Monthly Archives: March 2013

A Parents Guide to the Instructional Shifts

In a piece for his blog View out the windshield, Geoff Belleau outlines the “instructional shifts” and the implications for parents. He notes that there is a lot of advice for teachers but not enough for caregivers. Consequently, he takes … Continue reading

Posted in Complex Text, Informational Text, Instructional Shifts, Text-Dependent Questions | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

CTP Reflection Video, Edited

The Core Task Project Reflection video has been edited and reposted here.

Posted in Close Reading, Common Core State Standards, Core Task Project | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

New Close Reading Exemplar Added

We completed a close reading exemplar for the poem, “The Story of Fidgety Philip” by Heinrich Hoffman. We have it fitted for the 3rd grade level. Some see the poem, written in 1845, as one of the first documentations of … Continue reading

Posted in Close Reading, Common Core State Standards, Core Task Project, text complexity, Text-Dependent Questions | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Rubric for Interim Assessments

The Council of Chief State School Officers and the Council of Great City Schools released a rubric for interim benchmark assessments for English language arts/literacy. The rubric, written by Student Achievement Partners, is for district and state leaders to review … Continue reading

Posted in Common Core State Standards, Instructional Shifts | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Supplements for the Close Reading Exemplar: President’s Message

Cheralyn Faber, a 3rd grade teacher in the Moraga School District, created several supplements to go with the close reading exemplar, The President’s Message. Cheralyn has generously shared the materials and you can find them in the links below. Graphic … Continue reading

Posted in Close Reading, Common Core State Standards | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Nevada CRT Practice on Edmodo

If you have been looking for the Standard of the Week resource, you can find it on Edmodo using code krdoxd. (New Edmodo users can access it using these directions.) Please note, the resource is matched to parts of the … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Thinking Common Core Scoop.it! Page

If you haven’t found the Scoop.it! page “Thinking Common Core,” you may want to take a few minutes to visit. Recent links include video on improving discourse in the classroom, updates on the 2014-2015 CCSS assessments, and strategies for successfully … Continue reading

Posted in Common Core State Standards | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

CTP Inservice Course Offered

If you are interested in participating in the Core Task Project, you can earn one half-credit by taking advantage of a spring version of the course. The inservice CTP takes place over 2 four-hour sessions on May 9th and May … Continue reading

Posted in Close Reading, Common Core State Standards, Core Task Project, Student Achievement Partners | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Classroom Discussions around Text

In the video linked here, Dr. David Pearson describes the value of strong classroom discussions around text. He posits that there are three elements of strong classroom discourse which include 1) Selecting texts worth discussing 2) Planning discussion questions and … Continue reading

Posted in Close Reading, Common Core State Standards, Complex Text, Core Task Project | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

In 77 Seconds: Accessible vs. Dumbed-Down Text

Dr. Freddy Hiebert takes literally 77 seconds to compare accessible and dumbed-down text. She notes that dumbed-down text relies on short sentences, bizarre topics , and phonetically regular words. This is contrasted with assessable text that Hiebert defines as complex … Continue reading

Posted in Common Core State Standards, Complex Text | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment