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

K-5 Text Genre Map

Denise Alterio, Judy Carr and Lynn Miler, working for the Sullivan County Board of Cooperative Educational Services, has created the following genre map (here). The map describes the elements of Shift 1—a balance of informational and literary text.

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Martinez’s Administrators Retreat Presentation

During his presentation at the Administrators Retreat this week, new Washoe County Superintendent Pedro Martinez makes mention of the Common Core at minute 35:50 (here).  The CCSS reference fits within a larger context in which Martinez asks how we can … Continue reading

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Vertical Progression of Standards

Maine has created K-12 vertical progression documents for each of the ELA strands. The stands and the accompanying documents are linked below. Reading K-12 Vertical Progression Informational Text / Literature Writing K-12 Vertical Progression Speaking & Listening K-12 Vertical Progression … Continue reading

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The Louisiana BAP Experience

As many of you know, the Basal Alignment Project involved districts coming together to work towards the same outcome: assisting teachers in taking current materials and more closely aligning them to the Common Core. Whitney Whealdon, an English Language Arts … Continue reading

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5 Myths about the Common Core

Robert Rothman, writing for the Harvard Education Letter, describes five myths about the Common Core. He notes: Perhaps the main idea of the Common Core ELA standards is the notion that students should read increasingly complex texts in order to be prepared … Continue reading

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Pictorial Guide to Accessing BAP Materials

If you are having difficulty accessing the Basal Alignment Project materials you may want to use this pictorial guide (here).  It includes a more thorough set of directions that moves you through registering, finding the BAP group, and locating the … Continue reading

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Opportunities for English Learners in the CCSS ELA

In a paper, as part of Stanford University’s Understand Language series (here) authors George C. Bunch, Amanda Kibler, and Susan Pimentel describe, for those “collectively responsible for education of English Learners,” what has to be done so the CCSS are … Continue reading

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An Open Letter from Washoe Basal Alignment Project Contributors

In a letter addressed to their colleagues (here), Washoe educators, who participated in the Basal Alignment Project, share their experience and describe the implications for our students.  They highlight the challenge of the BAP including identifying major themes, important academic … Continue reading

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NAESP and the CCSS

The National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) has produced a series of webinars to inform administrators as they transition staff to the Common Core. At minute 19:43, in a video series they title “Dialogues on the Common Core,” (here) … Continue reading

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“The Challenge of Challenging Text”

Writing for Educational Leadership, Dr. Timothy Shanahan, Dr. Douglas Fisher, and Dr. Nancy Frey discuss what teachers can do to assist students with gaining access to complex text. (The entire article can be found here.) They begin with breaking apart … Continue reading

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