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

Analyzing Texts: “Text Talk Time”

Teaching Channel recently posted this video in which the teacher facilitates a conversation around a careful analysis of a text. In “Text Talk Time,” children drive the discussion and answer their peers’ questions. Ms. Brewer, the teacher in the video, … Continue reading

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ELA Text Exemplars

North Carolina has put together the following document that links ELA text exemplars, listed in Appendix B, to their full text on the Internet (here).  Note, however, that the suggested texts are not a reading list. Instead they serve as … Continue reading

Posted in Common Core State Standards, Complex Text, text complexity | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Washoe Starts the 6th Grade Basal Alignment Project

Under the stewardship of staff from Curriculum & Instruction and the Striving Readers Grant, Washoe County has started a 6th grade version of the Basal Alignment Project. The process is just beginning with a completion date of December 2012 having … Continue reading

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Materials used in Shift 1 Presentation September 12, 2012

A number of Washoe educators gathered to explore Shift 1—the importance of building general content knowledge.  The discussions focused on a presentation by Robert Pondiscio, Vice President of Core Knowledge (Part I & Part II), and a review of a … Continue reading

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Core Shift Blast: Shifting with the BAP

The Core Shift Blast was emailed this morning.  You can subscribe to it by emailing Torrey Palmer at TFPalmer@washoeschools.net. You can retrieve previous blasts by clicking here. This week the primary focus is on the Basal Alignment Project (BAP). A … Continue reading

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NCTQ and the BAP

The National Council on Teacher Quality posted on the Basal Alignment Project this week. Rob Rickenbrode, writing for the NCTQ describes, the BAP as an “innovative and elegant workaround to the problem” of having basal materials not aligned to the CCSS. … Continue reading

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Setting Priorities for Common Core Implementation–ELA

The following resource (here), created by the Santa Barbara County Education Office, was adapted from presentation materials shared at the August WestEd conference. It includes priorities for ELA implementation, introductory resources, and links to modules and videos

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Quick Guide to the Common Core

Tom Vander Ark, vice president of product development at Curriculum Associates, has created a “quick guide” to the Common Core. It serves as a succinct overview of what we need to do as we implement the CCSS.

Posted in Common Core State Standards, Complex Text, Text-Dependent Questions, Writing to Sources | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Presentation materials from 9/7 before IS’s

On Friday, K-6 ELA staff from C&I focused on “Aligning Literacy Instruction to the CCSS.” They looked at Learning Outcomes outlined in the standards, current PL and PD offerings from C&I, and reviewed the Basal Alignment Project. Below are the … Continue reading

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America Achieves Films in Reno

As some of you may already know, America Achieves was in Reno to film Washoe educators describing their experience with the Core Task Project and the Close Reading Strategy. The video will likely be posted in February and other districts … Continue reading

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