“Tomorrow we will have a guest speaker.” Surely this statement must always be followed by the announcement of a guest lecture in History, an actor or singer for the Drama class, a local park ranger or chemical engineer for the Sciences, or a published author to speak to the Language Arts classes. “Our guest will [...]
February 21, 2013
Computer Science and Technology for Common Core
One of the important distinctions of the CCSS-ELA is that it requires students to build knowledge across and within a grade level. This means curriculum developers should look to special interest groups to see what they are recommending for their own domain. Here, we begin by looking at what computer science teachers consider important. Computer [...]
December 7, 2012
Technology Requirements for Common Core Testing
The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium has just released a new document that details the current state of technology in schools and recommendations on systems for testing. They surveyed 56,268 schools which owned 5.9 million devices. About 60% of the devices were laptops, 10% netbooks, tablets or other mobile-type devices. Operating Systems. 56.1% of systems are [...]
September 17, 2012
Common Core vs State Standards
Guest post by SD in Arkansas If you stay in the education business long enough, you start to see trends in the “education reforms.” One such trend is the movement from “specific” standards to broader standards and then back again. Every decade or so, we seem to see the pendulum swing back the other way. [...]
May 2, 2012
CCSS Professional Development: Great ideas for exploring the Standards
by Andrew Foster Twitter @abfosEd In the last few months I’ve come across some interesting ideas for exploring the Common Core State Standards. The most effective professional development is teacher-led and teacher-focused. Whether you are a classroom teacher doing your own research, a team leader organizing CCSS introductory activities, or an administrator trying to get [...]
