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

Text Complexity and Emergent and Early Readers

Are you curious about increasing rigor and text complexity for emergent and early readers? Core Shift Blast 6 offers some help in this area and includes field notes from Sun Valley kindergarten teacher Laurie Johns. Click here to read the … Continue reading

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6th Grade Teachers Train on Shift 1 and the BAP

On Election Day, 6th grade middle school teachers gathered to learn more about Shift 1—building a coherent body of knowledge—and the Basal Alignment Project. The 6th grade BAP code for Edmodo is 4k33tz. If you are unfamiliar with Edmodo, you … Continue reading

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The BAP in Boston Public Schools

The following post is written by Sandra Bergantz, a 5th grade teacher in the Boston Public Schools. Sandra worked in Washoe last year and attended the Title Core Task Project trainings in May. She is using the Basal Alignment Project … Continue reading

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North Carolina’s Live Binder

With some frequency, this blog links to resources developed by North Carolina. For example the Progression View (here), the ELA Text Exemplars document (here) and a letter from David Burleson (here) are all items that support the move to the … Continue reading

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New College Board Keynote Address

David Coleman gave his first public address as the new College Board President on October 26th (video link here). In the speech he outlines the “work worth doing” and the importance of focusing on “what matters most.” If you are … Continue reading

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Common Core Champions Now Linked to Blog

Washoe County recently identified 15 Common Core Champions. These are classroom teachers who are implementing the CCSS with an emphasis on what has to shift instructionally. You can contact them directly, through the frame at the top of this page … Continue reading

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CTP Shared at San Francisco Bay Area CCSS Summit

Contra Costa County Office of Education hosted the San Francisco Bay Area Common Core State Standards Summit. The conference, titled, “Next steps to the Common Core: Approaches to Implementation,” focused on critical topics related to the CCSS. You can click here … Continue reading

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Urban Collaborative Learns about the CTP

Washoe County was afforded the opportunity to share the Core Task Project with the Urban Special Education Leadership Collaborative in Pittsburg. The Collaborative’s fall 2012 conference focused on meeting the needs of diverse learners and “the challenges of the Common … Continue reading

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District Personnel Train on Shift 1

Instructional coaches from throughout the district gathered to review the importance of building a coherent body of knowledge. Attendees watched the following review of the MetaMetrics study measuring what children read from high school to college to career (here). This … Continue reading

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Curious about the Next Generation Science Standards?

Stephen Pruitt, Vice President for Content Research and Development for Achieve, Inc. and a lead developer of the Next Generation Science Standards shares insights into these new outcomes at the NSTA conference in Indianapolis, Indiana (video link here). He emphasizes … Continue reading

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