Group items tagged

"The videos on this site exemplify the key shifts that Common Core brings to classroom pedagogy. For more information on the shifts please see the Description of the Common Core Shifts. Or, listen to the teachers featured on the site in the ELA shifts video and Math shifts video and in What Does it Mean?."

"The Common Core has embedded within it some Big Ideas that shift the role of teachers to curriculum designers and managers of an inquiry process. How can project-based learning (PBL) help with this shift? "

"It's time to leave sunny San Antonio and resume life in a much less sunny Portland. NSTA was a truly inspiring conference. While engaging science teaching and learning is currently happening in classrooms around the country, we're confident that it's only going to get better with the shifts that the Next Generation Science Standards will bring."

Handouts Notes from ASCD Presentation on Assessments Shifts Presented by Susan M. Brookhart Presented April 3, 2012.

"By setting up ways to get frequent feedback from students' works in progress, we can find out what they need-before it's too late. Several years ago, I decided that if I were going to spend time writing comments on my students' writing work or on assignments connected to their in-class reading, those comments had to do more than justify a grade. They had to give targeted feedback that would show students how to improve the quality of their work. I'd been finding the hours I spent writing feedback on students' work discouraging. For one thing, students didn't pay attention to my comments, and, for another, the quality of their work wasn't improving. A change in how I responded to their work was necessary. If I wanted my comments to fuel improvement, I realized, I had to build in time for learners to revise their work after receiving my suggestions. Not only did I change the timing of my feedback, but I also streamlined my process of writing comments, allowing myself more time to shift instruction in response to what I'd learned from reviewing work"

"Social studies supervisors and teachers across the country are revising their unit plans to meet their state's content standards, as well as, the Common Core State Standards for Literacy in History and Social Studies. Simultaneously, many states are implementing new evaluation and observation frameworks. The performance ratings employed by the most popular evaluation models encourage a shift away from teacher-led direct instruction to more student-centered activities incorporating inquiry and synthesis. In social studies, primary source document analysis goes hand in hand with the 9-12 Common Core reading and writing standards. Here are five top resources to align your curricula to the Common Core with student driven lessons. "

"The Common Core's "six shifts in literacy," or the big ways in which the standards aim to overhaul teaching, can be boiled down a la Michael Pollan: Read complex texts. Mostly nonfiction. Very closely. Through that close reading, teachers get clear opportunities to foster critical thinking. Attempting to help students access texts, previous standards and curricula in many states have focused on previewing the material, skimming it, and connecting it to the outside world, the self, and other texts - at best, achieving a rich holistic understanding, and at worst, dancing around the challenges posed by the author's actual words."

By Dr. Bena Kallick "The recent report from the Center on Education Policy (PDF) provides a perspective on the key issues districts will need to deal with as they make a transition from their present work based on state standards to the common core standards."

Visual By Mike Fisher of Bena Kallick's posting on Common Core Standards: Uncommon Shifts in Practice

"About the Mini-series This video mini-series has been designed to provide an efficient pathway for understanding and implementing the most significant shifts in English language arts and literacy instruction. Ranging from seven to ten minutes in length, each video tackles one important topic and then provides tools that educators can begin using in their classrooms immediately. The order in which the videos are watched is not critical, so please feel free to start with the one that seems the most intriguing."

"Steve Leinwand, Sue O'Connell, Pamela Weber Harris and other math leaders examine the Standards for Mathematical Practice. 'A deeper understanding of these eight practices enables us to envision what it means for our students to be mathematically proficient, and to select teaching practices that shift our teaching from a focus on content to a focus on application and understanding. The Standards for Mathematical Practice are actually the heart and soul of the Common Core State Standards. Sue O'Connell and John SanGiovanni from Putting the Practices Into Action"

"he chemistry students at Northwestern High School were not fiddling with Bunsen burners or studying the periodic table one recent weekday morning. They were sitting at their desks, reading an article about food coloring, underlining key ideas and preparing to analyze it in an essay. This is the beginning of what Prince George's County officials hope will be a significant shift in teaching and learning, one that mirrors a change taking hold in high schools nationwide as districts adjust to the Common Core State Standards. Literacy, long the responsibility of English teachers, is filtering into every other classroom - including math, science and even health class."

"Achievethecore.org has ready-to-use modules include PowerPoints, videos, facilitator's instructions, and hands-on activities. Ideal for PD workshops, professional learning communities, and self-study."

"In this thoughtful article in Kappa Delta Pi Record, consultant/authors Mike Schmoker and Carol Jago say, "Done right, the ELA Common Core has the potential to right the ship of literacy, to facilitate, at long last, the creation of coherent curriculum in every course, and to rescue us from the fads and pseudo-literacies of recent decades." They believe the CCSS appendices and ancillary documents are the "true strength" of the document, providing resources for students "to engage in close reading of large amounts of high-quality, complex text, combined with opportunities to engage in discussion and writing grounded in text." "

High school testing is on the brink of a profound shift, as states increasingly choose college-entrance exams to measure achievement. The new federal education law invites that change, but it comes with some big caution signs and unanswered questions.