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

Administrative and Supervisory Meeting, January 24th 2014

At the winter Administrative & Supervisory meeting, governance worked through content matched to the Instructional Practice Guides and the Common Core. This included a focus on writing, within the context of CCSS, and Core Action 2—employ questions and tasks that … Continue reading

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Access to CCSS Edmodo Groups

The document describing the Edmodo groups that support free materials and professional development aligned to the CCSS has been updated. You can access the document here or here.

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Gaining Access to the Read Aloud Project for K-2

Educators, from throughout the country, are gathered in Las Vegas to train on the Read Aloud Project (RAP). RAP is an effort to create Common Core-aligned lessons for K-2 picture, informational, and chapter books. Lessons include text-dependent questions, Language exploration, … Continue reading

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Free Programs to Help Students Learn to Type

As many of you know, portions of the 2014-2015 PARCC and SBAC assessments will require students to type their responses to questions. (You can take the SBAC practice test here.) Consequently, there is a renewed push to help students become … Continue reading

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Vocabulary and Complex Texts

Dr. Freddy Hiebert, in a video webinar posted here, explains the importance of vocabulary in determining the complexity of text. Hiebert notes that ten percent of the words in text are considered complex with text, used to inform, having a … Continue reading

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Blue Friday, A Focus on Writing

Implementation Specialists, site coaches, and personnel from district departments gathered to review content that will be shared with elementary schools on February 5th. The focus for the 5th is on writing with professional learning around Dr. Louisa Moats, the writing … Continue reading

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Writing and the Common Core: Samples & Techniques

The 3rd through 6th grade teachers at Alyce Taylor Elementary got a preview of the content to be shared at the January 17th Blue Friday, the Administrative and Supervisory meeting on January 24th and the Pink Wednesday on February 5th. … Continue reading

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Scaffolded Writing Lessons

This blog, along with the district, have been on quasi-hiatus during the winter break. We’re back to work and we’ll be focusing on writing and Core Action 2, from the Instructional Practice Guides, over the next couple of months. To … Continue reading

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Video Tutorial for the Basal Alignment Project

Teresa Hammond and Amanda Flora, from the West Virginia Department of Education, have produced a video describing how teachers can access the Basal Alignment Project resources. Additionally, the video outlines the different elements of a BAP including the front matter, … Continue reading

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PBS News Hour: CCSS

The PBS News Hour posted a measured piece on Common Core and their effectuation. Jeffery Brown interviews Claudio Sanchez of NPR, Amanda Ripley, author of “The Smartest Kids in the World” and Education Correspondent John Merrow. The panelists give greater … Continue reading

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