Close Reading—Six Months Later (Core Shifts Blast 13)

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Aaron Grossman

Core Shifts Blast 13 focuses on close reading and what the district and the Curriculum & Instruction Department have learned over the last six months. Kim Price, a Common Core Champion and 4th grade teacher at Echo Loder Elementary, shares what she’s learned and what she’s noticed since employing close reading. You can download blast 13 here and retrieve previous blasts here.

Posted in Close Reading, Common Core State Standards, Complex Text, Core Shifts Blast, Student Achievement Partners | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Reflecting on the Anthology Alignment Project

Posted on April 27, 2013 by Aaron Grossman

Cristal Cisneros, the SIOP and Curriculum Implementation Specialist at Dilworth STEM Academy, shares her experience with the Anthology Alignment Project (AAP). The AAP is a collaborative effort, across districts, to align grade 6-10 anthologies in a manner similar to the Basal Alignment Project. You can join the AAP on Edmodo using code pkx4sp.

Last month, I had the fortunate opportunity to join 3 other Washoe County School District teachers and attend the Anthology Alignment Project (APP) conference hosted by the Council of the Great City Schools and Student Achievement Partners in Long Beach, CA. With such success stemming from the work of the Basal Alignment Project (BAP), I was honored to be included in this project and excited to get started.

To say the least, the conference was incredible! During the 2 day conference, we had the opportunity to learn from and work alongside some incredible educators from 20 different school districts as we helped each other build our capacities in text dependent question writing. Having the time to sit down with peers and analyze a piece of text so that you, the teacher, can get a much larger sense of understanding is a gift that we don’t often get. Teachers are so busy, trying so hard to stay afloat, that the time we had in Long Beach was much appreciated. Though my teachers and I left mentally exhausted and put in more hours of work in 2 days than we thought possible, we walked away with a sense of rejuvenation for our profession and ready to share our knowledge with others.

Going forward, we have committed ourselves to revising 6 additional stories and when it’s all said and done, we will have 9 revised stories from our Anthology for teacher to use. It has been and will continue to be a lot of work, but it’s great work! Hopefully this is just the beginning for us (I and other middle school teachers in our district) and we have the opportunity to continue this process in the future.

Thanks Cristal!

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Sharing the Common Core with Parents

Posted on April 26, 2013 by Aaron Grossman

The World of Inquiry School has posted a video (here) of site educators moving parents through the Common Core State Standards. They start with having parents discuss page 7 of the introduction and then review two key learning targets: 1) I can identify the instructional shifts of the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts and 2) I can communicate to others the What? & Why now? of the Common Core State Standards.

The video is an opportunity to review how other sites are introducing the CCSS to parents including strategies of taking dense content, written for educators, and making it easier to understand for all stakeholders. At minute 7:55 the instructional shifts are shared and at minute 14:15, parents engage in the close reading strategy.

Posted in Close Reading, Common Core State Standards, Instructional Shifts, Text-Dependent Questions | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

A “Chat” on Close Reading

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Aaron Grossman

LPS Elementary instructional coaches have started a series of Youtube videos around close reading and the Common Core (here). The first video was shared last week with the promise that more are to follow.

In the first video, the presenters define close reading and share some basic parameters for the instructional approach.

Posted in Close Reading, Common Core State Standards | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

10 Steps to Accessing the Social Studies Close Readings

Posted on April 22, 2013 by Aaron Grossman

If you are having any trouble locating the Social Studies Close Reading Examples, you can use these directions. It is a pictorial guide (here) to accessing the material.

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Over 30 New Social Studies Close Reading Examples Available

Posted on April 20, 2013 by Aaron Grossman

Social studies teachers, Implementation Specialists, and personnel within Curriculum & Instruction have spent the last year creating, editing, vetting, and reediting close reading examples that match the expectations of the Common Core. You can access them on Edmodo using this link.

The examples address important grade level outcomes drawing from material written by Lucretia Mott, Chief Powhatan, James Madison, Robert Lee, Franklin D Roosevelt, Niccolo Machiavelli, Anderw Carnegie and many others.

Posted in Close Reading, Common Core State Standards, Content Knowledge, Informational Text, Text-Dependent Questions | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Evidence Guides for CCSS Implementation

Posted on April 19, 2013 by Aaron Grossman

At the April 19th Administrative and Supervisory Meeting, district leaders explored the CCSS Guides for Planning and Practice. Developed by Student Achievement Partners, the guides aim “to provide concrete examples of what the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy” can look like for yearly and daily planning. As noted several times in the documents, the guides are not for evaluative purposes but instead are “designed as a developmental tool for teachers and those who support teachers.” The guides and the PowerPoint are listed below.

CCSS Evidence Guide Over the Year ELA/Lit K-2

CCSS Evidence Guide Over the Year ELA/Lit 3-5

CCSS Evidence Guide Over the Year ELA/Lit 6-12

CCSS Evidence Guide Single Lesson ELA/Lit K-2

CCSS Evidence Guide Single Lesson ELA/Lit 3-5

CCSS Evidence Guide Single Lesson ELA/Lit 6-12

Posted in Common Core State Standards, Core Task Project, Informational Text, Instructional Shifts, Student Achievement Partners, Text-Dependent Questions, Writing to Sources | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

School Psychologists Review Shift 1

Posted on April 17, 2013 by Aaron Grossman

School district psychologist learned more about the “instructional shifts” with specific attention to shift 1—building a coherent body of knowledge with rich non-fiction text. The videos, which included a review of a MetaMetrics study and a presentation by Robert Pondiscio, are linked in the PowerPoint. Handouts are linked below.

Document linking the 6 instructional shifts to the 3 instructional shifts

Content Knowledge Graphic Organizer

Posted in Common Core State Standards, Content Knowledge, Instructional Shifts, NEA, Student Achievement Partners | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Core Shifts Blast 12: Writing to Sources

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Aaron Grossman

The Core Shifts Blast is back with strategies, ideas, notes, and materials to match instruction to Shift 5—Writing to Sources. If you missed the writing training last month, you will find an overview of the sessions as well as links to all of the resources used. Likewise, Julie Mortara, 5th grade teacher from Diedrichsen, shares notes from the field with links to new BAP resources. You can find the Blast 12 here and previous blasts here.

Posted in Basal Alignment Project, Common Core State Standards, Core Shifts Blast, Writing to Sources | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Common Core and PreK

Posted on April 14, 2013 by Aaron Grossman

In a piece for EdSurge, Karen Nemeth connects the Common Core to PreK and early learning. Nemeth is assertive in pointing out that instruction for this age group needs to be developmentally appropriate giving several examples of what this can look like. She cites work from the Developmentally Appropriate Practice handbook and The Head Start Child Development and Early Learning Framework in making connections for practitioners. She makes the case that stakeholders should stay current on the research to avoid taking, “inappropriate paths for preschool education.”

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