Core Curriculum.

Then, select the appropriate Module. Each Module in a Unit is listed beneath the Unit description.

Select "Assign Module" on the right side.

A pop-up box will appear. Choose a class to receive the Module lessons and select "Next."

Then, you will be prompted to choose which lessons in the Module you would like to assign. By default, all lessons in the Module are selected. You can assign all lessons in the Module, or uncheck certain lessons. Click "Next."

Use the calendar tool to select a due date for the Module. This due date will be applied to all the lessons assigned in the Module.

Select "Assign" to finish the process.

About the Core Curriculum

ThinkCERCA's Core ELA Curriculum includes a collection of paired Writing Modules, Skills Lessons, and Direct Instruction lessons in a recommended scope and sequence designed to build knowledge in a meaningful continuum.

The Core Curriculum for ELA provides:

40+ weeks of instruction

Tier 1 instruction

Full coverage of all language, speaking, and listening skills

A comprehensive scope and sequence

Writing Benchmarks to measure student progress

Student Workbook for additional teaching, practicing, and reviewing of core vocabulary, reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills

Teacher's Edition to support instruction

Unit Assessments to measure student progress on specific ELA skills

How to Access the Core Curriculum

To access the Core Curriculum, navigate to the Curriculum page and select ELA as the subject. On this page, an ELA Curriculum option will be listed at the top. Select "View Writing Modules."

On the Core Curriculum page, youwill see a list of recommended lessons organized by module and unit. You can easily review the lessons and assign them to your class.

Please note:ThinkCERCA's Core ELA Curriculum is only available to teachers at schools and districts that have explicitly purchased the Core Curriculum subscription.

share the class code with students

Depending on your districts ThinkCERCA partnership, you may find that when you log into ThinkCERCA, your classes have already been created for you. If not, however, you can follow these instructions to create a class and enroll students.

Follow these steps to create new or additional classes:

Navigate to the Classes Page.

Select Create a Class.

Fill in basic class details, such as name, grade, subject, and duration.

Select a Grade and Select a Subject.

Select Save Changes to create your class. The new class will be added to your Classes page.

Once you create a class, so that they can join your class.

At ThinkCERCA, we understand that 1:1 technology access is not always guaranteed across our partner schools. But device or no device, students can still engage in critical thinking through the CERCA Framework using our paper-based Writing Lesson resources.

When technology is not available, we recommend printing out or projecting the text of a Writing Lesson on the screen and have students complete each part of the lesson on paper.

If you notice students are rushing through ThinkCERCA's Writing Lessons, we have developed a graphic organizer that you can use in your classroom. This checklist allows students to monitor their progress and meet the expectations for each step within the process.

How can you use this checklist?

Print off the checklist for each student in your classroom so they can mark off when they have completed a step

Turn the checklist into an anchor chart for your walls

Create a Writing Lesson progress monitoring board in your classroom so students can track progress through each step

This downloadablechecklist includes our suggested tips for each step, but feel free to make edits based on yourclassroom's needs. As the year progresses, we recommend adjustingexpectations based on student readiness.

Overview

In July 2019, ThinkCERCA launched an updated Writing Lesson experience, designed to be more intuitive for students.

However, teachers who have used ThinkCERCA for years may prefer to continue using the original Writing Lesson experience, known as ThinkCERCA Classic.

Therefore, in the 2019-20 school year, returning ThinkCERCA teachers will have the option to assign Writing Lessons in the ThinkCERCA Classic experience.

Writing Lesson (Updated July 2019)

ThinkCERCA Classic

Steps to assign a Writing Lesson in the ThinkCERCA Classic experience:

Find a Writing Lesson and select Assign Lesson.

Select a class, grade levels, and due date.

On the screen where you select the due date, there will be text that says, Assign ThinkCERCA Classic experience. Check the box next to this text.

Select Assign.

Your students have now been assigned a Writing Lesson in the ThinkCERCA Classic experience.

By default, Writing Lessons are assigned in the new design. Be sure to check the box next to Assign ThinkCERCA Classic experience anytime you elect to assign the original experience.

Learn more here.

Overview

ThinkCERCAs Writing Lesson asks students to use close reading strategies and build formal pieces of writing around a given text.

These lessons are differentiated for grades 3-12, with some lessons available at the Higher Education level. Writing Lessons are differentiated within a Writing Module, allowing teachers to select a Writing Module by content area or theme and assign individual Writing Lessons by student reading level. While each Writing Lesson contains a unique writing prompt, all Writing Lessons within a Writing Module center around the same debatable Class Discussion Question.

Where to Find Writing Lessons

To access Writing Lessons, navigate to the Curriculum page. Select a Content Area or Theme, and then select a Writing Module. Upon selecting a Writing Module, you will see a differentiated Writing Lesson. By default, the appropriate lesson for your classs grade is shown. Click Less Challenging or More Challenging to toggle through Writing Lessons within the Writing Module.

Writing Lessons can also be found via keyword search.

How to Assign Writing Lessons

Writing Lessons can be assigned by class, reading levels, or individual students.

The Writing Lesson Process for Students

When students work on a Writing Lesson, they go through a multi-step process to build their formal argument.

Topic Overview:At the start of a Writing Lesson, each student reads a topic overview that models the conceptual vocabulary they will need to understand the context of the argument at hand.

Vocabulary:Students will be provided with a list of tier 2 and tier 3 vocabulary words that are included in the topic overview and the text. Here, you can build in a vocabulary routine, such as using the frayer model or semantic webbing.

Learn: Next, students will learn about the objectives of the lesson in the Learn section.

Get Started:Students will write a personal connection to the topic, which can later be used in their formal essay as an introduction or detailed anecdote. At this point, students should turn and talk with a partner after writing their short response.

Read:Students read the text (with or without audio support) based on levels set in your Class Roster. Students can practice prediction strategies or/or participate in silent conversations while they read independently.

Analyze:Students highlight evidence from the text and annotate their reasoning. Highlighted text and annotations are then saved so that students may refer to this evidence while building their writing. Once students practice analyzing independently, teachers can put students into pairs or small groups to collaborate to find evidence and reasoning.

Check:The five-question multiple choice comprehension check assesses students understanding of the text. The questions focus on the central idea, comprehension, and vocabulary Students can work independently or collaboratively on the multiple choice questions.

Summarize:The Writing Lessons second set of steps focuses on planning the piece of writing. The summarizing steps asks students to summarize the text. Sentence starters are provided on the right hand side of the screen. The sentence starters can be used to incorporate academic language as well as organize the summary. The summarize step of the lesson can be completed independently or collaboratively by students. A turn and talk can also be used to foster collaboration and speaking and listening skills.

Develop:The Develop step is an interactive graphic organizer. The organizer helps students develop and organize the critical components of the formal piece of writing. Sentence starters are available for each component. This graphic organizer is stored and accessible for the final writing step. Students can develop their writing components. Then, working with a partner, discuss their reasons, evidence, and reasoning. After students develop their writing, it is recommended that students participate in a class discussion. This will bring all levels of learners together around the class discussion question for the Writing Module. This will help students develop their arguments and consider additional perspectives.

Draft:The Draft Step supports students in writing a well-organized first draft of their writing. Students can access the text and their work from previous steps of the Writing Lesson. Included is a reminder of how a formal writing piece is organized with an introduction, body, and conclusion. Students are then asked to check their work with reminders that align to the standards

Review:Finally, the Review Step allows students to review and revise their work before submitting their formal writing to the teacher. A full writing checklist, which is aligned to the standards-based rubric, can be viewed to support students in their revisions.

Teachers and administrators can remove students from a class in ThinkCERCA.

How teachers can remove a student from a class:

Verify whether your district uses automatic rostering with ThinkCERCA (through a service like ClassLink, PowerSchool, Infinite Campus, or Skyward).

If your district uses automatic rostering, contact your administrator and request to remove a student from your class in the School Information System (SIS).* Then, continue to step 3.If your district does not use automatic rostering, proceed straight to step 3.

From the Classes page in ThinkCERCA, select the class in which the student is enrolled.

Toggle to the Roster tab next to Planner.

Select the student you wish to withdraw.

A student information card will appear with a list of currently enrolled classes.

Select the X next to the class you wish to remove the student from.

Select Save and the student will be removed from the class. [email protected]

How administrators can remove a student from a class:

Verify whether your district uses automatic rostering with ThinkCERCA (through a service like ClassLink, PowerSchool, Infinite Campus, or Skyward).

If your district uses automatic rostering, remove the student from the appropriate class in the School Information System (SIS).* Then, continue to step 3.If your district does not use automatic rostering, proceed straight to step 3.

On the Classes page, click "Manage School Roster."

Search for a student's name or scroll to find a particular student.

Select "edit" to the right of the student's name.

You will be taken to a page displaying account details for the student. The table at the right displays classes the student is enrolled in. Select the "X" to remove the student from the class.

A popup will appear asking you to confirm the student's removal from the class. Select "Remove Class" to proceed.

Select "SAVE" at the bottom of the page to save the changes.

*If a student is removed from a ThinkCERCA class but remains in the class in the SIS, the information system will re-enroll the student in the ThinkCERCA class the next morning due to nightly roster uploads. For more information, please contact .

Overview

View this article

This video is a part of the ThinkCERCA Training Courses, which teachers can access while logged into ThinkCERCA.

Skills Lessons are interactive lessons that provide grade-level instruction and practice in critical literacy skills. These lessons give students the opportunity to dynamically engage with texts and include scaffolded checks and graded assessments for measuring understanding.

All Skills Lessons are discrete, differentiated for grades 3-12, and aligned to College and Career Readiness Standards. They can be used as both an introduction to new material or as a platform to practice and sharpen skills that have been previously taught. Skills lessons are especially effective when assigned in tandem with Writing Lessons geared toward each student's personal growth focus.

Where to find Skills Lessons

There are two ways to access a Skills Lesson:

On the ELA Curriculum page, Skills lessons can be found by selecting any of the blue buttons next to the ELA Curriculum. They are organized by key skill or concept, alongside Direct Instruction lessons.

On the Social Studies, Science, or Math Curriculum pages, scroll to the bottom to view the Skills Lessons section of the page.

Additionally, Skills Lessons are symbolized by an icon of three building blocks.

for detailed instructions on how to assign a Skills lesson.

How to Add ThinkCERCA to a Device with Jamf:

Login to your Jamf Dashboard.

Select "Devices".

On the left menu, select "Configuration Profiles" and then click "+ New".

In the first field on the"General" tab (Name) you can input what you like, but we recommend that you write "ThinkCERCA Web Clip". You can add a description if you'd like.

Next, scroll down on the left panel until you've reached "Web Clips" and select it.

Click "Configure"

Under Label, you can input whatever you would like the name to be displayed on the iPad's home-screen. (i.e. ThinkCERCA)

Important Step: Under URL, input this link learn.thinkcerca.com/ Make sure to input the link properly or the Web Clip will not work. You can also upload a custom logo and make the Web Clip displayed "Full Screen" on the iPad.

Once done, save your profile and you are now ready to upload into your devices.

You can download the ThinkCERCA logo to use for the Web Clip.

Steps to add ThinkCERCA to a device with Apple Configurator:

Launch the Apple Configurator Application (available on MAC OS devices only).

In the upper left corner, click on "File" and then select "New Profile."

In the first field (Name) you can input what you like, but we recommend that you write "ThinkCERCA Web Clip."If you would like to make sure the web clip cannot be deleted, you can select "Never" from the Security Toggle so it cannot be removed.

Next, scroll the left panel all the way to the bottom and select "Web Clips."

Select "Configure."

Under Label, input whatever you would like the name to display as on the iPad's home screen (i.e. ThinkCERCA).

Important Step: Under URL, insert this link: learn.thinkcerca.com/. Make sure to input the link correctly or the Web Clip will not work.

Download our logo here to use for the Web Clip's image.

Save your profile. ThinkCERCA is now readily available on your iPad home screen!

See Video Below

Although ThinkCERCA does not have an iOS or Android app, you can add a web clip to the home screen of an iOS or Android device that acts like a native app. With the web clip, students do not need to navigate through the web browser to access ThinkCERCA.

The ThinkCERCA web clip offers:

Full-screen experience

Reinforced landscape mode

Faster loading

Easy highlighting

Improved navigation and scrolling

Once the web clip has been added to the home screen of the device, a web browser is not needed to access ThinkCERCA.

Add the Web Clip to an iPad:

Open Safari and go to learn.thinkcerca.com.

Select the share icon in the top-right corner of the screen, next to the URL.

Select Add to Homescreen.

Look for ThinkCERCA icon on the home screen.

Select the icon to open the app and log on to ThinkCERCA.

Add the Web Clip to an Android Device:

Go to learn.thinkcerca.com

Select "more options" in Chrome.

Choose to "Add to Home screen."

Look for the ThinkCERCA icon on the home screen.

Select the icon to open the app and log on to ThinkCERCA

ThinkCERCA's integration with Canvas allows new and returning students to easily access ThinkCERCA.

How Students Log in Through Canvas and Navigate into ThinkCERCA

1. Students will log into their existing Canvas accounts with their Canvas credentials.

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2. Students will then select the ThinkCERCA card from the dashboard.

3. From the menu at left, students will select Modules (The name of the module will be determined by the teacher when following the module creation instructions as shown on ).

4. Students will select the module added by the teacher and be directed and automaticaly logged in to ThinkCERCA.

Each Writing Module in ThinkCERCA includes suggestions for related Reading Practice lessons that can be paired with a Writing Lesson.

To view these suggested pairings, follow these steps:

Navigate to the Curriculum page.

Selected a Writing Module.

Scroll to the bottom of the page. Here, you will see a list of Reading Practice lessons under "Suggested Pairings."

Select any lesson to explore further.

School administrators and district administrators can search for a student in a School Roster by following these steps:

Select the Classes tab at the top of any ThinkCERCA page.

Click the Manage School Roster button.

On the School Roster page, search for a particular student by typing their name in the search field at the top of the page. To narrow the search by grade or enrollment status, click All Current Students to the right of the search bar. Check the fields you would like to appear in the search results.

Teachers can search for a student in a class roster by following these steps:

Select the Classes tab at the top of any ThinkCERCA page.

On the Classes page, select any class by clicking its name.

You will be taken to a page with details about the class you clicked. Select the Roster tab under the class name.

Scroll down the page to find for a specific student in the class.

Before You Start!

Make sure your students have all been assigned the grade-level Writing Benchmark for their enrolled grade. For more information on how to assign leveling assessments, click here.

Make sure your students complete the What is CERCA? Direct Instruction lesson before they complete the Writing Benchmark. This will give them a quick overview of the CERCA Framework.

Steps

Navigate to the Classes page from the top navigation bar of any ThinkCERCA page.

Scroll down the page to find the current assignment you would like to grade. It will be listed beneath an active class.

Click the assignment you would like to grade.

You will be taken to a page with a table listing students and assignment status. In the Writing column of the table, select the Give Feedback option, which will appear for any student who has completed their assignment.

Click on "Rubric Score" to see students' written responses.

To review students' multiple-choice answers (which have been automatically graded), click on the score to the right of each student's name.

Upon selecting "Rubric Score," you will see the first student's writing on the left of the screen and a section called "Evaluation Rubric" on the right. Before you can begin grading, you'll of course want to read your student's writing.

If you wish to view student responses in the context of the original assignment, click "View Student's Full Work" above the "Student Writing" section at left.

Make any relevant notes on the student's writing by clicking on or highlighting their text and entering your comments in the pop-up box.

On the right-hand side, click on each rubric component to assign a score for that particular criterion; tick the applicable boxes and add your comments in the text box.

Alternately, if you want to provide feedback but do not want to assign a grade, you may bypass selecting a score for each rubric component and instead tick the "Submit With No Score" check box. (After you finish adding your comments, simply hit "Submit Grade.")

Enter any final comments in the "Additional Feedback" text box.

Select an option from the "Assign Growth Focus" dropdown menu to give your student a specific area to focus on improving.

Click "Submit Grade."

If you want the student to edit their work per your feedback, instead click "Return for Revision."

To grade the next student's writing, click the right arrow above the "Evaluation Rubric" section; to return to your class' full list of assignments, click "Return to Assignments."

Once students log into ThinkCERCA, they can join a class by entering a class code given to them by their teacher, which is found next to the name of a class in the teacher view of ThinkCERCA.

upload a school roster to ThinkCERCA

However, student accounts must be created before students can log in and use class codes. Student accounts are created when teachers manually add students to a class or administrators .

Steps to Join a Class with a Class Code

1. Students will log in to ThinkCERCA with their username and password.2. At the bottom of their dashboard, they'll click on "Add Another Class."3. At the prompt, they'll enter the 6-character class code provided by their teacher and click "Add Class."

The process of accessing ThinkCERCA through Canvas is simple and seamless for both new and returning students and teachers. (Note for returning teachers: You shouldn't need to update or adjust your ThinkCERCA settings from within Canvas; they should persist from your initial setup of your ThinkCERCA account and classes.) Before your students can access any classes through Canvas, however, you'll need to add ThinkCERCA as a new course.

Please Note: If you or your school admin have already added ThinkCERCA to your Canvas LMS, please follow these steps to create a Module to allow students to login to ThinkCERCA.

Steps

1. From your Canvas dashboard, click "Start a New Course."2. Enter the course name (ThinkCERCA) and click "Create Course."3. You are now viewing the course you just created. Click Settings in the left navigation bar.4. Click on the Apps tab, then the "View App Configurations" button.5. Click the "+App" button and complete the following fields:

Name: ThinkCERCAConsumer Key: Unique to your school; see notes belowShared Secret:Unique to your school; see notes belowLaunch URL:https://learn.thinkcerca.com/lti/sessionsCustom Fields:schoolid=Unique to your school; see notes below

Important Notes

If your IT department has not already provided you with a unique Consumer Key, Shared Secret, and schoolid, they will need to contact our support team at [email protected]. Note the correct formatting of schoolidthis must be typed on one line, with no spaces before or after the equals sign (e.g., schoolid=000000001).

Once you have added ThinkCERCA to Canvas, contact our support team at [email protected] to complete the integration setup.

After ThinkCERCA has been added to your school's Canvas LMS, teachers can add a Module that allow students to connect their Canvas accounts to ThinkCERCA.

While logged in to your Canvas account, choose your class.

In the "Home" section, select "+ Module". this article

You can name the module "ThinkCERCA Website" or anything you chose and then select "Add Module".

Publish the Module by selecting the icon.

Click on the "+" sign and select "External Tool" from the dropdown. Select the App that your or your school administrator created as outlined on these steps, and select "Add Item".

Select "Add Item" and publish the resource by selecting the icon.

Once the module has been added, students can follow the steps in to sign in to ThinkCERCA using Canvas.

You can use these examples written by our team of former educators as a guide to grading student writing with the Rubric Score or 5-point Quick Score.

Grading Guidance for Writing Lessons

Scoring the Claim or Counterclaim

If your student does this for the writing:

Then you should:

Writes Idon'tknow (IDK) or leaves it blank

Benchmark writing - Give the student a 1.

During the year - Dont score it. Return for revision with a comment or two. Ask students if they forgot to copy over their writing or if they used the graphic organizer on step 5.

Provides a claim but is not clear or supportable.

Give the student a 2 or 3.

Provides a clear and supportable claim that restates the question but does not have a counterclaim written

If the student is in 7th grade or above, give the student a 2.

Give students a 4 or 5 if their claim is strong andthey'rebelow grade 7.

Provides a clear and supportable claim that restates the question and has a counterclaim written

Give the student a 5 on claim/counterclaim.

Scoring the Evidence

If your student does this for the writing:

Then you should:

Does not use evidence from the text.

Give the student a 1. Identify where students could have brought in evidence to strengthen their claim. Remind students that in this type of writing, their beliefs and perspectives are most useful in the reasoning section. Consider returning for revision or having a writing conference with students on future lessons.

Includes fewer than 3 pieces of evidence (or fewer than you requested) and they are not drawn explicitly from the text.

Give the student a 2 or 3 (depending on how appropriate the evidence is in supporting the claim). Remind students of the expectation of how much evidence they were to include. Consider returning for revision.

Has 3 pieces of evidence but it is not cited and/or drawn explicitly from the text.

Give the student a 3 or 4 (depending on how appropriate the evidence is in supporting the claim) and remind the student how to cite.

Includes 3 pieces of evidence (or the number you requested) and draws explicitly from the text, with sentence stems allowing the reader to know that the evidence is from the text.

Give the student a 5.

Scoring the Reasons and Reasoning

If your student does this for the writing:

Then you should:

Has not included reasoning.

Give the student a 1 and provide guiding questions in feedback on how to appropriately include reasoning.

Has included reasoning for only some of their points of evidence.

Give the student a 3 and annotate where else they should have included reasoning with guiding question such as can you tell me more about why this piece of evidence fits with your claim?

Has included reasoning for all points of

evidence.

Give the student a 5.

*Depending on the organization and structure of the piece scores can be higher or lower.*Depending on whether or not the student includes reasons scores can be higher or lower.

Scoring the Conclusion

If your student does this for the writing:

Then you should:

Does not have a conclusion.

Give the student a 1, ask them to write a conclusion, and return for revision.

Includes a conclusion but it does not wrap up the argument clearly.

Give the student a 2, 3, or 4 (depending on the conclusion) but give feedback on why they received that score. This feedback may include be specific in your conclusion so your reader recalls your positions and points."

Has a comprehensive, strong conclusion that wraps up the argument.

Give the student a 5.

Scoring the Audience-appropriate Language

If your student does this for the writing:

Then you should:

Writes in an informal tone most of the time.

Give the student a 1 or 2

Consistently maintains a formal tone but grade level and/or discipline-specific vocabulary may be missing.

Give the student a 3 or 4.

Consistently maintains a formal tone with grade level and/or discipline specific vocabulary.

Give your student a 5.

Has a piece of writing that does not have a clear audience in mind.

Ask students who their audience is for their piece of writing and what type of language or vocabulary they would use for that audience. If this should have been done before they submitted, give your student a 2. If not, then return for revision.

Has a clear audience through language.

Give the student a 5, but make sure to provide feedback as to why their language was audience-appropriate.

Scoring the Conventions of English

Conventions of English include many topics, so regardless of the score you give your student, make sure that you are clearly identifying what they did well and what they need to work on. Do not focus all the feedback on spelling, grammar, or punctuation, unless it is clear that is a major part of their grade.

If your student's writing:

Then you should:

Has many errors.

Give the student a 1.

Has some errors.

Give the student a 2 or 3 (depending on the student and the errors).

Has a few errors.

Give the student a 4.

Has no errors.

Give the student a 5.

ThinkCERCA Icebreakers can be used to introduce students and teachers to The CERCA Framework. Each of these four icebreakers includes a public slide deck that you can use to guide the icebreaker activities.

CERCA Humans

View CERCA Humans Slide Deck >>

Overview

In this activity, students will be given a part of the CERCA framework and will need to find others who have the missing pieces of their argument. Then, theyll need to work as a team to determine the correct order of the CERCA argument.

Steps

The teacher will need to print the CERCA Cards and give each student one statement.

Students will then search for the others who have the remaining parts of their argument and negotiate how to order themselves to make a viable argument.

The first group to find each other and stand in the order that makes sense wins.

The teacher can use this Answer Key to check their answers.

Captain CERCA

View Captain CERCA Slide Deck >>

Overview

In this icebreaker, the teacher acts as Captain CERCA and calls out different parts of The CERCA Framework. When each part is called out, participants must pose in the relevant formation, otherwise they are out of the game.

Steps

The game begins when the teacher calls out Captain CERCAs coming! Upon hearing that command, all students must get in two parallel lines, facing each other, and saluting the Captain.

The Captain walks down the two rows of students and if a student laughs, they are out of the game.

Then, the Captain calls out one of the commands (listed below), and the students must get in the relevant pose with any other students who are still in the game.

The Captain can call out the commands in any order, and should do so in a way to make sure they eventually have just one or two participants left. Those final participants are declared the winners.

When students are out of the game, they should wait patiently to the side so the active participants are clear about who is still playing.

Use the slides in this deck to review the different parts of The CERCA Framework and the body formation associated with each one. This is a fun, kinesthetic, and active way to learn The CERCA Framework.

Commands

Captain CERCAs Coming!

All remaining students make this formation. Students must get in two parallel lines, facing each other, and saluting the Captain. The Captain walks down the two rows of students and if a student laughs, they are out of the game.

Claim

Two students make this formation. One student kneels down to the ground, while the other student stands behind, holding up their fist, as if exclaiming their claim.

Evidence

Three students make this formation. Two students hold out their hands, as if they are books, while the third student holds their hands up to their eyes (as if they are binoculars) and looks from book to book, as if looking for evidence from multiple texts.

Reasoning

Three students make this formation. Three students link arms while standing back to back, to represent the reasoning linking the claim to the evidence.

Counterargument

Two students make this formation. Two students clasp hands, and with their feet planted firm in the ground, they use their upper bodies to battle their arguments, gently pushing toward one another, to make a swaying motion.

Audience

Four students make this formation. One student stands at the head of the row of three other students and act as if they are giving their argument by holding their hands up and pretending to speak. The other three students form a row facing the student at the head, and kneel to the ground they are acting as the audience members. The three audience members can choose to either hold their thumbs up (indicating that they agree with the speaker), hold their thumbs down (indicating that they disagree), or hold their hands out to the side while shrugging their shoulders (indicating that theydon'tknow much about the topic of the argument).

CERCA Circle

View CERCA Circle Slide Deck >>

Overview

CERCA Circle is a fun way to practice using the different parts of The CERCA Framework to build an argument as a group, building off of what the person before you said.

Steps

Have students form groups of three to five people and stand in a circle.

One person volunteers to begin and asks a debatable question.

Rotating clockwise, the next person will begin the CERCA by stating a claim and their reason.

The next person will provide evidence to support that claim and reason.

The next will explain the reasoning for how that evidence supports the claim.

The next will provide a counterargument with a reason (can add in evidence and reasoning here too).

The final person will end with a concluding statement.

The group then begins a new CERCA with a new debatable question.

Continue the steps above until time is called.

You can use the examples of debatable questions or let students come up with their own question. Try this activity by first modeling it in front of the class with some volunteers, then breaking up into small groups that involve all students. You may want to choose a question for students to discuss the first few times. You can even kick off your units with a question to get them going, then do a Writing Lesson and come back to CERCA Circle and see how their arguments have evolved and increased in rigor once they have more evidence from a text.

I Have; Who Has

View I Have; Who Has Slide Deck >>

Overview

This circular call and response icebreaker is great for reviewing the different parts of the CERCA framework. The person with card #1 begins by calling out the definition and someone else responds with the corresponding CERCA part. This game is easily adaptable to use for selected vocabulary.

Steps

Each group (or group member if doing small groups) receives a card. If doing groups, each group should designate a speaker. The group with card number one starts by saying I have number one, who has? then reads the definition.

The designated speaker from the group who has the corresponding CERCA element responds, I have and says the CERCA element.

The speaker then flips the card over and says. Who has (reads the definition)?

This wrap-around matching game continues until it ends with the person who began the game saying I have and reading the element on the card. That person will also announce the games end.

CERCA Sort

View CERCA Sort Slide Deck >>

Overview

This activity is perfect for introducing examples of CERCA Arguments. Students will be given a CERCA argument out of order. Their task is to identify which statement is the claim, reason, evidence, reasoning, and counterargument and justify their thinking.

Steps

The teacher can start by reviewing the debatable question, then review the components of a CERCA argument.

The teacher can then either show the CERCA Sort slide with the statements out of order, or print the slide and cut out the statements so that students can physically arrange them in the appropriate order.

It is recommended to do a think-pair-share in which students have an opportunity to arrange the statements in the correct order on their own, then consult with a partner, explaining why they arranged them the way they did.

Students can then participate in a whole-group share-out.

In this activity, it is critical to invite the students to explain their justification for why they identified the statements as the claim, the reason, the evidence, etc.

Example:

Heres an argumentative question: Should football be banned in high school? What do you think, and why?"

Give students a few minutes to discuss in small groups,encouraging them to build a claim before sharing out to the whole group.

Ask for some volunteers to share out, discuss their responses and connect them to the CERCA components. Example: You said it should be banned, thats your claim. Whats your evidence that it should be banned?

The ThinkCERCA team regularly releases new product features to make ThinkCERCA more intuitive and helpful for teachers, students, and administrators to use. Here's what's new and improved this week:

New Support Center Articles

Add More Students to an Existing Assignment

See Current Growth Focus

New Bug Fixes and Improvements

When assigning the same lesson or a lesson from the same Writing Module you have already assigned, a page will appear to confirm whether you want to add more students to the existing assignment or create a new lesson.

When enrolling new students to a class, current assignments were not being automatically assigned. "All Students" is now the default option when assigning a new lesson.

When new students are added to a class, ThinkCERCA now automatically updates the Class Roster with this information. Previously, a manual refresh was required to reflect this change.

The ThinkCERCA team corrected an issue with Google Chrome's newest update that caused the "Preview" and "Assign" links associated with Direct Instructions lessons to disappear.

ThinkCERCA implemented a timeout warning so that users get notified once their session is about to expire.

If you would like to inquire about a feature or share feedback, please send a note to [email protected].

Teachers can view a student's most recently assigned Growth Focus through the Roster.

Steps to view a student's current Growth Focus:

On the Classes page, scroll to the class to which the student belongs.

Select "View Class Planner."

In the Planner, toggle to the Roster.

Here, you will see a list of students with relevant information, including their current Growth Focus. Every time a teacher assigns a new lesson and selects a student's Growth Focus, it will update on this page.

You can add students to an ongoing assignment with the "Add More Students" feature in ThinkCERCA.

Steps:

On the Classes page, scroll to the class that contains the assignment to which you would like to add a student or students.

Select "View Class Planner" for the class.

In the Planner, select the current assignment to which you would like to add a student or students.

Select the gear icon next to the assignment name.

From the dropdown menu, select "Add More Students."

A popup window will appear asking you to confirm the student assignment level. Students already in the assignment will be grayed out. New students in your class will have a checkbox, which you can click to add the student to the assignment. You can also use this popup to assign a different reading level for the student(s).If a new student is not listed on the dropdown menu after enrolling in your class, please refresh your browser and try again.

Select the student(s) and click "Next."

Confirm the assignment due date and select "Assign."

The ThinkCERCA team regularly releases new product features to make ThinkCERCA more intuitive and helpful for teachers, students, and administrators to use. Here's what's new and improved this week:

New Support Center Articles

Reason, Reasoning, and Evidence: The CERCA Sandwich

Understanding Weekly Usage Reports

Share a Custom Lesson

Edit a Custom Lesson

New Bug Fixes and Improvements

We change the label of completed lessons in your lesson planner from "Finished" to "Completed."

We added a "View Class Planner" link in every class in the Classes page that re-directs you to the Class Planner page for the selected class.

We fixed a bug that didn't allow students to continue to the next step of a Skills Lesson on an iPad.

If you would like to inquire about a feature or share feedback, please send a note to [email protected].

Please Note: Once a custom lesson is assigned, the grade level and reading can no longer be edited.

How to Edit a Custom Lesson

Navigate to the Classes page to see a list of all your classes.

Click on the class you would like to create a custom lesson for.

Under the Bookmarks & More area of your class Planner, you will see your custom lesson name.

Select "View" next to your lesson name.

In the lesson detail page, select the pencil icon next to the work "custom lesson".

That will open another page where you can edit your lesson.

After you are done, select "Save" to save your changes and your lesson will be updated.

If your school or district uses Clever, you can sign up for ThinkCERCA and create your teacher account with the Clever Instant Login feature.

Your district may need to allow connection to ThinkCERCA, instructions can be found on this page.

To sign up for ThinkCERCA with Clever, follow these steps:

Visit thinkcerca.com and select the button labeled "Educator" in the top-right corner. [email protected]

A dropdown will appear. Select the option to "Sign Up."

This will take you to a new page. On this page, select Sign up with Clever.

Follow the Clever onscreen instructions and enter your school name.

Depending on your school, you may be asked to Log in with Active Directory or input a username and password.

After signing in, you will be redirected to complete your ThinkCERCA account setup.

If you know your upgrade code, you may enter it and you will be associated to the correct school. Your administrator or ThinkCERCA School Success Manager can provide you with an upgrade code. Alternatively, you can email to receive your upgrade code.

Select your role at your school.

If you did not enter an upgrade code, you will be presented with a screen to search for and select your school.

Select the grade levels you work with.

Select the subjects that you teach.

Select Create Account to finalize your teacher account.

If you signed into Clever with an email address tied to an existing ThinkCERCA account, the existing account will automatically update to include dual logins. This means that you can access ThinkCERCA via Clever or by logging into ThinkCERCA with the email address and password.

ThinkCERCA provides a model for student's work based on their grade level that you can download by clicking here.

ThinkCERCA provides a thematic alignment to Common Core Code X Curriculum for English Language Arts, a comprehensive ELA curriculum for grades 6 through 8. The ThinkCERCA aligned sets (Direct Instruction, Writing Lessons, and Independent Reading Practice) support the content, texts, and themes of Common Core Code X standards-aligned curriculum. Additional Direct Instruction resources are provided as extrasupport for skills critical for success in mastering standards.

Unit 1: Stories of Survival

Unit 2: Live Your Dream

Unit 3:World Wonders

Unit 4:Coming to America

Unit 5:Cities of Gold

Unit 6:History of Lost and Found

Unit 7:The Big Give

Unit 1: Stories of Survival

Essential Question How are people shaped by the challenges they face?

Direct Instruction, Writing Lessons, and Writing Modules

Overcoming Obstacles -How do characters develop as they face conflicts and overcome obstacles?

Unit 2: Live Your Dream

Essential Question What does a dream reveal about the dreamer? Direct Instruction,Writing Lessons, and Writing Modules

Social Responsibility -How do individuals stand up and take responsibility for changing their societies?

Unit 3:World Wonders

Essential Question Do we have a duty to preserve world wonders for future generations?

Direct Instruction, Writing Lessons, and Writing Modules

Art and Architecture of Ancient Greece -What values and beliefs of ancient Greek culture are reflected in its art and architecture?

Unit 4:Coming to America

Essential Question What do experiences with others teach people about themselves?

Direct Instruction, Writing Lessons, and Writing Modules

Immigration through Ellis Island - How did individuals' experiences at Ellis Island both affect their lives and reflect the changes taking place in the United States at the time?

Unit 5:Cities of Gold

Essential Question Why does place matter?

Direct Instruction, Writing Lessons, and Writing Modules

Communities - How do poets use language to help their communities understand and appreciate their experiences and values in ways no one else can?

Unit 6:History of Lost and Found

Essential Question How can ancient history teach us about our world today?

Direct Instruction, Writing Lessons, and Writing Modules

Ancient Maya - What does the way that the ancient Maya interacted with the environment and the people around them reveal about their cultural values?

Unit 7:The Big Give

Essential Question What can one person do to make a difference?

Direct Instruction, Writing Lessons, and Writing Modules

Entrepreneurship - How can entrepreneurs change the world?

ThinkCERCA provides a thematic alignment to Common Core Code X Curriculum for English Language Arts, a comprehensive ELA curriculum for grades 6 through 8. The ThinkCERCA aligned sets (Direct Instruction, Writing Lessons, and Independent Reading Practice) support the content, texts and themes of Common Core Code X standards-aligned curriculum. Additional Direct Instruction resources are provided as an extrasupport for skills critical for success in mastering standards.

Unit 1: College 101

Unit 2:Survivor

Unit 3:The Power of Art

Unit 4:Designing the Future

Unit 5: Space Invaders

Unit 6: Children of War

Unit 7: Do the Right Thing

Unit 1:College 101

Essential Questions What does it take to achieve success in today's world of higher education?

Direct Instruction, Applied Lessons, and Lesson Sets

21st Century Learning - What is the best way to learn in the 21st century?

Unit 2:Survivor

Essential Questions What inspires the will to survive in an extreme environment?

Direct Instruction, Writing Lessons, and Writing Modules

Human Impact on Oceans - What are the causes and potential solutions to problems humans have brought to our oceans?

Unit 3:The Power of Art

Essential Questions How does art influence your everyday life?

Direct Instruction, Writing Lessons, and Writing Modules

Image and Impact - How can a powerful image create change?

Unit 4:Designing the Future

Essential Questions What makes a good team more than the sum of its individual parts?

Direct Instruction, Writing Lessons, and Writing Modules

Group Decision-Making - What is the best way for a group to make a decision?

Unit 5: Space Invaders

Essential Questions How does science fiction capture society's fears?

Direct Instruction, Writing Lessons, and Writing Modules

Where No One Has Gone Before - How do engineers help people explore dangerous or distant places in the universe?

Unit6: Children of War

Essential Questions How do childhood experiences influence our lives?

Direct Instruction, Writing Lessons, and Writing Modules

Family and Influence - How do our families help shape the people we become?

Unit 7: Do the Right Thing

Essential Questions What does a difficult situation reveal about character?

Direct Instruction, Writing Lessons, and Writing Modules

Overcoming Obstacles - How do characters develop as they face conflicts and overcome obstacles?

Forces in Sports

ThinkCERCA's standards-aligned lessons provide engaging content and expert instruction to give all students theopportunity to grow their literacy skills.Our instructional designs were developed based on the research and practice of master teachers and nationallyrecognized literacy experts and meet the demands of new career and college readiness standards.

Use this list to find and assignlessons aligned to Georgia state standards by grade.

Jump to Lessons by Grade:

Grade 3

Grade 4

Grade 5

Grade 6

Grade 7

Grade 8

Biology

Chemistry

Earth Systems

Environmental Science

Physical Science

Physics

Academic Standards and Aligned Writing Modules

Grade 3

Standard Category

Earth and Space Science

Georgia Science Content Standard

S3E2 Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information on how fossils provide evidence of past organisms.

Writing Module

Fossil Records

Standard Category

Physical Science

Georgia Science Content Standard

S3P1 Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the ways heat energy is transferred and measured.

Writing Module

Water Purification

Standard Category

Life Science

Georgia Science Content Standard

S3L2 Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the effects of pollution (air, land, and water) and humans on the environment.

Writing Module

Human Impact on Oceans

Grade 4

Standard Category

Earth and Space Science

Georgia Science Content Standard

S4E1 Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to compare and contrast the physical attributes of stars and planets.

Writing Module

Space Exploration

Standard Category

Earth and Space Science

Georgia Science Content Standard

S4E2 Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to model the effects of the position and motion of the Earth and the moon in relation to the sun as observed from the Earth.

Writing Module

Gravity

Standard Category

Earth and Space Science

Georgia Science Content Standard

S4E3 Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to demonstrate the water cycle.

Writing Module

Water Cycle

Standard Category

Earth and Space Science

Georgia Science Content Standard

S4E4 Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to predict weather events and infer weather patterns using weather charts/maps and collected weather data.

Writing Module

Weather Prediction

Standard Category

PhysicalSciences

Georgia Science Content Standard

S4P2 Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about how sound is produced and changed and how sound and/or light can be used to communicate.

Writing Module

The Science of Sound

Standard Category

Life Science

Georgia Science Content Standard

S4L1 Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the roles of organisms and the flow of energy within an ecosystem.

Writing Module

Human and Animal Interactions,

Human Impact on Insect Biodiversity

Grade 5

Standard Category

Earth and Space Science

Georgia Science Content Standard

S5E1 Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to identify surface features on the Earth caused by constructive and/or destructive processes.

Writing Module

Plate Tectonics

Standard Category

Physical Science

Georgia Science Content Standard

S5P1Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to explain the differences between a physical change and a chemical change.

Writing Module

The Chemistry of Cooking

Standard Category

Life Sciences

Georgia Science Content Standard

S5L2Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information showing that some characteristics of organisms are inherited and other characteristics are acquired.

Writing Module

Genetics

Standard Category

Life Science

Georgia Science Content Standard

S5L4 Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about how microorganisms benefit or harm larger organisms.

Writing Module

Microorganisms in our Environment

Grade 6

Standard Category

Earth and Space Science

Georgia Science Content Standard

S6E1 Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about current scientific views of the universe and how those views evolved.

Writing Module

Space Exploration

Standard Category

Earth and Space Science

Georgia Science Content Standard

S6E3 Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to recognize the significant role of water in Earth processes.

Writing Module

Water and Erosion

Standard Category

Earth and Space Science

Georgia Science Content Standard

S6E4 Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about how the sun, land, and water affect climate and weather.

Writing Module

The Future of Farming

Standard Category

Earth and Space Science

Georgia Science Content Standard

S6E5 Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to show how Earths surface is formed

Writing Module

Plate Tectonics

Standard Category

Earth and Space Science

Georgia Science Content Standard

S6E6 Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the uses and conservation of various natural resources and how they impact the Earth.

Writing Module

Energy Policy

Grade 7

Standard Category

Biology

Georgia Science Content Standard

SB3 Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to analyze how biological traits are passed on to successive generations.

Writing Module

Genetics

Standard Category

Biology

Georgia Science Content Standard

SB5 Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to assess the interdependence of all organisms on one another and their environment.

Writing Module

Microorganisms in our Environment

Standard Category

Biology

Georgia Science Content Standard

SB6 Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to assess the theory of evolution.

Writing Module

Evolution

Grade 8

Standard Category

Physical Science

Georgia Science Content Standard

S8P1Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the struture and properties of matter.

Writing Module

Structure and Purpose

Standard Category

Physical Science

Georgia Science Content Standard

S8P2 Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the law of conservation of energy to develop arguments that energy can transform from one form to another within a system.

Writing Module

Personal Energy Use

Standard Category

Physical Science

Georgia Science Content Standard

S8P5 Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about gravity, electricity, and magnetism as major forces acting in nature.

Writing Module

Gravity

Biology

Standard Category

Biology

Georgia Science Content Standard

SB3 Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to analyze how biological traits are passed on to successive generations.

Writing Module

Genetics

Standard Category

Biology

Georgia Science Content Standard

SB5 Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to assess the interdependence of all organisms on one another and their environment.

Writing Module

Microorganisms in our Environment

Standard Category

Biology

Georgia Science Content Standard

SB6 Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to assess the theory of evolution.

Writing Module

Evolution

Chemistry

Standard Category

Chemistry

Georgia Science Content Standard

SC4 Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about how to refine the design of a chemical system by applying engineering principles to manipulate the factors that affect a chemical reaction.

Writing Module

The Chemistry of Cooking

Earth Systems

Standard Category

Earth Systems

Georgia Science Content Standard

SES1 Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to investigate the composition and formation of Earth systems, including the Earths place in the solar system.

Writing Module

Space Exploration

Standard Category

Earth Systems

Georgia Science Content Standard

SES2 Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to understand how plate tectonics creates certain geologic features, landforms, Earth materials, and geologic hazards.

Writing Module

Plate Tectonics

Standard Category

Earth Systems

Georgia Science Content Standard

SES3 Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to explore the actions of water, wind, ice, and gravity as they relate to landscape change

Writing Module

Water Cycle

Standard Category

Earth Systems

Georgia Science Content Standard

SES4 Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to understand how rock relationships and fossils are used to reconstruct the Earths past.

Writing Module

Fossil Records

Standard Category

Earth Systems

Georgia Science Content Standard

SES5 Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to investigate the interaction of solar energy and Earths systems to produce weather and climate.

Writing Module

Weather Prediction

Standard Category

Earth Systems

Georgia Science Content Standard

SES6 Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about how life on Earth responds to and shapes Earths systems.

Writing Module

Human Impacton Oceans

Environmental Science

Standard Category

Environmental Sciences

Georgia Science Content Standard

SEV4 Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to analyze human impact on natural resources.

Writing Module

Human Impacton Oceans,

The Food Chain

Standard Category

Environmental Sciences

Georgia Science Content Standard

SEV5 Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the effects of human population growth on global ecosystems.

Writing Module

Human Impact on Insect Biodiversity

Physical Science

Standard Category

Physical Sciences

Georgia Science Content Standard

SEV4 Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to analyze human impact on natural resources.

Writing Module

Human Impacton Oceans,

The Food Chain

Physics

Standard Category

Physical Sciences

Georgia Science Content Standard

SP2 Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about how forces affect the motion of objects.

Writing Module