Balancing The Common Core Curriculum In Middle School Education

This book examines the idea of ‘good education’ which is thought to include a scientific and technical component, a mathematical component, a writing component, and an ethical and aesthetic component. Bunn proposes a new three-way intersection in these teachings: the basic sciences and mechanics of levering on a seesaw, the basic formulations of patterning an algebraic equation, and the basic rules for writing a sentence in English. In all three forms of inquiry, balance is the mainstay through which problems in US middle school education are brought together and analyzed.

The Common Core is requiring literacy across the curriculum, but what does that mean for teachers of subjects like math, science, and social studies who have a lot of content to cover? In this essential book, author Jessica Bennett reassures you that you don’t have to abandon all of your great content lessons and start from scratch. Instead, you can reflect on what you‘re already doing well and make adjustments and enhancements as necessary. Bennett starts with a clear breakdown of the Common Core ELA Social Studies/History and Science and Technical Subjects Standards for Grades 7-12 and what they actually look like. She provides a variety of practical strategies and scaffolds that you can use immediately to enhance your curriculum and meet the standards. You will learn how to... Incorporate a wider variey of texts into your currciulum Teach students to use each text with purpose, whether it is for close reading, support, argumentation, or research Assign meaningful group work and projects without feeling that they have to take up your whole curriculum Help students navigate their textbooks more effectively and read for information Use the Common Core to meet the needs of diverse learners Implement the four As strategy in which students absorb content, analyze information, argue reasons, and apply knowledge Use writing tasks to strengthen student comprehension of content Teach various forms of writing and the importance of text citations And more! Throughout the book, you’ll find tools such as unit planning sheets, daily lesson plan sheets, classroom handouts, sentence starters, and more. If you teach a content area, this must-have resource will help you meet the Common Core with ease!

"Many young people around the world --- especially the disadvantaged --- are leaving school without the skills they need to thrive in society and find decent jobs. As well as thwarting young people's hopes, these education failures are jeopardizing equitable economic growth and social cohesion, and preventing many countries from reaping the potential benefits of their growing youth populations. The 2012 Education for All Global Monitoring Report examines how skills development programmes can be improved to boost young people's opportunities for decent jobs and better lives."--Publisher's description

Part of the "Research in Social Education" series, this text is divided into three parts: contexts; curricula; and assessments. It covers such topics as the irony of exclusion; teaching tolerance; and multicultural citizenship education.

This book provides key insights into how educational leaders can successfully navigate the turbulence of political debate surrounding leading student assessment and professionalised practice. Given the highly politicised nature of assessment, it addresses leaders and aspiring leaders who are open to being challenged, willing to explore controversy, and capable of engaging in informed critical discourse. The book presents the macro concepts that these audiences must have to guide optimal assessment policy and practice. Collectively, the chapters highlight important assessment purposes and models, including intended and unintended effects of assessment in a globalised context. The book provides opportunities to explore cultural similarities and particularities. It invites readers to challenge taken-for-granted assumptions about ourselves and colleagues in other settings. The chapters highlight the cultural clashes that may occur when cross-cultural borrowing of assessment strategies, policies, and tools takes place. However, authors also encourage sophisticated critical analyses of potential lessons that may be drawn from other contexts and systems. Readers will encounter challenges from authors to deconstruct their assessment values, beliefs, and preconceptions. Indeed, one purpose of the book is to destabilise certainties about assessment that prevail and to embrace the assessment possibilities that can emerge from cognitive dissonance.

This teacher guide illustrates how to sustain successful implementation of the Common Core State Standards for mathematics, grades 6–8. Discover what students should learn and how they should learn it at each grade level. Comprehensive research-affirmed analysis tools and strategies will help you and your collaborative team develop and assess student demonstrations of deep conceptual understanding and procedural fluency.

In this much anticipated follow-up to their groundbreaking book, Shifting the Balance: 6 Ways to Bring the Science of Reading into the Balanced Literacy Classroom, authors Jan Burkins and Kari Yates, together with co-author Katie Cunningham, extend the conversation in Shifting the Balance, Grades 3-5: 6 Ways to Bring the Science of Reading into the Upper Elementary Classroom. This new text is built in mind specifically for grades 3-5 teachers around best practices for the intermediate classroom. Shifting the Balance, Grades 3-5 introduces six more shifts across individual chapters that: Zoom in on a common (but not-as helpful-as-we-had-hoped) practice to reconsider Untangle a number of “misunderstandings” that have likely contributed to the use of the common practice Propose a more science-aligned shift to the current practice Provide solid scientific research to support the revised practice Offer a collection of high-leverage, easy-to-implement instructional routines to support the shift to more brain-friendly instruction The authors offer a refreshing approach that is respectful, accessible, and practical – grounded in an earnest commitment to building a bridge between research and classroom practice. As with the first Shifting the Balance, they aim to keep students at the forefront of reading instruction.

Avoid “analysis paralysis” and just get started! The Milken Award-winning educator and author of Using Power Standards to Build an Aligned Curriculum shows how to implement the new Common Core State Standards. This book outlines his proven process for building a guaranteed and viable local curriculum based on the CCSS, and includes: A system for creating local standards from the CCSS Methods for connecting the common, formative assessments to quarterly instructional objectives Ways to scaffold learning expectations Readers will find helpful charts and graphs plus access to Internet-based software for mapping the CCSS to classroom instruction.