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

Materials Shared at WestEd’s Moving Forward

Below are the materials shared at Moving Forward: Common Core State Standards Implementation and Assessment. Leading the Common Core PowerPoint Leading the Common Core Notetaker Towards Effective Teacher PDF

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Billings Public Schools Train with CTP

Elementary and secondary school educators in Billings, Montana worked through elements of the ‘Core Task Project’ and ‘Advancing Literacy Practice with the Common Core.’ You can find all of the resources shared over the two days below. Note: some of … Continue reading

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Sunday Tweets and Reads

In a piece for ASCD, principal Matt Renwick describes how he moved his staff through “collaborative inquiry” around close reading. Collectively, educators used a complex text on teacher evaluations to learn to analyze, annotate, and reflect. Kim Yaris and Jan … Continue reading

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‘CCSS Tools and Resource Page’

The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortia has created a CCSS “Tools and Resource” page on their website. Readers of this blog will recognize the resources but SBAC has organized them on one page replete with helpful one-sentence descriptions. You can find … Continue reading

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‘Amidst the Controversy’

During the question and answer portion of a speech given before the Strategic Data Project, College Board President David Coleman is asked, “Where is the Common Core right now amidst the controversy from the Tea Party?” The answer stretches from … Continue reading

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Advancing Literacy Practice with the Core

Washoe educators moved through a second 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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Skimming vs. Close Reading/Critical Reading

In several video posts from Robert Schombs, viewers are introduced to critical reading and strategies to effectively use this close reading method. In the post here, Schombs juxtaposes critical reading and non-critical reading as illustrated in the graphic below. In … Continue reading

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Vertical Alignment of Text Annotation

The staff at Sarah Winnemucca Elementary created a Matrix of Vertical Agreements about Text Annotation. The guide serves to help answer the question why annotating is important and it further helps with identifying reasonable outcomes at each grade level. You … Continue reading

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Complexity of What Students are Reading is Declining

NPR has posted a story describing what students are reading in out of school. Mellissa Block shares research from Renaissance Learning demonstrating that the complexity or difficulty of what students choose to read or are being assigned to read flattens … Continue reading

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Anthology Alignment Project Update

If you haven’t signed up for the Anthology Alignment Project, and you work in grades 6th through 10th, it is worth a look. As the project leaders note, the AAP is a free “library of revised lessons for common Anthologies (6th-10th grades), each … Continue reading

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