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 eNewsletter

If you are trying to stay current with Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, you may want to take advantage of their eNewsletter. You can subscribe here and keep track of SBAC’s progress on the CCSS and the next-generation assessments.

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Social Emotional Learning and CTP Final Session

The last session of Social Emotional Learning and Core Task Project concluded with participants outlining specific SEL skills that fit well with the close reading strategy. Educators will be sharing an addendum to the close reading exemplars that includes before, … Continue reading

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ELL Quarterly Meeting February 12, 2013

At the secondary ELL Quarterly Meeting, EL instructors reviewed the close reading strategy and a close reading exemplar. You can find the PowerPoint here and the lesson here.

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Jessie Beck’s PFA Learns about CCSS

Included in the Jessie Beck Elementary Parent Faculty Association meeting was information about the Common Core State Standards. Parents and teachers moved through the what and why of CCSS followed by some research governing the inclusion of specific outcomes in the … Continue reading

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Finishing the Labor of Understanding before Talking Back

In a piece for Educational Leadership, professor of English Mark Bauerlein describes the importance of text complexity and the dispositions students will need if they are going to be successful with this outcome.  These include A Willingness to Probe The … Continue reading

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NEA CCSS Toolkit

In the most recent issue of WEA Today, Middle School Director Linda Hunt describes how “NEA President Dennis Van Roekel appointed 56 members to a nationwide effort to prepare educators for implementation of  the Common Core State Standards called the … Continue reading

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Core Shift Blast 10: TDQs

Text-dependent questions are the focus of Core Shift Blast 10. Explicit connections are made with this instructional shift and the Basal Alignment Project and the coming assessments. Linnea Wolters and Stephanie Barragan share their experiences using the Guide to Writing … Continue reading

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Session 4 of Leading the Core

District administrators gathered for the fourth session of Leading the Core. The focus of this session was on teacher observations, close reading look fors, text-dependent questions and tools to build site capacity. All of the resources are posted in the … Continue reading

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Why Knowledge Matters

In a piece for the Washington Post, cognitive scientist Dan Willingham explains why knowledge matters. He writes, “a knowledge-based curriculum… is most likely to meliorate achievement gaps between advantaged and disadvantaged students.” You can read the entire article here.

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Lemmon Valley Trains on the CCSS

Lemmon Valley reviewed the district’s Three Year K-6 ELA plan for accessing the Core and building district capacity. Participants engaged in a close reading of the Shel Silverstein poem, “Whatifs” followed by using a text complexity rubric and a guide … Continue reading

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