A critical and foundational component of providing efficacious instruction is knowing and understanding the standards that students need to master at each grade level. In Texas, our Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) require students to demonstrate the knowledge and skills necessary to
read, write, compute, problem solve, think critically, apply technology, and communicate across all
subject areas (TEA, Study of the Essential Knowledge and Skills, 2016). Knowing, understanding, and implementing the ELAR standards is critical as these standards impact all content areas.
This session will provide instructional coaches with an in-depth overview of the ELAR TEKS including the introduction, strands, sub-strands, standards, and breakouts. It will provide an understanding of how these standards are interconnected and why instruction of Language Arts and Reading standards must be integrated. It will offer resources that the state provides to support educators with having a clear and complete understanding of the standards. Vertical alignment considerations will be reviewed. Participants will undergo the process of deconstructing a standard which they, in turn, can use to support teachers with deeply understanding what students should know and be able to do to to demonstrate mastery of the TEKS.