Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins have written a “must read” paper – “From Common Core Standards to Curriculum: Five Big Ideas,” in which they offer key ideas to guide the work of transforming the Common Core Standards to a functioning curriculum in a school or district.
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A Common Core “Must Read” Paper
11-30-12Using Exemplars for School Improvement
10-30-12That first year we implemented the program, our math scores increased by over 30 points to well above passing while decreasing the disparity gap to within 10 points. That was five years ago, and Exemplars is still thriving.
Exemplars New Math Samples, K-8
09-07-12Please share these with your colleagues. We suggest trying our problem-solving tasks in your school and discussing the student work as a team to see how your students approach them.
Using Anchor Papers to Help Teachers and Students Understand the Common Core
08-22-12With the new standards and learning expectations outlined in the Common Core, anchor papers can be a useful tool for helping your teachers and students see and understand what meeting the new standards will “look” like in their classrooms.
Preparing for the Common Core: Using Rubrics to Guide Teachers and Students
08-14-12As you begin preparing your staff to integrate the Common Core this year, rubrics should play a key role in terms of helping your teachers and students achieve success with the new standards.
Mathematical Practice and Problem Solving: Preparing Your Teachers for Common Core
07-26-12To fully prepare for the implementation of the Common Core, teachers must have an understanding of what problem solving is, why it is important and how to go about implementing it. For many, the successful teaching of problem solving will require real pedagogical shifts. What do teachers need to know?
Reflections on Partnering with Exemplars
06-26-12…the use of a well-designed mathematical performance task like those developed by “Exemplars” may reveal how well a student has grasped and applied the math concept in an intervention or lesson(s).
#2 Tips for Planning Successful Problem-Based Learning in Your Math Classroom
05-10-12In this post, Dr. Julia Watson offers suggestions on how teachers might go about incorporating the PBL approach into their classrooms. It is the second piece in a two-part series.
#1 Tips for Planning Successful Problem-Based Learning in Your Math Classroom
04-30-12In this blog, Dr. Julia Watson provides insight on Problem-Based Learning (PBL) and offers suggestions on how teachers might go about incorporating PBL into their classrooms. It is published as a two-part series.
Review of Exemplars
03-16-12In our experience oversees, we use Exemplars tasks as a way of focusing teachers on assessment first when working with them on implementing the PYP (Primary Years Program) or UbD (Understanding by Design).