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Check out this site, created by Ben Rimes (@techsavvyed). A collaborative poetry writing project. Tied to the Common Core! Click on "Teaching Standards" to see how.

This presentation from ISTE was an awesome look at how to meet CCSS using collaborative writing.

Great post on Appendix A of the ELA standards, specifically the few pages that outline the keys to CCSS writing standards. Very informative.

In this great post, the author shares ideas from a webinar produced by an education department in Maine. It includes some great ideas about integrating social media, and ties it to the common core. Twitter, blogs, and more!

I'm guilty as charged on this one. Do you agree with the author? He makes a compelling case, for sure.

Are you in a Smarter Balanced consortium state? Here are rubrics for grades 3-11 that they have developed for writing.

There's a lot of criticism out there about the CCSS. And while it's important to read opinions from all sides, it can be hard to find teachers writing about their positive stance about the new standards. This post, as a result, is refreshing and uplifting. And also, it might shift your thinking a little if you're a member of the anti-CCSS camp.

This e-book, approved by all consortia involved in writing CCSS assessments, offers lots of insight.

Heather Wolpert-Gawron writes a great piece about the Core here. It is worth the read.

Grant Wiggins is able to express so many topics in a way that makes total sense. Here he writes about the idea of national standards and how they still are too "one-size-fits-all" for his tastes. I would definitely agree.

A quote from the article..."Adult literacy in 2012 means being able to synthesize information from multiple online sources to write a blog post or substantive email. It means analyzing which online tools will best serve your communications purpose. It means making smart decisions about what information is useful online, and how to curate and filter the endless stream of data coming in. It means reviewing your digital footprint and learning how to take some control over what information you broadcast to the world, from your tweets, profile pictures, and recommended links. While the common core addresses some of the above skills, its guidance is far too vague, especially for those teachers who are uncomfortable with new technologies." So true.

Answering questions using evidence from the text is one of the biggest points of emphasis in the ELA CCSS. This article explains what text dependent questions are AND how to write them.

This could help a lot of teachers. Something worth exploring. 

Interesting article about how to use Celly, an online text messaging service, in a way that aligns with the CCSS.

More on argument...this does a good job of clarifying the critical differences between persuasion and argument.

Dave (@davestuartjr on twitter) has a great blog that we've featured here before. This activity suggestion could be adapted for a wide range of grades, and it definitely puts the idea of argument in the spotlight from day one.

Detailed article about the value of summarizing complex texts. Makes some great points I hadn't considered before and provides excellent tips for teaching summarizing as a skill.

This site, from the Elk Grove (CA) Unified School District, looks like an exemplary resource. Also demonstrates what I think national standards should be all about--sharing, collaborating, and publicly displaying our work. This site is worth a look.