Category Archives: Professional Development

Blue Friday, A Focus on Writing

Posted on January 17, 2014 by Aaron Grossman

Implementation Specialists, site coaches, and personnel from district departments gathered to review content that will be shared with elementary schools on February 5th. The focus for the 5th is on writing with professional learning around Dr. Louisa Moats, the writing … Continue reading →

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When Can you Trust the Experts?

Posted on December 26, 2013 by Aaron Grossman

My wife purchased “When Can you Trust the Experts: How to Tell Good Science from Bad in Education” by Dan Willingham as a holiday gift for me. The book provides a process for “sifting” through information and determining “which of … Continue reading →

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Bridging CCSS Efforts Between UNR and WCSD

Posted on December 16, 2013 by Aaron Grossman

Faculty from the University of Nevada, Reno College of Education and personnel within Washoe County School District’s Office of Academics met to discuss work around the Common Core State Standards. The day started with an overview of the ELA/Literacy instructional … Continue reading →

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How to Do Common Core: Mastering Conflict

Posted on November 12, 2013 by Aaron Grossman

Jon Corippo, Apple Distinguised Educator and Google Certified Teacher, describes how he teaches students to identify the five types of conflict within text. Begin watching Corippo’s explanation at minute 9:55 for full context or at minute 12:25 if you simply … Continue reading →

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Winter Professional Development Opportunities

Posted on November 10, 2013 by Aaron Grossman

Washoe County School District’s Curriculum & Instruction Department is offering a range of half-credit literacy inservice courses to support teachers with Common Core outcomes. The courses build backwards from the instructional shifts with classes on building content knowledge, shift 1 … Continue reading →

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SAP/Danielson Group Training Overview

Posted on October 4, 2013 by Aaron Grossman

Educators gathered to review content from the Student Achievement Partner and Danielson Group training (blog post here) from September 25th and 26th.  The morning started with a chance to watch the Charlotte Danielson Keynote (video here) that launched a project … Continue reading →

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Resources from the SAP/Danielson Group Training

Posted on September 28, 2013 by Aaron Grossman

Student Achievement Partners, working with the Danielson Group, visited Reno and moved K-12 math and ELA/literacy educators through the Instructional Practice Guides and a number of supporting documents. Linked below are the resources used Wednesday and Thursday that allowed for … Continue reading →

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All Students Engaged in the Work of the Lesson

Posted on September 21, 2013 by Aaron Grossman

Core Action 3, within the Instructional Practice Guides, was the focus of Friday’s session with Implementation Specialist and instructional coaches. Educators worked through three pieces on content and in turn, working with site leadership, will select one item to share … Continue reading →

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Close Reading: Strategies and Practice

Posted on September 14, 2013 by Aaron Grossman

Dr. Steven Gehrke, from the University of Nevada, Reno, led Washoe educators through strategies and practice to promote the habit of close reading. Attendees worked through several poems including Robert Frost’s Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening and … Continue reading →

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Administrative & Supervisory Meeting, September 13th

Posted on September 13, 2013 by Aaron Grossman

Close reading, Growth Mindset, and Core Actions 1 and 3, from the Instructional Practice Guides (IPG), were the focus on the most recent A&S meeting. Elementary principals applied the IPG with video of Washoe 3rd grade teacher Chris Hayes filmed … Continue reading →

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