Full Description
The ideal? Newly minted high school graduates all across the nation, each one a complex text genius, a writer and analytic thinker beyond compare. All on to glorious colleges and careers, thanks to the Common Core.
The reality? The 1.3 million students who fail to graduate from high school each year and the hundreds of thousands more who either gave up or lost interest long ago . . .
The reality is why Common Core CPR is needed. Urgently. Because if we continue to insist that all students meet expectations that are well beyond their abilities and mindsets, these kids will only decline faster. We must be brave enough—and trained enough—to cast aside what we know harms students and apply with renewed vigor the teaching methods we know work.
Releah Lent and Barry Gilmore rise to the challenge, and there are no two authors better equipped to do so. They embrace what is best about the standards—their emphasis on active, authentic learning—and then explicitly show teachers how to connect these ideal outcomes to practical classroom strategies, detailing the day-to-day teaching that can coax reluctant learners into engagement and achievement. You'll learn how to:
Consider choice and relevance in every assignment
Plan and spot opportunities for success
Scaffold students' comprehension of complex fiction and nonfiction texts
Model close reading through thoughtful questioning
Teach students to use evidence in reading, writing, speaking, and reflection
. . . And so much more
It's not the big sweeping formulas for achievement that will win the day; it's the incremental growth that teachers need to make happen: that one book, that one writing assignment, to help a student turn a corner. "If we can get that one transformational moment to occur, and follow it up by designing more opportunities for success, that's the ideal," say Lent and Gilmore.
Contents
Foreword by Richard L. Allington
Introduction: Meeting Common Core With Common Sense
Defining "Standards"
An Introduction to the Standards
Important Considerations
Using Common Sense: What Is Not Covered by the Standards
A Portrait of a Young Student: What We Cover in This Book
Keeping the End in Mind
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1. How Do We Reach Reluctant Students?
Understanding Reluctance: Why Daniel Struggled
Final Thoughts: Leaving Daniel (for Now)
Chapter 2. Why Scaffolding Complex Text Is Crucial
Creating Proficient Readers: What's a Teacher to Do?
Text Complexity: Difficult to Define
Scaffolding: Building the Bridge
Untangling Complex Text: A Commonsense Approach
Scaffolding in Action: Practices That Support Learning
Build Background Knowledge to Make Learning Stick
Final Thoughts
Chapter 3. How Do We Engage All Students in Reading and Writing?
Starting With Reading: The Importance of Audience and Purpose
Audience and Purpose in Writing
Final Thoughts
Chapter 4. How to Go Deeper: Creating Analytical Thinkers
A Case of Aliteracy: The Bubonic Plague
Deepening Understanding Through Critical Literacy
A Critical Look at Close Reading
Final Thoughts
Chapter 5. Why Evidence Matters: From Text to Talk to Argument
Paideia Seminars: A Focus on Evidence
Paideia Seminars and Struggling Students
Problem- and Project-Based Learning: Using Evidence
The Project Realized: Envisioning the Future Fair
The Advantages of Project-Based Learning
Final Thoughts
Chapter 6. How Using Diverse Media and Formats Can Ignite Student Learning
The Scope of Technology in an Inquiry-Based Classroom
Preparing for Reading and Writing: Interpreting Material in Diverse Formats
Speaking and Listening: Technology and Student Presentation
Final Thoughts
Chapter 7. Why a Culture of Reading Is Critical--and How to Create One
A Culture of Reading: How It Supports the CCSS
The Workshop Approach: Does It Meet the Standards?
Understanding Perspectives: A Piece of the Portrait
Literature Circles: Sharing Perspectives
Do Literature Circles Meet the Standards?
Creating a Culture of Literacy in a Middle School
Final Thoughts
Chapter 8. What Do We Do About the Language Standards?
What Do We Do About Grammar?
What Do We Do About Vocabulary?
Final Thoughts
Afterword by Sharon M. Draper
Appendix A. Standards for Motivation and Engagement With Teacher Tools
Appendix B. Books for . . . Lists
References
Index
About the Authors
