Your blueprint for skilled Common Core literacy alignment! Learn to artfully navigate Common Core - or any state/province - standards with concrete, step-by-step instruction from master teacher and curriculum specialist, Kathy Tuchman Glass. Confidently map a unit of study aligned to Common Core’s rigorous, evidence-based writing and reading requirements. Dive into in-depth analyses of informational text with supporting essential questions. Glass walks you through the entire process with manageable chunks that eliminate overwhelm. Chapters include thorough explanations, step-by-step exercises, and detailed templates, assessments, charts, tips, and prompts centered around key CCCS concepts for grades 6–12. Teachers, curriculum committees, grade level teams, and professional development leaders will learn to: Challenge and engage students in all content areas using the CCCS ELA framework Use existing curriculum and materials to design new, CCCS-aligned units of study Identify mandatory CCCS ELA essential understandings for informational text, evidence-based writing and other critical competencies Conduct resource-rich workshops and professional development This all-in-one instructional guide, with a companion website for extra help, improves your professional capacity to create, revise, or critique quality-driven units and lessons aligned to the ELA Common Core. Get this essential blueprint to building high quality 6–12 grade-level curriculum for skilled CCCS literacy-aligned success! "Like them or hate them, the Common Core Standards represent one of the most significant opportunities for improvement schools have faced in decades. This book will be a great help to anyone engaged in the act of translating the Common Core into actual teaching practices." --Jim Knight, Author of High-Impact Instruction

A GPS for connecting standards to lessons Translating the Common Core State Standards into an effective curriculum is at the top of many educators’ to-do list, and this book shows you how. This text familiarizes teachers and curriculum designers with the key points of the ELA core standards and demonstrates how to design effective curriculum units to align with them. The author provides practical and accessible tools for developing a map and for making the important connections among all unit map components, including differentiated instruction. Also included are: A rationale for each of the ELA common core standards An overview of the key benefits Reproducible templates and examples of unit curriculum maps

Kathy T. Glass presents strategies, activities, and assessments that target students' ability to comprehend complex text-both traditional written text and multimedia-in grades 5-10.

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 K-5. The maps address every standard in the CCSS, yet are flexible and adaptable to accommodate diverse teaching styles. Each grade is broken down into six units that include focus standards, suggested works, sample activities and assessments, lesson plans, and more Teachers can use the maps to plan their year and craft their own more detailed lesson plans Any teacher, school, or district that chooses to follow the Common Core maps can be confident that they are adhering to the standards.

Fully prepare students to begin the pivotal transition from learning to read to reading to learn. Written for individual teachers and collaborative teams, this resource outlines how to craft instruction to ensure every learner masters literacy expectations in second and third grade. Readers will gain a wealth of strategies and practices for designing standards-aligned instruction, developing quality assessment, providing timely interventions, and more. Use this resource to address specific literacy challenges found within the second- and third-grade band: Understand the role professional learning communities (PLCs) play in literacy development. Learn how teams of teachers can maximize their collective strengths to make profound impacts on student literacy and reading comprehension. Obtain instructional strategies and tools, such as the pre-unit protocol (PREP), for unpacking and clarifying literacy standards. Observe how to collaboratively score quality assessments as a team and conduct effective data inquiry and analysis. Study the powerful impact literacy has on student engagement and inclusivity in grades two and three. Contents: Introduction: Every Teacher Is a Literacy Teacher Chapter 1: Establish Clarity About Student Learning Expectations Chapter 2: Examine Assessment Options for Literacy Chapter 3: Create a Learning Progression to Guide Instruction and Assessment Chapter 4: Develop Collective Understanding of Learning Expectations Chapter 5: Respond to Data to Ensure All Students Learn Chapter 6: Differentiate Instruction With Gradual Release of Responsibility Chapter 7: Plan High-Quality Literacy Instruction Chapter 8: Select Appropriate Instructional Strategies Chapter 9: Consider Equity in Literacy Epilogue Appendix A: List of Figures and Tables Appendix B: Templates and Tools Appendix C: Process for Prioritizing Standards Appendix D: Essential Understandings and Guiding Questions References and Resources Index

Stretch student thinking with performance-based tasks. With the continual increase of high-stakes assessments also comes the surge of professional development on designing performance-based tasks. Providing step-by-step insights, this book shows you how to incorporate performance tasks as a tool to teach, monitor, and extend student learning. If you’re ready to stretch your students’ thinking, grab a copy of this how-to guide to help you: Make instructional decisions based on student performance of learning tasks Incorporate learning progressions as an integral part of planning performance tasks Close the “knowing–doing” gap by focusing on considerations for successful implementation

Build your cultural literacy while inspiring deep, thoughtful, unbiased thinking in students. Discover a six-step framework for becoming culturally literate that complements the Common Core and encourages students to be at the center of learning. Explore how to develop teacher-student relationships, engage in collaborative conversations, and encourage feedback to give voice to the increasingly diverse student body found in today’s classrooms

Common Core's English resources empower educators to meet the expectations of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for English Language Arts (ELA) and build essential content knowledge for students in grades 9-12. Each grade in The Wheatley Portfolio features a comprehensive, coherent sequence of thematic units that engage students in deep study of worthwhile texts and topics. Features of this book include: Six thematic units for each grade, each centered on a curated collection of literary and informational texts Focus standards for each unit that complement the topic and promote student mastery of essential literacy skills Suggested texts and activities to incorporate science, art, and history into English instruction This revised second edition includes a sample text study that guides students through a close read of an exemplary text, updated web resources, and refreshed suggested works. Educators who create their curriculum based on Common Core's Wheatley Portfolioguarantee that students are exposed to content-rich instruction and have ample opportunity to master the reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language skills articulated in the CCSS for ELA.