Welcome to Back To School Night

An Overview of Curricular & Instructional Shifts in CCSS

Common Core State Standards (CCSS)

An Overview of Curricular & Instructional Shifts

Outline

•What is CCSS?

•What does this look like in the classroom?

•What’s the difference?

•How can parents support?

What is CCSS?

What is CCSS?

•Common Core State Standards

•Develop skills rather than rote knowledge

•Prepare our students for their futures in college AND career

What is CCSS?Fewer - Clearer - Higher

• Aligned to requirements for college and career readiness

• Based on evidence• Honest about time we have available in the

classroom

What is CCSS?

Four key, life-long skills:•Communication•Collaboration•Creativity•Critical Thinking

What does this look like in the classroom?

In the Classroom?•Textbook is ONE resource•Purposeful addition of non-fiction & informational text

•More time spent on richer texts•Focus on building knowledge & understanding through reading

“Read like a detective”

In the Classroom?•Use evidence from multiple sources

•Make meaningful connections to real-world

•Communicate more relevantly and purposefully

“Write like a reporter”

In the Classroom?•More student-to-student academic discussion•Less teacher-to-student “lecture”•Students make inquiry and ask questions and solve problems

•Teachers guide students to find answers and see options

“Engage like an active citizen”

What’s the difference?

What’s the difference?

School Room

Employment

What’s the difference?

School Room

Employment

What’s the difference?

New Practices

Students are the “pacing guide”

Past Practices

Specific Time/Period allocated per subject/unit

What’s the difference?

New PracticeCore text reorganized as a resource for curricular unitsReadings are chosen for rigor & relevancy at grade-level expectation

Past Practice

Core Text (page by page)

Stories/Novels chosen from text/availability

What’s the difference?New Practices

Teach multiple standards to build upon prior knowledge and to translate concepts and skills into real-world situations

Past PracticesTeach individual standards as a “check-list”

How can parents support students?

How can parents support students?Generally

• Remind students to grapple with new ideas; this creates a more critical thinker.

• See mistakes as opportunities to learn, not as failures.

• Encourage problem-solving by offering options rather than solutions.

• Inspire them to read, especially non-fiction texts.

• Stay positive! Keep your expectations high! EVERY KID CAN DO IT!

How can parents support students?

Have Discussions and Ask Questions:

•Keep it “Open-Ended”

•Ask them questions, instead of providing answers

•Guide them to question their own thinking

•Have them teach you something they learned that day

How can parents support students?Use Technology:

•Help your student acquire technology skills

•Locate online articles-current events- and read them together

•Encourage them to find and learn about future plans, like college and career options

How can parents support students?

Teacher Communication -keep the conversation focused on the most important topics. Ask the teacher:

•Is this piece of work satisfactory? How could it be better? Is my child on track?

•If my child needs extra support or wants to learn more about a subject, what resources are there to help his or her learning outside the classroom?

How can parents support students?Teacher Communication -keep the conversation focused on the most important topics. Ask the teacher:

•How can they become better skilled at gathering information and citing material accurately?

•How does my child defend interpretations of reading he/she has researched?

Please Keep in Mind . . .

Teachers worked REALLY hard last year to learn about the new standards and started practicing some strategies to help with implementation

Teachers are working EVEN HARDER this year to completely revamp their curriculum one unit at a time. This is difficult and stressful work. (Analogy: We are living in the house while we remodel it)

We expect Progress, NOT Perfection.

Please Keep in Mind . . .

The students are adjusting to these new expectations. The grade they have now may reflect that struggle. Perseverance is important!

These changes are good, but they take time and we are learning from our mistakes just as we expect from our students

i-Ready

Every student in GUSD has taken/will soon take the first i-Ready diagnostic test in Reading & Math

Computer adaptive (similar to the new state test) Provides results to help teachers address specific

gaps in skills/knowledge Students can access targeted lessons from

school OR home

i-Ready at Home

All done with homework? Use i-Ready to brush up on your skills.

Go to login.i-ready.com (don’t use www)

Username: CA-(10 digit state ID number) State ID number is in Profile section of Parent-Connect or

Student-Connect

Password: (6 digit GUSD ID number) Most students have this number memorized