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

Dr. Templeton Presents on Foundational Skills in the Context of the CCSS

Dr. Shane Templeton, a Foundation Professor Emeritus of Literacy Studies at UNR, worked with Washoe educators on the topic of “Foundational Skills in the Context of the Common Core State Standards.” The presentation drew specific attention to the following topics: … Continue reading

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SAT Exam Overhaul

In announcing that the SAT would change, College Board President David Coleman noted that the SAT should reflect “worthy challenges” instead of “artificial obstacles.” This would mean that students would be reading more source documents and retrieving evidence. Likewise, there … Continue reading

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Sunday Videos and Reads

Listed below are a few things that might help with your Common Core implementation efforts. (And keep you busy on a Sunday afternoon) The California Department of Education has produced the following seven-minute video that explains how to read the … Continue reading

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Common Core Aligned Discussion Lessons

Teachers in the Northern Nevada Teaching American History Project have developed a number of Common Core aligned Discussion Lessons. The lessons can be downloaded by visiting http://www.projecttahoe.org and clicking on the Teacher Resource link. Each lesson posted on the page implements … Continue reading

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‘Simplifying the ELA Common Core; Demystifying Curriculum’

In a piece for the Kappa Delta Pi Record, Mike Schmoker and Carol Jago describe how you can break through the myriad ELA/literacy standards and immediately get of the “essence” of CCSS. In short, this involves focusing on “simple ‘instructional … Continue reading

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New Resources at www.63000resources.com

A number of new links were added to http://www.63000resources.com including: Free K-8 passages by reading level (here) Common Core Implementation Guide for School-Level Leaders from the Aspen Institute (here) Graphic organizer to practice textual evidence (here) K-5 Writing Rubrics  (here) … Continue reading

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CCSS for Teachers, iTunes University Course (and video tutorial)

If you have access to an Apple device, you can take advantage of the free iTunes CCSS University Courses. The courses are divided by content and grade bands for K-2, 3-5 and 6-12 and give educators a structure to learn … Continue reading

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Washoe Starts Scaling the Read Aloud Project (RAP)

Chris Hayes, Ben Dickson, and Kristen Campbell moved district educators through the Read Aloud Project training materials and lessons. The training looked at text complexity, text-dependent questions, and completed RAP lessons. The RAP is a joint venture between Student Achievement … Continue reading

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St. Albert Catholic School Works through CCSS Outcomes

Educators at St. Albert Catholic School worked through a number of CCSS outcomes including an overview of the instructional shifts by Sandra Alberti; a review of the Metametric study on Lexile; Robert Pondiscio’s speech on the value of building content … Continue reading

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‘Being smart isn’t all you need to succeed’

In a blog post for the Hechinger Report, writer Anya Kamenetz connects Social Emotional Learning and academic success. She writes, “Non-cognitive or meta-cognitive skills such as self-awareness, self-control, empathy, communication and cooperation ” deserve being measured and taught in our schools. It’s a … Continue reading

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