Monday, June 11, 2012

CCSS Comfort Zones

I believe teachers are like biomes when it comes to the CCSS.  
Those in the tundra are cold and calculating hoping that the weather will improve and bring a few creative juices to remedy their lack of diversity.  Those in the desert are hoping for a good storm to water their parched tongues after years of standing and delivering.  Aquatic Biome CCSS teachers are drowning. (Let me remind you that this is the largest biome....) The Foresters are so busy looking at the trees, trying to figure out the structure and where to start.   The Grasslanders are letting the wind blow across their plain taking in the sunshine, rain, and heat a little at a time, and producing a noble crop for students.  Oh that we all could be teaching in the grasslands!


No matter what your biome and where your district seems to be residing, we all need to garner ideas for improving our instruction and elevating rigor and relevance.


Let me make a suggestion:  Look at the diagram below and see the CCSS for writing.   Your librarian would love to help you creatively create a research unit where the students can dig deeply into resources and draw conclusions based upon the content of your discipline.   The CC Writing Standards 1 - 5 can be done in your classroom or with great  library materials.   However, standards 6,7,8,and 9... need to be done in the library or in conjunction with your librarian.  Even if you are in a state such as Maine with 1 to 1 laptop programs,  it is vital to plan research units under the guidance  of your  information professional.   The CCSS call for rigor, and rigor is not Google.  You won't graduate a College and Career Ready student by sending them to a search engine to find polluted facts.   Your librarian will guide you to good resources and craft an engaging project to foster higher level thought, debate, conclusions, creativity, connection and collaboration, and integrate Web tools in the process.   Join the crowd in the grassland!  

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