Tools for the Common Core Standards Phil Daro, Bill McCallum, Jason Zimba A Grecian urn You have just purchased an expensive Grecian urn and asked the dealer to ship it to your house. In the Common Core State Standards, individual statements of what students are expected to understand and be able to do are embedded within domain headings and cluster headings designed to convey the structure of the subject. Standards for a Grecian Urn The pieces are designed to fit together, and the standards document fits them together, presenting a coherent whole where the connections within grades and the flows of ideas across grades are as visible as the story depicted on the urn. The analogy with the urn only goes so far; the Standards are a policy document, after all, not a work of art. Fragmenting the Standards into individual standards, or individual bits of standards, erases all these relationships and produces a sum of parts that is decidedly less than the whole. Sometimes a remix is as good as or better than the original.
Common Core State Standards Initiative - Curriculum and Instruction ESE Resources for Implementing the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks in 2012-2013 Diving Deeper: Implementing the 2011 Massachusetts Curriculum Framework for Mathematics Diving Deeper: Implementing the 2011 Massachusetts Curriculum Framework for English Language Arts and Literacy Updated Interactive PARCC Model Content Frameworks for Mathematics Grades 3-11 (Revised Version 3.0 November 2012) and English Language Arts/Literacy (Version 2.0), Grades 3-11 Common Core State Standards Implementation Workbook National Parent-Teacher Association Guides to Student Success 2011 Frameworks: MCAS Assessment Transition Plan PARCC Releases Initial Set of Item and Task Prototypes Model Curriculum Units Resources to Support the Transition to the 2011 Massachusetts Curriculum Framework for Mathematics Making Decisions about Course Sequences and the New Model Algebra I Course Enhanced High School Pathway to Calculus Supplementary Additional Common Core Resources for English Language Arts and Literacy
What if Learners Bartered for Instruction? Background In the June issue of Edudemic Magazine for iPad (which we hope is available sometime next week), we talk about the notion of evolving currencies. As technology evolves living patterns change–and vice versa. These kinds of changes impact a range of societal factors. Your mom starts using facebook, she gets more opportunities to see pictures of grandchildren, but perhaps seems less likely to call or physically stop by in lieu. Smartphones and GPS devices mean fewer people buy maps or stop and ask for directions, which impact sales at the local 7 Elevens. As “things” change, new “things” become valuable. And new currencies yield new opportunities for exchange. Trading Ideas What if–in pursuit of learning–hobbies, expertise, and original thinking were currency? What if you traded one idea for another? What kind of impact might this have not simply on learner engagement and accountability, but more importantly how community members interact with one another?
SEC Online - Welcome The Surveys of Enacted Curriculum web site. The purpose of this site is to encourage teacher reflection and conversation about classroom practice and instructional content. About the Survey Using a survey data collection and reporting model, teachers can compare their own practice and instructional content to responses by other teachers around the country and within their school or district. News Participating states, schools and districts are able to make use of aggregated teacher reports (individual teacher responses are disclosed only to the teacher) to develop a base-line of information about teacher practice in mathematics, science and English language arts, or to inform professional development or school improvement planning efforts. SEC Orientation Tutorial This tutorial will assist you in understanding what the SEC is, and then how to go online and successfully complete the survey. SEC Registration Tutorial This tutorial will take you step-by-step through the registration process.
How Reliable Are the Social Sciences? The Stone is a forum for contemporary philosophers and other thinkers on issues both timely and timeless. Public policy debates often involve appeals to results of work in social sciences like economics and sociology. For example, in his State of the Union address this year, President Obama cited a recent high-profile study to support his emphasis on evaluating teachers by their students’ test scores. The study purportedly shows that students with teachers who raise their standardized test scores are “more likely to attend college, earn higher salaries, live in better neighborhoods and save more for retirement.” Beware the journalistically exciting result. How much authority should we give to such work in our policy decisions? A rational assessment of a scientific result must first take account of the broader context of the particular science involved. Second, and even more important, there is our overall assessment of work in a given science in comparison with other sciences.
Grant Wiggins: Defining Assessment Grant Wiggins is a nationally recognized assessment expert who has been working in assessment reform for more than twenty-five years. He is president of the educational consulting firm Authentic Education, and with Jay McTighe, co-author of Understanding by Design, an award-winning framework for curriculum design used around the world. In this interview, Wiggins shares his thoughts on performance assessments, standardized tests, and more. Wiggins has published several articles for Edutopia.org. In 2002, he wrote Toward Genuine Accountability: The Case for a New State Assessment System. 1. Our line of argument is that testing is a small part of assessment. What can the test do that more complex, performance-based, project-based things can't do? For instance, in some state-based, performance-based assessment, they always had a parallel paper-and-pencil test for the individual student so that you had enough data on the individual. Back to Top 2. 3. We call it backward design. 4. 5. 6. 7.
5 Great Sites for Student Collaboration The education technology revolution has been fantastic in helping teachers get closer to students and communicate with them better, but another commonly overlooked benefit has been its ability to get students collaborating successfully and productively with one another. Check out these great tools for electronic student collaboration… 1. Debate Graph This fantastic tool enables students to participate in exciting, illuminating collaborative debate or group brainstorming. 2. This great online collaborative tool enables students to have instant, shared web-meetings where documents can be shared and pored over together no matter where participants are, as long as they each have a computer and a web connection. 3. Primary Wall is a web-based sticky note tool designed for schools that allows teachers and students to work together in real-time, adding sticky notes to a group ‘wall’ like a pinboard. 4. 5. What are your favourite sites for helping student collaboration online?
Quick Guide to the Common Core: Key Expectations Explained - Vander Ark on Innovation How the Common Core Will Change the Way Teachers Teach and Students Learn Guest Post By Adam Berkin, vice president of product development at Curriculum Associates Since the Common Core State Standards were introduced, there has been much discussion about what they mean for educators and students and how they will impact teaching and learning. While the standards have been adopted by 45 states and 3 territories so far, there is a lot of concern, anxiety, and debate around what is best for students, potential challenges for teachers, and what implementation should and can look like. The new standards are focused on two categories: English Language Arts and Mathematics. English Language Arts The text is more complex. Since the 1960s, text difficulty in textbooks has been declining (Source: CCSS Appendix A). The text covers a wider range of genres and formats. In addition, students are expected to understand the presentation of texts in a variety of multimedia formats, such as video.
Google Forms: how to create a quiz or a test that automatically grades itself in Google Docs--Internet--Tools & Tips for Multimedia Designers--Planet of the Web Using forms in Google docs lets anyone create forms quickly and share those forms via email, embed them into a webpage or blog. If you are a teacher, you can create formulas that allow you to have these forms graded in minutes. The formula part is a bit challenging, so I wrote this article to talk about how I recently created a final for one of my classes. Create a new Form in Google Docs To Create a form, go to the Create New menu and choose form. Google will open up a new window with the form. Type in your questions, help text and question types There are different types of questions you can choose from. Make some quiz questions required You can also make some questions required. Choose a test quiz type I'm going ask 5 questions of different types on this quiz. Finished quiz example Here's what my final test looks like. Here's what my test looks like when it's done. Choose how viewers will take the quiz Take the test yourself to create a KEY of answers Check out the test results
200 useful chord phrases in C major We've spent two full months of this blog exploring the basics of chord writing in rock music so you can create your own chord progressions (or chord phrases, as I like to call them). Personally, I love this stuff! There are so many hidden symmetries to discover, so many subtle relationships between notes that you can play with. But... All right, then. Wherever you need a phrase of music, just drop in one of these chord phrases. By the way, these chord phrases are not random; they're in a sort of functional order. David Coleman on ELA Common Core Standards Watch this video presentation here: Shifts in literacy with CC 1. 50 percent stories and 50 percent informational text. We know in K-5 that is where the foundation of knowledge is developed. Great place to learn about the world and create mental structures for future learning. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Summation: Read like a detective and write like a conscientious investigative reporter
Interactive online Google tutorial and references