Author Archives: Aaron Grossman

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About Aaron Grossman

I am a 5th grade teacher at Roy Gomm Elementary in Reno, Nevada. I started working with elementary students as part of the Montana Reads program and AmeriCorps. In 2001, after graduating from the University of Montana and moving to Reno, Nevada, I student taught at Rita Cannan Elementary before receiving a 6th grade position at Veterans Elementary. I moved out of the classroom to be a Literacy Coordinator, then an Instructional Coach, and finally a School Improvement Program Coordinator. In 2011, I began working on the Nevada Academic Content Standards in the district’s Curriculum & Instruction Department. I returned to the classroom for the 2015-2016 school year to teach 4th grade at Huffaker Elementary. Before returning to the classroom, I helped develop the Core Task Project that has been featured by National Public Radio, the Gates Foundation, American Radio Works, Eduwonk, the Fordham Institute, Vox, and the Center for American Progress. In 2014, I received the Leader to Learn From Award for my teacher-centered initiative and work to bring college, career, and civics ready outcomes into Northern Nevada classrooms (here). In 2015, I was appointed by Governor Sandoval serve on the Statewide RPDP Council. The same year, Nevada’s State Superintendent of Public Instruction Steve Canavero placed me on the state’s State Improvement Team. This year I will be part of the National Council on Teacher Quality’s Teacher Advisory Group. I am Google Certified Educator and a Nevada Teacher Ambassador. I believe strongly that teaching content is teaching reading and I make sure my students have ample opportunities to work with social studies, history, science and art outcomes. I do what I can to blend the learning for my students and this blog is part of that effort. You can contact me at coretaskproject@gmail.com

CCSS through the Lens of Social Emotional Learning

In a brief presentation just posted on Youtube, Dr. Nancy Markowitz makes the case that absent attention to Social Emotional Learning (SEL), student will be unable to meet the academic expectations of the Common Core. Dr. Markowitz builds her case … Continue reading

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Kindergarten Readiness Resources

Kindergarten teacher Haley Snyder has created a webpage detailing how parents can support their children with the Nevada Academic Content Standards/Common Core. There are three specific areas to help families including sections on, What is Common Core, Kindergarten Prep, and Parent & … Continue reading

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Washoe Shares CCSS Implementation Efforts with NV LCE

Several Washoe educators had the opportunity to describe the district’s implementation efforts around the Nevada Academic Content Standards and the Common Core to the Nevada Legislative Committee on Education. The presentation outlined how Washoe has leveraged free resources and internal professional … Continue reading

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Superintendent of Public Instruction Erquiaga on Common Core

Nevada Superintendent of Public Instruction Dale Erquiaga was recently interviewed on KNPR’s State of Nevada. The interview provides context for why Nevada adopted the Common Core State Standards (minute 1:26), the potential impact on student learning (4:43), and some of … Continue reading

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Nevada Ready! Facebook Page is Live

The Nevada Ready! Facebook page is live. The page serves as a place for educators, parents, and community leaders to learn more about the Nevada Academic Content Standards. You can find the page here. 

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Read Aloud Project Inservice, April 17th

Kindergarten through second grade teachers trained with the Read Aloud Project  (RAP) resources and with the text, Desert Giant. To give the RAP some context, and to explain why building a coherent body of knowledge is vital to comprehension, participants … Continue reading

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Enhancing Professional Learning through Twitter Chats

If you have a Twitter account, you may want to participate in Twitter Chats to promote your own professional learning. The chats are free and run the full breath of educational outcomes including Common Core, Art, 21st Century Learning, Educational … Continue reading

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Resources from April 12th

At the Core Advocate conference in Chicago, the following PowerPoint and Word document were shared. The PowerPoint and Word document help frame part of Washoe’s implementation of the Common Core State Standards.

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The Business Roundtable and their Endorsement of CCSS

The Business Roundtable and their Endorsement of CCSS If you have wondered why the business community has endorsed the Common Core, you can learn why in a video posted here. At minute 21:10, Scott Fast, Executive Director of Accenture Foundation … Continue reading

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Social Emotional Learning and why it Matters

As have been noted on this blog several times, to do Common Core well, we have to attend to the Social and Emotional Learning of our students. The science behind why this matters and how it is intertwined in a … Continue reading

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