Posts Tagged ‘Common Core’
Rigor
From the desk of Carol C… Let’s be honest- why do we suddenly care about rigor? Most of us would say “because it’s in the new Common Core”. Understandable. After all, how often was that word mentioned before the introduction of the CC? Almost never. So are there reasons besides the CC that we should…
Read MoreWhole Class Novels
From the desk of Carol C… Read an education journal or a book about teaching reading comprehension (no matter the grade level), you will find a myriad of strategies to use with your students. You’ll, also, find a difference of opinion on whether to teach these strategies using the same novel for your entire class…
Read MoreReady, Set, Go
From the desk of Carol C… I thought I knew the educational jargon: ABC’s, testing, EOG, EOC, accountability, Common Core, and the list goes on. I could talk confidently about any of these terms to anybody. Then one day a fellow educator asked me what I thought of READY. “I’m ready for it,” I tried…
Read MoreAn Educational Bargain
From the desk of Alice… I recently wrote a post about the anti-workbook classroom. There is another layer to the story. The teacher I mentioned in the post had chosen not to use the workbooks provided to her in order to teach reading to Kindergarteners. Instead, she chose to use rich literacy instruction that engaged…
Read MoreA New Era
From the desk of Alice… As 2013 is arriving, I am sitting at my kitchen table on a work holiday, typing on a wireless laptop and scheduling this blog to post in the future when I am no longer at my computer. My iPhone is nearby with my calendar at my fingertips and I am…
Read MoreThe Anti-Workbook Classroom
From the desk of Alice… I recently had a conversation with someone about instruction in the elementary school. In that particular school system, a program is in place that requires reading workbooks for Kindergarten students. If this happens to be the case in your school or system, I am so sorry. Having our youngest learners…
Read MoreWriting Poetry
From the desk of Carol C… The Common Core doesn’t directly list writing poetry as one of its standards. So why teach it if it’s not in there? “How do I tell thee? Let me count the ways.” First of all teaching students how to write poetry requires that they understand what poetry is and…
Read MoreStep Into the Classroom
From the desk of Hope… Step into a classroom in which students are preparing to be college and career ready. In this classroom students are merging reading, writing, thinking as they pose problems that are real or problems they foresee in the future. They think about what they want to know more about and subsequently…
Read MoreTips for Teaching Vocabulary
From the desk of Carol C… Have you looked up the word “rigor” in a dictionary recently? Webster’s says: harsh inflexibility in opinion, temper, or judgment. It seems that dictionaries, online at least, have not caught up with the definition of rigor in education. What might this be? Rigor is the goal of helping students…
Read MoreCommon Core is Here
From the desk of Carol C… “The Common Core is here. Now what do we do?” When I first read that quote I thought , “You got that right sister. What are we gonna do?” In no time, well meaning supervisors started giving me suggestions. “Look on Cleveland County’s website. Try the NYC website. Have…
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