The close reading exemplar, The President’s Message, used during the November 29th training has been updated and retitled. Thank you to the teachers who shared feedback and suggestions for editing. You can find the new version here.
Given the content and the rigor of the passage, the best fit for this exemplar is in a 5th grade classroom. It should be used as part of a larger unit of study.
Harvard University’s Language Diversity and Literacy Development Research Group has released a series of one-page memos “for leaders dedicated to children’s literacy development.” There are currently 15 memos on topics including using curriculum, selecting curriculum, designing professional development, and enhancing family partnerships.
The role of fiction and literature in the CCSS is addressed in this Huggingtonpost. In this case, some are misreading the standards and concluding that 70% of what is read in an English classroom should be non-fiction. The post makes it clear that that the 70% refers to what is read throughout the day and not just in the English classs. In fact, the standards state:
“The percentages … reflect the sum of student reading, not just reading in ELA settings. Teachers of senior English classes, for example, are not required to devote 70 percent of reading to informational texts. Rather, 70 percent of student reading across the grade should be informational.”
Administrators completed Session 2 of Leading the Core in ELA. The first part of the inservice focused on the implications of CCSS and what it means to engage in “work worth doing.” This was followed by working through elements of the Core Task Project (i.e. close reading, instructional shifts, Anchor Standards 1 and 10) and how an instructional leader could build capacity around these outcomes.
You can access all of the materials used during the inservice by logging into Edmodo and using code 6r9ebw. You can download directions here.
The Core Task Project was shared in Hawaii—regretfully the person writing this post couldn’t go with. Participants walked through the CTP with the same content explored here and here. You can retrieve what was shared in Hawaii in the links below.
Core Task Project Hawaii PowerPoint
America Achieves is in Reno filming our peers implementing the Common Core. Educators selected for the filming included Loree Gerboth, Chris Hayes, Michelle Herschbach, Sara Holm, Kim Price, Janelle Turnier, and Jodie Westmont. America Achieves hopes to have the video content up in late February and this will enable all of us to take advantage of the great things happening in these classrooms.
America Achieves is a nonprofit dedicated to promoting practices that have “maximum impact” across schools, districts and communities. You can review their current Common Core offerings here.
In a piece for Educational Leadership, William Himmele and Pérsida Himmele describe the important of read-alouds in the Common Core. This includes a chance to introduce more nonfiction to students and to build a “bank of academic vocabulary.” You can read the full article here.
Teachers returned for Day 2 of the Core Task Project following implementation of a close reading exemplar. A big part of the process is teacher feedback and we will be collecting these reflections, teasing out themes, and incorporating these suggestions into future trainings.
Core Task Project Day 2 PowerPoint
Reflection Notetaker
Shanahan Notetaker
Brief Guide to Writing Text-Dependent Questions
Text Complexity Rubric
Listed below are the resources used at today’s A&S meeting. The focus of the 90 minute presentation, from the K-6 Curriculum & Instruction staff, was on linking the Common Core State Standards to the Danielson Evaluation Framework to the Basal Alignment Project.
December 7th A&S PowerPoint and Notetaker
From Theory to Practice: Building Site Capacity around the “instructional shifts.”
If you have any reservations about high-stakes assessment and what is coming in 2014-2015, it is worth your time to review this audio recording from a recent Brookings Institute Event: Standardized Assessment and the Common Core. At minute 20:55, College Board President David Coleman notes that teachers have lost faith in current assessment systems. He argues for a humane system (24:38) in which the very real concerns of teachers are honored and addressed—that the new assessments recognize two values:
Core Task Project 