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

First Person Account of Close Reading

In a piece for Teachers.net, English teacher Sarah Powley describes her experience with close reading. She matches here experience from when she started as a novice educator to a veteran in noting the limitations of the materials she was using … Continue reading

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What are Districts doing to Implement the CCSS?

In August, WestEd cosponsored a conference on the Common Core State Standards.  You can access video of presentations by Linda Darling-Hammond, David Liben, Bill Honig, and Kenji Kakuta here. A report, following the conference, was just released that describes what … Continue reading

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Draft of the Close Reading Exemplar “Farewell Speech” Now Available

Third and fourth grade teachers in the Core Task implementation Project (CTiP) worked on a grade 4 close reading exemplar matched to Lou Gehrig’s “Farwell Speech.” Cathy Schmidt (Scoop.it! page here) edited the piece and you can find a draft … Continue reading

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Session 5 of Leading the Core

Administrators gathered for the 5th session of Leading the Core. The night focused on assessment and participants reviewed the timelines for PARCC and SBAC, watched video of Michael Cohen and Joe Willhoft, worked through SBAC assessment items and performance tasks, … Continue reading

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Practice the SBAC Assessment

The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium has posted a practice test for the Common Core State Standards. By clicking here, you can login using the default username and password, and experience the new assessment as a student would. There are assessments … Continue reading

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Contra Costa Trains on the CTP

The Contra Costa County Office of Education sponsored a training on the Core Task Project to assist with refining and aligning instruction to the Core. Close to 100 educators, from the region, gathered to move through the first day of … Continue reading

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Shanahan on CCSS Policy (Webinar)

Text Project has posted a free webinar on the Common Core with CCSS Work Team member Dr. Timothy Shanahan (here).  Shanahan moves viewers through some familiar stuff including the genesis of CCSS and the “Big Changes to ELA.” The changes … Continue reading

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Scholastic and the Instructional Shifts

Scholastic is plunging into the “instructional shifts” and has posted an overview of what they are and the “baby steps” educators can take to implement them in their classroom. Yes, readers are guided to items to buy from Scholastic but … Continue reading

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Writing to Sources Training Materials

This week, fifth grade teacher teams, from Washoe’s 63 elementary schools, have been training on Shift 5: Writing to Sources.  The training, which addresses the NV-DOE required formative writing task, integrates discussion around the CCSS and SBAC rubrics as well … Continue reading

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Appendix B Text Exemplar Links

Appendix B of the Common Core includes a list of Exemplar Texts. As the Appendix notes, the exemplars serve as “guideposts” for each grade band and are not a reading list. Canyons School District has taken the lists and linked … Continue reading

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