Wondering About Common Core and Complex Text? - Common Core State Standards TOOLBOX "A lot of reading skills students can apply with a simple text, but can't do so much with a challenging text."- Dr. Timothy Shanahan Blocked from YouTube? No problem. Does the information in this chart* cause you concern? *CCSS Appendix A: CCSS Lexile Bands How will you help ALL of your students access the required complex text? You may be thinking, why should I give my struggling readers such difficult text when I know they can’t read it? In a blog post from this summer, Dr. So why is the common core making such a big deal out of having kids read hard text? You can view the summary or download the ACT report right here. Watch Dr. Dr. www.mhecommoncoretoolboxtn.com
The Standards Building on the best of existing state standards, the Common Core State Standards provide clear and consistent learning goals to help prepare students for college, career, and life. The standards clearly demonstrate what students are expected to learn at each grade level, so that every parent and teacher can understand and support their learning. The standards are: Research and evidence basedClear, understandable, and consistentAligned with college and career expectationsBased on rigorous content and the application of knowledge through higher-order thinking skillsBuilt upon the strengths and lessons of current state standardsInformed by other top-performing countries to prepare all students for success in our global economy and society According to the best available evidence, the mastery of each standard is essential for success in college, career, and life in today’s global economy. For grades K-8, grade-by-grade standards exist in English language arts/literacy and mathematics.
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.
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?
Home - The Reading & Writing Project The Most Useful Resources For Implementing Common Core — I Hope You’ll Contribute More (NOTE: Readers have begun to contribute some excellent ideas in the comments. I’ll get around to adding them to the body of this post but, until then, be sure to review the comments, too!) I’m obviously not a real big fan of Common Core standards, and am a bit skeptical about its practical impact on what happens in the classroom. I’m starting off with a few today, and hope readers will contribute a whole lot more — for all subjects and grade levels. You might also be interested in these other lists: The Best Resources For Learning About Common Core Standards & English Language Learners The Best Articles Sharing Concerns About Common Core Standards The Best Resources For Learning About The “Next Generation” Of State Testing My Ed Week post, Best Ways to Prepare Our Students for CCSS in Language Arts . Here are just a few to begin and, as I mentioned earlier, I hope many additional resources will be shared in the comments: The folks at Engaging Educators have really been on top of it.
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.
PARCC Assessment System and ELA, Part 2 « PARCC in Massachusetts In Part 1 on the PARCC assessment system I tried to walk through, though somewhat briefly, a general sense of the design principles and the general architecture of the assessment system. In this post I am going to try to convey what I learned specifically about the design of the ELA assessment and review the general evidence-centered design principle. Below is the picture of evidence-centered design construction: Evidence-Centered Claims Driving Design of ELA Assessment The ELA assessment has a broad set of claims about what students should know and be able to do that should be supported by the evidence collected through the assessment tasks. (1) Students read and comprehend a range of sufficiently complex texts independently,(2) Students write effectively when using and or analyzing sources, and(3) Students build and present knowledge through research and the integration, comparison, and synthesis of ideas. Broad ELA/Literacy Task Types More on PARCC Tasks Like this: Like Loading...
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?
CC Achievement Strategy Site Common Core Online 50 Important Links for Common Core Educators Educators across the nation are working hard this summer to begin developing updated curricula that will fit into the new Common Core State Standards, which will be fully applied in 45 U.S. states (Texas, Alaska, Nebraska, Virginia, and Minnesota have opted out of statewide participation) by 2015. Yet despite the hubbub about the new standards, which were created as a means of better equipping students with the knowledge they need to be competitive in the modern world, many teachers still have a lot of unanswered questions about what Common Core will mean for them, their students, and their schools. Luckily, the Internet abounds with helpful resources that can explain the intricacies of Common Core, offer resources for curriculum development, and even let teachers keep up with the latest news on the subject. We’ve collected just a few of those great resources here, which are essential reads for any K-12 educator in a Common Core-adopting state. Groups and Organizations Useful Resources
Implementation | Common Core State Standards | Topic Specific Sources | Web links | MC3 Register | Lost Password Skip to Content Follow us on Facebook ResourcesAbout MC3 Web links > Topic Specific Sources > Common Core State Standards > Implementation Common Core Implementation ExemplarsDate Added: July 24, 2013 Visits: 55 [ Report ] This Achieve document features state practices and models used with implementing the Common Core State Standards. Common Core Implementation WorkbookDate Added: February 6, 2013 Visits: 56 [ Report ] This link to the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers' (PARCC's) website provides an implementation workbook developed by Achieve and U.S. Common Core State Standards: Progress and Challenges in School Districts' ImplementationDate Added: June 10, 2013 Visits: 15 [ Report ] This link is to a Center on Education Policy report exploring the issues associated with implementing the Common Core State Standards. Common Core VideoDate Added: January 8, 2014 Visits: 98 [ Report ] Back to Top
CCS iPad Apps | Mentoring Minds $$ Mentoring Minds' Common Core Standards & Strategies K-12 Math and ELA Flip Charts on your iPad! Our Common Core Standards & Strategies K-12 Math and ELA Flip Charts are available on your iPad through the iTunes App Store! At your fingertips and through your mobile device, our flip chart provides you with strategies for the delivery of effective instruction pertaining to the new Math and ELA Standards. We also include clarifying activities so you know how best to utilize the content in your classroom. Enroll in Apple's Volume Purchase Program (ASVPP) to buy in bulk. Common Core Standards and Strategies Math K-12 Last Updated: August 17, 2012 Common Core Standards and Strategies ELA K-12 | Search Mentoring Minds on the App Store.