Common Core: Paradigmatic Shifts is a timely and protean educator resource and reference, designed to be of immediate use in the classroom and in Professional Learning Communities. In addition, this book also provides a “looking glass,” allowing educators to peer briefly back in history to ascertain the origin of standards, as they came to be in the United States educational system, and as they earnestly impacted English language arts. Common Core: Paradigmatic Shifts identifies and provides curricular approaches speaking to teachers’ concerns regarding content preparedness. In addition, this book includes teacher narratives from around the country, describing their approaches and strategies with the Common Core initiative and its impact on their students, as well as those who do not use the Core. Essentially, Common Core: Paradigmatic Shifts will spark further proactive, engaged, and reconstructive conversation among teachers regarding both students and themselves. Ignited by the advent of the Core, their conversation today is about just how do they use standards to create vibrant, engaged, immersive, and relevant instruction that lives beyond the traditional walls of the classroom. Common Core: Paradigmatic Shifts will prove to be a “go to” resource that provides useful information and instructional approaches beyond Common Core.

The Developing Core Literacy Proficiencies program is an integrated set of English Language Arts/Literacy units spanning grades 6-12 that provide student-centered instruction on a set of literacy proficiencies at the heart of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Reading Closely for Textual Details Making Evidence-Based Claims Making Evidence-Based Claims about Literary Technique (Grades 9-12) Researching to Deepen Understanding Building Evidence-Based Arguments The program approaches literacy through the development of knowledge, literacy skills, and academic habits. Throughout the activities, students develop their literacy along these three paths in an integrated, engaging, and empowering way. Knowledge: The texts and topics students encounter in the program have been carefully selected to expose them to rich and varied ideas and perspectives of cultural significance. These texts not only equip students with key ideas for participating knowledgeably in the important discussions of our time, but also contain the complexity of expression necessary for developing college- and career-ready literacy skills. Literacy Skills: The program articulates and targets instruction and assessment on twenty CCSS-aligned literacy skills ranging from “making inferences” to “reflecting critically.” Students focus on this set of twenty skills throughout the year and program, continually applying them in new and more sophisticated ways. Academic Habits: The program articulates twelve academic habits for students to develop, apply, and extend as they progress through the sequence of instruction. Instructional notes allow teachers to introduce and discuss academic habits such as “preparing” and “completing tasks” that are essential to students’ success in the classroom. The program materials include a comprehensive set of instructional sequences, teacher notes, handouts, assessments, rubrics, and graphic organizers designed to support students with a diversity of educational experiences and needs. The integrated assessment system, centered around the literacy skills and academic habits, allows for the coherent evaluation of student literacy development over the course of the year and vertically across all grade levels.

"In Artful Sentences: Syntax as Style, Virginia Tufte shows how standard sentence patterns and forms contribute to meaning and art in more than a thousand wonderful sentences from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The book has special interest for aspiring writers, students of literature and language, and anyone who finds joy in reading and writing."--Publisher's description.

Following Common Core Standards, this lesson plan for William Shakespeare’s, "Othello" is the perfect solution for teachers trying to get ideas for getting students excited about a book. BookCaps lesson plans cover five days worth of material. It includes a suggested reading schedule, discussion questions, essay topics, homework assignments, and suggested web resources.

From distinguished educators, this book imagines what our schools could look like if an authentic vision of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) were put in place, and thoughtfully critiques how and why implementation has faltered. The authors outline a curriculum framework that focuses on student-based inquiry and the use of formative assessment to monitor and guide student learning. They provide workable, innovative alternatives to the packaged instructional programs and summative tests that have come to be associated with the English language arts (ELA) standards. Vignettes of diverse schools and districts highlight a range of successful approaches to making the CCSS work.

The first books to present specific guidance for teaching the Common Core State Standards Forty-three states plus the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands have signed on to adopt the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). The need for curriculum guides to assist teachers in helping students meet these standards has become imperative. Created by teachers, for teachers, the research-based curriculum maps in this book present a comprehensive, coherent sequence of thematic units for teaching the skills outlined in the CCSS for English language arts in Grades 9-12. Teachers can use the maps to plan their year and craft their own more detailed lesson plans. Each grade is broken down into six units that include focus standards, suggested works, sample activities and assessments, lesson plans, and more The maps address every standard in the CCSS, yet are flexible and adaptable to accommodate diverse teaching styles Any teacher, school, or district that chooses to follow the Common Core maps can be confident that they are adhering to the standards.

A Common Sense Guide for Common Core Literacy is a must-have for teachers who are responsible for implementing the new Common Core State Standards in their classrooms. With nearly 1,000 pages of information, Common Core aligned sample questions, and reproducible, classroom-ready resources, it is guaranteed to assist teachers in making the transition to the new CCSS. Not only will this book help teachers better understand the standards, what they mean, how they are crafted, and how they build on one another from one grade to the next, but it will explain how to implement the standards in their classrooms, how to align their existing materials to the CCSS, and how to craft formative and summative assessments to track student mastery of the standards. The resources provided in this book aim to help teachers make the Common Core State Standards work for them! Nobody wants to have to throw away years of hard word spent on crafting, refining, and perfecting lessons, materials and assessments just because they were aligned to an old set of standards...and this doesn't have to be the case. With this book, teachers can build off of their existing curriculum and make connections between what they are already doing and what is required by the new CCSS. Teachers, departments, professional learning communities, schools, and districts all play a role in implementing the CCSS, and whether individual teachers use this book to help achieve their own goals for integrating the standards into their classrooms, or entire districts use it is a resource to train teachers and administrators in how to implement the standards, create quality Common Core aligned assessments, and track student mastery of the standards, this book contains a wealth of invaluable information and resources that can help make the transition to the Common Core State Standards easier for everyone.

National bestseller 2017 National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) Finalist ABA Indies Introduce Winter / Spring 2017 Selection Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Spring 2017 Selection ALA 2018 Notable Books Selection An intimate and poignant graphic novel portraying one family’s journey from war-torn Vietnam, from debut author Thi Bui. This beautifully illustrated and emotional story is an evocative memoir about the search for a better future and a longing for the past. Exploring the anguish of immigration and the lasting effects that displacement has on a child and her family, Bui documents the story of her family’s daring escape after the fall of South Vietnam in the 1970s, and the difficulties they faced building new lives for themselves. At the heart of Bui’s story is a universal struggle: While adjusting to life as a first-time mother, she ultimately discovers what it means to be a parent—the endless sacrifices, the unnoticed gestures, and the depths of unspoken love. Despite how impossible it seems to take on the simultaneous roles of both parent and child, Bui pushes through. With haunting, poetic writing and breathtaking art, she examines the strength of family, the importance of identity, and the meaning of home. In what Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen calls “a book to break your heart and heal it,” The Best We Could Do brings to life Thi Bui’s journey of understanding, and provides inspiration to all of those who search for a better future while longing for a simpler past.

Following Common Core Standards, this lesson plan for William Shakespeare’s, "Richard III" is the perfect solution for teachers trying to get ideas for getting students excited about a book. BookCaps lesson plans cover five days worth of material. It includes a suggested reading schedule, discussion questions, essay topics, homework assignments, and suggested web resources.

How do you teach Shakespeare in school? This book provides five day lesson plans for over a dozen of Shakespeare’s greatest known plays. Lesson plans include: Julius Caesar, Coriolanus, Othello, As You Like It, Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Midsummer's Night Dream, Richard III, Love's Labour's Lost, Anthony and Cleopatra, Henvry V, King Lear, and The Tempest. Each lesson plan may also be purchased separately.