More Common Core Writing Practice at the New York Times

For your own best practices, here are two recent Common Core Practice Writing Tasks from The Learning Network at The New York Times.

An argumentative writing task about the late "technology wunderkind," Aaron Swartz: A Data Crusader, a Defendant and Now, a Cause.

Michael Francis McElroy/The New York Times

A narrative writing task about Richard Blanco, the son of Cuban exiles who was the 2013 inaugural poet: Poet's Kinship with the President.

Craig Dilger for The New York Times

I highly recommend not only these tasks, but also that you check out the Common Core Practice that appears each Friday on The Learning Network's page! And, as always, I ask that you leave a comment if you use Sarah Gross and Jonathan Olsen's great ideas.

Cures for the Common Core Blues: BOOKS, Vol. 5

I'm a bit behind on this series because our son, daughter-in-law, and grandbabies who live in Tanzania arrived in the states last week for a visit. Oh, and we had a booth selling crafts made there by Holly and her Tanzanian friend Suzy at the local Arts and Craft Fair for three days...a busy and joyful week!

Today I want to share a book by one of my favorite authors, Leo Lionni. Having taught high school for 25 years, I came late to his wonderful writing, learning to love it during the 7 years I taught elementary ESL. 

Inch by Inch was the first of Lionni's books to win the Caldecott Honor, with three more following. It's a fantastic book for integrating measurement skills; Scholastic has a lesson plan on this page. Not only is the prose wonderful; his illustrations are as well. The iconic Horn Book Magazine praises the book's “...lovely colors...sharp definition of cutouts against white space...rhythm of the composition...simplicity of the whole...” 

Weston Woods produced an animated version of the book in 2006, which costs $59.95, but ArtsEdge has a story performance, by Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia, online and FREE!

You and your young friends can read more about Leo on Random House's website, which provides tons of information for an author study - seven short chapters and an essay written by his granddaughter Annie Lionni. Your students can also 

• watch him explain why he writes books about animals in a short video,
• see how he makes a paper mouse(and try one themselves) here,
• learn about his childhood and his imagination in this video,
• see many pictures, including one of him playing his accordion!

I have other favorite Lionni books (he wrote 40!) that I'll share later, but in the meantime, please let Inch by Inch and Leo's personal story help cure your Common Core blues.

I hope you're having a happy Thanksgiving week; many blessings from my family to yours! 

New Discovery: Teacher Support Force

Thanks to Pinterest and my friend Melissa McCormick Roysdon, a Tennessee ESL teacher in DeKalb County, I have a wonderful new discovery to share with you!

Pat Jones, a teacher for almost 30 years in Georgia & North Carolina, writes a blog that is part of an amazing website called Teacher Support Force.

LET THE FORCE BE WITH YOU

The site is divided into sections: 

• Aesthetics, which includes strategies using drama, art, dance, and music
• Learning Environment, including cooperative learning, creative grouping, motivation, time management, and lowering stress
• Reading, with coordination, vocabulary, Dolch sight words, reading fluency, and comprehension sections
• Math, addressing the language of math, math word walls and centers, math and art, engaging the senses, and integer rules
• Games & Strategies, including word walls, focus games, memory activities, and free games
• The Early Years, featuring early childhood, parents, car games, benefits of play, reading together, and focus problems

The "pin" that grabbed my attention and took me to Pat's site was this one:

Citing the brain research of Dr. Fritz Mengert, she explains using a red dot in the center of a word to help kids focus on the middle of a word and not just the beginning (to stop guessing), as well as Using a Red Dot to Improve Fluency. 

I'll be letting Pat know that I linked to her site today; I can't wait to share it with the teachers at the school where I'm working as an Academic Specialist. I hope you'll find the site useful and that you'll let her know if you do! 

Common Core Practice | Floating Buddhas, MacArthur ‘Geniuses’ and Fracking

Today's Common Core Practice from Sarah Gross, Jonathan Olsen, and The Learning Network includes narrative, informative, and argumentative writing tasks. 

Floating Buddhas so inspired Sarah and Jonathan's students "that they have designed a challenge for students (and adults) everywhere: find a piece of “art” (however you define it) in your own surroundings, and post a photo of it to Twitter with the hashtag #art4me. They hope to 'see how far this project will travel,' so consider joining in!"

Librado Romero/The New York Times

Chang Jin-Lee’s inflatable Buddha sculpture, called “Floating Echo,”

is anchored on the East River at Socrates Sculpture Park

in Long Island City, Queens. Go to related article »

MacArthur ‘Geniuses’ tells students that “talented individuals who have shown extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked capacity for self-direction (can win) $100,000 per year for five years" and asks them to "propose a dream project that you hope the MacArthur Foundation would help fund."

Fracking refers students to the article Shift by Cuomo on Gas Drilling Prompts Both Anger and Praise, as well as a video and an earlier lesson plan, and asks them to "write a letter to the editor of The New York Times explaining whether Governor Cuomo should allow fracking to occur in New York State, (using) evidence from the article to support your argument."

"Winning!" again, with this great resource at The New York Times.

Wonderopolis®

Wonderopolis is a program from the National Center for Family Literacy. Its Wonders of the Day highlight learning moments in everyday life, and are intended for families to watch together, so they can learn together.

You can browse the Wonders Archives in 86 categories, including:

• Animals (ex: Do Warthogs Really Have Warts?) 
• Cultures of the World (ex: Have You Ever Tried Dim Sum?)
• Folk Tales and Legends (ex: Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?)
• Invention (ex: How Do Night Vision Goggles Work?)
• Professions (ex: How Do Teachers Get to Be So Smart?)
• Writing (ex:Celebrating Poetry Friday)

Posts of special interest to teachers? Try Connecting Wonderopolis to Content Areas, How to Integrate Wonderopolis into Reading Workshop, and Wonderopolis is WONDERful Science HW for ideas on using the site with your classes.

I'm sure you'll find something, or many things, to like at Wonderopolis, "where the wonders of learning never cease."

Library of Congress - Resources for the Common Core

 

The Library of Congress is a truly amazing resource for teachers, with collections that boggle the mind. Click on Digital Collections and have a look!

I'll write about various collections and their usefulness for you later, but today's post is about the Teaching with Primary Sources Program at the Library, and specifically, the current issue of The Teaching with Primary Sources Journal: Primary Sources and the Common Core State Standards, Vol. 1, No. 2, Fall 2012. You can download the entire journal in PDF and print it if you would like to have a hard copy.

Rich Cairn's feature article, Primary Sources: At the Heart of the Common Core State Standards, describes what using primary sources to achieve the CCSS looks like in practice. It concludes: "Primary sources can provide the raw materials teachers need to support student achievement in the CCSS. Primary source-based learning is at the heart of the standards. Using photographs, maps, manuscripts, and other primary sources to engage students in learning and building critical thinking and constructing knowledge will help prepare students for success in school and beyond."

The issue includes links to Research and Current Thinking and a Teacher Spotlight, both important and read-worthy. Perhaps the most useful, however, are two complete Learning Activities:

• Determining Point of View: Paul Revere and the Boston Massacre is suggested for 5th and 6th grades. The CCSS targeted are RI.5.6., RI.6.6., RI.6.7., and RI.6.8. Download the entire activity here.
• Teaching Speaking & Listening Skills with Primary Sources is recommended for grades 9 though 12 and targets the College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Speaking and Listening. Download it in its entirety here.

If you'd like to view previous issues of the TPS Journal, which was formerly known as the Teaching with Primary Sources Quarterly, go to the archive page. These are devoted to topics such as Critical Thinking, Differentiated Instruction, English Language Learners, Inquiry Learning, Literacy Integration, Project-Based Learning, and Science. 

What fantastic resources, for you and your implementation of the Common Core. Hurry over to see what you can use!

The Common Core - Fine Arts (AND Science, History, & Geography) Connection - Part 2

After writing this morning's post about The Common Core - Fine Arts Connection, I read the final entry in the ARTSblog "Blog Salon" that marked National Arts in Education Week. In that post, Kristen Engebretsen referenced a panel discussion that was hosted in March by Common Core, an organization that is actually older than the CCSS, but supports them. 

The panel, titled Truant From School: History, Science, and Art, was composed of "experts who discussed the implications of curriculum narrowing and explored how the new Common Core State Standards might serve as a vehicle for addressing the problem."

The experts included:

David Coleman* - Founding partner of Student Achievement Partners and a lead writer of the CCSS in ELA. He will become president and chief executive officer of the College Board  in October. 

Lewis Huffman - Education Associate for Social Studies at the South Carolina Department of Education.

Carol Jago - A 32-year veteran teacher of English in middle and high school and director of the California Reading and Literature Project at UCLA. She is past president of the National Council of Teachers of English.

Lynne Munson - President and Executive Director of Common Core

If you are a teacher, a principal, a curriculum specialist, or a instructional supervisor, it is VERY IMPORTANT that you watch the video below. Implementation of the Common Core State Standards MUST be done with the understanding that their intent is NOT to narrow the public school curriculum.

 

*David Coleman forcefully says, "It is utterly clear if there is not an equal balance of high quality informational and literary text in kindergarten through fifth grade, with the specific declaration that informational text richly covers science, history/social studies, and the arts, it does not meet the requirements of the core standards, either in assessment or curricular terms. Period."  And: "There is no such thing as doing the nuts and bolts of reading in kindergarten through fifth grade without coherently developing knowledge in science and history and the arts. Period. It is false. It is a fiction."

If you only have ten minutes, PLEASE at least watch this clip of David Coleman's address:

Having knowledge of the intent of CCSS ELA writers is invaluable, in my opinion. Watching the entire video has been mind-changing for me, and I hope you will find it just as beneficial. 

Have a wonderful September weekend!

The Common Core - Fine Arts Connection

"I will let you in on a secret: CCSS presents a teaching philosophy closely aligned with most fine arts classrooms. The methods of CCSS rely on teachers working as facilitators as opposed to lecturers, stress the value of modeling over telling, and emphasizes valuable learning occurs when subjects are interrelated and meaningful connections are made."

Amen, Amy Johnson!

Amy teaches in Austell, GA, and blogs at Artful Artsy Amy. Today, I want to point you to her post on the Arts Education section of ARTSblog: Common Core Collaboration Key for Fine Arts and Classroom Teachers. 

Here's a shot of Amy's classroom, with her students engaged in, yes, collaborative learning:

I'm SO impressed at the way Amy and the teachers at her middle school have collaborated to create meaningful cross-curricular connections! She offers an editable collaborative framework for FREE, and provides this example of her work with a seventh grade Math teacher for a unit on tessellations:

Amy says, "Instead of demanding core subject teachers to make connections to the arts, we should ask them to share their units and work together to make meaningful connections. In this manner, both teachers are able to rely on their strengths."

Again, amen!

Amy is only one contributor to the conversation about arts education and the common core on ARTSblog. I found fifteen posts in the past five days (National Arts in Education Week) that discuss many aspects of the impact each has on the other. Please look them over and check out the links each provides. Some are cautionary, but others provide concrete curriculum links that you can use in your classroom, whether you teach art or a core subject.

A great example: Lynne Munson, in her post How Vincent van Gogh Can Help You Teach to the Common Core Standards, says that "the CCSS present an exciting opportunity for elementary school teachers (who teach all subjects), grades 6-12 ELA teachers, and arts teachers to utilize the arts to teach the literacy skills outlined by the new standards." She links to The Arts and the Common Core Curriculum Mapping Project and its 179 arts activities.

You can also follow the related Twitter discussion. (And if you're a Twitter newbie, here's a great intro from Allison Boyer’s article on Blog World: A Beginner’s Guide to Twitter Basics)

If you fear, as I do, the loss of funding for arts education with a misguided implementation of the CCSS, you can demonstrate its necessity by developing a robust collaboration in your school. Here's to your efforts, and to your enjoyment of connecting and collaborating!

UPDATE: Please go to The Common Core - Fine Arts (AND Science, History, & Geography) Connection - Part 2 for more information.

Hispanic Heritage Month - Resources for Every Content Area

Hispanic Heritage Month is September 15 - October 15, and the resources available for you to integrate its celebration into your curriculum are MANY!

The official web portal for the month-long observance is a collaborative project of the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. The site is chock-full of links to Exhibits and Collections in these categories:

                

                        

           Art and Architecture                         The Era of Exploration                           Culture and Ethnography

                              

                           Economics                                      Government, Politics, and Law            Poetry and Literature

  

                                                          History                                                                          Music

Are you a science teacher? Here's a great site for you: Latinos in Math & Science: Resources for kids, young adults and teachers. Check out the hotlinks for biographies of Hispanic scientists, etc.

Do you teach math? Go to the Smithsonian's Hispanic Heritage Cultural Tour and choose Resources. Select NMAH’s “Sports: Breaking Records, Breaking Barriers” website article on Roberto Clemente as a "hook" for a lesson on mean, median, mode, and range. Or graph his hits over a span of years. Or...

The Smithsonian's HHCT is amazing in so many other ways. Click over and check out all of the Objects, the Timeline, and the Quizzes and Activities there. 

Enjoy all the possibilities of the next month. November is American Indian Heritage Month, so I'll be searching out good resources for your observance of the First People's heritage!

EDSITEment! - Lessons for the Common Core

Close reading. Citing evidence. Making logical inferences. Analyzing. Summarizing. Interpreting. Evaluating and differentiating primary and secondary sources. Where does a busy teacher find appropriate lessons and activities to guide students in developing these required CCSS English Language Arts skills?

In this first post of a series about the fantastic Thinkfinity Consortium gateway, we're looking at EDSITEment, a partnership among the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Verizon Foundation, and the National Trust for the Humanities.

"All websites linked to EDSITEment have been reviewed for content, design, and educational impact in the classroom. They cover a wide range of humanities subjects, from American history to literature, world history and culture, language, art, and archaeology, and have been judged by humanities specialists to be of high intellectual quality."

EDSITEment truly is a treasure trove, with lesson plans searchable by subject, theme, and grade level. As examples, I want to point you to two of these: Anne Frank: One of Hundreds of Thousands and Anne Frank: Writer. These lessons provide a means for you to "supplement your students' reading of The Diary of a Young Girl by connecting the diary to the study of history and to honor the legacy of Anne Frank, the writer, as she inspires your students to use writing to deepen their insights into their own experiences and the experiences of others."

The skills listed for the lessons are:

• Critical analysis
• Critical thinking
• Historical analysis
• Textual analysis
• Using primary sources

Here are two of the learning objectives:

• Use specific examples from first-hand accounts to draw conclusions about one aspect of human behavior.
• Students will read the diary in search of quotes that indicate Anne's reflections on different feelings, relationships and behaviors that she noted while her family was in hiding. 

Below is the first page of The Diary of Anne Frank: A Changing Record, which you can use as a guide for close reading. Students are asked to cite entry date and quote for emotions, relationships, and behaviors they find in Anne's diary.

There are hundreds more wonderful lessons in EDSITEment's library - lessons for the Common Core, at your service from this amazing resource, for FREE. Enjoy!