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Educators at RISE Academy for Adult Achievement gathered this week to explore how they might better support high-quality student writing. Participants began by engaging with materials from the Vermont Writing Collaborative 's resources for In Common . Using the CCR Standards and samples of student writing, teachers defined high-quality writing for all students.  Participants then engaged with reading & writing tasks that support high-quality writing. Using the article,  How Social Emotional Learning Transforms Classrooms ", educators used the RISE Annotation Guide to explore the content and evidence in the text. Next, folks worked in groups to design evidence ranking and scaffolded paragraph tasks based on the article. Finally, participants explored their curriculum maps and added evidence-based writing tasks to better support all students. Materials for these sessions (including the deck, strategy handouts, students samples, and article) can  be found in this folder .

Recently, I was talking to some adult education folks about needed revisions to their High School Equivalency courses. It quickly became an opportunity to discuss the importance of ensuring the Instructional Shifts lived in all of our instructional materials and classroom practices... High School Equivalency (HSE) courses are mostly test-prep, designed to helps students take and pass various HSE exams (such as the GED, HiSET, or TASC). Until the recent past, these tests were built around skills assessment. With the adoption of the CCR Standards for Adult Education by most programs throughout the US, this has markedly changed. These HSE exams are now largely knowledge-based tests. GED’s website states the exam has four subjects and tests in the following areas: “ Math - Quantitative & algebraic problem solving; Science - Life science, physical science, earth and space science; Social Studies - Civics and government, U.S. history, economics, geography and the world; Reasoning Th

For many of us, summer is nearly over. Le sigh. As the school year approaches, many educators are putting the final pieces of this year's professional learning into place. My early August is no different. For much of this summer, I have worked  RISE Academy  to help them draft course curriculum maps and plain their roll-out this Fall. (These maps are a collaborative, multi-year, responsive effort to better support teachers to use instructional materials and strategies aligned to both the CCRS and the needs of their adult students.) Though this work could be a series of posts all on its own, I want to pivot away from the importance of high-quality curriculum  and talk a little about the implementation of high-quality curriculum. If a central purpose of using high-quality curriculum is to help students better meet the expectations in college and career readiness standards, then using teachers should have a working knowledge of those standards and the shift in instruction they

Curricular materials on the brain. All. Summer. Long. I'm currently working on a song I am going to title, "The Curricular Materials of Summer" (some credit will certainly go to  Don Henley) . My last two posts were about the importance of curriculum (if you are so inclined, check out Part One and Part Two ). This post is more about what a school or district might do after a review of current materials reveals they are not providing the highest quality materials to teachers. So, you have reviewed your curricular materials and found them lacking. The good news is, you are not alone and you now have the opportunity to improve the materials provided to teachers and students. Perhaps you are so lucky as to be approaching an adoption cycle and can easily send out the bad and welcome in the good. Alternatively, you may be able to use supplemental materials without great objection (to replace materials that have been found sub-par). Or perhaps you have decided, without formal

As I said last week, I have curriculum on the brain. If you do too, check out this post's 'Part One'. Once you are convinced materials selection matters (it really, really does ), then it is time to review your current materials and make decisions about what should stay, what needs minor changing, and what deserves the heave-ho. Resources for reviewing materials include the EQuIP rubric (for lessons and units) and the IMET  (for full curricular resources). These are useful tools not only to review materials already in use or those being considered for adoption, but they can be incredible levers for expanding practitioner knowledge of the Common Core Standards and Instructional Shifts. Explore the links above to find the review tools and  supporting training materials. (You don't think there is a depth of knowledge on the Standards and Shifts to start from? Student Achievement Partners has your back with these professional development resources .) Finally, Sue Pimen

I have curriculum on the brain this summer. Most of my current work is focused on curriculum; reviewing it, curating it, or exploring it in some way. Simultaneously, there is an increasing amount of scholarship in the field on the importance of curriculum. Much of this work answers the questions; does curriculum really matter? And if it does, what can we do about it? Educators in the field, academics, publishers and supportive organizations are recognizing that quality curricular materials can support equity in our schools, be a significant force for reform, and act as a key ingredient in high performing classrooms. Of recent note is the Aspen Institute's report, "Practice What You Teach" , which provides relevant research, profiles of curricular implementation, and key recommendations. EducationNext has a great post by Chester Finn titled " Education Becomes a Reform Strategy ". The latest research report by StandardWork, " Curriculum Research: What We K

The Nevada Core Advocates gathered at UNR the weekend of June 3rd for two days of professional learning focused on the Common Core . The first day explored the Instructional Shifts and on day two  participants worked through content and materials to support the Nevada Core Advocates campaign (for ELA/Literacy, the campaign is: " K-3 teachers will use a critical eye to examine how existing resources build foundational skills so they are able to fully engage with the more complex text required by the standards beginning in 2 nd grade") . Aaron Grossman and I facilitated the day one ELA/Literacy sessions, starting with a review of the ELA/Literacy Instructional Shifts, the research underpinning the shifts, and implications they have for instruction.  Participants then explored what these shifts look like in K-2 materials, with an analysis of the RAP lesson for The Spider and The Fly   and a review of the K-2 ELA Instructional Practice Guides. We ended the day as participant

Educators and Rise Academy for Adult Achievement gathered last week to continue their professional learning on instructional moves aligned to the CCR Standards . Over two evenings, participants engaged with ELA/Literacy content to better support deep reading, student discussion, and evidence-based writing in their classrooms. Using T he Writing Revolution as our central text, the first session centered on using Evidence Ranking and Quoting and Paraphrasing, the second on sentence summarization strategies But-Because-So and Expanding Kernel Sentences. Resources for both sessions are linked below. Google Slides Deck Evidence Ranking Strategy description Quoting & Paraphrasing Strategy description Evidence Ranking and Quoting & Paraphrasing sample The Writing Revolution exc erpt Sentence summarization with Sentence Kernels handout Sentence summarization with But-Because-So handout

Teachers at North Star Online School gathered to continue their professional learning to support Common Core-aligned teaching and learning (see session 3 materials  here ). North Star teachers have spent the last month continuing their peer observations and taking  low inference notes . Today's session once again focused on reflecting on these observation using the  Instructional Practice Guides . Teachers began by reviewing their content area IPG and coding their notes accordingly. Teachers then worked in small groups to record observations on a shared IPG, discussed both areas of strength and areas of need at their school site, and determined next steps to improve instruction.  Materials for the session are linked below. Presentation  deck 3-12 ELA/Literacy  Instructional Practice Guide K-8 Mathematics  Instructional Practice Guide  

On Saturday educators from across WCSD gathered for a Saturday CAFE  focused on providing all students access to complex text. The keynote was delivered by Timothy Shanahan ,   Distinguished Professor Emeritus of urban education at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Dawn Adams and I led a session based on the work RISE Academy for Adult Achievement   has done to support both academic and social emotional success in the classroom. Participant s began the session identifying the Social Emotional standard s students and teachers will need to master as teaching and learning is aligned to the Common Core  for ELA and Literacy (for Nevada K-12 educators, refer to  NVACS, for Nevada Adult educators, refer to the CCRS ) . Educators then explored these connections by engaging in the instructional moves Text Annotation and Question Quads, using an excerpt of Shanahan's article, " Letting the Text Take Center Stage ". Materials for the session are linked below. Presentation

Teachers at North Star Online School gathered to continue their professional learning to support Common Core-aligned teaching and learning (see s ession 2 materials ). North Star teachers have spent the last quarter observing one another's Live Lessons, taking low inference notes . Today's session focused on reflecting on these observation using the Instructional Practice Guides . Teachers began by reviewing their content area IPG and coding their notes accordingly. Teachers then worked in small groups to record observations on a shared IPG, discussed both areas of strength and areas of need at their school site, and determined next steps to improve instruction.  Materials for the session are linked below. Presendation deck 3-12 ELA/Literacy Instructional Practice Guide K-8 Mathematics Instructional Practice Guide  

Teachers, administrators, and parents from Washoe County School District schools gathered on Thursday evening to learn about Social Emotional Learning.  Participants attended a keynote and a selection of break-out sessions, one of which focused on the integration of SEL and classroom instruction. During the session, educators engaged with instructional moves aligned to both SEL standards as well as the Common Core and reflected on how they might implement these strategies at their own school sites. The session began with a  TED talk on the growth mindset by Carol Dweck , participants then used Shared Annotations and Evidence Ranking to dig deeply into and prepare to write about Dweck's talk. Materials for the session are linked below. Presentation  deck   Transcript  of C. Dweck's TED Talk  Shared Annotation  directions Evidence Ranking  Strategy Evidence Ranking  handout for students

Leadership teams from Washoe County School District schools gathered on Thursday & Friday to continue their professional learning on site-based Social Emotional Learning implementation.  Part of the day included a focus on the integration of SEL and classroom instruction. Participants engaged with instructional moves aligned to both SEL standards and the Common Core and reflected on how they might implement these strategies at their own school sites. The session began with a TED talk on the growth mindset by Carol Dweck , participants then used Shared Annotations and Evidence Ranking to dig deeply into and prepare to write about Dweck's talk. Materials for the session are linked below. Presentation deck   Transcript of C. Dweck's TED Talk  Shared Annotation directions Evidence Ranking Strategy Evidence Ranking handout for Elementary School Evidence Ranking handout for Secondary School 

This week educators at RISE Academy for Adult Achievement will be working on using evidenced-based discussion and writing strategies in their classroom. On Tuesday, teachers used Jigsaw Socratic Seminar to engage with various articles on 21st century learning. On Thursday, teachers used the same text to explore Using Quotes Effectively. Participants then worked in small groups to prepare to use these instructional strategies in their classes during the current semester. Resources for the session can be found below.  Presentation Deck   Jigsaw Socratic Seminar   Using Quotes Effectively   Texts:   ” The Intellectual and Policy Foundations of the 21st Century Skills Framework ”, “ How to Break Free of Our 19th-Century Factory-Model Educational System ”, “ Students First, Not Stuff ”