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

SBAC Fact Sheet

If you are trying to get a general sense of how many of our students will be assessing in 2014-2015, the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium has a released a fact sheet detailing key parts of their next generation assessment.  Readers … Continue reading

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CCSS Questions and Answers

Sandra Alberti, the Director of State and District Partnerships and Professional Development for Student Achievement Partners, shares several important answers, to questions many of us have been asking. The answers come from a presentation done in Illinois last week. How … Continue reading

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Recent Trainings

We have conducted a number of training over the last three workdays and those materials are listed below. These included activities around the Core Task Project and work with Shift 1—Building a Coherent Body of Knowledge. Core Task Project PowerPoint … Continue reading

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Social Studies Units Link

The 4th through 6th grade social studies units will all be completed by June 3rd and will be available at this link.  The units all include close reads and integrate social studies and Common Core State Standards. You can view … Continue reading

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Staying Current

There are a number of articles, recently posted at “Thinking Common Core” that may interest readers of this blog. There are pieces describing multiple perspectives on close reading; the value of emphasizing academic vocabulary; an inside view on the new … Continue reading

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Help Build SBAC’s Digital Library

The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium is looking for educators to join their team and help build a digital library. They hope to recruit 92 educators with expertise in any of the following: Formative assessment (e.g., collecting evidence of student learning … Continue reading

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CL’s Meet to Learn about SS Units and Evidence Guides

Curriculum Leaders gathered to learn more about the Evidence Guides and social studies units for grades 4th through 6th. The units focus on important grade level outcomes from mining to Colonial America to Ancient Egypt. CLs reviewed one unit, Colonial … Continue reading

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Assessment and Instruction in the Era of CCSS

University of North Carolina Greensboro professor Dr. Karen Wixson shares a webinar on the CCSS and the instructional shifts. There are several key pieces of information that are worth reviewing including: a)     the “claims” are driving the assessment and not … Continue reading

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Educators Work through CTP Materials

At Teach Fest, Learnzillion educators worked through elements of the Core Task Project. They talked about the close reading strategy, identified features of complex text and studied the guide to writing text-dependent questions. The Powerpoint can be found here and … Continue reading

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PSA on the Common Core State Standards

The Council of Great City Schools has created several Public Service Announcements around the Common Core. Described as an explanation of the CCSS, the videos are an approachable way to give parents and community member’s context for why the CCSS … Continue reading

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