Engaging Students in Writing in Response to Reading

As I mentioned in my previous post, last week I had the honor to learn from one of educations best, Dr. Tim Westerberg @ timwesterberg.com  Throughout the day I feverishly jotted down ideas that I knew I needed to address on the Iowa Core Blog.......enters "Engaging Students in Writing in Response to Reading" and the fantastic resources that have been put out by the Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC).

"LDC is a national community of educators providing a teacher-designed and research-proven framework, online tools, and resources for creating literacy-rich experiences that enable all educators to model, lead, and succeed in implementing the high expectations embodied in the Common Core Standards as they accelerate their own professional growth and increase student outcomes"

Looking for a tool to help craft tasks that engage students in writing in response to reading complex text aligned to the Common Core?  Check this out!
http://ldc.org/sites/default/files/LDC-Template-Task-Collection-2.0.A.pdf

Creating, Clarifying, Revisiting and Sustaining the Iowa Core Vision

Last week I had the honor to learn from one of educations best, Dr. Tim Westerberg @ timwesterberg.com  Throughout the day I feverishly jotted down ideas that I knew I needed to address on the Iowa Core Blog, but quickly one topic became critical to address.....Creating, Clarifying, Revisiting and Sustaining the Iowa Core Vision!

To no fault of anyone; schools have become so busy implementing the Iowa Core......understanding the standards and working on alignment, creating common assessments, outlining a multi-tiered system of support for students falling through the cracks that we've possibly lost sight of why we're doing what we're doing....the Iowa Core vision has faded.

So here's what I'd like to challenge every educator in Iowa to do...REFLECT!  Reflect on what the Iowa Core look like in your building?  What does it sound like?  How does it feel?  What are students and teachers doing differently now that they weren't doing five years ago? Celebrate the good things that you've accomplished and outline what needs to be done to continue to move the Iowa Core forward!

On March 10, 2014 I blogged "So You Think You're Implementing the Iowa Core standards?"   Included in this post was a great tool that assists teachers in identifying their level of implementation @ http://iowacorenetwork.blogspot.com/2014/03/so-you-think-youre-implementing-iowa.html   Check it out and make it a priority to revisit your Iowa Core vision today!

Rubric for Aligning Classroom Lessons & Units to the Common Core

I love the opportunity when I get to spend some time with my colleagues from across the state.  Today I discovered a great rubric for aligning classroom lessons and units to the Common Core. "The EQuIP rubrics should be used for: guiding the development of lessons and units, evaluating existing lessons and units to identify improvements needed to align with the CCSS, building the capacity of teachers to gain a deeper understanding of the instructional demands of the CCSS, and informing publishers of the criteria that will be applied in the evaluation of proposals and final products."  To access these great resources, go to achievethecore.org and search for EQuIP rubrics. 

A Diamond in the Rough

How did another great resource to support the Core slip by me?  This morning I discovered a fantastic toolkit published by the National Education Association @ http://www.nea.org/home/ccss-toolkit.htm
Check it out!

 

Common Core State Standards in Action

Need testimonials on the advantages of the Common Core?  Check this out!

http://www.achieve.org/common-core-state-standards-action

Are Your Classroom Materials, Resources & Assessments Aligned to the Core?

Great discussions are occurring during teacher collaboration/PLC time that lends itself to me sharing the link below.  Often as educator are ensuring that what they are teaching is aligned to the Common Core standards, they also debate whether the materials, resources, and assessments they are using in their classroom are also aligned to the Core.  Check out a fantastic resource @Achievethecore.org to assist teachers with this work.

http://achievethecore.org/page/285/toolkit-content-list-page?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Toolkit+March+Update+Email&utm_content=Toolkit+March+Update+Email+CID_91509ef5fcdb21736906bcf30a5543b9&utm_source=Email%2520marketing%2520software&utm_term=Toolkit

So You Think You're Implementing the Iowa Core Standards?

As we work with teachers across the state focused on the implementation of the Iowa Core Standards we are reminded of this great tool to identify their level of implementation using the Common Core State Standards Innovation Configuration Map for Transitional Dialogue @ http://dmfa3ba8wpnh6.cloudfront.net/00/000147887cd534a7df9b7cbbd80006/file/122463-CCSSConfigurationMap.pdf