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

Teachers Reflect on CCSS, the ‘Shifts,’ and Close Reading

In a video produced by EngageNY, educators in New York reflect on their implementation of the Common Core. Teachers address topics including the instructional shifts, close reading, and text-dependent questions. You can watch the video here.

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Advancing Literacy Practice with the Core 7/22&7/23

Washoe educators worked through the last summer session of the inservice course Advancing Literacy Practice with the Common Core. This is the fourth posting about the course and you can access many of the materials included in the session here. … Continue reading

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Conservatives for Common Core

Conservatives for Higher Standards has created a website detailing their support the Common Core State Standards.  The website explains why groups, traditionally skeptical of large educational initiatives, favor the CCSS effort. You can access the website here which includes sections … Continue reading

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Scoring Guides for SBAC Practice Tests

In May we linked to the SBAC Practice Test (here). SBAC has subsequently released scoring guides for each grade level test that you can find here. The scoring guides are available for ELA and math and include sample responses to … Continue reading

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The Limitations of Using Readability Scores

Relying on the quantitative features of text complexity can be limiting and misleading. This is nicely demonstrated in a video posted by Montgomery County Public Schools (here) in which viewers learn how changing two words in a passage lowers the … Continue reading

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Getting Kids Hooked on Non-Fiction Books

“Building knowledge is building literacy.” Robert Pondiscio is quoted as saying in  Holly Korbey’s article profiling rich non-fiction titles. Apart from making the case for having students read informational texts, Korbey, lists a number of titles that educators may want … Continue reading

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Advancing Literacy Practice with the Core

Washoe educators moved through a third offering of the inservice course, Advancing Literacy Practice with the Core. The 15-hour class touches on a number of important features of the CCSS that enable practitioners to match classroom practice to the standards, … Continue reading

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Preparing Our Students to be Informed Citizens

Robert Pondiscio, in an editorial for CNN, describes the importance of teaching civics and history in our public schools. Although the Common Core are not referenced specifically, Pondiscio helps build the case for why all of our students should have … Continue reading

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Sound Instruction Instead of ‘Test Preparation’

New York Times Washington Bureau Chief David Leonhardt led a discussion for the Hamilton Project on “the economic imperative of expanding college opportunities.” At minute 34:08 the panelists are asked how ACT and SAT can mitigate for the advantages affluent … Continue reading

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The Problem with Question Taxonomies

In a provocative piece for Edutopia, Todd Finley, an Associate Professor of English education at East Carolina University, describes the limitation of taxonomies and the importance of rethinking classroom discussions. Apart from describing what strategies we might want to limit, … Continue reading

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